Talk:London Borough of Tower Hamlets
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| On 12 June 2026, it was proposed that this article be moved from London Borough of Tower Hamlets to Tower Hamlets. The result of the discussion was not moved. |
Deprivation
The article states; "This borough is also the most deprived borough of London and further yet, the most deprived area in the United Kingdom." I added the comma here because it didn't seem to read very well.
More to the point, this is a very subjective statement. Is there any supporting evidence, maybe unemployment, crime and one parent family figures can be used as indicators of poverty. Although I am not to sure about deprivation. Are we sure that Tower Hamlets does not have the necessities of life at hand in it? Are we sure we should be calling it deprived and not impoverished? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.156.20.82 (talk) 11:01, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
It's not changed to the second most deprived in London and third most in the UK (although the reference I've provided only actually covers England). Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney seem to be competing to be the most deprived borough. PoisonedPigeon (talk) 09:42, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is part of the London Borough of Hackney, not LB Tower Hamlets. The Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Explorer Map sheet 173 shows the boundary between Tower Hamlets and Hackney / Shoreditch east of Shoreditch High Street. Moreover the Wikepedia entry for LB Hackney correctly claims Shoreditch as part of it.
- Shoreditch tube station is in LB Tower Hamlets may be the source of the confusion. Some might argue Shoreditch straddles the boundaries of LB Hackney & LB Tower Hamlets although of course the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch became part of LB Hackney only. Shoreditch is at the point where 5 postcodes meet: EC2, EC1, N1, E1 & E2 which also confuses its location. MRSC 20:35, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- It is yet another East End muddle. I have only just realised that St Leonard's (Shoreditch) parish church (as in 'When I grow rich, said the bells of Shoreditch') is actually in Tower Hamlets, not Hackney. Will amend the Shoreditch district entry to reflect this shortly (districts are allowed to be a mess.) Tarquin Binary 19:43, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
- The borough boundaries and postal districts are a real muddle there. As far as I can see Hackney makes a little detour to include the church and the E1 postcode forms an odd shaped protrusion to include all of Shoreditch High Street. MRSC 20:03, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
- Just remembered this discussion. Yeah, you're right. My muddle is due to a Hackney council map that unaccountably relinquishes St Leonard's to TH. Tarquin Binary 14:14, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
- Council boundaries are decided by the Boundaries Commission - the Post Office does not change the postcode boundaries to match. The current boundary near St Leonard's Church runs down Hackney Road, into Austin Street and then down Boundary Road thus excluding the Church. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.226.49.232 (talk) 11:31, 8 June 2016 (UTC)
Local Landmarks
Does every tall building in the docklands really count as a "local landmark"? JPD (talk) 19:43, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
- I'd say so. You can see them all from miles away and we list all the City of London ones and they are all in a reasonably confined space. I notice some are redirects so I'll fix that. MRSC 20:56, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
- I'd say listing the two City of London ones as "sights" is slightly different. At any rate, the fact that they are all in a reasonably confined space is the reason why I think of them more as a landmark together, with 1 Canada Square as a focal point, rather than each being a separate landmark. JPD (talk) 10:52, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
Twin towns
This article lists two twin towns. Is this correct? Tower Hamlets official website says "Tower Hamlets does not currently participate in a town twinning scheme." --David Edgar 16:32, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Tower Hamlets was part of the so called Jumelage ring of partner towns. A group of seven towns that are close to their countries capitals. These were Puteaux (France), Offenbach am Main (Germany), Velletri (Italy), Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg), Mödling (Austria), Saint Gilles (Belgium) and Bethnal Green/Tower Hamlets (UK). I tried to contact Tower Hamlets in the early 2000s around the 1100 anniversary of my hometown (Mödling) to invite a youth group from Tower Hamlets. There was no reply. It has since been removed from the partner town list of Mödling as well, as the Borough seems to be completly oblivious to the partner town group. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.158.227.8 (talk) 10:38, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
You've cited a verifiable and reliable reference - whereas the article does not. I'm removing the reference to twin towns from the article. Cosmopolitancats 14:39, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
How to write about places
Wikipedia:WikiProject UK geography/How to write about settlements provides guidance on how to improve this article. In a nutshell, there are quite a few issues which have not been addressed at all. In summary, the suggested headings for sections are as follows:
* Geography and administration * History * Landmarks * Demographics * Economics * Places of Interest * Culture * Present Day (Communal facilities, Transport, Education, Industry & Commerce, Sport) * Notable Residents (ie people who meet the criteria of Wikipedia:Notability (people)
On this basis, a lot needs to be done to improve this article. I'm happy to get it started using this abovementioned recommended guideline if others will chip in around individual sections.
Click the link to the guide to see more details about what sort of things should be included in each action Cosmopolitancats 14:36, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
Demographics
Can whoever included the demographic data go back and identify the sources of the data for each stat and the comparative data comments
One of the sentences relating to the percentage of islamic muslims was confusing and was unsourced and has been deleted. Can we use the correct terminology from the census data - once that has been identified.
Given some of the extremes might this be better presented in a table with the ranking figure? What do people think?
No mention as yet of deprivation indices which need to be included. Cosmopolitancats 15:47, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
demographics are impossible
Move
I was relieved to see the move to Tower Hamlets reverted. Surely such a big change would benefit from being thoroughly discussed first? I imagine there are arguments for and against and I think they would need a good airing before something so major was done. I do know about wp:bold but even so I think this was a step too far, and that it should not move from London Borough of Tower Hamlets without thorough discussion leading to consensus. My personal view, for what it's worth, is that it should not move at all: but the matter of principle concerning discussion is perhaps the more important point. Thanks and best wishes, DisillusionedBitterAndKnackered (talk) 14:47, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
Confusion over nationalities vs. ethnicities and the core reasons for poverty
I'm a complete newcomer to this topic who came to this article trying to find out why Tower Hamlets was often used as an example of a poor district in the UK. I grew up in a remote wealthy monocultural English rural area so I have no preconceptions and no ideas about this area, I have rarely ever visited London; London all looks poor and dirty to me, apart from the bit around Hamleys.
This article seems to unfairly assume a large amount of knowledge about socioeconomic and demographic conditions of British urban areas that neither I nor any other non-metropolitan reader could reasonably be expected to have.
The article keeps stating nationalities such as "Bangladeshi" but links to ethnicities such as "British Bangladeshi". I am very confused. Is the problem of poverty lots of first-generation immigrants with Bangladeshi passports who have recently arrived with nothing but the shirts on their backs, or is the problem that even after the second, third or fourth generation, their offspring (who now qualify for British passports), are still poor for some reason? I.e. is the poverty due to a non-stop influx of new immigrants, or due to a longer-term multi-generational issue?
If they're British why does it matter that their grandparents or great-grandparents were Bangladeshi? My great-grandparents were Irish Catholic horse traders who fled poverty but I've done okay, so what's the actual problem here? Why does the Bangladeshi connection actually matter? I am concerned that the article's current wording suggests that having Bangladeshi heritage makes a person somehow automatically inferior. The way the article is worded currently, it seems to blame the poverty on people who hold Bangladeshi passports, which I find difficult to believe.
Please can the article be updated by a knowledgeable editor to remove this confusion? Thank-you. Andrew Oakley (talk) 10:44, 30 July 2012 (UTC)
London borough becomes ‘Islamic republic’”
Proposed move
- The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.
The result of the move request was: withdrawn by nominator —sroc 💬 13:51, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
London Borough of Tower Hamlets → Tower Hamlets – This article is the primary topic for "Tower Hamlets", which already redirects here. "Tower Hamlets" is also presumably the common name for the subject, since it is more likely that people would, in ordinary language, use the short form "Tower Hamlets" than the full name "London Borough of Tower Hamlets". The shorter name is sufficiently precise (otherwise it would not be the primary topic and would require disambiguation). Shorter titles should be preferred over longer ones unless there is good reason otherwise. —sroc 💬 11:18, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
- OPPOSE. This would breach established Wikipedia conventions for London names, both explicit at WP:LONDONNAMES, which distinguishes between localities and boroughs, and implicit in naming of articles on other entities such as Tower Hamlets London Borough Council. NebY (talk) 13:32, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
- Thanks, NebY. I see that the conventions at WP:LONDONNAMES conflict with the various guidelines at WP:PRIMARYTOPIC, WP:COMMONNAME, WP:PRECISION and WP:CONCISE. Nonetheless, I accept that the specific conventions take precedence general guidelines. Proposal withdrawn. —sroc 💬 13:51, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
- The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.
External links modified
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Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Tower Hamlets (disambiguation) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 20:02, 24 October 2019 (UTC)
Politics section
I've placed a "Recentism" tag under the London Borough Council section as it's clearly slanted to 2010 events onwards. Just the first paragraph covers 1965 to 2009. The section's starting to look like a rolling news feed. I think the main points need summarising and some of the detail removed and perhaps placed on the Tower Hamlets London Borough Council article. Any views? --Rupples (talk) 03:50, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
- I agree. Most of the London Borough Council section should be moved to the Borough Council article. Only a 1 or 2 paragraph summary is needed here. Renaissance77 (talk) 14:48, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
Requested move 12 June 2026
- The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
The result of the move request was: not moved. Per WP:LONDONNAMES. (non-admin closure) Fortek67 (talk) 20:56, 19 June 2026 (UTC)
London Borough of Tower Hamlets → Tower Hamlets – Per WP:NCPLACE and WP:COMMONNAME, the full official name is very rarely used and "Tower Hamlets" is unambiguous. Chessrat (talk, contributions) 22:11, 12 June 2026 (UTC)
- Oppose All of the road signs in Tower Hamlets use the full name . It is used in the press , , , , , , . They are just a few which show that it COMMONNAME doesn't come into play. Davidstewartharvey (talk) 12:41, 13 June 2026 (UTC)
Note: WikiProject London, WikiProject UK geography, WikiProject England and WikiProject Cities have been notified of this discussion. NebY (talk) 13:10, 13 June 2026 (UTC)
- Oppose per WP:LONDONNAMES, there is a current naming convention in place to use the full name for all London boroughs. Any change should apply to all of them. DankJae 13:18, 13 June 2026 (UTC)
- Oppose per WP:CRITERIA; the current name is at the very least recognisable, precise, and consistent with the titles of other articles about London boroughs. NebY (talk) 13:34, 13 June 2026 (UTC)
- Oppose as recognisable, precise. Not unambiguous. Tower Division also has a claim as does Tower Hamlets (UK Parliament constituency). MRSC (talk) 06:53, 14 June 2026 (UTC)
- Oppose per all above. Thryduulf (talk) 08:17, 14 June 2026 (UTC)
- I have produced a list of the London boroughs at User:Crouch, Swale/London boroughs, as can be seen in 14 cases the settlement of the same name is at the base name such as Ealing and in 10 cases the base name is a DAB such as Sutton but in 8 cases the base name redirects to the London borough. There was a discussion at Talk:Tower Hamlets (disambiguation)#Requested move 24 October 2019 that resulted in consensus to keep the primary redirect. I did ask User:Amakuru about this back in 2019 at User talk:Amakuru/Archive 18#District v suburb. I don't think "London Borough of" is part of the common name (per the OS and Britannica) or the official name given that the legislation that created them just uses the name without any "London Borough of" so it might be better to just modify WP:LONDONNAMES and WP:UKDISTRICTS to say that the short name should be used if primary. Crouch, Swale (talk) 22:12, 14 June 2026 (UTC)
- just like many things that are ambiguous, the disambiguating part of the name is not used when the context is clear but is part of the common name when context is not clear. For this reason, and consistency with the majority of cases where the base name is ambiguous, I oppose changing LONDONNAMES. Thryduulf (talk) 09:41, 15 June 2026 (UTC)
- But is it part of the common name? It doesn't appear in legislation the OS or Britannica. Crouch, Swale (talk) 21:43, 15 June 2026 (UTC)
- I can find plenty of government documents that use the full title. are just a few uses by central government and its bodies that use the full title. As I stated above, commonname only comes into play when a name is used more frequently than others. A search in the BBC gives 29 pages where the full title is used, but when you search on plain "Tower Hamlets" you get the same pages. In the case of Tower Hamlets you can safely say that the full title as per article is used. Davidstewartharvey (talk) 22:22, 15 June 2026 (UTC)
- I Googled "Tower Hamlets" -"London Borough of Tower Hamlets" -Wikipedia and on the first three pages of results I found exactly no uses that were not part of proper names (e.g. Tower Hamlets Homes), social media account names or hashtags where the context being London boroughs was not immediately clear (e.g. the Evening Standard using the phrase "Tower Hamlets Council" or an organisation saying it serves the boroughs of Newham and Tower Hamlets in East London). Thryduulf (talk) 07:29, 16 June 2026 (UTC)
- But is it part of the common name? It doesn't appear in legislation the OS or Britannica. Crouch, Swale (talk) 21:43, 15 June 2026 (UTC)
or the official name
? "These terms and conditions are the standard terms of business for the Mayor And Burgesses of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (“the Council”) when the Council purchases GOODS and / or SERVICES." "In most cases the copyright will be owned by London Borough of Tower Hamlets" "These criteria and guidance apply to all Non-Domestic ratepayers within the administrative area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council" "Written representation to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, setting out the Council’s view..." "Data Protection Registration Certificate - London Borough of Tower Hamlets" at "I hope you will join me in welcoming this strategy. Lutfur Rahman, Executive Mayor, London Borough of Tower Hamlets" NebY (talk) 11:09, 16 June 2026 (UTC)
- just like many things that are ambiguous, the disambiguating part of the name is not used when the context is clear but is part of the common name when context is not clear. For this reason, and consistency with the majority of cases where the base name is ambiguous, I oppose changing LONDONNAMES. Thryduulf (talk) 09:41, 15 June 2026 (UTC)