{"id":560880,"date":"2025-11-10T06:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/560880\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T06:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:27:10","slug":"lost-a-sense-of-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/560880\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Lost a sense of community!’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson has spoken about the profound transformation of London’s East End, expressing concern that the area has lost its community spirit after becoming more diverse.<\/p>\n

The 76-year-old performer, who portrayed Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera from 1985 to 1988, grew up in Stepney and recently reflected on changes to her childhood neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Ms Dobson acknowledged the area’s evolution into a multicultural hub with various races and religions, but suggested this cosmopolitan shift has come at a cost.<\/p>\n

The actress, who briefly returned to EastEnders for its 40th anniversary earlier this year, believes the close-knit bonds that once defined East End life have vanished.<\/p>\n

\"Anita<\/p>\n

Anita Dobson recently returned to where she grew up<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

The actress observed that her former neighbourhood has undergone significant demographic changes since her youth.<\/p>\n

Where she once grew up alongside Jewish families who were her closest companions, the area now hosts numerous different ethnicities, accents, and faiths.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now there are many, many more different races and colours and accents and voices, and many more religions. So it has been good in a lot of ways, but in some ways you lose something as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Community. We’re not a society anymore. We’re not social. People don’t talk to each other like they used to,” Ms Dobson told the Telegraph when asked what specifically the area had “lost”.<\/p>\n

\"Anita<\/p>\n

Anita Dobson is married to Queen’s Sir Brian May<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

The Stepney-born performer noted that whilst her childhood council estate remains standing, the surrounding streets have transformed dramatically.<\/p>\n

Areas that once featured Saturday markets where her father collected library books have been replaced by Bengali eateries and trendy drinking establishments, reflecting the district’s evolving character.<\/p>\n

Ms Dobson painted a vivid picture of neighbourly support during her childhood, describing how residents on her council block landing formed an extended family network.<\/p>\n

She remembered specific individuals, including Mrs Freeman, Bobby, and friends Eileen and Carol who lived nearby.<\/p>\n

LATEST ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Anita<\/p>\n

Anita Dobson says the East End has ‘lost its sense of community’ <\/p>\n

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PA<\/p>\n

The actress explained how working mothers relied on neighbours for childcare, with nearby families collecting and feeding children when parents worked late.<\/p>\n

“When I was a kid, if you were coming home late and your mum was working, then the next-door neighbour would say, ‘Oh, don’t worry, Anne, I’ll pick the kids up and feed them,'” she recalled.<\/p>\n

She highlighted the era’s trusting nature, including leaving keys dangling on strings through letterboxes for children returning home – security measures she acknowledged would be unthinkable in contemporary London.<\/p>\n

Despite the East End’s reputation for violence during the era of the Kray twins, Ms Dobson maintained that certain unwritten rules protected vulnerable residents.<\/p>\n

\"Anita<\/p>\n

Anita Dobson and Brian May<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

The actress described a criminal code where women and children remained off-limits, with disputes strictly confined to male participants.<\/p>\n

“It was violent, with the Krays and all of that, but in a strange way, you weren’t afraid as a woman because there was always someone there to look after you,” she explained to the publication.<\/p>\n

She recalled how potential confrontations would see women and children immediately removed from harm’s way, with clear instructions that any “business” was exclusively between men.<\/p>\n

This protective culture, she suggested, provided an unexpected sense of security despite the area’s rough reputation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson has spoken about the profound transformation of London’s East End, expressing concern that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[192,4080,4781,77,512,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-560880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-celebrity","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-sgg","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115523986647969852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}