London neighbourhood stinks so badly of ‘eggs and sewage’ that locals can’t sleep

Across one particular neighbourhood in East London, an unpleasant stench lingers in the air.

Residents in Newham have long been complaining about the borough’s foul pong — but that’s perhaps to be expected when you live near to one of largest sewers in Europe.

Beckon Sewage Treatment Works, which is right in the middle of Newham, covers more than 250 acres.

It treats the stinky waste of more than 3.5 million people, and as well as being the largest facility in Europe, it’s the largest in the UK.

The smell certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by locals. On Reddit, @duplicitouss previously said that the stench is so bad that ‘it seeps into my flat even with the windows closed.’

@NKMbugua added: ‘I live in East Ham, and I would smell the sewage plants early morning on the way to work if the wind blew the right way.’

And @Routine-Historian574 said that the smell is becoming ‘worse,’ saying: ‘It’s so awful sometimes that I’ve woken up out of sleep courtesy of Beckton Treatment works.’

Another said that one of the worst things about living in Beckon was the smell, particularly on a hot, sunny day. They even likened it to a ‘mix between eggs, bin waste and sewage.’

Meanwhile, @spacegirl2820 has lived in East Ham for 30 years, and says that it’s ‘always been smelly,’ particularly during the summer.

What does the smell mean for the local property market?

Marc von Grundherr, director of Benham and Reeves estate agents, tells Metro that buyers in the area are well aware of Newham’s funky smells — and both planners and environmental regulators are actually legally required to treat pongy hues like these as a ‘statutory nuisance issue.’

‘It will always be investigated where it unreasonably affects residents’ enjoyment of their homes, which highlights how seriously it’s taken,’ Marc explains.

Marc says the issue, naturally, affects those living closest to the works, like Gallions Reach or the Greenway Route, are most impacted.

‘Many residents in parts of Barking, Beckton and Newham report that they never notice any smell at home, or that it’s faint and only detected when very close to the facility,’ Marc adds.

‘That said, even where the real-world impact is limited, it can still influence buyer sentiment, because perception plays a huge role, and proximity alone is often enough to deter some purchasers.’

If you’re relatively non-plussed about such odours, Marc believes that there are some bargains to be found in the area.

He says: ‘The average house price across Newham currently sits at £405,808, while in the IG11 postcode district, home to the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works, it’s £302,267, a discount of -29.2%.

‘So while the smell question is likely to remain a consideration for buyers regardless of mitigation measures, there is still clear evidence that demand exists and that long-term investment potential remains for those willing to look past it.’

Has London always been this smelly?

This isn’t the first time Londoners have noticed things becoming particularly, well, stinky.

There was a time when the capital became so smelly that politicians had to intervene – and the solution is still dotted across streets to this day.

Ever seen one of those super tall structures that almost resembles a giant lamppost, but with no light and a completely open top? They’re called stink pipes – and we have the Victorians to thank for them.

They were built not only in London but across the UK following the particularly pungent summer of 1858, popularly known as The Great Stink.

For years, the River Thames had been used to dump the city’s waste as there was no centralised sewage system, and as more and more people flocked to the Big Smoke, the problem only grew.

In 1858, a heatwave warmed the human waste coursing through the capital, and residents were enveloped in a haze of fumes so strong that something needed to be done – and so the stink pipes, as well as the blueprints for a proper sewage system, were born.

According to Historic England, they functioned by ‘allowing gases from below ground sewers to vent out and dissipate high above the level at which they would be smelled or breathed in,’ and were built not only in London, but across the UK.

The stink doesn’t end there. Last year, London unveiled a brand new super sewer, built to future-proof the ageing London underground waste network – parts of which were built in the mid-19th century.

It now diverts 34 of London’s most-polluting sewage outflows, preventing them from flowing into the river and ending up in nature. And, at 24 feet wide, the super sewer has capacity for 600 Olympic swimming pools.

It starts from Acton, west London, and cuts through the heart of the capital deep underground until reaching the Lee Tunnel in East London.

From there, it journeys onwards towards our old, smelly friend: the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.

Somehow, though, Newham still isn’t the smelliest place in the UK. A picturesque village in England holds that unfortunate title.

Chalfont St Giles, which is also known as the Best Kept Village in Buckinghamshire, stinks of sewage.

The nostrils belonging to the village’s population, which is roughly 4,700, have to suffer the smell constantly, and in 2024, it reached a peak, owing to raw sewage that had been dumped in a river in the village’s centre.

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