The changing face of Tilbury

Check out this excellent video on Tilbury by BBC Newsnight's Jack Shenker. It sums up a lot of what is happening in Britain today, with pubs and old jobs going to be replaced by a giant Amazon warehouse with insecure jobs. Shenker looks at he history of Tilbury from the days of the SS Windrush arriving at the port, to the Sun's notorious expose of "aggro Britain" with a piece on the town. He talks to an old docker, a kick boxer and councillor and looks at Thurrock's flirting with Ukip and Brexit. A sad look at the economic changes in Britain and it all ends with footage of the old power station chimneys by Tilbury Fort being demolished.

Tilbury tomorrow

Some interesting plans to turn the disused Tilbury Riverside station into a museum, cafe and river viewing area as part of the Big Ocean Project. It's a place full of history. The Windrush arrived there in 1948 with the first immigrants from Jamaica. It was a holding station for the Dunkirk rescue fleet. The ten-pound Poms left for Australia from Tilbury. George Orwell writes about leaving from Tilbury in Down and Out In Paris and London. Gandhi arrived there and Cliff Richard too, when he was plain Harry Webb. KDC London opened up the station for a stakeholders meeting and there was a lot of enthusiasm from councillors, English Heritage and local people.  

It’s an impressive but sad place, as ghost stations often are. The station closed in 1990. The central clock is rusting away, the ticket office is full of debris and water, yellow paint is peeling from the walls and “buffet” signs are fading away. Yet it’s a large airy space and with a customer-base of cruise passengers and locals wanting to see the Thames, plus walks to Tilbury and Coalhouse forts it could surely be viable as a riverside museum and cafe. For details of the scheme click on the link above.