Discover Newham’s Asian Heritage: A 1970s Walking Tour, Friday, 17 July '26

Discover Newham’s Asian Heritage: A 1970s Walking Tour

Friday, 17 July 2026, 6.30-8.30 pm - by Dr M Ahmedullah

The heritage walking tour provides a unique insight into the lives of Asian communities who settled in Newham during the 1960s and 1970s. It is an opportunity to gain an insight into the early experiences of people from India, Pakistan, East Africa and Bangladesh who made Newham their home - building new lives, contributing to local communities and striving for a better future. Seen through the eyes of a young person growing up in the 1970s in Newham, the tour brings to life the struggles and challenges faced by the Asian communities in a rapidly changing borough.

Newham has a long history of multiracialism, cultural diversity, community harmony, racial violence and all kinds of creative syntheses, driven by the unique dynamics sparked by the multicultural interactions of the time. In the 1970s, larger numbers of new arrivals from Asian backgrounds in East Africa and the Indian subcontinent joined established white British communities, West Indians (many of whom were Jamaicans), and the Asians who had arrived earlier. There were other communities too, and, although their numbers were relatively small, they still contributed to the energy and vitality of 1970s Newham.

Daily life of Newham Asians involved going to and coming from places of employment or study, working on the sewing machine at home and homemaking, navigating racial tensions, discrimination, everyday fear and experience of racial violence on the streets, while creating new synthesis and moving forward.

The tour starts at East Ham Underground Station, continues along Plashet Grove to Green Street, passes Upton Park Underground and ends at the site of the old Odeon Cinema Bolyen in Barking Road. Along the way and in nearby places, there are stops filled with stories and anecdotes – from places to eat and pubs to thriving businesses, to tales of tragedy, murders, young romance, gang culture and the joys and influences of Indian cinema and Indian music.

East Ham and Upton Park were the two principal hubs where the majority of Newham Asians lived, ran businesses, enjoyed leisure and got entertained.

The stops include places of joy, notorious local incidents, like a racist M**der in 1980 and the M**der of one young Indian woman in the late 1970s, as well as everyday experiences of school life, beloved Plashet Park, street offers and iconic cars (such as the Capri, Ford Cortina Mark II and III).

Join this fascinating walk and explore the rich diversity of Newham’s Asian heritage of the 1970s through the eyes of a young person growing up in the borough with vivid memories, who nearly got killed in a vicious racial attack in Green Street at around 1.30 am on a Saturday night in the summer of 1978.

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