Revitalized East End?

[Barnaby]

I tried to post this on the London Olympics thread but it appears that the thread has been closed.

To what extent do you think that the Olympics will promote more tourism to the East End? And have any of the historical sites been compromised by the Olympic infrastructure?

I plan to make my first visit to Whitechapel next summer and would like to get some impressions as to whether it will be better, worse, or unchanged with the Olympics being there this year.

[Limehouse]

Hi Barnby

I do not think the Olympics will promote tourism in Whitechapel. Most of the regeneration has been going on in the Lea Valley and the Stratford areas - not so close to Whitechapel. The 'real' east end (Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Bethnal Green and so on) already has quite a lot of tourism because it's trendy to go and see the gentrification, the preservation of some of the old buildings, ripper tours, the markets and so on.

Stratford has a swanky new shopping centre and that attracts a lot of people from miles around. However, some east London schools have pitifully poor buildings and resources so the idea of regeneration is a bit hit amd miss.