Green Street, running north from Upton Park, is one of the best places in Britain to shop for a wedding. Sari and lehenga shops, jewellers, sweet centres and fabric stores line both sides of the road, and families come from across the country to buy for the big day. East Ham, around it, has one of the most varied populations in the country, with Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nigerian and Eastern European families side by side. Minibus hire East Ham customers book is mostly weddings and family celebrations, temple and gurdwara events, shopping trips and airport runs.
East Ham sits in the east of Newham, between Upton Park, Manor Park, Beckton and Barking, with the A13 along its southern edge. From our base in SE1, it's about thirty to forty minutes outside the rush hour, through the Blackwall or Rotherhithe tunnel and along the A13.
Minibus hire East Ham for weddings
East Ham weddings can run over several days, with mehndi, sangeet, haldi and engagement events before the ceremony, and guest lists in the hundreds. Ceremonies take place at temples, gurdwaras, mosques, churches and the register office, and receptions are often at banqueting halls in East Ham, Ilford, Barking or along the A13.
The minibus picks guests up from family homes, takes them to the ceremony, on to the reception and back at the end of the night. For big weddings, we can run the loop more than once or add vehicles, and for multi-day events we can book each day separately. Tamil weddings often start early in the morning at the temple, and Bengali and Pakistani receptions can run late into the night, so the driver's hours are planned to match. Tell us the order of events and the timings.
Temples, gurdwaras and festivals
The Sri Murugan Temple on Church Road in Manor Park is one of the largest Tamil Hindu temples in Britain, and its festivals draw thousands of worshippers. East Ham also has gurdwaras, mosques, churches and Gujarati temples. Congregations and community groups book us for festivals, pilgrimages to temples elsewhere in the country and days out.
During big festivals, the roads around the temples are crowded and some are closed for processions, so we'll agree pickup points a short walk away. Tell us the festival date and the timings, and we'll plan around them.
Green Street and shopping trips
Families travelling to East Ham for wedding shopping often come as a group, with the bride, her mother, aunts and friends, and plan a full day on Green Street, at Queen's Market and on East Ham High Street. A minibus collects everyone, drops at the top of Green Street and comes back at the agreed time, with room in the back for the bags.
Green Street is busy at weekends, with double-parked cars and crowded pavements, so the driver will stop on a side road and the group walks the last few minutes. The old Boleyn Ground, West Ham's home until 2016, stood near the bottom of Green Street and is now housing.
Airport runs along the A13
London City Airport is about ten to fifteen minutes from East Ham outside the rush hour, along the A13 and through Beckton. Stansted is about forty minutes, via the North Circular and the M11. Heathrow is about an hour or more, and Gatwick about an hour and a quarter.
Families flying out to Chennai, Colombo, Lagos, Dhaka or Karachi often travel with a lot of luggage and gifts, and relatives arriving for a wedding need collecting together. A minibus with room for everything is easier than several taxis. Share the flight numbers, and the driver will be at arrivals when they land.
Schools, parks and the nature reserve
East Ham's primary and secondary schools book us for museum visits, swimming, sports fixtures and residential trips. Central Park, in the middle of East Ham, has a playground and sports pitches, and the East Ham Nature Reserve, in the churchyard of the twelfth-century St Mary Magdalene church, is one of the largest churchyards in London and suits a school nature trip. East Ham Leisure Centre has a pool used for school swimming, and the watersports centre at the Royal Docks runs sessions for older pupils.
The A13 and the High Street
The A13 is the main route in and out, and it's busy at peak times, with queues at the Beckton and Newham Way junctions. East Ham High Street North and South, Barking Road and Green Street are busy with buses, market traffic and shoppers most of the day. Minibus hire East Ham families book for a wedding day is planned with extra time for the High Street and the A13, and pickups happen on side roads rather than the main road.
For minibus hire in East Ham, call 020 7183 0567.