Olympics 2012 have changed the Lower Lea Valley beyond recognition

When the pop group Saint Etienne made a film in 2005 about London's Lower Lea Valley, they knew the Olympic bid would change its desolate air for ever. But they never imagined quite how muchOn a wet day in March 2005, I took a walk up the Lower Lea Valley from Canning Town to Hackney Marshes with film director Paul Kelly. It was an area of severe pollution and urban decay – with Bow, Bromley and Homerton on its west bank, Canning Town, Stratford and Leyton on its east – yet it had a fascinat...

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