Greenwich has launched its bid to become the London Borough of Culture for 2019 or 2020.
The council has said the bid represents a chance to put Woolwich, Thamesmead and the east of the borough on equal footing with historic, maritime Greenwich.
Launched during the Woolwich Carnival on Saturday, September 23, the council now aim to convince everyone that Greenwich deserves the accolade as the centre of culture in the capital.
We at News Shopper think Greenwich has an excellent claim to the London Borough of Culture title and here are 10 reasons why we think it could very well take the title.
1. Woolwich Creative District
By the time 2019 and 2020 come around, we’ll start seeing the result of the £31m creative district being built in Woolwich. The plan is to turn the old ammunition factories into buildings for the arts, and in turn have Woolwich be the new creative hub of London. The plans include a 4,000 seater performance theatre for orchestras, a 450-seat black box theatre, and a 600-seat outdoor performance area.
2. Regular Street Festivals
There are all sorts of street festivals happening seemingly every month in the borough of Greenwich. Just last weekend, September 22-24, we had the Woolwich Carnival where the council launched their bid to become London’s Borough of Culture. Other street festivals include the Greenwich+Docklands Festival, of which the team who ran that will be working with the bid development process.
3. Tall Ships Festival
One of the most eye-catching festivals to come to Greenwich each year is the Tall Ships Festival. More than 800,000 people flocked to the borough for the event over the Easter weekend earlier this year, where a fleet of ships moored outside Greenwich before setting sale for Quebec. People were able to board the ships in the regatta and attend the multitude of street performances throughout the weekend.
4. Cutty Sark
Sticking to our theme of Greenwich’s maritime history, there’s the famous Cutty Sark moored in Greenwich and now part of a museum. Built in 1869, the ship was one of the last and fastest tea clippers built at the height of the British Empire, during the heyday of the East India Trading Company, and part of why Greenwich became the de facto centre of the world with Greenwich Mean Time. Nowadays the Cutty Sark runs events throughout the year to learn more about the history of the area and the sea faring trade the empire used to run.
5. The O2
It may be a bit more mainstream then what you might usually think as “culture”, but that’s absolutely no reason to not consider The O2 as part of Greenwich’s contribution to culture. If anything it should strengthen its claim to spread culture to a greater number of people, with it claiming the title of the world’s busiest music arena since 2008. Obviously massive music artists have performed from Prince to Metallica, but has also become a regular hosting spot for sports with tennis champions and the NBA playing at the iconic arena.
6. Music Festivals
If you don’t feel like going to the glam of the O2 Arena, there are some incredible music festivals that form part of the makeup of Greenwich. We just had OnBlackheath earlier this month with Travis and The Libertines among the headline acts. It wasn’t just music with food and children’s events filling the festival. Other music events include Greenwich Music Time, which will return again in 2018 in July 3-8.
7. Greenwich Park
Does the best view in all of London not count for something? We think it should because Greenwich Park is one of the best parks in the capital where events are frequently held. This included Equestrian events and the modern pentathlon during the London 2012 Olympic Games. But even when there’s nothing on you can just enjoy the view with a picnic and maybe bump into the deer there, introduced in the 16th Century by Henry VIII so he could hunt them.
8. Greenwich Comedy Scene
The comedy scene in Greenwich is incredible. Every year there’s the fantastic Greenwich Comedy Festival, held at the National Maritime Museum. The last one had some real stand-out acts with Dara O’Briain, Dylan Moran, Reginald D Hunter, Katherine Ryan and Alan Davies. If you missed the festival earlier this month, you can still go to see more local talent at Up the Creek every weekend.
9. Greenwich Market
The historic market set within a world heritage site is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the borough, and a regular stopping point for locals as well. It’s full of small cultural delights, from local designer makers and items you won’t be able to find anywhere else on the planet. There are over 120 arts, craft and antique stalls and the perfect demonstration of how the broad culture of Greenwich goes from the biggest venues with the O2 Arena right down to the smallest shops in the local markets.
10. Multitude of Museums
The sheer amount of museums in Greenwich is staggering when you start to dig through them all. We’ve touched on Greenwich’s maritime history with the Cutty Sark but you can also visit the Old Royal Naval College and the National Maritime Museum. We talked about Greenwich Park but you can also go to the Royal Observatory, again connected to the borough’s maritime history as it played a major role in astronomy and navigation and the centre of Greenwich Mean Time. There are smaller museums dotted around the area too, such as the Fan Museum and the Queen’s House.
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