Outline the regeneration of the London Docklands

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The London Docklands

The London Docklands is an area of land located in East London along the river Thames as you can see on the right hand side, overtime this area flourished and at its peek became the largest port in the world, now however it is full of large multinational companies and residential areas, so what happened to the Docklands?

The London Docklands also known as the Isle of Dogs, supposedly due to there being Royal kennels there in the 13th century, despite being a port for over 800 years the docks only seemed to boom in the medieval times and became the main port in the country for trades and ventures with ships like the Mayflower setting out from there in the 1620’s.

In 1802 the opening of the West India docks made the London Docklands grow to be the largest port in the world stretching from the Tower of London up to Barking, it consisted of several different docks combining to become the London Docklands.

Throughout the 19th century the Docklands experienced great wealth with cargo coming form all over the world, the inhabitants of the docks experienced a lifestyle quite unique to the country at the time.  With the shipping of raw materials brought about processing plants, ship repair and heavy industries, also flourished, and making this a key economical site for the country.

This area continued to grow especially with the opening of the King George v Dock in the Royal Docks in July 1921, opened by the king, this new port helped the port to grow further by the 1930’s the port of London carried 35 million tonnes of cargo at an estimated value of £700 million and with 55,000 ships visiting the docks annually, and with over 10,000 lighters. This boom in the industry led to 100,000 people depending on the port of London who themselves employed over 30,000 people at the docks despite there being huge unemployment in the east end of London during the 1930’s.

Given the importance that the Docklands now had, not only for employment but for trade and essential resources, it is no wonder during the Second World War (1940-45) it became a main target for German bombers, the most devastating attack on the Docklands being black Saturday, that happened on the 7th of September, which left 430 people dead, 1,600 injured and 10,000 people homeless.

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After the war despite a lot of damage having been inflicted, not only here but also throughout the country, the Docklands carried on and was vital for the regeneration of the country thanks to the imports and exports that it offered. This continued long into the 1960’s when in 1961 the Docklands peaked transporting more than 60 million tonnes of cargo.

With this epic growth what went wrong for the Docklands? Why are the London Docklands not still thriving today?

There are many reasons that the London Docklands began to decline after the 1960’s for a start, ...

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