Did you know that...
If you want to do some shopping, Stratford E15 has two shopping centers with lots of stores and other attractions. Since 1974, Stratford Center was one of the favorite shopping places for Stratford E15 residents. The center contains a mall and also an indoor market. There are more than 62 stores and also restaurants such as McDonald’s and Pizza Hut.
Westfield Stratford City was opened in 2011. It’s the second largest shopping center in Europe and the fourth in the UK. The construction uses floor tiles from Pavegen Systems. The tiles capture energy from walkers’ footsteps and transform it into electrical power.
The area in the London Borough of Newham was considered a hotbed for the flour production industry during the 18th century. Watermills and windmills in the area processed the grain brought from Essex and provided a fairly large amount of flour for baking bread for the City.
The building at 121 The Grove, which is Stratford Health Centre today, has had a varied career. For instance, it was used as a Billiard Hall and further back, it was used as a cinema theatre. The Grove Picture Palace was opened in about 1910 and became one of the earliest cinemas in the UK.
The Orbit Tower in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is the world’s tallest and longest tunnel slide, as well as Britain’s largest piece of public art. This 114.5-metre-high red tower of twisted metal, designed by Carsten Höller, allows the brave to zoom down the 178-m slide at speeds of about 15mph! The ArcelorMittal Orbit is also an observation tower with two observation platforms offering spectacular views of West London.
Many see Stratford as the birthplace of steam-driven road transport. The English inventor Walter Hancock began experimenting with steam-powered road vehicles in 1824. He designed his steam bus ‘The Infant’ in a workshop in the south of Stratford High Street in 1832.
Famous people from Stratford are a British fashion designer and couturier Alexander McQueen, an English singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer Samantha Brown, film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist Bryan Forbes, one of the leading Victorian poets Gerard Manley Hopkins, and many others.