Wapping is stunning. Unlike so much of east London, where the map is being torn up and redrawn, this is a neighbourhood with a peaceful and settled feel.

Regeneration came in the Eighties, where warehouses were restored and turned into riverside lofts, retaining their interior character and that of the streets.

Wapping has not always been so peaceful with two famous “battles” in its recent history. The Battle of Cable Street in October 1936 saw anti-fascist demonstrators clash with police who had been drafted in to protect a march by Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists.

The Battle of Wapping in 1986 was the year-long picket of News International’s new Wapping printworks by Fleet Street printers sacked after the introduction of new technology.

Today the Battle of Cable Street is marked with a mural at the site, close to Shadwell station, and a red plaque in nearby Dock Street.

The property scene

Many original Wapping warehouse conversions feature bare brick walls, stripped-back timbers, and river views. There are also modern flats built from the Eighties onwards, and estates of social housing.

Period housing features in Cable Street and also the Pierhead, where celebrity owners have included actress Dame Helen Mirren, chat show host Graham Norton and businessman and philanthropist Jack Petchey.

However, whole houses are comparatively rare in Wapping.

New low-rise estates of modern houses were built along former dockland waterways, while in St Katharine Docks, next to the Tower of London, modern offices, a hotel and flats sprang up around a smart marina.

Lifestyle

Wapping is famous for its ancient riverside pubs the Prospect of Whitby and the Town of Ramsgate. Along Wapping Lane there is a butcher, a fruit and vegetable shop, a bakery and an independent coffee shop.

There is a branch of Waitrose in St Thomas More Street and in revamped Thomas More Square, Trade Union, which describes itself as “a grown-up playground for discerning Londoners”, combines a pub, barber shop, flower shop and sour dough pizzeria.

Smith’s in Wapping High Street is a popular fish restaurant which overlooks the River and Tower Bridge.

Open space

Wapping is sprinkled with small patches of green space and there are walks along the dockland’s waterways, even if the Thames Path here is rarely along the river.

The largest park is the King Edward VII Memorial Park in Glamis Road, which local people have tried hard to protect from the building of the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

Schools

Primary schools: St Paul’s Whitechapel CofE Primary School / Hermitage Primary / St Peter’s London Docks CE Primary.

Comprehensive: Mulberry School / Bishop Challoner RC / Sir John Cass’s Foundation and Redcoat CofE.

Travel

Wapping and Shadwell stations, in Zone 2, are on the Overground. Shadwell is also on the Docklands Light Railway with trains to Bank. Tower Hill Tube station, in Zone 1, is on the District and Circle lines.

Two useful single-decker buses are routed through Wapping — the D3 goes to Canary Wharf, and the No 100 runs to the City.

Postcode

Wapping falls under the E1W postcode and is part of Tower Hamlets council.