The city of London (England, UK) is split up into a number of 'Boroughs' each of which have their own council and services and other stuff.

Newham is one such Borough, in the east of London. It has many distinguishing features, and is also where I live. Newham is one of the poorest areas in the UK, but the Eastenders¹ that live there are very friendly and form a wide mix of different cultures and backgrounds. Unlike the popular sterotype, Eastenders do not generally speak Cockney Ryming Slang anymore, though 'cockney' is still a strong local slang, which has a constantly changing volcabulary of words.

A lot of people immigrating into London end up living in Newham, and for this reason there is now a big local Asian population. The newest generation of this community are mostly born in Britain now, and is fully integrated with the rest of the Borough.

Food

Newham is popular for its food and markets, as you can eat traditional jellied eels, south indian + sri lanken food (very nice), curries, and plenty of other varied cuisines. In the markets you can buy fruit, meat, fish and vegetables of huge variety very cheaply. There are plenty of Supermarkets, and local shops around to buy all other types of food for cooking too.

There are also plenty of local resteraunts and takeaways. Two of the best ones are the "Cafe De Bengal" on Station Road, serving Bangladeshi-style curries, and the "Excellent" on High Street North, for "Masala Dosas" (which make good lunches).

Transport

There are many ways to get about in Newham using public transport. The biggest station is Stratford, from where you can get the tube to central London, the train to Southend or Liverpool Street, the Dockland Light Railway (or DLR) to Canary Wharf or Greenwich and the bus to pretty much anywhere else.

Generally the tube is frequent, the train is fast and the DLR is fun. Buses are good for finding your way around and with a travelcard you can get on them as they come. The DLR is like a rollercoaster ride, with no driver you can sit at the front as it wizzes around the Docks, banking around corners and going up on supports, monorail-style.

Attractions

Newham isn't exactly a tourist hotspot, but there are plenty of things to do there. For a start you can visit the great green spaces (yes there are plenty in London) such as Wanstead Flats, and Wanstead Park. There are also plenty of local cinemas, theatres and a new Arts Centre in Stratford!

More Information

• Newham Directoy - a guide to all of the Newham-based websites (and boy are there a lot!) -run by me!
• Newham Council's Site is huge and has a fair amount of info on it.
• The free.uk.talk.l-b.newham USENET discussion group