Poplar Baths is a former public bath house dating from 1933.
The original Poplar Baths opened in 1852, being built to provide public wash facilities as a result of the Baths and Washhouses Act 1846. A public laundry was located at the rear of the building on Arthur Street.
The Baths were rebuilt in 1933 to a design by Harley Heckford and the larger pool was covered over to convert the building into a theatre. Called the East India Hall, it had seating capacity for 1400 people and incorporated a dance hall, cinema, exhibition room and sports hall for boxing and wrestling programmes.
The main bath hall sustained bomb damage during the Second World War and was forced to close. The baths reopened in 1947 and continued to be used as a swimming facility, before the facility’s eventual closure and conversion to an industrial training centre in 1988.
A campaign to restore the baths won the support of Tower Hamlets Council in 2010 and works created a new leisure centre incorporating a swimming pool, gymnasium and affordable housing on adjacent land. The site reopened in July 2016.
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY |
 
colin Passfield Added: 1 Jan 2021 15:28 GMT |
Dora Street, E14
My grandmother was born in 1904 at 34 Dora Street
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Added: 16 Feb 2021 13:41 GMT |
Giraud Street
I lived in Giraud St in 1938/1939. I lived with my Mother May Lillian Allen & my brother James Allen (Known as Lenny) My name is Tom Allen and was evacuated to Surrey from Giraud St. I am now 90 years of age.
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| LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT |
 
Loraine Brocklehurst Added: 24 May 2023 14:00 GMT |
Holcombe Road, N17
I lived at 23Holcombe Rd. with my parents, Grandfather , Aunt and Uncle in 1954. My Aunt and Uncle lived there until it was demolished. I’m not sure what year that was as we emigrated to Canada.
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Jen Williams Added: 20 May 2023 17:27 GMT |
Corfield Street, E2
My mother was born in 193 Corfield Street in 1920.Her father was a policeman.
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sofia Added: 19 May 2023 08:57 GMT |
43 MELLITUS STREET
43 MELLITUS STREET
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Added: 17 May 2023 11:50 GMT |
Milson Road (1908 - 1954)
My grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents the Manley family lived at 33 Milson Road from 1908 to 1935. My grandad was born at 33 Milson Road. His parents George and Grace had all four of their chidren there. When his father Edward died his mother moved to 67 Milson in 1935 Road and lived there until 1954 (records found so far, it may be longer). Before that they lived in the Porten Road. I wonder if there is anyone that used to know them? My grandad was Charles ’Ted’ Manley, his parents were called George and Grace and George’s parents were called Edward and Bessie. George worked in a garage and Edward was a hairdresser.
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Added: 16 Apr 2023 15:55 GMT |
Rendlesham Road, E5
I lived at 14 Rendlesham Road in the 1940s and 50s. The house belonged to my grandfather James Grosvenor who bought it in the 1920s for £200.I had a brother who lived in property until 1956 when he married. Local families were the paisleys, the Jenners and the family of Christopher Gable.
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Sandra Field Added: 15 Apr 2023 16:15 GMT |
Removal Order
Removal order from Shoreditch to Holborn, Jane Emma Hall, Single, 21 Pregnant. Born about 21 years since in Masons place in the parish of St Lukes.
Source:
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Sue Germain Added: 10 Apr 2023 08:35 GMT |
Southwood Road, SE9
My great great grandfather lived in Time Villa, Southwood Rd around 1901. He owned several coffee houses in Whitechapel and in South London, including New Time Coffee House so either his house was named after the coffee house or vice versa.
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David Gleeson Added: 7 Apr 2023 22:19 GMT |
MBE from Campbell Bunk (1897 - 1971)
Walter Smith born at 43 Campbell Bunk was awarded the MBE in january honours list in 1971. A local councillor for services to the public.
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La Trompette Poplar Baths is a former public bath house dating from 1933. St Matthias Old Church St Matthias Old Church is the modern name given to the Poplar Chapel built by the East India Company in 1654. Tower Hamlets College Tower Hamlets College is a large further education and a constituent college of New City College. 1 West India Quay, E14 1 West India Quay is a skyscraper designed by HOK in the Docklands area which was completed in 2004. Boardwalk, E14 Sophia Street was built in 1823 and demolished in 1939. Brunswick Road, E14 Brunswick Road, still extant at the southern end, was largely buried under the Blackwall Tunnel northern approach road. Castor Lane, E14 Castor Lane is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. East India Dock Road, E14 East India Dock Road is an important artery connecting the City of London to Essex, and partly serves as the high street of Poplar Findhorn Street, E14 Findhorn Street is one of a series of local roads with a Scottish highlands name. Giraud Street, E14 Giraud Street nowadays is a short road running north from Cordelia Street. Glenkerry House, E14 Glenkerry House is a housing block on the Brownfield Estate designed by the studio of the Brutalist architect Ernő Goldfinger. Mackrow Walk, E14 Mackrow Walk is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Newby Place, E14 Newby Place is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Pekin Street, E14 Pekin Street is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Prestage Way, E14 Prestage Way is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Rook Street, E14 Rook Street - at first called Mary Street - ran between Poplar High Street and East India Road. St Leonards Road, SW18 St Leonard’s Road was once the only road through a rural Poplar - called Bow Lane and before that Poplar Lane. Wades Place, E14 Wades Place is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area.
Poplar - site of the first air raids.Poplar is a historic, mainly residential area of East London. The district became the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar in 1900 - abolished in 1965 and absorbed into Tower Hamlets. The district centre is
Chrisp Street Market. Poplar contains notable examples of public housing including the Lansbury Estate and
Balfron Tower.
Although many people associate wartime bombing with The Blitz during World War II, the first airborne terror campaign in Britain took place during the First World War.
Air raids in World War One caused significant damage and took many lives. WWI German raids on Britain caused 1413 deaths and 3409 injuries. Air raids provided an unprecedented means of striking at resources vital to an enemy’s war effort. Many of the novel features of the war in the air between 1914 and 1918—the lighting restrictions and blackouts, the air raid warnings and the improvised shelters—became central aspects of the Second World War less than 30 years later.
The East End of London was one of the most heavily targeted places. Poplar, in particular, was struck badly by some of the air raids during the First World War. Initially these were at night by Zeppelins which bombed the area indiscriminately, leading to the death of innocent civilians.
The first daylight bombing attack on London by a fixed-wing aircraft took place on 13 June 1917. Fourteen German Gotha G bombers led by Squadron Commander Hauptmann Ernst Brandenberg flew over Essex and began dropping their bombs. It was a hot day and the sky was hazy; nevertheless, onlookers in London’s East End were able to see ’a dozen or so big aeroplanes scintillating like so many huge silver dragonflies’. These three-seater bombers were carrying shrapnel bombs which were dropped just before noon. Numerous bombs fell in rapid succession in various districts. In the East End alone 104 people were killed, 154 seriously injured and 269 slightly injured.
The gravest incident that day was a direct hit on a primary school in Poplar. In the
Upper North Street School at the time were a girls’ class on the top floor, a boys’ class on the middle floor and an infant class of about 50 students on the ground floor. The bomb fell through the roof into the girls’ class; it then proceeded to fall through the boys’ classroom before finally exploding in the infant class. Eighteen students were killed, of whom sixteen were aged from 4 to 6 years old. The tragedy shocked the British public at the time.
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Poplar DLR station was opened on 21 August 1987, originally with just two platforms, being served only by the Stratford-Island Gardens branch of the DLR. As the DLR was expanded eastwards, the station was extensively remodelled, given two extra platforms and expanded.
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 |  Lochnagar Street, looking east towards Islay Wharf
Before the coming of the Blackwall Tunnel approach road, there was a road called Brunswick Road from which Lochnagar Street ran and from which this photo was taken.
This area of Poplar contains a large number of streets with Scottish names because they were built on an estate which had been bought by the McIntosh family in 1823.
The initial letters of local street names were chosen alphabetically - Aberfeldy Street, Ailsa Street, Blair Street, Culloden Street, Dee Street, Ettrick Street, Findhorn Street, Leven Road, Oban Street, Portree Street, Spey Street, Teviot Street, Wyvis Street and Zetland Street.TUM image id: 1562852551Licence: |  |  |  |
In the neighbourhood...
Click an image below for a better view...
Lochnagar Street, looking east towards Islay Wharf
Before the coming of the Blackwall Tunnel approach road, there was a road called Brunswick Road from which Lochnagar Street ran and from which this photo was taken.
This area of Poplar contains a large number of streets with Scottish names because they were built on an estate which had been bought by the McIntosh family in 1823.
The initial letters of local street names were chosen alphabetically - Aberfeldy Street, Ailsa Street, Blair Street, Culloden Street, Dee Street, Ettrick Street, Findhorn Street, Leven Road, Oban Street, Portree Street, Spey Street, Teviot Street, Wyvis Street and Zetland Street.Licence: 
