A London postcode for Ilford

From Guardian Newspaper
'I'm a Londoner': Ilford man's 15-year battle for new postcode
Wilson Chowdhry says Essex postal identity means the town misses out on investment

Aamna Mohdin
Aamna Mohdin

@aamnamohdin
Fri 19 Apr 2019 15.23 BST Last modified on Fri 19 Apr 2019 16.25 BST
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Wilson Chowdhry in Ilford.
‘I just think people should simply accept that we’re from London’ ... Wilson Chowdhry in Ilford. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
On Valentine’s Day 2017, the Ilford businessman Wilson Chowdhry was forced, once again, to set the record straight about his hometown. A BBC presenter had said the east London town of 165,000 people, located a few miles from the Olympic stadium, was in Essex, and Chowdhry was furious.

“I found it really grating. It wound me up for the whole day,” he said. He set up a petition, did a callout on social media and sent a firm email to the public broadcaster. He went to bed after midnight, frustrated – and even more committed to his 15-year campaign to give Ilford a London postcode.

“We get the worst of both worlds,” Chowdhry said in a small hall at his company’s headquarters, tucked around the corner from a fried chicken shop. Ilford has big-city problems such as knife crime, he says, but its Essex postcode, IG, means it doesn’t get as much investment and attention. “I hate it,” he said. “I just think people should simply accept that we’re from London.”

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Chowdhry is setting up another petition to hand to the council at its next meeting in two months’ time. He is not the first to call for Ilford to have a London postcode – the idea first popped up in the 1970s but was quickly dismissed. It had more support when Chowdhry first brought the idea to the council and the Royal Mail in 2004 and has gathered steam since, he says.

In 1965, Ilford and two other districts were combined to create the borough of Redbridge, which would become part of a collection of 33 councils known as Greater London. The founding of Redbridge severed Ilford from Essex, Chowdhry said, and ushered in a new age. Or should have.

Royal Mail has long maintained that its alphanumeric codes are there to efficiently sort and distribute post. But Chowdhry argues that postcodes have morphed into a powerful tool that can determine much of a resident’s life, from the quality of healthcare they receive to house prices. He insists that over the last two decades, clients have chosen not to use his security business because they don’t know where Ilford is or assumed he was based in Essex – and thus too far away to provide guards to inner London.

Wilson Chowdhry in Ilford High Street.
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Wilson Chowdhry was also instrumental in getting the Natural History Museum to return the cast of the Ilford mammoth skull back to the town. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
Whether Royal Mail agrees or not, a postcode is now deeply enmeshed with a person’s identity, Chowdhry said, and he is not the only disgruntled resident to call for change. In 2014, a couple launched a campaign to get their Bradford postcode changed to a Leeds one. In the same year, campaigners in Caithness and Sutherland demanded their own postcode, claiming they were being ripped off on delivery charges because companies believed they were from the Orkney islands. In Windsor, wealthy residents have called for their own postcode to distinguish themselves from Slough.

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Chowdhry insists that culturally Ilford is part of London, not Essex. “The great thing about London is our diverse culture, the festivals that we have and the ability of people of all faiths to come together,” he said. He can see that diversity every year at Redbridge carnival, which he organises, where performances range from Turkish belly-dancing to bhangra, jazz and steel pan bands. “I look at some of the Essex carnivals and the audiences are generally white,” he said.

Being a Londoner has also been a much easier identity to wear. Chowdhry proudly calls himself an Englishman, but admits that in certain pubs he would get strange looks for describing himself that way. “But if I say I’m a Londoner, they don’t balk on that,” he said.

Chowdhry knows there isn’t a massive majority in the town to get the postcode changed. When 67-year-old Tom, who didn’t wish to give his real name, was asked about Chowdhry’s campaign his reaction was stark: “Urgh.” He said Ilford has always been part of Essex, with residents talking about “going up to London”. Tom doesn’t want the town to be consumed by London and lose its identity, or be associated with the “idiots” in Westminster.

Paris Sydes, 28, who works at Redbridge Museum on the top floor of the town’s library, said that though Ilford’s historical connection to Essex cannot be ignored, its future clearly lies in London: “There’s a generational divide, with younger people feeling they’re in London, but older residents are more attached to Essex.”

On the other hand, the local MP Wes Streeting, who identifies as from both Essex and London, plays the issue down. “I can’t say the issue leaves any of us losing much sleep,” he said.

Still, Chowdhry has a proud track record of winning his campaigns. The council is now trialling wheelie bins after Chowdhry called for it, and he was instrumental in getting the Natural History Museum to return the cast of the Ilford mammoth skull, the most complete mammoth skull ever found in Britain, back to the town.

“I did try and get a replica mammoth on one of the roundabouts, a huge full-size replica mammal, but the cost was exorbitant,” Chowdhry said, before pausing. “Actually, could your paper help with that campaign?”