Congratulations to the Telegraph's Caroline McGhie, not just for one of most entertaining pieces on the ever-so-slow-growing Thames Gateway redevelopment, but also for managing to make a Knight Frank estate agent sound like a character from a Dickens novel.
It isn't homely. If you play hunt-the-corner-shop you might eventually find a small parade with a Costcutter, a chippy, a bookie and a greasy spoon, with a strip club two corners away. "But you can have all your food home-delivered from the giant Tesco," says James Talbot of Knight Frank, who works and lives in Thames Gateway. "Historically this is London's largest sewage factory - the East End has always had the smells. With the westerly wind being dominant, that is why they put the houses for the poor in the East End in the first place."
Mr Talbot's nose twitches and his hands rub together.
Soon, he assures me, the area around here will be covered in homes
.
Ingress Park sounds like a triumph, though. Read McGhie's feature, it's great.
