Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure and a consortium of six other outer London boroughs has received £76,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting new project, The Streets: Discover your High Street.

The project will take place in seven outer London boroughs: Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Waltham Forest, Greenwich, Wandsworth, Croydon and Kingston upon Thames. 

The project aims to encourage local communities and visitors to discover the heritage of outer London Borough high streets through a programme of research, outreach and engagement activities and community-led events taking place between August and November 2016.

Discover your High Street will explore unified themes including architecture, industrial development, transport, immigration and regeneration in each of the seven London boroughs, to tell a story about the last 100 years of town centre high streets and how they have changed. 

Volunteers, community groups and heritage partners will come together to research forgotten histories, uncover new stories and interpret the history of outer London borough high streets all of which will brought together in a public series of events, a pop-up touring exhibition in each of the high streets in November, book and dissemination event. 

It is a crucial time for British high streets and this project will support the change and regeneration that is taking place across many outer London town centres. There is demand from outer London boroughs for more heritage and community projects to help highlight and celebrate the potential of high streets and town centres.

Cllr Ross Hatfull, Cabinet Member for Civic Pride, said, “Redbridge is delighted that Vision RCL and the consortium of partners have secured this funding. Local residents will have a fantastic opportunity to explore and record the local heritage of Ilford town centre using the resources of Redbridge Museum & Heritage Service and Vision’s Culture team. We look forward to seeing the exhibition, events and other resources which will be created as a long-term legacy of the project.”  

Stuart Hobley, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund London, said: “The Discover your High Street project will bring seven outer London Boroughs together to discover the heritage of their area. Thanks to National Lottery players, the public will be able to take part in an exciting programme of events which will map out the history of London’s high streets and how they have changed over time.”