Editing Bethnal Green (section)

==Cityscape==
[[File:Bethnal Green, Pritchard's Road - geograph.org.uk - 1716991.jpg|left|thumb|Pritchard's Road, towards Haggerston and Hackney.]]

===Conservation Areas===
Bethnal Green has a number of conservation areas established by Tower Hamlets Council due to its history and landscape, including the Bethnal Green Gardens Conservation Area which was designated in July 1969 and then extended in October 2008 to the south west of the tube station due to significant buildings located in and around the junction of Bethnal Green Road, Roman Road and Cambridge Heath Road, which helps ensure these landmarks will be preserved.<ref name="towerhamlets.gov.uk"/>

A part of the Hackney Road Conservation Area is intended to protect the special architectural and historic character of buildings and areas adjoining the road which are composed of a dense concentration of modest sized properties.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Hackney-Road-Conservation-Area-compressed.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517032944/http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Hackney-Road-Conservation-Area-compressed.pdf |archive-date=2017-05-17 |url-status=live|last=London Borough of Tower Hamlets|title=Hackney Road|date=4 November 2009|access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref> The Victoria Park Conservation Area was designated in March 1977, altered in 2008 to make way for the Regent's Canal Conservation Area and to expand Driffield Road Conservation Area and now includes the listed park itself, the formal axial road pattern to the south west and the many Victorian terraces.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Victoria_Park_CAA_and_MG.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904194527/https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Victoria_Park_CAA_and_MG.pdf |archive-date=2019-09-04 |url-status=live|last=London Borough of Tower Hamlets|title=Victoria Park|date=4 November 2009|access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref>

It is also part of the wider Regents Canal Conservation Area, the streetside buildings are neglected but form part of the industrial heritage and character of [[Vyner Street]] and also Wadeson Street, which contains a row of three storey Victorian workshops mostly converted to residential use. Both types contribute to the character of the area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Regents-Canal-Conservation-Area-compressed.pdf|title=Regents Canal Conservation Area|publisher=Tower Hamlets|access-date=16 June 2019}}</ref>

To the north-west is the Old Bethnal Green Road Conservation Area, which focuses around the roads of the Winkley Estate, which has a very cohesive character and little scope exists for change. The buildings contained within the area being considered form an important group worthy of protection and enhancement.<ref name="towerhamlets.gov.uk1">{{cite web|url=https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Old-Bethnal-Green-RoadV1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521180248/http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Old-Bethnal-Green-RoadV1.pdf |archive-date=2017-05-21 |url-status=live|last=London Borough of Tower Hamlets|title=Old Bethnal Green Road|date=4 November 2009|access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref>

===Parks===
Bethnal Green Gardens, located in central Bethnal Green, holds the war memorial, known as the Stairway To Heaven,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/bethnal_green_gardens.aspx |last=London Borough of Tower Hamlets |title=Bethnal Green Gardens |access-date=21 June 2019}}</ref> and Weavers' Fields, which is a 15.6 acres park and is the 6th largest open space in Tower Hamlets that lies south of Bethnal Green Road.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lovebethnalgreen.com/places/united-kingdom/greater-london/london/things-to-do/weavers-fields/ |last=The Oxford House in Bethnal Green |title=Weavers Fields |website=Love Bethnal Green |access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref> The western part of [[Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets|Victoria Park]] is in Bethnal Green.

In the 1970s, Tower Hamlets Council decided to fence and lock up the area now known as ''Bethnal Green Nature Reserve'', to protect it from fly tipping. In the late 1990s the local ''Teesdale and Hollybush Tenants and Residents Association'' became the site custodians and, with the support of Tower Hamlets Council, took responsibility for St Jude's as it was still called locally.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Location|url=https://phytology.org.uk/location/|access-date=2020-08-27|website=Phytology|language=en}}</ref>

===Notable buildings===
The former ''Bethnal Green Infirmary'', later the ''London County Council Bethnal Green Hospital,'' stood opposite [[Cambridge Heath railway station]]. The hospital closed as a public hospital in the 1970s and was a [[geriatric]] hospital under the NHS until the 1980s. Much of the site was developed for housing in the 1990s but the hospital entrance and administration block remains as a listed building.