Star Street was, for a while, Planet Street.
Star Street was a little over half a mile along Commercial Road and led southwards. It was originally designated Dock Street and then Planet Street, but became Star Street in June 1865. In December 1891, it reverted to being Planet Street again. Finally it disappeared in the 1960s.
Star Place was a short cul-de-sac of just six houses in the 1880s - a small alley running east/west at the bottom of Star Street.
After taking Star Street as representative of the parish of St. George in the East and describing its squalor at length in his study published as Ragged London in 1861, John Hollingshead says of nearby Devonshire Street that it was "... as full of hunger, dirt and social degradation as Star Street..."
The Census taken on 6 February 1861 notes that "... in Star Street there are living in 123 houses about 1500 persons, including 300 children, many without shoes or stockings..." The average rent per room for a week was is 9d with the lowest rent in this area being attributed to Friendly Place (regarded as "...low..." inhabitant-wise) whereas the highest recorded was 4s 0d in Sutton Street ("...a few respectable inhabitants and lodgers...").
