7 Dock Street

The demise of the dockers hostel

The Red Ensign Club

I just read by chance (again!), a tweet that the Hostel at 7 Dock Street has been sold, having closed earlier this year. I used to live on Ensign Street and at the time, I know that I wouldn't have minded it closing - I remember seeing my first city rat in the bins on the back of the hostel, and later watching a rat running along my (outside) windowsill, which rightly or wrongly I associated with the general level of detritus, and I know my wife felt uncomfortable walking past when various individuals lurked outside waiting for their mates to come out to play.

However, it comes as a sad end to the use of a site that once housed a Polish sailor called Józef Teodor Konrad ‪Nałęcz‬ Korzeniowski, though better known by his anglicised name of Joseph Conrad, one of the most respected writers of modern English literature. Before the docks closed, the site was home to the London Merchant Seaman's Home and Red Ensign Club, which provided accomodation for sailors arriving and leaving from the docks. The home was open from the 1830s to 1974, and also housed the London School of Nautical Cookery, training over 100,000 cooks for the merchant navy! Since the closure of the docks, it has been used as a hostel and temporary accomodation for the homeless, accommodating up to 150 people.

There's some fascinating memories from former sailors on this site of their time at the Red Ensign that include people referring to it as Alcatraz, as well well as the general prison like feel, which seems quite fitting given the look of the top photo.

The original site that I saw that referred to the sale suggested that the new owner would use it for a similar purpose, but given that LBTH withdrew funding due to an an excess number of beds, this seems unlikely! The equality impact assessment for the closure is here, whilst this document suggests that the closure will save LBTH £690k a year. Interestingly it seems that the building had been identified as not being fit for purpose in 2010 for the purposes of a hostel.

This site suggests that JMS, the investment fund that have bought it are unlikely to keep it as a hostel, most likely I assume developing student accomodation or flats, but no planning application has been received by LBTH.

The safer neighbourhood team newsletter notes the closure of the hostel as fantastic, but it served a purpose, however its closure may improve the feel of the area, which is no bad thing for the London Dock Development, particularly for those walking from Tower Hill and Aldgate and Aldgate East Tube Stations. However, this does mean the end of nearly 200 years of serving those in need of a place to sleep.