Industrial bits of London

I'm looking for some grotty, industrial bits of London for photo-taking purposes. Are there any left? I mean places that haven't been converted into loft-style apartments yet.

Comments

  • edited 7:50PM
    You could try Beckton gasworks out at Gallions Reach in East London. Its between a sprawling retail park and a yuppie development so you'd best be quick before it becomes an IMAX-cum-sculpture-park
  • edited 7:50PM
    Try this for inspiration / stealing... <http://www.derelictlondon.com/>;
  • edited 7:50PM
    Andy and I took a Saturday out to investigate Stepney Green recently. While not particularly industrial, its definitely a shithole and would qualify for the grotty criteria. Not London but my last tour of Tilbury docks and Harwich was particularly disturbing for the industrial side of things.
  • edited 7:50PM
    Touring Stepney - this is how we spend our weekends. I think there's this part of London - I think called "South London", that's mostly industrial wasteland.
  • edited 7:50PM
    I think if you walk out along the Grand Union Canal beyond Grenwich you get to proper still in use old shipyards and warehouses - might be quite interesting visually...
  • edited 7:50PM
    I could be wrong but I didn't think the Grand Union Canal goes beyond Greenwich. In fact doesn't it stop at Limehouse on the N bank? I think you may be thinking of something called the River Thames.
  • edited June 2009
    A quick ride on the DLR from Stratford out to City Airport would give you some good points of reference for investigation around Silvertown. The Tate & Lyle factory and the gloriously run down [Spillers Millenium Mill](http://www.thesnappingbishop.co.uk/blog/imgs/Mill12.jpg) - also just off there you have Erno Goldfinger's three estates in Poplar, my favourite being [Glenkerry House](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenkerry_House), not sure why, think its the three chimney-like things out the block at the top, I always imagine it as a secret Lex Luther hideout. If you could get access to Spillers I reckon you'd have a field day.
  • edited 7:50PM
    Actually, Silvertown is a good shout. The Tate & Lyle factory is the largest refiner of cane sugar in the world - a legacy of empire, because cane sugar came from african and caribbean countries to be refined in England. (Naturally the British wouldn't let those countries refine it themselves - the imperial policy of only taking commodities and "adding value" in the UK) So even today, it's a product of tariffs and world trade, whilst from a photographic point of view, a bloody great big dirty factory.
  • edited 7:50PM
    Many thanks for all the suggestions. I'll check them out.
  • natnat
    edited 7:50PM
    We did the thames river cruise to the barrier last week and you can see a lot of these from the river - might not be great to photograph from the boat but would give you a view of a few potential sites in one go. its half price (£5) for the return trip if you book online.

    Incidentally my favourite is Balfron, David - its the separate lift shafts that always do it for me.
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