There’s something strange going on when it comes to Woolwich; it’s cultural identity seems to be completely split. Two or three times recently, when I’ve mentioned that I was heading to Woolwich to a few of the locals (Ie, native Londoners who have lived in the Borough of Greenwich for their entire lives) they have warned me to be careful, as if I was going somewhere dodgy or dangerous. The thing is, that’s not the impression I get from that area at all. I think I’ve mentioned here a few times recently how much gentrification Woolwich is receiving: it has a colossal Tesco, brand new library and council building, and it’s theatre, the Tramshed, is currently being expanded and is going to be huge. On top of that, it has an Elisabeth Line station, linking it to central London within minutes.

While I mentioned here a few weeks ago that Woolwich had quite a proletarian, working class feel to it, especially when contrasted with ultra-gentrified areas of Central London, the truth is I don’t think it still deserves the rough reputation that it once had. I just got back from there having gone to try to sort out some business at the council, and found a thriving, increasingly wealthy area, surrounded by building sites and bustling with activity: it didn’t seem threatening at all. Indeed, as I touched upon here, East London in general seems to be shedding the not-so-flattering reputation it once had. On the other hand and at the same time, there still seemed to be a working class element to it: in the market, stall holders call out what they are selling in thick, South London accents while traffic whizzes about and the sound of pneumatic drills fills the air. Thus, culturally, there is still a kind of rough and ready undercurrent to be found in Woolwich which you might not experience in other areas of the metropolis.

I must admit this really interests me. The result is a kind of weird geographic schizophrenia, where the area has two personalities at once. As a suburb of one of the world’s greatest, richest cities, Woolwich is in a constant state of development with huge sums of money being invested in it. It’s town centre with it’s public square and huge screen is far more lavish than anything I remember in any northern town. At the same time it seems to have kept quite a proletarian, rough and ready culture, possibly a remnant of it’s history as an artillery manufacturing hub. Woolwich seems unable to shake it’s former culture and reputation off, even though it’s just as gentrified as any other part of London; it’s as if people there don’t want to let go of their working class roots, while the city around them gets richer and richer.