The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each other:As the curator slowly opens the white bag, everyone takes a deep breath. Inside is a military-style white jacket with gold buttons and epaulettes worn by Elton John during his 1981 World Tour. On a table to my left is a Versace gold bag, and a pair embroidered blue silk heels dating back to the 1720s. A Vivienne Westwood corset, and a Balenciaga 1950s pink taffeta dress. This is a fashion lover’s dream. It’s all right here at my fingertips.
I’m in the V&A East Storehouse in east London, a radical new museum experience that allows anyone to order up any item from the V&A’s vast collection – for free – and to examine it at close quarters. The museum is located in the old Olympic Media Centre on the edge. Queen Elizabeth Olympic ParkThe lofty warehouse provides unprecedented access for more than 250,000 artifacts, from an 11m wide Picasso stage cloth to a cross section of a house from the Robin Hood Gardens council estate in Poplar. The traditional museum is no longer a place of glass cases and white walls, but rather a space with carefully curated displays. The visitors can now peek behind the scenes to see how a museum works, browse open shelves full of eclectic items, and peer into conservators’ workshops. The result is a mixture of Victorian cabinet-of-curiosities and Ikea showroom. I like it because it’s bold.
The opening of this new V&A outpost marks the latest chapter in the reinvention of the Olympic Park as a “new cultural quarter” for London. I lived in Bow at the time of London 2012. It was on the edge of Olympic Park. The night of the Opening Ceremony, we watched fireworks light up the sky over the stadium from my apartment window. The culmination of London’s most ambitious regeneration project was taking place. We were able to watch from our flat as fireworks lit up the sky above the stadium.
The Olympic legacy also included the promise to create a creative hub in east London that would inspire residents and visitors. After the Olympics, my family and I moved out of that area. So, I was curious as to whether or not the promise had been made.
On a sunny spring morning, the park bustles with activity. The London Stadium is surrounded by water fountains where toddlers can play and teenagers skate along the wide boulevards. Zaha Hadid’s impressive imposing structure watches over families in pedalos that look like white swans as they drift along the canal. Aquatic Centre Which carves an elegant arc in blue skies.
My daughter and me make a beeline towards a cluster new buildings lined up along a canal. The East Bank Project represents the largest investment in culture made by a London mayor after the Great Exhibition of 1851. The first phase began in 2023, with the opening of the cutting-edge campuses of University College London (UCL), and London College of Fashion. Both sites are designed to be accessible and open to the public. So you can wander into the reception of UCL East and see public art installations – on our visit Luke Jerram’s “Gaia”, an inflatable replica of the Earth, was floating serenely above the atrium – or head to the cafe where your coffee will be delivered to you by a robot waiter.
Public areas at the London College of Fashion regularly host student showcases. We stroll around the lobby, all bare concrete and curving staircases, and admire a display of outlandish undergraduate creations – although my daughter is even more transfixed by the cutting edge outfits the fashion students are wearing.
Next door is Sadler’s Wells EastA new branch of the dance theater opened in February. The open-plan foyer is home to a light-filled bar, cafe and dance space – when we drop in for a coffee there’s a community dance class in mid-flow. The 550 seat auditorium is home to visiting dance groups of all kinds, from hip-hop to ballet. Tickets have been booked for the family-friendly show of Snow White performed by the Ballet de Montréal. balletLorent.
The next stop on our tour is the ArcelorMittal OrbitThe red twisted steel sculpture that towers high above the Olympic Park. We take the elevator up to the viewing deck, which is 80m high. Below us, the London Stadium is arranged as a Subbuteo court. I generally try to avoid activities that require me to wear an Australian Rules Football mask and elbow protectors. But here I am joining the long line of teenagers lining up to plunge feet-first down the Helix. The high-speed helter/skelter snakes around Anish Kaoor’s look at me landmark. My daughter looks at the foam helmet once and refuses any further. “It’s only a big slide!” I tell her. “Come on! It’ll be fun!”
These words – and others that cannot be published here – ring in my ears as I corkscrew down the metal tube at terrifying speed, emerging 40 seconds later feeling like I’ve been flushed down the S-bend. My sane daughter is waiting at the bottom for me. “Oh, Mum,” she says.
The local food scene has flourished as a result of this area’s transformation. From the first zero-waste restaurants in the world, Silo Hackney Wick is a place to Barge EastWe’ve booked a table at. We’ve reserved a table for HeraOne of the newest additions to the park, this restaurant has received praise for its authentic Greek cuisine.
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It is a great experience. Everything is delicious, from the basket of homemade bread with the dip of smoked Aubergine, honey, and balsamic vinaigrette, to the elegant seabass carpaccio, and charcoal-grilled skewers of chicken. But the standout dish is the feta saganaki – feta cheese, wrapped in angel hair, deep-fried and drizzled with lemon honey. It’s still on my daughter and me minds weeks later.
It’s the kind of lunch that needs to be followed by a long walk, so we trace the course of the canal, fringed with head-high whispering grasses, into the northern half of the park, eventually reaching the iconic Olympic rings – which have found a permanent home on a raised mound overlooking the Lee Valley VeloPark.
In the late afternoon sun, a group of women in sequins flit past on their way home. Abba Voyage. Since opening in 2022, the virtual concert experience attracted over two million visitors in an arena built specifically for the purpose. It is located on the edge the Olympic Park. In September, they will be joined by an army of David Bowie fans when the V&A Storehouse becomes the new home of the David Bowie archive, comprising stage costumes, song lyrics, instruments, makeup charts and sketches. There’s still more to come. Next year will see the relocation of the BBC Music Studios from Maida Vale to Stratford and the opening of the V&A East museum in a striking new building inspired, apparently, by an X-ray of a Balenciaga dress.
It’s been fun to be a tourist in my own backyard. East Bank, while it may lack the grandeur of South Kensington or the architectural unity of the South Bank Centre and the neoclassical sophistication of Covent Garden but is an inspiring addition to London’s culture scene, is invigorating. It’s also a lot of fun. You can have fun.
The V&A East Storehouse opens to the public on 31 May. East Bank and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park information: queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk
