Last Whites of the East End

This programme contains some strong language.

I feel a foreigner in my own borough.

We were born here.

Lived here.

We are finding ourselves marginalised out of the area.

You would never get better than the East End, I don't think.

And I feel a lot of the culture is moving out.

I don't think there's going to be a lot of East End left.

I don't, honestly. I do think it's going to just dwindle out.

And you wonder where they've all gone.

You see them all moving out, but you wonder where they've all gone.

The life that we knew is finished.

-Don't you agree?

-Yeah. It's finished.

People who pass opinions about immigration and how

wonderful it is for us,

they should come and spend a day or two in Newham.

If they think that is good for England, well, I'm a Dutchman.

Newham, in London's East End, is home to a tightknit

white working-class community

who have lived here for hundreds of years.

But over the past 15 years,

something extraordinary has happened to this cockney tribe.

More than half of them have disappeared.

Now, the few who remain are struggling to

hold on to their identity in the place they've always called home.

-Right, I'm helping out in the kitchen.

-KIDS SQUEAL

Please, listen! I've got burning pots in my hand.

Millie, Teddy, go through the other way!

The Oakmans are one of the oldest families left in Newham.

You're getting all of the flavours of the lamb going through now!

-We've got to get about 17 dinners out, Pat.

-That's all right.

I've got to do Jackie a dinner as well, so that's another one.

'Pat and Debbie are fifth-generation East Enders,

'whose family have always lived streets apart from each other.'

It's nice to have traditional East End families

and all get together and all get on.

We all have our ups and downs, don't get me wrong,

we've had moments where we've had...

Like, I row with the girls big time.

But we'll always be there for each other.

-You can smell it now, can't you?

-Mmm. Smells lovely.

It's like a kebab. It's falling off the bone, look.

This is Christmas Day dinner!

Well, it is, isn't it? Come early. Reminds you of Christmas Day!

So Debbie starts to fill up.

So Debbie starts to fill up, look.

But one of their flock is about to leave the fold.

She's going to be all right, you know that.

DEBBIE SOBS

I'm going to miss her the same as you, aren't I?

'We are a close family.'

But the girls are like sisters.

It ain't like a mum and two daughters, it's like three sisters.

With Debbie, that's why she's like she is, a bit tearful. Do you know what I mean?

Isn't it nice, the lamb? Really tasty.

You can't beat Dad's lamb, can you? Let's be honest.

The Oakmans have one son and two daughters.

28-year-old Amy and 33-year-old Leanne,

who each have two children of their own.

Leanne's got the two boys, Freddie and Teddy,

and then Amy's got Millie and Madison.

They're my life, they're my world. I'd give up my whole life for my kids.

From 16, up until however old I am now, until the day I die,

I've had them babies.

Do you know what? I'm pleased I got this done,

but I'm glad I ain't washing up! Aw!

-Any volunteers? Thought not.

-That's why you need a dishwasher.

But today marks the last of the long tradition for the Oakmans.

In a week's time, Leanne is leaving her East End roots

to make a new life an hour away, in Rayleigh.

Obviously, it's like... I want to see the difference.

I mean, she's the only girl I've got moving out to Essex,

other than that, we've always been in the East End of London.

-It's a better life.

-In what way?

Years ago, people would have a fight with their fists

and that would be it, when we grew up, down the school. Not any more.

Now people will bring in knives.

It's not like the old East End, everyone knew everyone,

leave your doors open, you knew who you was hanging around with.

-You don't no more.

-It's not your children, it's other people.

It is other people as well. It's just scary, I think.

Newham has been shaped by immigration for generations.

But the past 15 years have been defined by it,

as Newham welcomed unprecedented numbers of new residents

from all corners of the globe.

At the same time, more than half of the white British population has

moved out, breaking the tightknit family their community was built on.

What has happened, what has happened to the East End roots?

Where's the close-knit family? I'm still here because my mum's here.

And that's how we was raised.

To be around each other - every minute of the day, if you had to be.

Do you know what I mean? And this is what I can't get.

That I'm now losing my children to Essex,

because they don't want to live in the East End.

And I still want to know why.

I've lived here and I'm born and bred here and I'll probably die here.

Because I'm an East Ender. And I want to stay in my roots.

Yeah, I just think, as sisters, you have always got that best friend.

-Hmm.

-And as obviously now she's moving out,

-my best friend's now moving out...

-Yeah.

-But...

-Yeah.

It is hard.

Yeah. She's not gone forever, that's how I've got to see it.

Yeah, that's what I said, it is true.

I'm not emigrating, I'll still be here.

-Come here, come here, come here.

-KIDS YELL AND CRY

Yeah.

No, it's going to be a killer.

It's going to be like Amy losing her right arm.

And it's going to be like Leanne the same.

All the best, Leanne.

'They are going to be lost without each other,

'and only time will tell how they cope with it, once it's happened.'

-To a new chapter!

-Cheers!

It will split us all up, there's no doubt it will.

Yeah, it will. That's the hardest thing.

The biggest change, I think, is the pubs shutting.

-Yeah.

-They're closing.

There are so many pubs closed down.

Muslims don't drink, do they?

That's another change. A major change.

And stopping the smoking.

You look at EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale,

they've all got a pub in them!

I'd like to know where my local pub is! In Bethnal Green, I've got one.

-I've got one pub now.

-Salmon and Ball's still there.

That's right.

I feel that we've been ethnically cleansed.

It's so sad.

The East Ham Working Men's Club has been serving Newham

for over 60 years

and is now one of the last places of refuge for

its dwindling cockney community.

This is a sort of final bastion.

This is like an oasis, this place, you know?

And they can come in and mix with their own and have a good time

and, you know, because they've got nothing else round here,

nothing at all.

Peter Bell grew up in Newham and is the manager at the Working Men's.

I've been here 25 years, 25 years.

Came here when I had black hair, believe it or not.

HE LAUGHS

I love everything about this club. Everything.

Everybody's a character in here, really.

We've got a fella called Boring Paul.

You would never want to get in a conversation with Boring Paul.

Gary Lager, he gets so drunk, it's unbelievable.

Lou the Jew.

'He doesn't take offence to that, you know?'

Do you know Bobby Breck?

-He'd be about 73 now if he was alive, wouldn't he?

-No!

There's a fella just passed away, he was called Bill the Bomb,

because he'd just go like that, bang! You know?

He was known as Eddie the Pie!

Proper, proper East Enders. Yeah.

Good people.

We had shared values.

When you'd shoot someone, you'd apologise for doing it,

-wouldn't you?

-That's right.

-Yeah, "Can I buy you a drink?"

-LAUGHING

All that is totally gone now with multiculturalism.

It's hard to find somebody who speaks English in Newham.

We've always been a country where immigration has played a part.

But not on the scale that we're finding now.

You go from Aldgate to Barking now

and there's very, very few English people left.

15 years of mass immigration and white flight

have brought Newham to its tipping point.

Thank you.

Now, Newham has the lowest white British population

of anywhere in the UK.

We've had this massive transformation in...

Which it seemed to happen overnight.

People who've not been back here for many years, they say,

"Whoa! God, I can't believe what's happened here!

"I'll come out of Upton Park station and I could be...

"I could be in...Baghdad."

It was about ten years ago, on the buses,

you could count one white person, to maybe 20 Asian people, you know?

And the schools, as well, you'd go past,

you'd see a school day out and you'd think, "There's something missing there."

And it was that there was no white children.

It just seemed to be the Asian people were beginning

to control this area.

39-year-old Tony Cunningham is a bus driver whose family has

lived in Newham for over 150 years.

I think white people are given a very bad time round here.

Very, very bad time round here.

And I'll never forget this girl, she was a young white girl, Whitechapel.

This...they was fighting on the bus, this Asian girl was,

"You white bitch" this, "You white bitch" that.

And you know what the girl said to me that made me stick out?

"I can't reply to you because what people would think about me."

And I thought to myself, it's true that

if that girl would have replied...

Everyone would've accused... She would've been the racist,

do you know what I mean?

And that's terrible, that's shocking.

The respect.

That's gone.

Their manners are gone. You know, the Christian values are gone.

Everything. The English people just seemed to disappear.

Where have they all gone?

But there's one thing that brings the East Enders who have

moved away from Newham back to their roots.

MUSIC: The Beigeness by Kate Tempest

# The curtains in the room in her daddy's flat

# A young girl heard the truth in an alley-cat

# Howling on the roof next door Imagine that

# All your idols were just like you

# Nothing's beyond you Do what you want to do

# If you feel that it wants you to

# Them things you don't show, I can see

# Them things you don't say, speak to me

# Them things you hide ain't hiding

# No firm ground but we ain't sliding... #

Where's your tomato sauce?

Tony has two children.

His eldest, 12-year-old Jack, lives in Hornchurch in Essex with his mum.

But on match days he travels back to Newham to be with his dad,

a lifelong West Ham supporter.

I have said it sometimes. I said, "Jack, you don't know how lucky you are."

I said, "My dad never done this."

The season ticket was out of the question.

My mum used to have to give me five pounds,

which was a lot of money back then, to get me over West Ham.

Tony's dad Mack was one of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean

that arrived in the 1960s to make a new life in London.

Here he met Tony's mum, a fourth-generation East End cockney.

I don't think my nan was too pleased with the idea,

because my dad was from Jamaica and my mum was from here.

And it was unusual then...

He was pretty much a loner.

Him and my mum were never really...

I've never known them to be together.

There might have been some problems from my dad here and there,

but there were some problems from here and there.

He was called "nigger" when I was growing up.

You know, to be honest with you, I had to educate my nan.

She had a cat called the same thing, but I said, "Nan, you have to..."

Things...she...

How can I tell her?

I'll say, "Nan, you can't have a cat called that."

You know, she didn't really get the gist of it.

CROWD NOISE SWELLS

I remember, at ten years old, I was going over here. West Ham.

In them days, black players used to get bananas thrown at them.

I remember a player once picking up a banana, peeling it and eating it.

CROWD GROANS

Now, 25 years on, Tony feels part of a new minority in Newham.

Yeah, you feel alone.

Most of the Muslims, they stick together.

Their children stick together.

If you're an outsider, don't want no part in, you know,

they don't want to know you whatsoever.

After spending his whole life in Newham, Tony has decided to

join the exodus and is moving to Hornchurch to be nearer his son.

CROWD: # I've looked everywhere... #

MUSIC: I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles by Vera Lynn

# In the air...

# I'm dreaming dreams... #

West Ham's moving. I'm moving.

You know, I'm taking myself away from...

I'm going to go and find a better life.

And I don't regret it, not a bit.

# They're born anew

# Their days are few... #

Now, even the most deeply entrenched East Enders

are abandoning their roots.

This year, West Ham United is moving out of the beloved Boleyn Ground

and bringing an end to over 100 years of history.

It's everything to me.

You know, I'm going to chain myself to the gates

and they're going to have to drag me away from this place. I love it.

# I'm forever blowing bubbles... #

Sorry.

# Pretty bubbles in the air

# They fly so high... #

But nowhere will this loss be more felt than in the

Working Men's Club on West Ham's doorstep.

# ..then like my dreams, they fade and die. #

Big thing coming up when West Ham go after this season,

and the closer you get to it, the more you start to worry, you know?

Through the week, we're not so busy, so we have to make it up wherever we can.

On a good day, we'll take £12,000-£13,000 in a day,

which is a lot of money, you know, a lot of money.

That's a lot of money to lose, you know?

So, therein lies the problem.

# I've looked everywhere

# I'm forever blowing bubbles

# Pretty bubbles in the air. #

ALL: United!

I'm more upset about the older people, the old ladies,

who have probably got no husbands and that,

and they come in here with a couple of their little mates,

they come in with walking sticks, they'll sit down, have a few drinks.

Proper old East End ladies, like, you know?

'And that's not going to be there any more for them, you know?

'So I think, where are they going to go?'

Then I'm just going to do the raffles...

'We have boxing shows upstairs, we have all the local boxing clubs.

'We've got our own ring upstairs.

Joan, kettle's on, love!

'We'll have weddings, funerals... It all happens here, you know?'

I used to be a school dinner lady

and I went to bed early one night and Harry, as usual,

had that animal instinct and I said, "Hal, please leave me alone."

I said, "I'm tired." He said, "Just five minutes!"

I said, "All right, then, but be quick!"

So as he mounted upon my body, all of a sudden,

I thought, "What can I give him for dinner the next day?"

So I lifted his shoulders up and I said,

"Hal? Would you like liver and bacon tomorrow?"

THEY LAUGH

He said, "Thank you!" He said, "Is the window open?" he said,

-"Cos I'm going to throw you out in a minute!"

-THEY LAUGH

We have our tea dances twice a week,

two ladies groups come and have their tea dances,

you know, and they can just about make it up the stairs.

And those that can't, we've got a little lift for them so they come up there, you know?

And it's the highlight of their week, you know?

Where are these people going to go if we have to close down?

Afternoon, ladies.

'It's a tonic for them, you know?'

I hope you've all got extra make-up on today. Have you all got extra make-up?

-And clean knickers.

-And clean...?

-Yes, just in case.

Can you make sure you keep the language down, please(!)

-THEY LAUGH

-OK.

I lost my husband, Eileen lost hers.

When I lost my husband, I didn't want to go to clubs.

Because I was in not a good place.

And the lady, Eileen, that runs the club,

I met her on the bus and I decided to come

and it was one of the best things I did.

We've lost our community.

My son used to live here, in East Ham,

and he was frightened that his children

weren't getting a good education, so he decided to move out.

He's moved to a village called Bicknacre in Essex.

And so, there's no-one left to look after us now.

One of the tea dancers is missing today, Eileen, who is moving out

of the East End following the death of her husband, Albert, five months ago.

When you've been together like Eileen Storey had been,

it'd been 68 years.

Married to the same man.

And he's gone.

And she's mostly lived in that place all that time.

-So, you know...

-Well, we're going to miss her.

I mean, we have lost an awful lot of our community and it's not right.

This is the "Eileen and Albert Museum".

He was a very shy person.

But it lasted a long time, didn't it? 68 year.

-'Do you miss him?'

-Yes.

It's been nice living here though.

There used to be lots more of us than what there is now.

The family downstairs is Somalian.

She's lovely.

Sometimes, she posts letters for me.

I put it through the window at the bottom of the stairs and

she picks it up on her way out when she takes the little boy to school.

They're a very kind family.

Eileen and Albert raised their family here.

But one by one, they all left the East End.

Andy lives in Somerset,

and David lives in Luton and Lynne of course lives in Norfolk.

That is why I have to move, because there's nobody here belonging

to me to keep their eye on me.

With her health deteriorating,

90-year-old Eileen is moving to Norfolk to be nearer her daughter.

When I was talking to one lady called Lily up at the club,

she's a little bit older than me, she's 91 now, I was saying something

about moving and she said, "You don't want to go, really, do you?"

If I let myself think about it, I don't want to go.

LAUGHTER

The life that we knew is finished.

-Don't you agree?

-Yeah. And that's true.

Newham has got the biggest immigrant population in this country,

for the size of what it is.

There's 147 languages in Newham!

That's right.

We've lost our community. We are foreigners in our own country now.

When you're on a bus, I mean, Eileen and I, we're the

only two white people on there this morning.

We'll be the only two and it'll be chock-a-block full.

BUS ANNOUNCER: '..to Canning Town'

It's murder.

The Oakmans have raised their families in these streets

for six generations.

Sisters Amy and Leanne are both stay-at-home mums

and do the school run together every morning.

Not really raining yet, is it?

I only live six minutes from Leanne's.

I see Leanne every day.

Every minute of the day.

We are a really, really close family.

This is Leanne's last week with her family before she leaves

the East End for a new life in Rayleigh.

When I went and visited, I was like, "Oh, yeah!" It's so different.

It's so much cleaner, the people are so much more polite,

and they'll say "Morning". Everybody knows each other.

It's countryside...

So much more for them to do.

Morning!

'It's more English in Essex.

'I think my boys will be mixing with their own.'

Let's go. Are you all right, darling?

'If I didn't have boys growing up, I wouldn't have to move.

'But I feel I need to.'

For a better life.

It sort of rocked the boat a bit for me,

when Leanne said she was moving out.

I was thinking, "Oh, God, what am I going to do?"

I think it's more like my best friend's going.

'And you feel safest around your own people,

'you feel more comfortable around your own kind of people.'

And I think the fact is that every one of the white British,

have all moved out to Essex, so I feel the couple...

Well, the few that are left in the Newham feel, "Why stay here?

"All our own have moved out, so why don't we up and move out with them?"

Primary schools are fine.

But as your child gets older anyway,

they start getting a mind of their own.

Even when Mad goes to secondary schools, as a mum,

I will be behind her all the way and the minute she

steps out of line, whether I'm here still, whether I'm in Essex,

she will be getting put straight back on that right road.

Because that's how we've been brought up.

And how would you feel if she came back with a boyfriend who wasn't...

-white or...?

-Um...

NERVOUS LAUGHTER

I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be happy.

Because obviously, that's just how we've been brought up.

-Been brought up to stick to your own, sort of thing.

-Yeah.

There's multicultures in every family now.

It's just something you have to accept.

We're all the same, we're all the same sort of people,

it's just I don't think the girls can get their head around it.

It ain't my choice.

But if they come home with someone and he was really good to them,

no matter what, as long as he's going to look after them, I don't care.

As long as my children are going to be looked after

and have a nice life...

-I think it'd be what people would say about us...

-Yeah, but...

I'm not the only mum to say that they

wouldn't want their child with a different ethnic group.

-I mean, like, I think I'm probably one of many, really.

-Yeah.

But I just think, as a mum, you just want...

I think it's because of how we are. It's how we've been brought up.

It all stems from how you've been brought up.

If it's been allowed for you to mix with different cultures,

then you can't see any different for your children.

We was never allowed to mix with different cultures,

we was always told to stick with your own and that's what we've done.

It would be hard for me,

but it would be hard if an Indian boy brought an English girl home.

It would be exactly the same reasons.

I mean, you see it on EastEnders with the Masoods.

LAUGHTER

When... I can't think of their storyline now,

but they did bring a white girl home and Masood was going mental.

-They have to have arranged marriages, don't they?

-That's right.

-I mean, I love an Indian, so it wouldn't bother me anyway.

-The food?

Yes, the food. But obviously, yeah, no, I wouldn't disown them.

But I would prefer them to stick to their own.

I just think everyone keeps themself to themself now.

-Yeah.

-Or they move on.

-Mmm.

Like these are thinking of doing.

Tony Cunningham became a father for the second time seven months ago,

when he and his wife Valli welcomed daughter Charlotte.

If Charlotte wouldn't have been born, possibly,

I could have stayed, but it was always in my heart to go.

But now I have the baby, and I think to myself,

there'll be a better opportunity for my daughter there.

Valli is from Romania

and one of 70,000 new residents to make Newham their home

in the last 15 years.

It was somewhere in 2006.

Um, I was on the bus, the 104, so I started to run to catch it,

it stopped, at the bus stop, it took off, and at one point,

the driver saw me and he stopped the bus, but he stopped it quite

far from the bus stop, it was somewhere between the bus stops.

And it was Tony, of course.

So, next morning, I caught the same bus by mistake, or by chance,

I don't know what it was.

So we started saying hello to each other, "Hello!" "Hello!"

"Hello!" You know? And then one day, he was quite shy, I think...

SHE LAUGHS

So he gave me his number.

So this is where it all started, yeah.

I've never met any bad Eastern Europeans.

They have the same sort of standards as I remember my nan having.

When I've been to church before now,

I'd say half the people there are Eastern Europeans.

So they're filling up the churches again.

And I think they're bringing something very good to the area.

But I don't think it's going to come quick enough for Charlotte.

And this school is the one I used to go to.

But it was much more old-fashioned.

Is this the sort of school that Charlotte would go to?

Charlotte can't go to this school, no.

Charlotte can't go to these schools.

-Why not?

-Um...

I was thinking actually about that, and I was thinking, you know,

is this to do with colour or has it got to do with religion?

I was sitting down and I was having a think.

I worry... I worry about her, you know...

I don't want her to forget who she is or where I'm from,

or her mum's from.

I don't want her to forget these things.

I think these schools around here will make her lose her identity.

The schools, you know, you find a Nativity play.

No more Nativity plays.

Christmas cards, no more Christmas cards.

Nothing like that is celebrated any more, it's sort of rubbed out, it's just a holiday.

Her face won't fit around here.

That's what I worry about.

You see on the news, Muslims this and Muslims that

and that thing that happened up in Birmingham,

I worry about things like that down here,

because you've got the same sort of cliquey...

There's no mixing.

Have you visited schools around here?

I've taken a look on the outside of the schools round here and a lot

of them are, you know, mainly Muslim children.

Is she going to know any other way?

Will she feel or will she think that is the only way and the right way?

Will she have options?

I don't care if Charlotte goes to a school and there is a mix

and everything is on an even keel.

And she says, "Dad, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this..."

I don't think there's choice around here.

The schools, they terrify me around here, absolutely terrify me.

Newham has 66 primary schools

serving nearly 40,000 children.

20 years ago, more than half of them were white British.

At Drew Primary in the heart of the Docklands,

there are now just three per class.

Fond, fond memories of going to that school.

I made some good friends there - still in touch with now -

that have since moved out of the area.

Kelly Keyes was a student at Drew Primary 25 years ago,

where she now sends her six-year-old daughter, Ellie.

We sent Ellie to Drew because it was local and it was convenient,

and I knew the area as well.

I still knew some of the staff from when I was at school.

'I've had to make a whole new lot of friends,

'and new contacts around here.

'So sometimes I feel like the new one at the school gates.'

Come on. Be careful.

Careful. No-one run about.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

'We also have a soft spot for that school.'

I'm going to get the names of your classmates.

'Two generations of our family's been going to that school.'

Usman Hussain's family immigrated

to London from Bangladesh in the 1930s.

He's lived in the East End all of his life.

His two daughters now attend Drew Primary.

'I think my children are being exposed to different cultures,

'different faiths.'

Come on, be careful.

'So I'm quite happy, because they will be more open-minded.'

Be careful of the mud. Be careful of the mud.

In saying that...

..I have to say that the British way of life

is something they are not experiencing...

..because of lack of British children.

Head teacher Emma Peltier was headhunted from Australia

to take over at Drew two years ago.

-Good morning.

-KIDS:

-Good morning.

Morning.

'On my first day, when I stood outside,

'not one child said hello to me.

'I'm saying "Good morning" to parents, "Good morning" to families,

'and they all looked at me and just kept walking.'

Good morning.

'The area has changed a lot.

'If you look back 15 years ago,

'most of the children in the school were white British.'

Good morning.

We're no longer living in a monocultural society.

They're coming in from everywhere.

We have 43 languages spoken.

And probably at least once a week

we have a child arrive,

or a family arrive,

who have no English.

But really, really quickly

the children pick up the language.

THEY PLAY WINTER WONDERLAND

Schools and children can be a fantastic way of

people assimilating into a society, because children don't see colour,

children don't see religion.

'Children don't see all of those things that adults may see.

' "I'm three, and actually I like you

' "because you like playing with trucks."

'If we're leaving all of that to happen at home, then actually'

there's nowhere that's bringing all of these communities together.

And I think that this school can bring all these people together.

'This is West Ham.

'Soot from the factories.

'Soot from the funnels of liners in the dock.

'And in the midst of it all, a boy.

'He goes to Drew Road School,

'and this is the top class.'

Drew was once at the epicentre of the industrial East End

and the white working class communities that thrived here.

'The school stands on the brink of the dock,

'where Harry's father works.'

My parents worked locally.

My mum worked in Tate & Lyle, in the sugar factory

and my dad worked in Charrington, the brewers.

It was a very close-knit community.

You see in Drew School,

if you see the school picture,

it was 98% white, English children.

Now, you look at the latest picture...

.."Oh, my God, is that Drew School a school

"from Africa or Romania?"

Might sound racist - believe me, I'm not racist,

but it's just how it feels now.

Being a cockney means the type of jokes we crack,

the sense of humour we have.

Some people may find it offensive or racist.

Another thing is go to the pub and drink, but I don't drink.

That's another big part.

Another part is supporting West Ham, our local club.

Usman is a fifth-generation East Ender.

His family moved to Newham when he was 13 years old.

It was predominantly white people.

I think us, the Khans and the Kolas -

three Asian families.

Initially, should I say,

we faced a little bit of racism in this area.

We could not wear our traditional clothing

in fear of being picked on or in fear of being looked down upon

or racial remarks.

They're over here and you can't do nothing about it anyway, can you?

"Oi, Paki,

"go back to your country. Urgh, you smell of curry."

Although they themselves love to eat curry.

So we could not go out.

We suffered so much racial abuse.

But those very same people in the end have become my friends,

because, in my heart, I'm an East End boy,

they are East End boys as well,

my taste is the same as theirs.

My favourite band, Oasis,

was the same as theirs.

I'm crazy about football, they're crazy about football.

So those people that gave us racial abuse in the end accepted me

and became my good friends, hence I'm not naming them.

Yeah, my friends have moved out and...

..I do miss them.

Instead of just migrating to Essex,

why don't you stay here, fight for it?

But they just throw the toys out the pram and say,

"Nah, this area's been taken over by Asians and Africans.

"Oh, we're leaving."

THEY CHATTER AND HOLLER

I miss those days, to be perfectly honest,

where everyone knew everyone and everyone's business was everyone.

Such a tight-knit community,

this has been disturbed.

A way of life has been disturbed.

At the Working Men's Club,

the younger members left in Newham are fighting to keep

some of their East End traditions alive.

A lot of my friends have moved out now to Essex.

There's not many of us left round here,

but there's still a few

and everyone still comes for a drink down here,

this is where you see everyone.

Everyone comes for a drink maybe on a Saturday,

or if they've got an event on, we all meet up

and we come down here for a drink.

-It's the only time we get everyone together now, innit?

-Yeah.

Our mums and dads used to come here, so we've all grown up together

and just followed suit, really, haven't we?

It's nice to see everyone. You know every single person.

Yeah, it's always here. I think this is literally the last place.

They take this away, then they're taking apart the community, really.

-Yeah, definitely.

-It'd be a shame.

I started boxing when I was five years old.

My dad got me into that, actually.

My dad went into prison,

so my mum had it hard with five kids in the house.

29-year-old Darren Loveday grew up boxing in Newham

and won national junior champion at just 12.

Darren has moved out of the East End to Rainham in Essex,

but returns to his roots to fight for the Working Men's team.

I come back here every two weeks and I'm on the phone to my missus,

"I hate this fucking area."

I really do.

There's too much crime going on around here

and I'm so glad to be away from it all.

I was studying... electrician in college.

I remember walking out of college and I heard,

"White boy, drop your phone and walk off."

No disrespect - I was probably the only white kid in that college.

SHE SHOUTS ENCOURAGEMENT

Well, they didn't know I done boxing.

I threw a 20-punch combination on all three of them

and they all went down.

They said they were going to do me for racism.

I'm white.

They said it's a racist attack.

I went, "That's bullshit."

My nan and my mum are Indian

and I don't think I'm racist.

But I'm not having no little fucker telling me,

"White boy, drop your phone."

Essex feels more like home.

I've been to Hornchurch, Upminster and now I'm in Rainham.

I've been all over Essex and it's a better place.

Tony is hoping to find his Eldorado in Essex

and the place he's been searching for to raise his daughter, Charlotte.

Probably the first thing I think about when I get up

is, "How am I going to get her out of this area

"and a life outside this area?"

Probably we're going to be strangers in another area

and people are probably going to look at us a little bit funny.

I just need her in an area with people that I knew

when I was growing up.

I'd feel safe then.

It's like a maisonette, so it's ground-floor...

Today, Tony and wife Vally

are flat-hunting on the outskirts of Hornchurch,

near where his son Jack lives.

You've got your second bedroom through here.

So it's all nicely decorated, so you haven't got to do too much in there.

It's nice.

-Then you've got your master bedroom in here.

-This is lovely.

The toys were left out over there - I used to see that years ago

and people just don't touch 'em. You just don't.

There's a lot of people moving over this way

because of the nice area, demographics are really...

We're running, mate, running, not moving!

A lot of people are saying the same sort of thinking, you know?

It's for her school and it's for a new start.

Exactly, and there's good schools round here.

I know, my son just goes to school in Hornchurch,

so I know bits and pieces about the area. This is lovely in itself.

It reminds me of blocks from before.

This is how it used to be in East London, exactly the same,

set out as it is outside, everything.

I remember it, it's like going back in time.

But, um...

..we can't deal with it no more. I can't deal with it no more.

Perhaps I'm getting a little bit older, but I can't...

There's certain parts of my area where I don't go.

-Yeah, it's not good, is it?

-No, it's not good.

-Especially when you've got a young family.

-And now I've got a daughter,

to be honest with you,

she wouldn't be going anywhere.

She can't grow up where we're from.

This, for me, is ideal.

Even if I don't like everything myself,

I'm not doing it for me any more,

cos I could still carry on probably living there,

-but with her, it can't happen.

-No.

So, essentially, you want to...

-This is ideal.

-..roll back time and go to where you kind of was before?

Perhaps, yeah, I think that's what I might be doing, mate.

It warmed my heart, if I'm honest with you.

I feel nice and comfortable, look.

Believe it or not, I feel very good as well.

I like it here. I'll come nicely here for a cup of coffee,

just look at the people.

-I like it.

-Yeah, quick, Jack can just find you.

His school is just not far from here, is it?

No, 15 minutes at the most.

But if it's 20 minutes, it might be a really nice walk.

I like it.

-It's very, very nice.

-Perfect.

It's hitting home more now, it's seeming more real

now I'm putting all my last bits and pieces in.

It's, like, two days and that's it.

It's seeming more sad and, at the same time,

stressed, obviously, cos I'm thinking of everything to do.

It's the area I grew up, it's my roots. I've lived here all my life.

It's memories, as well, of everything.

Obviously, all my family's here,

so...I'll probably feel a bit...

..um, lost, in a sense,

cos they're like my mates.

When she goes, it's going to be really hard for me and I think...

Yeah, it's going to be hard.

It will be hard.

I rang Amy and I was saying to Amy, "You've got to do something."

SHE EXHALES HEAVILY

But no.

No-one can persuade her, she's made her mind up, so...

I don't know, she ain't having none of it.

And I am gutted, of course I am.

But she's got to do it now,

because I'm just making myself ill over it, to be honest with you.

I'm making myself really not well over her.

Morning, hiya.

Can I have a refill, please? You just need a...

-I just need another ped.

-And toenails.

This is cos it's the first time I've proper spoke about it.

It will feel really mad, just being two.

Innit? We're always together, ain't we?

-BEAUTICIAN:

-Mum and daughter, always together.

-Yeah.

-Same as our hair, when we have our hair done.

We've got our own hairdresser

and she comes in and she does the three of us.

-Everything we do is like that, innit?

-It's always done as three.

She's still going to come back for her nails, though,

-ain't you, Leanne?

-Yeah.

-I reckon she will...

-THEY SING:

-# There's no place like home. #

I never dreamed in my whole life that my girls would move, ever,

and leave the East End. Never would I.

Don't get me wrong, it has changed a lot,

but it ain't as bad as what people make it out to be,

I don't think, and now they're making me feel unsettled.

"Why are you staying, Mum? Why do you want to stay?"

People go to me, "You ain't still living round there, are you?"

I'm like, "Round where? Like what?"

I just don't think you can beat your roots you come from, to be honest.

DISTANT SIREN WAILS

There is one place left that still feels like home for Tony

and it's here he's gathered family and friends

for Charlotte's christening,

a week before he will leave the East End behind.

CHURCH ORGAN PLAYS

THEY SING A HYMN

I feel at peace when I'm in here.

A lot of it connects me to the past and how people were.

You can go into a church...

..and there's, like, 60 or 70 people that are friendly.

You will not get that any more.

That church, that is the last.

You go to most areas, people don't care any more.

You walk down East Ham high street and people just do not care.

At least you're in there with people that do care.

-VICAR:

-Charlotte,

Christ claims you for his own...

..and lead you in the light and obedience of Christ.

'Which is why it's important for Charlotte to, you know...'

..for her to be christened.

Now, darling, I'm going to just put some water over your head.

'And she's part of something now.'

..that within the company of Christ's pilgrim people

you may daily be renewed by his anointing Spirit.

-ALL:

-Amen.

Well done, Charlotte, you were perfect.

HE LEADS PRAYER IN ARABIC

When I was young, I lived a double life,

to be perfectly honest with you.

One with the family and the relatives

and one with the English friends that I had.

It was a dual life I was living.

Sometimes it did get tiring but, as I grew up,

I learned to appreciate my Asian heritage

as well as my British heritage.

Now, I'm proud of both.

Usman grew up in Newham

and is the only one of his peer group to still live there.

He has recently started a prayer group

for the burgeoning Muslim community in his area.

HE RECITES PRAYER IN ARABIC

If I had to go to a mosque,

I had to take two trains

or three buses to get to a mosque.

But now, with the influx of migrants in this area,

there are quite a few people from my religious background

and we do arrange a Friday prayer service.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'm going to see this day.

'So there are positives.'

Brothers, please fill in the gaps.

'But since 2004, the whole of Europe want a piece of England,

'just everything all of a sudden in my area is changing,

'from being a small community where not many cultures clashed,'

to hundreds of cultures clashing all at the same time.

Initially, it was really difficult,

but now I'm getting used to it.

'I have to.'

We are trying our very best to arrange Arabic classes for children,

so, inshallah, we will need some support...

'Because of those minorities, it's reared its ugly head.

'Regrettably, in Paris, in Madrid,

'or our beloved city, London,

'it can be really, really tough being a Muslim right now.

'The other day, I went to the chemist'

and the English gentleman was speaking about something,

as soon as I walked in...

Oh...

they stopped.

The pharmacist is a very good friend of mine.

I said, "What was that gentleman saying?" He said, "No, nothing."

I said, "No, be honest. What was he saying?"

He said, "No, he was talking about Isis and how evil they were."

I said, "Why could he not carry on in front of me?"

I would have been the one who would have encouraged him more.

I would have been the one who was saying more against the Isis

because I hate them - I don't consider them Muslims.

'It does hurt sometimes when people say,

'because you are a Muslim, you are not British.

'How can I not be British?

'Fifth generation British, mate.

'It does get difficult sometimes. It really hurts.'

That's when I think, if my childhood friends were around,

right now would have been ideal.

They would have vouched,

"He's more British than us.

"He's...much, much more British than us.

"He's much more proud of being an East Ender than us."

I'm still here - they're not.

I'm a proud East Ender.

Today, Leanne will begin her new life in Essex...

..marking the end of an era for the Oakham family.

I've got to try and get round there,

but I don't know how I'm going to be...

That's my thing - I don't do goodbyes.

Even though I know she's only going...

She ain't going to the other side of the world or whatever -

she's only going to Rayleigh - but... I know that's final then.

Yeah, I could never imagine leaving or moving, or...

Never.

I'd always thought I'd live here all my life, but...

As you get older and you see things different,

and things change,

you need to put your priorities first

and that's the boys, really.

Oh, don't!

You can't get me started on them.

-SOBBING:

-No, I'm going to miss them dearly - big time.

Yeah.

I think, as a nan, you want to be there for them all the time.

And you want them to know who you are and you want to whatever...

with them, but...

Yeah, I'm going to be gutted, big time,

for not seeing them as much as I do now.

I want to feel like I'm living in England and belong there,

really, again, to be honest.

Back to the old East London, how it used to be.

Being there with your own people and fitting in again.

It feels like she's passed away. It feels really bad.

Like, I go to bed thinking about it, I wake up thinking about it.

We've always lived in Newham, so...

None of us have ever, ever thought about moving out

because we all live in a fishbowl, really.

Now we're losing a close, close member of the family,

straight away that's put a guard up to me thinking,

"Well, I need to go.

"I've got to move."

Then, if I move, I know my mum will follow.

If my mum follows, I know my nan will follow.

So then you've lost a big generation,

a family generation, in Newham.

So that's another family up and gone to Essex.

CHATTER

To pack a lot of bits and pieces still.

'I have always been all right round here.'

Then you see something happen on the street and you just say,

"Yeah, you are making the right move."

Erm...

INDISTINCT SPEECH

Tony and Vally are closing the door on the East End

to make their new home in Hornchurch.

When we was down there today, believe it or not,

we took some stuff there,

there was an old boy, he come over and introduced himself.

My sort of person, you know.

There was a couple of people that...

come up and said hello, and told us a bit about the area.

But then there's a few people that also give us that look, you know...

of outsiders moving in.

So...

I'm all right. I'm all right with that sort of thing

cos I've seen it before.

But they'll get to know us. They'll warm to us.

I...

After the next race, you can have...!

'I just don't think you can beat your roots you come from,

'to be honest.'

The East End, you would never get better

than the East End, I don't think.

'I just think the East End is still here.

'If you want to look for it, it's still there.'

'Eventually things will change, but it'll be too late then.

'It'll be too late.'

I think it's... I don't know, perhaps I'm kidding myself.

Perhaps it's too late already. Perhaps it's all gone now anyway.

Perhaps the good old East End has gone after all that, you know.

Perhaps I'm living in the past. Perhaps it's me.

HE LAUGHS

'Time's moving on now, so everyone's moving out,'

everyone else is moving in.

We've got the foreigners coming in here

and they're not taking over - we're letting them.

'It's like no-one never stood their ground, did they?'

-Bye.

-You will be fine.

Bye.

Oh.

Oh, you're a lovely boy.

I'm going to write you a letter when I get to my new house.

Been here a long time.

Yeah.

I hope my next neighbours are as nice as you are.

Yeah, bye.

'In ten years' time, maybe not even that,

'there will be absolutely no trace of cockney culture,

'no trace of British culture,

'I can assure you, in ten years' time.

'Not even that, maybe.'

Everything this area stood for is being eradicated, slowly but surely.