Manor Park: An authentic and simplistic area in the heart of Newham

Manor Park is a district based in the borough of Newham. It is not too far from Forest Gate and has excellent transport links into Central London.

Manor Park railway station is one of the main transport links in the area and is located on the planned Crossrail 1 route.

Trains are fairly regular and run every ten minutes to locations such as Liverpool Street. On a good day you can get into Central London within 30 minutes.

Manor Park is a fairly simple place, which is part of its charm.  It has two of the most spectacular green spaces in East London and also manages to avoid the chronic overcrowding of the neighbouring Forest Gate or East Ham.

It appears to be a far more settled and unified community than the rest of Newham, which makes the area very agreeable and safe to live in.

The architecture in Manor Park is very pleasant and it contains many ancient commercial and domestic buildings.

The only slight disadvantage is that Manor Park does lack independent cafés and shops, but its proximity to bigger areas of London compensates for that.

It also benefits from an abundance of beautiful parks which makes it ideal for young families and hikers.

Demographics

Manor Park is a thriving multicultural area with a large number of people from Asia and Eastern Europe. 

It also attracts people from other areas of the city due to its relatively affordable housing and strong community cohesion.

The high proportion of immigrants also helps to contribute immensely to the area, with there being many diverse stores and businesses.

In terms of demographics, young families, professionals and single mothers make up a significant proportion of the population in Manor Park.

Conveniently, the district is also fairly close to Wanstead Flats and Stratford, which have more amenities and stores.

Heritage

There are pockets of the locality that stand out for being particularly beautiful and of cultural importance.

One of those places is the Durham Road Conservation Area, which is a small late-Victorian suburb south of Manor Park station. It retains much of its original charm and character and was developed in the 1800s.

Before that, it was made up mainly of farmland that formed part of what was then known as the Gurney estate.

The types of properties you will find in this area are largely the same and date back to the Victorian era.

In 1998, the council introduced additional planning controls to protect and enhance its special character.

Community

As eluded to earlier, the thing that makes Manor Park particularly distinctive and special is its sense of community.

Despite there being such a wide variation of people that live there, there is a strong sense of unity and togetherness, which pervades the area.

As a result, there are a number of community centres that have been developed over the years, each of which offers different services to local residents. These centres are also home to various associations, clubs and interest groups.

Notable People

Manor Park has had its fair share of famous faces and notable people over the years. This includes such personalities as actor Stanley Holloway and Steve Marriott, lead singer and guitarist of Small Faces and Humble Pie. In fact, Mr Marriott helped to put Manor Park's Itchycoo Park on the map by referring to it in his songs.

Greer Garson, Oscar-winning film actress was born in the area in 1904 and Jack Cornwell, a teenage recipient of the Victoria Cross, grew up there.

Published 17th October, 2014

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