London 2012

 

London will be hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for the third time, a unique feat for a host city. Although this is an international sporting event, this great occasion also has much resonance with London and east Londoners especially, as the new stadium will be built at Stratford. What will happen to the stadium after the Games has been thrown into question , following today's announcement. Get all the gory detail here

There are plenty of official websites that provide information on jobs, infrastructure, the ODA and London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), so if you need this sort of information, then please visit www.London2012.co A very good website to check out various blogs, sport, progress, the BBC Archive and London news is www.bbc.co.uk/2012

The London 2012 pages on this website will focus on the visitor economy from a local perspective. There is a lot to do in and around the Olympic Park at Stratford, or a bit further afield, so keep looking here for what's new and what is not being reported in the above-mentioned websites.

We liked this east London travel piece posted in the New York Times Travel section in January 2012 - 'an Olympic preview in east London'.

The London 2012 UK Event Industry Fair Pricing and Practice Charter encourages businesses to commit to fair pricing and provides a means to do so. The charter sets out guidelines and criteria to abide by. Whilst not legally binding, it is a statement of intent. Some accommodation providers have signed up to this charter, so check before you book and hopefully you will get a better deal. If you are looking for accommodation, over 12,000 rooms were dumped back on the London market in January, this should make the market more competitive.

IT IS WORTH A VISIT. NOW

Cities always strive to create new destination icons around which they hope to attract investment and visitors, so what is it about the Olympic stadium that makes it so completely anonymous?

A sponsor has been found to provide the only visible decoration, or curtain that will hang around the Olympic stadium onto which designs will be incorporated. Perhaps the organisers are counting on the new Anish Kapoor Orbit Tower that visitors will be able to climb to get panoramic views across the Stratford site? It won’t be completed until March 2012, so in the meantime, visitors to the Olympic site must make do with some interesting viewing opportunities served up in a fashion that only east London business can.

It is not immediately obvious how to find it, but once you do, the new View Tube; café, classroom, fledgling art space and bike hire, located on the Greenway adjacent to the stadium offers something alternative. A structure made from re-cycled shipping containers, this low-key green building solution puts into focus the monumental building project just feet away. The company behind the containers, Urban Space Holdings has been successfully pioneering these structures and has them dotted around east London, but never too far from the mother ship at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

Located behind Pudding Mill DLRstation, and through some intimidating bluehording designed to  make you feel that perhaps you  shouldn’t be there you emerge  right in front of the stadium. There are a number of interpretation panels and basic information on what is being built and when things will open, butthe real attraction has to be theopportunities to walk or cycle from here to other destinations in and around the area including; Mile End, Lea Valley, Hackney, Bow and Stratford itself. The skyline can point the way as you spot the Gerkin in the City, the emerging Shard at London Bridge and the towers of Canary Wharf. The paths are good, terrain flat and much of it is along tow paths that take you to forgotten parts of the city. There is much to explore as this website can testify, and would urge you to enjoy the peace and quiet whilst you can as visitor numbers steadily increase.

Perhaps the irony of this massive construction project is that once the park has been de-constructed, it will be the things left behind that, should they become places where the locals like to go, maybe they will the icons of the future?

For information on opening times and bike hire go to www.theviewtube.co.uk

Shopping centres are a parallel universe with their own climate, by-laws and conditions of use that are quite simply, terrifying.

Shopping is not without it’s pleasure and pain however, and the British are masters of the art. When I heard that Statford was to be the new home for an enormous shopping centre, I was bit puzzled; but not for long. Stratford of course is the new centre of the universe and what better way to celebrate and make a lasting impact, than to go shopping.

So if was that I joined the thousands of curious Londoners who have recently paid a visit to Westfield, only recently opened. Expertly designed, colour-coordinated and heaped full of bling, should I wipe my feet before entering? Lots of familiar big brand names above the door, and some names I have never heard of; stores staffed with slightly anxious-looking employees clutching flyers stuffed with good reasons for you to part with your cash inside their little slice of retail heaven. John Lewis and Waitrose, in Stratford? Will this bring in a new visitor with a more upmarket demographic to this scruffy, down-at-heel part of London? I really can’t see the shoppers in the old Statford Mall rushing over the road to buy their organic, fair-traded curtains and beef.

I wondered too, how much rent the shops and restaurants are paying to have a position on the boulevard that will lead directly into the Olympic Park - along which all the spectators will be channelled next summer.

There have been many stories in the press about the over-zealous security on these private estates, and I wasn’t sure who would pounce when I got my camera out and took some pictures. Feeling emboldened, got my phone out and made a call, then sent a friend a text! The only encounter I had with security was a miserable man who begrudgingly gave me directions to a coffee shop I had just walked past, but failed to notice.

So east London has a new visitor destination; and shopping centre with a questionably mix of stores sitting cheek-by-jowl with a future post Olympic park, the Queen Elizabeth II Park with an equally questionable visitor offer.

I wandered through the old Statford Mall and into the high street, which is unfortunately undergoing extensive roadworks, so a comparable shopping experience it is not - but busy it is. The market inside the centre was doing brisk business, as was Poundland, doing a roaring trade!

I have no doubt that destination Stratford will do well for the next 10 months, but what then? The official tourism bodies have compelling arguments for the continued robust health of the visitor economy, with lots of spectacular events in 2012, but what is not clear is how it will be communicated and incorporated into the London-wide and local offer once everyone has gone home? What will this destination bring to the tourism table? One of the few successful and distinctive local destinations is Maritime Greenwich - which surely can’t be harmed by developments at Stratford, but what about the many smaller emerging destinations that don’t have a coherent tourism voice and offer? If I was a retailer in Canary Wharf I would be concerned as Westfield is bound to take business away. Will those who shop at Broadway or Queens market still shop there, or will Westfield swallow up all local distinctiveness and show to visitors the bland experience of “we could be anywhere in the UK”? What is the London 2012 Legacy?

This opinion piece follows a visit to Stratford by editor Mary Tebje on 10 October 2011. If you have a comment to share please email info@visiteastlondon.com and the best comments will be published here.