Forest Gate North sits right at the top of the Borough. To the west is the bustle and the development of Stratford, to the north the peaceful wide open spaces of Wanstead Flats with assorted dog walkers, football players, and skylarks.

But it’s the people of Forest Gate who make this such a special place.

It’s the residents of Forest Gate who run our Saturday market, with stalls selling food, books, crafts and more. Residents run the yearly Forest Gate Festival. Although Forest Gate Community Garden is outside the ward, many of our residents help to run this quirky green spot, and are also involved in planting community flowerbeds.

Forest Gate Arts is testament to how many Forest Gaters are creative, while Forest Gate WI demonstrates the voice and diverse interests of our female residents. We have a whole series of small businesses, mainly but not entirely food-based, springing up in the railway arches. We are all particularly proud of Forest Gayte Pride, a yearly celebration of our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbours which also educates us about equal rights and how these are fought for.

Forest Gate is full of families with small children, of multi-generational households, of people moving from elsewhere in East London, but also large numbers of people who are East End born and bred.

Forest Gate North faces many of the challenges of the rest of Newham: poverty, the high cost of housing, the economic impact of Covid. But Forest Gaters are notable for their community-mindedness, their kindness, their concern for the environment, their scepticism of being told what to do, a certain off-beat humour and a pleasantly anarchic sense of independence.

Please do come and visit our market on Sebert Road on a Saturday to see all of this for yourself.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.