Anish Kapoor’s big red tower remains a spectacular eyesore, but 10 years on from the 2012 Games, the old railway lands of Stratford are a largely thriving new urban district that few other host cities can rival
What have the Olympics ever done for us? Nothing, apart from the 226-hectare park that attracts six million visitors a year, the magnificent sporting facilities, the tens of thousands of new jobs, the decontamination and opening up of ex-industrial land, the schools, the cultural institutions currently under construction, the new homes, some of which are affordable in a meaningful sense. Not to mention the national feelgood factor while the games lasted, and a more enduring raising of the profile and pride of its location. “We suddenly felt we were part of the story,” says Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for the nearby constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow. “If you came from east London, if you came from different backgrounds, you felt part of it.”
Apart from that, nothing.
