Sweet East London Walk – Forest Gate, Upton Park, Plaistow

Trebor Walk through Forest Gate and Upton Park to Plaistow

When one walk begets another something magical happens. Stopping to admire a fine industrial building on Woodford Avenue on a Sunday afternoon drift to Chigwell, I mussed to my camera that I had no idea what it had been, but it always caught my eye. Several people in the YouTube comments informed me that this had once been the Headquarters of Trebor, the iconic confectionary company. A quick search online revealed that the company had actually started life in nearby Forest Gate, and that their 1930s HQ was still intact despite being struck by a bomb during the Second World War. It became an irrestitable focus for an East London quest.

The route I devised for the video above would loop together a number of resonant locations in the area:

Tylney Road – The Tylneys were incredibly wealthy and owned lots of estates including Wanstead House. The road aligns with Wanstead Park on the far side of the Flats.

Manor Park Cemetery – the grave of Jack Cornwell who was postumously awarded the VC at the age of 16 for bravery at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Serving on HMS Chester, the ship came under attack and the gun crew were killed or mortally wounded. Cornwell was shredded with shrapnel but continued to man the last gun stood alone on deck where he was found full of shrapnel still looking down the sights waiting for further orders.

Trebor Building, Katherine Road – Trebor got their sugar from Tate at Canning Town – there was a Trebor Terrace in Katherine Road near where they built their factory.  Other sweets produced at the time included Mixed Fruit Drops, Rock Allsorts, Pineapple Drops and Pear Drops. This Art Deco factory was built in the 1930s on the site of the original factory. The warehouse was hit by a bomb in 1944 and had to be protected from sugar looters. The Green and white of the building matches the colours of extra strong mints. Trebor moved their HQ to Woodford Avenue in the 1950s. Read more here

Green Street and Queen’s Market – the Eastern Boundary of the old Borough of West Ham. In 1086 West Ham had a population of 130

Upton Park ‘Boleyn Ground’ – merger with Boleyn Castle FC in 1904 produced West Ham United. Ann Boylen stayed at Green Street House.

Barking Road – the West Ham Statue, the Tun Marsh – the Barking Road killed off the marsh men of the Plaistow Levels – great grazing land.

Greengate Street – Hook End which was at the end of Greengate St jct with Barking Road.

Plaistow – mentioned in 1414 probably means settlement around a place of play or village green – a village on the marshes. Plaistow Levels – Thomas Burke speaks of Plastovians in The Outer Circle – once a place of city merchants.

Plaistow Park – Part of Plaistow Park is on the grounds of the former Essex House, which dated back to Tudor times, demolished in 1836. West Ham Council acquired the land to create the public park, which opened as Balaam Street Recreation Ground in June 1894.

Doric columns from Wanstead House – bought by local Quakers and used in the portico of North Street Schools (off end of Greengate Street).

 

East to West Ham – through Forest Gate to Upton Park

It was a tweet I saw at breakfast showing the beginnings of the demolition of Upton Park, the Boleyn Ground, that set me off across Wanstead Flats to take a final look at the iconic home of West Ham United before it was gone forever. I’m not a Hammers fan but have been to West Ham a few times, first when I lived just up the road as a student and they would let you in at half-time for a couple of quid, which was more or less the time I got out of bed on a Saturday so it worked out quite nicely. I remember one game – Frank Mcavennie up front for West Ham, Tottenham legend Graham Roberts playing Centre Half for West Brom.

Old Spotted Dog Forest Gate

On the way I wanted to check the state of the great Old Spotted Dog Pub in Forest Gate where the London Stock Exchange moved during the Great Fire of London and we drank regularly in those student days 1990-91. It’s boarded up now – future in the balance, over 400 years of history in the hands of the Newham Council Planning Committee and some property developers – a desperately sad sight.

Queens Market Green Street

Queens Market on Green Street seems to have survived the grip of the developer and was a hub of activity – everything you can imagine is on sale beneath is murky roof – a cornucopia of wonders. A fella selling fruit and veg spotted my camera and auditioned for the role as the new “£1 Fish” star – he did a pretty decent job – have a look at the video above. His performance inspired me to buy two huge mangoes and four pomegranate.

Upton Park West Ham demolition

Outwardly West Ham seemed intact with only the carpark dug up, but peering through a crack the huge security doors at the side of the ground I could see the diggers at work tearing up the turf, the seats piled up around the pitch, the Trevor Brooking Stand starting to be dismantled. Can the Hammers import all this history over to the Olympic Park at Stratford (in actual West Ham rather than East Ham where the old ground is) – or will the club’s heritage be buried beneath the blocks of luxury flats built on the once hallowed ground.