Stories & Updates

“I’m anxious all the time. The constant noise, always waiting for the next crash. And the gas, it’s frightening. In the past year, there were two fires just across the road. Our lives are being put at risk. I saw the photos of all the gas. I can’t believe they won’t do anything.”

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“I was violently threatened by a vulnerable homeless person in the area. He’s approached me three times now. One time, he wouldn’t leave me alone until I gave him money and he shouted at me. Once he threatened to cut himself and threatened to cut me if I didn’t give him money. One day, I came home and he was in our building. I’ve heard the other stories. I tell people to stay away from the area and be very careful at night. I don’t get it. And there are homeless encampments all around the area. I’m worried someone’s going to be assaulted and I’m worried about an explosion. And I’ve started to wonder if that’s the only thing that will get the council to act. I hate it when I’m at home and I hear shouts in the street. I’m always on edge in case it’s someone being attacked or assaulted. The council may well have good intentions, but the reality is that their actions have had terrible consequences. There’s a lack of common decency. People think they’re colluding with traders. They’re tipped off about inspections. There’s no democracy here, no accountability, no basic care or respect for us.”

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“We’re living above gas cylinders, surrounded by rats, and breathing in smoke and fumes from the stalls. The noise starts before dawn and it never stops. Tower Hamlets has ignored us for years, and now we’re left with no choice. The food court must be shut down. It’s destroying our health, our homes, and our peace of mind.”

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“I feel sorry for my neighbour. He’s not well and he’s one of the worst-affected by the food court.”

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“I can’t open my windows. The summers are unbearable. We can’t breathe clean air or ventilate our homes.”

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“Unspeakable. Endless noise and smoke. It’s making life intolerable for many residents.”

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“We’ve been plagued by mice and rats from the food court since it started a few years ago, and pigeons. My flat has been so overrun with vermin that I had to have a new kitchen fitted and pay for various works. I’ve spent upwards of 3k. This is adversely affecting the health and safety of my tenants. Mice are able to travel up the internal walls from the areas below, which are used for food storage and preparation, and which are filthy. I have had a tenant unable to sleep due to the sound of rats fighting in the courtyard! This has been a continual issue over the years.”

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“The garage has been a no-go area for residents for many years, and car owners park their cars at their own risk. My wife has parked her car several times in the garage and has had rubber tubes gnawed by rats. This has been caused by food court traders leaving food and waste scattered all over the garage. This has had a knock-on effect, and our own dwellings have had infestations. We have had to pay to have various pest control companies manage the situation — all at our own expense. We have witnessed raw foods such as chicken being prepared in lock-ups only suitable for junk items. The garage is used as a wash and toilet area by traders, whom I regularly see defecate from my flat window — there are no toilet facilities or running water. Food is being prepared in unhygienic and illegal conditions, and this is then served to so many people.

Many traders do not use designated/appropriate coloured chopping boards. Basic forms of sanitation like proper water access do not exist. This is a breeding ground for salmonella and puts consumers at risk, as well as the people preparing the food. Any food establishment needs a management plan, such as a HACCP plan. They do not follow basic food hygiene practices. There are no legal procedures being followed. The food court is a lawless entity. It is comical that some of these traders have a 5-star food hygiene rating. How is this possible without any basic fundamental practices in place?”

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“I am appalled by the council’s ongoing failure to address serious health, safety, hygiene, vermin infestation, and noise issues caused by the food court at Petticoat Lane. Despite years of documented complaints and repeated follow-ups, Tower Hamlets Council, planning enforcement, and food standards teams have turned a blind eye — ignoring fire risks, unsanitary conditions, and daily disruption to residents. This is not just negligence; it’s institutional indifference. The food court and the other rogue and problematic food units must be shut down. It is unacceptable that such a large-scale hot-food operation is allowed to persist directly beneath and adjacent to high-density housing. Authorities must stop deflecting and start protecting the communities they are paid to serve.”

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“As the market traders have no wash facilities, they are accessing our building through the basement, and using the fire door to access our main entrance — this is often left wedged open. The basement area is being used as a toilet as the market traders do not appear to have any wash facilities or access to fresh water. We regularly see them come in and out of the basement and the car park areas, which smell quite strongly of urine. This has repeatedly enabled unauthorised individuals, including drug users, to enter the premises. As a result, the basement and garden areas are now being used for drug taking and other antisocial behaviour.

Some of the incidents that have happened this year:

• Drug taking lead to a recent fire in the basement, which was significantly alarming. Smoke spread through the communal courtyard, into the flats above, and into the businesses on the ground floor. The fire brigade attended. When I spoke to them, they said they were very familiar with our building and with the residential building next door as they were called out frequently for similar incidents. We have had multiple such fires in our building.

• We also have to clean up discarded needles and hazardous waste left around the property. This year, we have had drug users passed out inside our front and only entrance, making accessing the building quite challenging and scary for some residents. One of the residents managed to check on them and eventually get them to leave.

• Residents, including my own family, are being threatened due to this rise in antisocial behaviour. We have what appear to be permanent drug dealers located in the car park. My son was threatened at knifepoint earlier this year by one of the drug users that is frequently in and around our building and car park.

This is completely unacceptable and has made our homes unsafe. Residents have repeatedly raised these concerns, but the problems persist. We urgently need the council to take immediate and effective action before something worse happens.

One evening, in the kiosk opposite the building, I observed the owner tipping a tub of meat onto the floor and then marinating the meat on the floor.

What was once a quiet, residential street has become unrecognisable. The constant noise, overpowering odours, waste accumulation, vermin infestations, and antisocial behaviour have made our homes effectively uninhabitable. Despite numerous complaints to the market management team and the council, no meaningful action has been taken. Even the market inspector acknowledged that the current state of the market is ‘disgusting’ and said he would not want to live nearby — yet conditions are getting worse.”

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“We’re not anti-trader. In fact, we really did try to engage with the council to find comprises. They just refuse to listen. They won’t engage. They ghost you and gaslight you. The responses they send are a joke. I really do care about traders and I think we’ve all tried to be empathetic, but they’re abusing our kindness and empathy. There has to be mutual respect, and they don’t have even basic respect for us. They use our building like a toilet and we have to clean it up. The food court and these other units need to be shut down now.”

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“We’re paying to clean up after them and many of us are struggling with the costs of it all. Why are we paying council tax and additional costs privately to effectively subsidise the food court? It’s not right.”

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“I can’t use my living room. That’s half of my flat. I haven’t used it for years because it’s too loud. It’s just got boxes in it. The noise doesn’t stop. Traders often start before dawn and my flat shakes when they move their equipment. This continues throughout the day and late at night. Plus, there’s all the other intense noise from the food court. The noise of chopping is really unbearable. It makes you feel sick and anxious. And there are other businesses that stay open until 3 or 4 am. We get woken up by the noise.”

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“My flat’s unliveable, unlettable, and unsellable. They’ve ruined my life. I can’t even get a good night’s sleep. I can’t work during the day. My flat shakes all day, even in the afternoon and late at night, because the traders move equipment. It’s good that the council eventually started cleaning more, but the noise from that makes things even worse. My flat shakes from the cleaning on Saturday mornings too. It’s 24/7 noise. They just don’t care. The food court has to go. Everyone knows it. It’s the wrong place for it. They started it without consulting residents and it’s filthy. The mess is disgusting.”

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“I have smells from food units coming through my door from the communal hall, so I put down a draught excluder to try and stop them coming in. I also have smells and smoke coming into the main room through my window, so I have to shut that window. I also have smells coming in through the kitchen window. If I closed that window it would leave the flat unbearably hot and stuffy. I feel so nauseous each weekday after breathing this stuff in that I have to leave my flat in the morning until the food court closes. Smells from the Japanese bakery on Wentworth Street also waft into my flat early-to-mid evening. I have a permanent annoying cough and constant runny eyes, which the smoke and particulates have probably caused and certainly make worse.

I have had no luck with LBTH Environmental Protection. They visited and said that the smoke and odours were obvious at street level, but somehow they determined this did not meet the criteria for a statutory nuisance in my flat. I can report that smoke, odours, and particulates are still very serious issues for me. The problems have not been resolved. Our smoke alarms are still set off by the smoke, just as before.

The food court was unbearable over the summer months. The heat in flats was intolerable, with the choice being to choke on smoke and smells if the main window was opened to provide airflow, or to potentially suffer heat stroke if it remained closed. And, of course, the air itself was even hotter than everywhere else because of the industrial-scale cooking going on below flats at street level.

My GP has confirmed that the emissions from the food court are contributing to and aggravating my symptoms of red and runny eyes, and persistent cough. The food court creates an environment that is hazardous to health on so many levels. 

I was left with no choice but to leave London for extended periods during the summer, and to leave the flat for an increased number of hours each day when I was in London. It cannot be right that I had to do this.

These issues, which take up so much of residents’ time and money to deal with, are undeniably down to the food court and LBTH who instigated it, allow it to continue, and even continue to promote and expand it despite repeated complaints over years. It is only reasonable that LBTH accepts responsibility for these problems. LBTH should have engaged with us and provided solutions. Instead, LBTH largely ignores residents’ complaints and carries on as if we don’t exist.

How much longer is LBTH going to continue in a state of denial, and carry on ignoring the clear and obvious issues? There is no doubt about it. The food court and the other offending shops and kiosks must be shut down immediately.”

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“I was not able to breathe in my flat during the hours that the food court operates. We had a hot summer, so the heat in addition to the smoke was creating unbearable conditions. You felt like no oxygen was entering your lungs — just smoke. I felt like I couldn’t get a full breath in. It was horrible and made me very anxious because I felt like I was suffocating, which only made it worse. I could not be at home at all during the hours the traders were operating.

I sent videos of the food court where you can see the smoke was billowing from the stalls, and our windows are right above it all. I managed to get LBTH Environment Protection to visit and they said that they would speak to the food court team. They also said that there should be no smoke at all coming from the stalls. The smoke situation has improved for me since that visit a couple of months ago; it’s not like the thick smoke before. But I’m on a higher floor and I know that other residents are still suffering terribly from smoke and odours. It hasn’t changed for them. For me, it still smells like a dirty kitchen everywhere in the building and in the hallways. I avoid opening my windows during the day to try to stop it coming into my flat. Obviously, with the smoke alarms still going off at times, it looks like the smoke can still be dense.”

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“The food court’s destroyed the area. Just look at how many vacant units there are now. No one wants to set up a shop here because of the food court. Even food shops have gone out of business. If you look at the main intersection where the food court is, you have whole sections of continuous vacant units. I was here when the council started talking about regeneration. It’s completely failed. It’s gone the opposite way. I know some of the traders in shops and they complain too. Another one’s closing down now and it’ll probably be turned into an illegal food preparation unit too. We are subsidising cheap lunches for customers, and many residents are struggling financially.”

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“They never get permission for anything and they don’t consult residents. They can’t deny it because it’s all in writing. And it’s not just the food court. Other units operate illegally too. Some units operate until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning and they don’t have permission. We can’t sleep. They don’t care about the effects that it has on our physical and mental health. I can’t even do basic things like watch a TV show at the end of the day or sit down and relax; the noise makes my living room unusable.”

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“Other residents have already reported the terrible issues of smoke and odours, and that even draught excluders do not prevent this. People suffer in the unbearable heat, and when forced to open their windows, they cannot breathe because of the smoke. At least one has reported a permanent cough and runny eyes, which they say the particulates have probably caused and certainly made worse.

That message so clearly encapsulates the reality of life here. It’s incredibly disheartening to see just how difficult daily life has become — something as basic as opening a window has become a health risk and a source of misery. I feel deeply sorry for my neighbour, who has no choice but to leave their own home each day just to get some relief from the smoke and odours. That is simply unacceptable.

My flat is next door and I fully concur with everything my neighbour has said. You only need to step into the hallway to experience the extent of the issue — the smells and particulates are overwhelming and unrelenting. It affects people’s well-being on every level: physical, mental, and emotional.

Reading through all of our discussions in the residents’ group, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that LBTH Council — and the various departments supposedly responsible for food hygiene, public health, and fire safety — are, at best, indifferent. Even though we had a recent win with the retrospective planning application with Wasuya, they are still operating.

Residents have previously contacted our local MP and the Mayor’s office. I’m not sure that anyone has received any kind of meaningful response. We have to escalate this further. There must be accountability somewhere — if not through official channels, it’s a matter for an investigative journalist working with a credible organisation.

We cannot go on living like this without serious intervention. This is no longer just a nuisance — it’s a serious health and quality-of-life issue (never mind the severely detrimental impact on asset values in our buildings).”

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“Walking through the food court at peak times can be very daunting. I feel it is dangerous — the walkways at the back of the stalls for those who don’t wish to get caught up in the queueing and the crowds are often very narrow. They can be cluttered with cooking materials and obstructed by boxes and trolleys.

I often wonder what would happen if there was a fight or an accident — would hot oil cascade over the pavement? Would the naked flames used for cooking set fire to things, such as the nylon sheets used to cover the stalls? Are they flameproof? Some stallholders can be particularly aggressive and rude to pedestrians — they clearly believe they have right of way at all times and swing their equipment around like they own the place. There’s little respect for anyone else. It’s dangerous and noisy when they are putting up and taking down their stalls — metal poles dropping to the floor and clanging trolleys being pushed at speed with no concern for anyone in their way.

The health-and-safety-conscious world in which we live these days seems to not apply to the food court, with its gas canisters, rickety stands, and greasy pavements and road. It makes me wonder what emergency procedures are in place — are there any?”

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“As a long-standing resident in the building since 2006, I have witnessed the food court expand over the years, without a single consultation or consideration for local residents. It is residents who have to live with the consequences of this unhygienic, noisy, and dangerous nightmare, 24/7, 365 days a year.

What started as one or two food wagons on wheels — which were towed away and took all the mess, oil, and grease with them at the end of the day — soon quickly escalated into a full-on food court with stalls. The stalls discard/dump food waste, oil, and grease on the streets, and block roadside drains. This is a living nightmare for all local residents. Most non-renters in the building are trapped in this ongoing nightmare as it’s effecting the rentability and saleability of every flat in the block and surrounding blocks — people are trapped.

The road surface is thick with oils. This is not only unsightly, but also very slippery, and it is causing rat infestations. The new generation of street vendor does not tow away its trucks at the end of the day. They attempt to wash their cooking apparatus and utensils in the street, and pack them away in the lock-ups below our flats and the flats in neighbouring buildings. This is not only very unhygienic for customers (most have zero food hygiene ratings, if any); it is a living nightmare for residents. The banging of trolleys from the early hours Monday to Friday is very disturbing. Food is being prepared and left in either garage lock-ups or retail units — without the correct planning, licensing, or food hygiene ratings.

As well as storing food in the garage under both blocks, the food vendors also store cooking equipment, utensils, and gas canisters. This is highly dangerous, and the vendors are very aggressive when approached.

Tower Hamlets Council has been alerted to all these hazards for years, and even after pointing out the fire risks and referencing the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Tower Hamlets just send a generic response at best.

The rat infestations directly attributed to this food court and the storage units used to supply the food court have lead to damage to residents’ cars, where rats have nested in the engine compartments and caused serious damage to electrical wiring, in one incident chewing through three fuel pipes, which could have caused a fire in the car park. This incident combined with the storage of gas canisters could have resulted in multiple fatalities if escaping fuel had been ignited. And by the way, traders smoke there all the time  — the area is regularly covered in cigarette ends.

It is impossible for residents facing the food court to open their windows. Smoke alarms in the corridors and in flats are set off by the smoke from the food court on a regular basis, meaning residents might ignore alarms even when there is a fire. The windows have become impossible to clean due to the grease and due to the food court’s operating hours — window cleaners have been harassed by traders and forced to leave.

A dilapidations notice served on residents to address the crumbling exteriors directly above the food court (with a lot of the damage caused by the food operations) has not been able to be carried out due to scaffolding time restrictions that are imposed to protect the food court.

Signed by a long-suffering resident.”

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“As the beginning of Petticoat Lane Food Court occurred after the closing of the adjacent Leyden Street public lavatories, it is perhaps not surprising that bottles of urine are a common sight in our car park. Those traders or trespassers (the traders’ access door is almost always left or jammed open by traders) caught short without a bottle instead often relieve themselves against walls or the bin shed doors.

Food-court and textile traders are able to access our building and insist on leaving/jamming their access door open, despite endless requests from residents and residents’ management company. As a result, we have had the garage invaded by homeless crack addicts. On more than one occasion, I encountered a ragged addict injecting his legs. Often, groups of these individuals have stayed in the garage overnight. In the mornings, residents found evidence of fires and the walls were smeared with faeces. On one memorable occasion, a resident, upon opening his car door, recoiled in horror when he realised that the handle was thickly coated in faeces.

Of course, not surprisingly given the food debris and human waste in the parking and storage areas, there was also an explosion of the rat population, with swarms of rats in the courtyard. The drug addicts welcomed the vermin as some believed that if they first injected rats with their needles before injecting their own bodies, they would not catch HIV. By the way, this was confirmed by one of the local policemen who used to help eject drug addicts and investigate drug dealing.

At one point when the other entrance was broken, a camper van was abandoned in our garage. It was probably used for drug dealing. The fact that it was full of wood was particularly alarming due to the danger of fire. There a was also a car left in the garage, which was definitely used for drug dealing over a protracted period. The good thing about this was that, as a result, the police paid more attention to our building than they would have done otherwise. One officer spent several days trawling through CCTV footage, and the dealer was eventually arrested and tried.

During one period, the situation in the garage was so alarming that the management company of the commercial parts of the building was forced to finally act, and they installed a security detail in the garage overnight for a period of a month or so. Although it was their own negligence in having made no effort to keep these areas safe by taking measures to ensure that the traders kept the entrance door closed, the commercial management company subsequently sent residents’ management company an invoice demanding payment of £18,000 for the security guards. We were then obliged to hire a lawyer to write a letter denying any liability. This behaviour has been sadly typical over the years.

On the surface, it might appear that things have improved since previous periods of junkies and constant drug-dealing. However, appearances can be misleading. In certain respects, the situation is, if anything, even worse, and this is entirely due to the expansion of the food court. As the textile market is in inexorable decline, many of the lock-ups are now rented by food traders, and, although they would aggressively deny it, they are being used to store gas canisters.

One of the food court stalls rents a storage unit — which, despite the rat population, pools of urine, and general filth — is being used for food preparation. Pans and dishes are also being washed there, resulting in an almost constant swamp of greasy slurry. Visiting water engineers, have expressed considerable concern regarding blockages and the possible contamination of the water supply.

Residents are obliged to pay for the periodic clearing out of traders’ abandoned rubbish, including trolleys, hand carts, and ovens, as well of mountains of litter. Only last week I personally removed slices of uneaten pizzas and a mound of rice and meat, clearly stuff left over from the day. Inevitably, this has fuelled a further explosion of the rat population, many of which make their way to the courtyard gardens and residences directly above.

The food court traders are extremely resentful when their behaviour is challenged. Even when caught in the act of some transgression, such as leaving a pile of waste or using the place as a bathroom, they will invariably aggressively deny it.

Nowadays the side entrance is not only wedged open, but the handle is also forced down into a vertical position so that the door cannot lock if closed. I used to close it whenever I passed by during the day, but it’s hardly worth it. I still check in the evening and find that it is open. Obviously, on occasions, it is still left open all night, with the result that homeless individuals or dealers gain access.

Of course, the food court’s activities outside of the building constitute a living hell for many residents. Not surprisingly, given that the food is cheap, the food court is becoming ever more popular. The traders start setting up early every weekday, and from then on there is a constant cacophony of shouting, rattling trolleys, and loud chopping. The grilling of meat, which starts a few hours later, produces thick palls of no-doubt toxic smoke, as a result of which residents are unable to open windows even on the hottest days, and some are obliged to switch off fire alarms.

Another inevitable consequence of the smoke and grease is that the streets are filthy and slippery. The council does have them cleaned with detergents once a fortnight, but the paving stones remain blackened and filthy, and the cleaning process has also destroyed much of the mortar between them, making them uneven.

The main food court activities go on until about 3pm. Afterwards, much rubbish and waste remains until it is somewhat haphazardly cleared away around 7pm. Naturally, all of this waste constitutes a banquet for rats and pigeons. 

Of course, this food court produces vast quantities of waste oil, much of which is poured down adjacent drains, which are then full to the brim with filthy, greasy liquid.

It is worth stressing that most of these traders have no access to running water or bathroom facilities, and the food is produced in extraordinarily insanitary conditions. It is surely only a matter of time before there is a massive outbreak of food poisoning.

Tower Hamlets Council is perhaps the most culpable body in this unhappy story. They have been repeatedly advised over many years of what is going on here. However, residents have consistently been gaslighted. It’s not that we don’t see any market inspectors; they are often to be seen wandering around in their distinctive costumes. But unfortunately, if they do ever produce any critical reports of what they see and smell, these reports are also ignored. Furthermore, the majority of traders have either zero or very low hygiene ratings, and it has emerged that many outlets (both food court stalls and physical outlets) lack the necessary permissions to produce hot food. However, these businesses all still go on regardless, all apparently spared by the council and regulatory bodies from any need to conform to the usual rules and regulations.”

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“I want to live in a safe, clean place, without so much noise. I pay for where I live, and I pay council tax. A main concern is the rodents. It is a huge problem and it is affecting my anxiety. I am always checking the traps and cleaning everything in the house. When I go to the car park, I can clearly see the piles of rubbish dumped by traders, and this increases the likelihood of rats. This is in addition to the horrible smell and poor hygiene level. As a woman, I don’t feel safe going to the car park to get my car. I come across lots of people that are not allowed to be there, and traders’ access door is always open. I want to feel safe when I go to get my car.”

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“The grime and vermin that have increased in the area are very worrying and cause concern about the health and safety aspect of the food court. Tower Hamlets has effectively ignored complaints, which is disgraceful.”

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“I own a flat here, and the issues with rubbish and rodents have frequently been a cause of concern to my tenants. This has especially escalated in recent months.”

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“The café below us has an air conditioner that is really really loud and it echoes all throughout the car park area, and they operate it outside their licensed hours, before 7am. All these people take the absolute p*** despite years of complaints, and it’s about time that the council took our concerns seriously because otherwise we will vote for officials and politicians who can take care of all these antisocial problems.

The car park is already used for a lot of drug taking and prostitution. There used to be a gate there to keep people out, but it was knocked down by a bin lorry in 2010. Since then, the freeholders and council have done nothing to even fix the gate, despite numerous complaints. And now there is a plan to take away the residents’ space to build a passage from the open street to the car park, for the convenience of the traders who do not have to live here and suffer the consequences.”

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“I am deeply concerned about the ongoing health, safety, and noise issues caused by the food court at Petticoat Lane. Residents have faced unacceptable fire hazards, persistent hygiene problems, and overwhelming noise levels, severely impacting our daily lives. Despite repeated complaints, Tower Hamlets Council has failed to take meaningful action.”

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“I’m on the first floor and my flat faces the food court. In summer, I can’t open the window due to noise, smoke, and odours. But if I don’t, it’s way too hot in the flat.”

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“In our hallway, the fire alarm keeps being set off by the food court smoke. The windows and walls are sticky and really really dirty. The smell is unbearable and also carcinogenic due to all the gas burners. The streets are filthy, and the gutters overflow with food and oil waste.”

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“It is not acceptable for Tower Hamlets to ignore the valid complaints about hygiene, noise, and nuisance caused by the food court any more.”

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“Please stop the food court now. The area is dirty and disgusting. The traders do not follow food or hygiene procedures.”