Walford - WikiHQ

Walford is a fictional borough of East London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is the primary setting for the soap. EastEnders is filmed at Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, towards the north-west of London. Much of the location work is filmed in nearby Watford, which was chosen for many of the exterior scenes due to its close proximity and the town's name being so similar to Walford. Thus, any stray road signs or advertising boards which are accidentally filmed in the back of shots will appear to read Walford. Locations used in Watford include most interior and exterior church scenes of various churches, the snooker club, the County Court and Magistrates' Courts courtrooms, and the cemetery (where most of the deceased characters are interred).

The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix '-ford' is found throughout Britain (for example, Bradford, Guildford and Telford); it just means the first place you can cross a river. Walford's London postcode district is E20 (real East London postcode districts only went up to E18 until 2011, when E20 was introduced to serve the London 2012 Olympic Park). Walford's fictional tube station, Walford East, is located on the EastEnders tube map in the position normally occupied by the real Bromley-by-Bow tube station. As part of the 2010 Children In Need charity appeal, Walford became twinned with Weatherfield in a special programme uniting the two soaps EastEnders and Coronation Street called "East Street".

Locations within Walford

Albert Square

The main setting of EastEnders is Albert Square, where many of the characters reside. Central to the Square is the garden. The garden is home to Arthur Fowler's (Bill Treacher) bench, which was placed there in memory of him. The bench is also known as the 'Bench of Tears', as it is often the place where characters will go and cry. One corner of the square is taken up by The Queen Victoria Public House. The square's design was based on Fassett Square in Dalston, and was given the name Albert Square after Prince Albert. The Queen Victoria was also given its name due to this. The Queen Victoria public house, known to residents as the Queen Vic or simply 'The Vic', stands south of the square at number 46 Albert Square, where it joins with Bridge Street. East of the pub is a building with 2 flats and west of these in the southwest corner leads off to a walkway through to Turpin Way, on which the Walford Community Centre and Playground are found. On the west edge of The Square there are two houses 18 and 20 Albert Square, which have been knocked through as a single property and then later separated again. It was previously Walford's B&B, 'Kim's Palace'. North of the old B&B is the rear of 55 Victoria Road. A row of five terraced houses line the north edge of Albert Square. The westernmost house is number 31. The property next door is split into two flats. Number 25 is the former home of Dot Cotton (June Brown). The easternmost property in the terrace is number 23, which was destroyed in September 2014 by a fire. On the northeast edge of Albert Square is a small car dealership, south of which is another terrace of three elevated properties. The northernmost house is number 5. A road leads north at the square's northeast edge, passing by the car lot. The middle house is at 3 Albert Square. Most southerly of this terrace is number 1, When Ali develops a gambling addiction, he is forced to sell the café to Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), who manages it with his wife, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), until he sells the business to his mother, Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth). Weeks later, Fi Browning (Lisa Faulkner), a business consultant for the company, gifts the café to Kathy after discovering that her father, James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde) raped Kathy.

The launderette is owned by Mr Papadopolous until his death in 1992; the business passes to his son, Andonis Papadopolous and in 2016, it is passed to Andonis's son, Apostolos Papadopolous. Apostolos sells the launderette to Phil Mitchell and Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) in 2021, and Kat also sets up a taxi company called “Kat’s Cabs” in the backroom.

Turpin Road

thumb|left|The exterior of the R&R nightclub as it looked in 2009

Turpin Road is the location of a war memorial, bookmaker, chip shop, funeral parlour, restaurant and an upmarket bar as well as several other businesses. Annie Palmer (Nadia Sawalha), George's daughter, takes over the control of the club when he leaves; she renames the club "The Market Cellar". Annie later sells the club to Steve Owen (Martin Kemp), who renames it "e20". The train sound was first heard in 1987 and the train's first appearance was in 1988 at Lou Beale's funeral. Trains did not appear again until 4 February 2010, when CGI was used in the show for the first time. Platforms within the station were first seen in 2011 when Charlie Slater (Derek Martin) left Walford. George Street also has a B&B, King George Guest House, which opened in 2008.

Other streets

Turpin Way includes the local garage, informally known as The Arches, the community centre, a playground and a boxing gym. Spring Lane and the High Street. Storylines in 2017 mentioned the demolition of Walford Towers, as a means of introducing new characters to the series, although the demolition was cancelled. Walford Common was introduced to the series for the "Who Killed Lucy Beale?" storyline in 2014, while Walford Common underground station was introduced in 2019. Other Walford streets mentioned at various times include Clifton Hill Road, New Street, Fairford Lane, Elwell Road, Sewardstone Road, Clarisdown Street, Wellington Road, Crescent Park Road, Somer Street, Station Road, Elm Road and Montpelier Road. Lou Beale (Anna Wing) also mentions in 1987 that Bassett Street is just off Turpin Road.

References

Bibliography

External links

BBC map of Walford via Internet Archive
Information on Walford East via Internet Archive
Fassett Square, "The original inspiration for EastEnders"