Stratford is not a place synonymous with culture. Formerly an industrial heartland thick with factories, the opening of the Westfield shopping centre in 2011, and the Olympic Park in 2012, revitalised this area of East London as a hub for shopping and sport. Now — a decade later — the area harbours loftier ambitions to become a new cultural hotspot, with the opening of the V&A East Storehouse and Sadler’s Wells East. But can somewhere Londoners head to buy Nikes and iced matcha also offer visitors artistic enlightenment?
Leaving Stratford underground at night (19 minutes from Paddington on the Elizabeth line) the twinkling glass skyscrapers make it feel as though I have arrived in Dubai. Glittering edifices stretching to the sky; of which the hotel I am staying in is amongst the most impressive. The Stratford, in Marriott’s Autograph Collection (room rates start at £179 based on two sharing a double room), is a 42-floor russet tower designed by architects, SOM, behind the Burj Khalifa.
