You wouldn’t think it now, but London’s East End was once rather insalubrious. The wind, you see, blew eastward over the Big Smoke, making the city’s west a more pleasant place to live than the industrial east. And even though pollution was tackled with vigour in the 1950s, that same industrial DNA, from factories to the docks, had also made the east a military target.
Just look at it today. From the world-class creative and tech hubs of Shoreditch and the Silicon Roundabout to the financial nerve centre of Canary Wharf, with the state-of-the-art Elizabeth Line opening up new areas with a whoosh, the east is truly reborn.
Over in Stratford, indelibly associated with the London 2012 Summer Olympics, gleaming new residential areas – including sophisticated full-service rental developments that are redefining the model of urban living – are transforming the landscape. And the influx of new residents is helping to boost the wider area as a buzzing hub for independent producers, small retailers and local makers.
Here, we meet three independently run east London businesses to discover just what makes the area tick.
Turning over a new leaf
Mona Sharif is co-founder of Repot, a bespoke pots, plants and plant hire business
The seeds of Repot were sowed in May 2020, during lockdown. Plants are good for your mental health, and our flat was bursting with them, so my partner Lamine Toure and I decided to send our friends some cuttings in hand-painted pots. They loved them, so we started selling pots out of our front room, painting together on the sofa, before we eventually hired a little studio to work from in Hackney Wick. I’ve lived here for six years, while Lamine has lived here for eight, so we definitely wanted to stay in the area.
We started out selling pots locally, and as we were small enough to deliver everything by bike or by walking, we created a real connection with our customers. To buy the plants to put in them, we had to travel across London. When we came home with giant bags filled with plants, we noticed the smiles on people’s faces.
At the time, I was a graphic designer and Lamine worked in the music industry, and we were both at a stage in our careers where we wanted a change, but were not sure how. So in March 2023, we transformed our studio into our plant and pots shop, Repot.
The business combines our passion for plants and art to create a space where people can come and be inspired. Customers can order bespoke pots to match their interiors, and we work with pubs, restaurants and offices to transform them into jungles, bringing plants and colour into those spaces. We also curate emerging artists and local makers, organise events such as art exhibitions and seminars aimed at small businesses, and host wellness workshops taught by locals. There’s a lovely sense of community here, and we love to see people’s balconies and windows decorated with our pots.
New developments generate positive changes in the area, and are definitely beneficial for business. We’ve got a great balance here: during the week it’s very family oriented and relaxed, while at the weekend it’s sometimes like a mini festival in the streets. There’s so much outside space too, thanks to the canal and the Olympic Park. We really wouldn’t want our business to be located anywhere else.
The spirit of east London
Alex Wolpert is the founder of drinks maker East London Liquor Company
Ten years ago I was working as a bartender in London. It felt like an odd disconnect to be buying locally smoked salmon, or fruit farmed in Kent, when there wasn’t that same regional connection with the drinks we served. I realised there was room for a small indie spirits producer in east London.
We opened our distillery in 2014 to serve the local community and have grown from selling 1,000 bottles a month to sending more than 30,000 cases a year across the world. We’ve never used the word “craft” – we just want to make good, honest, local booze, something delicious, but not exorbitantly expensive, that anyone can have in their cupboard for an after-work gin and tonic, or a Saturday night party.
East London is wonderfully diverse, and both the area and our drinks stand for something vibrant, creative and provocative. That kind of energy resonates whether you’re in Liverpool, New York or Copenhagen. We do our bit locally, putting on distillery tours, supporting community centres, and providing free gin samples for tasting events – including one at nearby residential development Coppermaker Square in Stratford.
We do tours and tastings at the weekends, and host bartenders every day of the week so they can learn about our processes – such as the Norfolk barley and rye we use, where we source our coriander seeds from in Kent, and why those things are important. We’re environmentally conscious, and have taken more than 40,000 bottles out of our on-trade supply chain in the last year by replacing them with 10-litre jerry cans made from the most widely recycled plastic in the UK.
There’s a lovely community of people here who support the distillery, including the local vicar, who brings his wife for a gin and tonic at the weekend. Independent businesses like ours offer a unique experience that you simply don’t get from a chain.
Making a splash
Katy Hogarth runs the canoe, kayak and paddleboard hire company Moo Canoes
My co-founder Alfie Hatt and I were working as freelance canoe and kayak coaches when we met during rehearsals for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee flotilla. At the time, water sports centres in London were focused on youth provision and programmes, and we saw a gap for a place where inexperienced adults and families could canoe together.
We opened our first base in a hub under the railway arches at Limehouse Basin. Following the Olympics, there were lots of artists and exciting small businesses popping up around Hackney Wick, so it made sense for us to open Moo Canoes’ second base there, which is a two-hour beginner’s paddle down the canal from Limehouse Basin.
Canoeing is a wonderful way to explore: the waterways link us to our landscape in a way we often forget to experience in London. Because we’re open to everyone – even those without any experience – families can canoe with their children. Canoeing season runs from Easter to the end of October, while our floating bar, the Milk Float, is open year-round. We get everyone from people popping in before a West Ham game to wedding parties, to the lovely volunteers who help with our litter picks on the waterways.
We’re moored on a junction, so there are three directions to explore: you can paddle up to Tottenham, down to Limehouse, or across to Angel. There’s also a circular route that snakes around the London Stadium, which lies between our base in Hackney Wick and Stratford. You can see the ArcelorMittal Orbit and lots of other landmark venues on that loop, and even if you’re familiar with the area, as soon as you get into a canoe or kayak, your perspective changes completely.
Stratford is a great blend – as well as thriving urban areas and good connections, you’ve got the Lee Valley Park, marshes and woodlands on your doorstep. And it offers some of the most accessible blue spaces in London. There’s a slower pace of life on the canals that provides a welcome contrast to the city.
This area is always evolving. As new people arrive and begin exploring, I think they’ll appreciate just how much east London has to offer.
Discover a new world of rental living in the heart of Stratford, at Coppermaker Square
