A Home Fit To Live In
Housing in Canning Town in the 1950s, 60s and 70s
Separate Doors
Building work continued in Canning Town into the 1970s. By the end of the decade, nearly 1/3 of the UK’s population were living in council housing. Whilst living conditions were improving, some feared that rehousing was breaking up communities. Developments in domestic technology meant that the industrial landscape changed too. The Right To Buy scheme was first introduced in 1936, but took off in the 1980s. This allowed local authorities to sell council housing to tenants, enabling people to become first-time homeowners.
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"They were modern, and downstairs you had one family - you know you wouldn’t have to walk through the same door together. Separate doors going to the upstairs flat." - Roger
View from a Tower Block in Canning Town, 2000s.
Bowman Avenue, in front of Tarling Road, taken from the flat above Pat's family's shop, 1950s.
View from a Tower Block in Canning Town, 2000s.
Neighbourhood
"I knew my neighbours. I grew up with them. They grew up with me. They looked after me. And social housing isn't just about density. Right. A lot of it now is about density. We must improve the density, build upwards. What about the people in it?"
- Terry P
"We were people came from council houses, the concept of (...) buying a house, owning a house, you know, it wasn’t something we could comprehend (...) at the end of 1977, the agreed rent was 29 pounds and 90 pence per month (...) Three bedrooms with a garden."
- Terry E
"As they say, it's not where you live. Because when you shut your street door, your home is inside your house. As long as you're comfortable there. Who cares what's going on outside?"
- Mark
The Docks
(About deciding to create the Excel Dockworkers Statue) "I was nearly in tears because, you know, I'm an ex-seaman and every single one of those berths were empty. And I can remember sometimes double berth those ships! (...) I thought we've got to remind everybody else. (...) I wanted it to reflect what the docks was all about."
- Johnny
"The first turban I saw was a chap with a suitcase (...) two little boys of maybe three and five, sitting on a step outside and pub and a man coming over to them and approaching them with a suitcase (...) turned out the contents of the suitcase was a lot of American comics, which they used to call the funnies. He was a salesman who had come in to sell the comics. Straight away we shouted to our dad to buy the comics!"
- John
The 1970s were also a time of rising tensions in Canning Town, as Terry remembers the challenges of growing up in the 1970s and 80s facing racism, as well as the strength of Canning Town's diverse community.
