Living in East Ham: area guide to homes, schools and transport links
East Ham also has some of the most affordable Victorian and Edwardian terraces in London. Three-bedroom houses, some waiting to be done up, range from £375,000 to £575,000.
The Greatfield Residents’ Association runs a quarterly market and regular clean-up days and picnics in a local park.
The Bonny Downs Community Association runs a community centre, playing fields, a food bank and community garden — and there is even a branch of the WI.
Local estate agent Matthew Sayer of Aston Fox says: “East Ham is vibrant, multicultural, with good schools and patches of green space.” The hipsters are coming, however. Sayer notes an influx of buyers from Shoreditch, Dalston and Hackney who can’t afford Walthamstow.
West Ham United FC has left for the Olympic Stadium in Stratford but locals won the fight to keep the Bobby Moore statue in East Ham near the club’s old Boleyn ground, rather than see it moved to Stratford as the council proposed.
Bike from Boleyn, an organised bike ride from East Ham to the new Stratford stadium, takes in sections of the Greenway, a walking and cycling route created on top of a giant sewage outflow pipe between Beckton and Hackney Wick.
Barratt Homes is halfway through Upton Gardens, the redevelopment of the Boleyn ground, and has broken ground in the town centre where it plans to build 277 flats and an indoor arcade.
Meanwhile, Bellway is launching Beckton Parkside with 400 new homes overlooking the lake at Beckton District Park close to the A13.
The local Newham council’s own housebuilder, Red Door Ventures, is converting the Edwardian Old Fire Station in High Street South into seven flats for affordable rent.
It’s also turning a former town hall annexe into 148 flats, while in Barking Road it is building The Brickyard, with 98 flats, a gym and events space open to all local Red Door residents.
The property scene
There are streets of good-value Victorian and Edwardian terrace houses in East Ham, plus period conversions and homes originally built as two flats with two front doors.
The most expensive house currently for sale in the district is in Thackeray Road in the Central Park Estate, close to Central Park. With five bedrooms, the asking price is £675,000. A purpose-built two-bedroom flat with its own section of garden in Wakefield Street is on the market for £290,000.
New-build homes
The nearest large development of new homes is Upton Gardens in Green Street in nearby Upton Park.
This is the redevelopment of the Boleyn Ground, West Ham United Football Club’s former home before it moved to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
The Barratt Homes scheme will bring 842 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom flats of which 211 will be affordable. All of the homes come with a balcony or terrace and there is a residents gym, concierge, car club and rooftop play areas.
Two gateway buildings echo the two castles that framed the entrance to the old football ground. Two-bedroom flats start at £490,000; three-bedroom flats at £504,000 and four-bedroom flats at £595,000.
The whole development is expected to be completed in 2022. Call 0330 127 2587.
Beckton Parkside is a Bellway development of 391 new studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in blocks ranging in height from four to 12 storeys overlooking Beckton District Park and the A13.
Designed by architects Stockwool, the development launches at a Bellway home buyers’ event on October 18 and 19. Prices start at £290,000. Call 0845 257 9243.
First-time buyers and shared ownership
Help to Buy is available at Upton Gardens (as before). There are also shared-ownership homes at Upton Gardens, from £76,250 for 25 per cent of a flat priced £305,000. Call Site Sales on 0344 800 1639.
Red Door Ventures is building eight shared-ownership flats in High Street South opposite Central Park, ready next year. Call 020 8502 5758.
Rental homes
Newham’s tough licensing rules for private rented accommodation have reduced the number of homes available for rent and there are currently more than three times more homes to buy than there are to rent.
House sharing is popular, with many Rightmove listings looking for housemates.
Rentals range from £775 for a studio to £2,000 a month for a three-bedroom flat in Upton Gardens.
Houses range from £1,400 a month for a two-bedroom house in Beverly Road to £4,000 a month for a six-bedroom house in Plashet Grove.
Staying power
East Ham’s good schools are keeping families in the area.
Postcode
E6 is the East Ham postcode which extends as far as Beckton; however, the Upton Gardens development is in E12, the Plaistow postcode.
Best roads
The roads around Central Park in the Central Park estate.
Up and coming
East Ham is up and coming; it has some of the cheapest house prices in Zone 3.
Transport
East Ham is close to the North Circular road and its Underground station is on the District and Hammersmith & City lines.
Woodgrange Park station on the northern edge of East Ham is on the Gospel Oak to Barking Overground line. Also to the north there will be two Crossrail stations at Manor Park and Forest Gate.
For City workers the No 115 to Aldgate is a useful commuter bus.
East Ham is in Zone 3 and an annual travelcard is £1,648.
Council
Newham council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2019/2020 is £1,331.38.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
East Ham’s main shopping street is along the part-pedestrianised Ron Leighton Way where there are branches of high street chains Lidl, Wilko, Argos, Primark and Sainsbury’s.
To the north, Ron Leighton Way turns into High Street North where there are Asian grocers, many with impressive displays of fruit and vegetables, Indian sweets and cake shops, cafés and restaurants notably vegetarian Vasanta Bhavan and Thattukada, specialising in Keralan food.
D&D Patisserie has a branch here and another in High Street South where the Red Lion pub serves sourdough pizza. In Upton Park, Vijay’s Chawalla in Green Street and Chaiiwala, part of a chain, in Plashet Grove are another two popular Indian restaurants.
Rustix Gourmet in Barking Road is a burger restaurant and the Antic pub group last year took over the landmark Edwardian Denmark Arms on the corner of Ron Leighton Way and Barking Road.
The café in Central Park has a growing reputation for serving some of the best food in East Ham.
Open space
Central Park on High Street South has a children’s playground, bowling green, tennis courts, history trail and a café. Plashet Park in Plashet Grove has a children’s playground, bowling green, tennis courts and cricket nets.
Brampton Park in Masterman Road has a children’s playground with a summer paddling pool, trim trail and table tennis.
The Greenway is a walking and cycling route between Beckton and Hackney Wick built on top of a large sewage outflow pipe; it passes by the East Ham Nature Reserve in the former graveyard of the 12th-century St Mary Magdalene Church at the junction of High Street South and Norman Road.
Leisure and the arts
Red Door Studios tucked away in Masterman Road at the back of 120 High Street South runs artists’ studios, classes, events and pop-up cafés.
East Ham Leisure Centre in Barking Road has the local council-owned swimming pool.
Schools
Primary school
With one exception all of East Ham’s state primary schools are rated “good” or better by Ofsted.
Those rated “outstanding” are: Cleves in Arragon Road; Kensington in Kensington Avenue; St Stephen’s in Whitfield Road; Brampton in Brampton Road; St Winefride’s RC in Church Road; St Edward’s RC in Green Street and Shaftesbury in Shaftesbury Road.
Comprehensive
The comprehensive schools rated “outstanding” are: Plashet (girls, ages 11 to 16) in Plashet Grove; Little Ilford (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Rectory Road; Brampton Manor (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Roman Road; St Angela’s Ursuline RC (girls, ages 11 to 18); Forest Gate (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Forest Lane; and St Bonaventure’s (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Boleyn Road, the last three being in Forest Gate.
Grammar
There are two grammar schools in nearby Redbridge: Ilford County (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Barkingside and Woodford County (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Woodford Green.
Higher education
Newham College (co-ed, age 16-plus) has one of its two main campuses in High Street South which includes the Samsung Digital Academy.
Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre – known as The NCS (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) is a selective Free School which opened in 2014 in a listed Edwardian building in Barking Road and has not yet been inspected by Ofsted.
Langdon (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Sussex Road is an all-through school which is judged to be “good”.