Living in Limehouse: area guide to homes, schools and transport

The riverside neighbourhood of Limehouse has really gone up in the world. It’s now a well-established, clean, residential quarter of east London, but its past tells a different story.

Limehouse’s history was always interlinked with the sea, as a thriving docklands community of the good, the bad and some very dodgy dealers who made their money in imaginative ways. When the docks closed it suffered, and was viewed as a remote, alien place where you roamed at your peril.

With the rise of Canary Wharf came the chance of resurrection and within 20 years Limehouse was transformed into a posh enclave of riverside homes for bankers and City types. The old east enders cashed in and left long ago.

This was London’s first Chinatown and for many years was home to the capital’s best Chinese restaurants, all bearing the name Friends, the most famous being the Good Friends, frequented in the Sixties by the likes of Bond star Sean Connery and singer Barbra Streisand. Chinatown has now shifted to Soho but in Salmon Lane, E14, Local Friends, reputedly Britain’s first takeaway, still does a busy trade.

Four miles from central London and conveniently located between the City and Canary Wharf, most of the people who live in Limehouse’s elegant riverside and canalside flats do so because it suits the long working hours common in the financial world.

Estate agent Lee O’Neill, of Knight Frank, says Limehouse — in the borough of Tower Hamlets and on the north side of the Thames — has the advantage of being cheaper than Wapping. It is also much quieter than Canary Wharf just across the water, and has no big new building projects in the pipeline.

Property scene
Limehouse has a handful of fine Georgian houses, most especially in Narrow Street where in January 1981 the Gang of Four — Labour defectors David Owen, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and Bill Rodgers — issued the Limehouse Declaration at Owen’s house, marking the break from their political party and the setting up of the SDP.

The York Square conservation area north of Commercial Road has streets of pretty, flat-fronted, early Victorian cottages. There are characterful warehouse conversions and many new-build flats clustered around Limehouse Basin and overlooking Limehouse Cut, London’s oldest canal. The area also has many estates of social housing.

New-build homes
The regeneration of the Ocean Estate, a joint venture between Tower Hamlets council and the East Thames Consortium in nearby Stepney, is the largest local development. Between 2010 and 2014, 1,200 estate homes were refurbished and 819 new homes were built on five separate sites.

The last phase involves the demolition of three tower blocks in Aston Street, on the south-east corner of the estate at the edge of Limehouse, where 120 homes will be replaced by 225 new homes, due to be ready early in 2018. Call East Thames on 0300 303 7333.

Canary Gateway in St Anne’s Row, overlooking Limehouse Cut, will have 160 one-, two- and three- bedroom flats in Artisan Place and Bywater Square, two six-storey blocks with communal roof terraces. The latter is arranged around a landscaped courtyard. The masterplan for the area also involves the conversion of an adjacent listed warehouse into offices with bars and restaurants on the ground floor. Call City & Docklands Property Group on 020 8896 4479.

Three flats remain at Royal Quay, an office-to-residential conversion in Dod Street overlooking Limehouse Cut. They are move-in ready and prices start at £399,000 for a one-bedroom flat and £475,000 for a two-bedroom flat. Call Regal Homes (020 7328 7171).

Affordable homes
One Housing Group has four two-bedroom shared-ownership flats left at Burdett Wharf in Thomas Street, also overlooking Limehouse Cut. Prices from £208,000 for a minimum 40 per cent of a flat with a market value of £520,000. Call site sales (0300 303 7333).

Who rents here?
Knight Frank lettings manager Gary Hall says most Limehouse renters are singletons or couples working for overseas banks in Canary Wharf and the City, who can walk or cycle to work. “This is not an area where many families rent.” Quality of rental stock is high. Many landlords bought 10-15 years ago and moved away, keeping their flats as a rental investment.

Travel
On the Docklands Light Railway, Limehouse station is in Zone 2, halfway between Bank and Canary Wharf, and there are also trains to Fenchurch Street. An annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,296.

Staying power
Couples thinking about starting a family tend to leave Limehouse.

Postcode
Limehouse proper is in the E14 Poplar postcode that also covers the Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf and Wapping. The York Square conservation area is in E1, the large central postcode that stretches from Bishopsgate to Mile End including Stepney, the neighbourhood bordering Limehouse.

Best roads
The best road is Narrow Street — but in Limehouse it is more a matter of which are the best blocks. Estate agent Lee O’Neill, of Knight Frank, says any block commanding a view of the river will rent and sell at a premium. The best warehouse conversions are Commercial Wharf, Roneo Wharf and Ratcliffe Wharf and the best modern blocks are Dunbar Wharf, Dundee Wharf and Victoria Wharf.

Up-and-coming areas
Lee O’Neill says period properties in the York Square and nearby Tredegar Square conservation areas are attracting buyers from places such as Islington, where similar homes are more expensive.

Shops and restaurants
Local shops along Commercial Road include Husk Coffee & Creative Space, an independent coffee shop. A farmers’ market is held every Saturday morning at Stepney City Farm in Stepney Way. Locals in need of retail therapy travel to Canary Wharf. 
The area has two famous riverside pubs, both in Narrow Street — the historic Grapes, and The Narrow gastropub, the latter owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Evening Standard restaurant critic Fay Maschler raved about Shanshuijian in Commercial Road, a Chinese restaurant specialising in spicy Sichuan food.

Open space
Ropemakers Field is a pretty landscaped park between Limehouse Basin and Narrow Street. Mile End Park is a linear park which stretches from Southwater Close in Limehouse to Victoria Park and has an ecology park, arts centre, café, athletics track, skate park, climbing wall and go kart track. There are walks along the Limehouse Cut and Limehouse Canal and the Thames Path passes through Limehouse, although sadly not always on the waterfront.

Leisure and the arts
The Half Moon theatre in White Horse Road is a leading children’s and young people’s theatre. Troxy in Commercial Road, an Art Deco gem and former cinema, is a leading venue hosting everything from weddings to concerts starring Russian pop stars.
There are two council-owned swimming pools: St George’s Leisure Centre, with something of a rarity these days, diving boards, in The Highway in Wapping, and the Mile End Leisure Centre in Burdett Road.

Primary school
The “go-to” state primary school is Sir William Burrough in Salmon Lane, with an “outstanding” Ofsted rating. The other “outstanding” primary is Cyril Jackson in Three Colt Street. The following are judged “good”: Cayley in Aston Street; Stepney Greencoat in Norbiton Road; Marion Richardson in Senrab Street, and Halley in Halley Street.

Comprehensive
There are two “outstanding” comprehensive schools: Sir John Cass (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Stepney Way and Bishop Challoner RC (girls, ages 11 to 16, with a sixth form shared with the boys’ school) in Commercial Road. Bishop Challoner RC boys’ school (ages 11 to 16, with co-ed sixth form, as before), also in Commercial Road, is rated “good” by Ofsted, as is Stepney Green (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Ben Jonson Road.

Private
The Pier Head Preparatory School (co-ed, ages two to 11) is a private Montessori nursery and primary school in Shadwell Pierhead.
The two City of London schools — the boys’ school (ages 10 to 18) in Queen Victoria Street and the girls’ school in the Barbican (ages seven to 18) — are top-performing private schools in the City.