Pepe Martinez will take us on a tour of to see the extraordinary history of what was once part of the world’s greatest port, now transformed into a major business centre. A Zoom link to the tour will be sent out a day or two beforehand.
From the earliest times, ships coming up the Thames needed somewhere to land but by the late 17th Century, the facilities at the Pool of London were proving inadequate to the burgeoning trade. An era of dock building began, accelerating through Georgian and Victoria times, and with attendant homes and facilities for the army of dock workers. However, the 1960s and1970s saw the swift demise of all of London’s docks since they could not accommodate the much larger ships needed with the introduction of the system of containers.
Docklands was to rise agin, however, with a massive programme of re-development that saw the area re-invent itself, Phoenix-like, as the major financial centre we see today.
Pepe Martinez is an award winning London Blue Badge Tourist Guide. He was born in the East End and has lived there all his life. He is an accredited Institute of Tourist Guiding Trainer and is currently tutoring on the London Blue Badge training course.