In the middle of the nineteenth century Canning Town gained a reputation for some of the most unpleasant and least healthy industries. There were various types of chemical factories, producing things like varnish, caustic soda, soap and tallow. Many of these processes involved boiling resins or animal remains, so the smell must have been pretty bad!

Sugar Refining was another important local industry employing hundreds of people, as did the Thames IronWorks.

One of the reason that these industries developed in Canning Town was the good transport links provided by the railway and the docks. Another reason was the Metropolitan Buildings Act (1844) which banned ‘obnoxious trades’ from London, so that this sort of factory moved ‘across the border’ to the east side of the River Lea.

Initially, industries were attracted to the area because there were so few restrictions on their activities. By the early twentieth century, West Ham Council was activitely promoting the area as a centre for industry.

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Tom McAllister
The Old Dispensary
30 Romford Road, Stratford
London E15 4BZ
Tel: 020 8430 6393 Fax: 020 8430 6392

Last updated 17 February 2003