In the 1960s the East End was the area most associated with gangster activity , most notably that of the Kray twins . The 1996 Docklands bombing caused significant damage around South Quay Station , to the south of the main Canary Wharf development . Two people were killed and thirty-nine injured in one of Mainland Britain 's biggest bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army . This led to the introduction of police checkpoints controlling access to the Isle of Dogs , reminiscent of the City 's " ring of steel ' " Many disasters have befallen the residents of the East End , both in war and in peace . In particular , as a maritime port , plague and pestilence have disproportionately fallen on the residents of the East End . The area most afflicted by the Great Plague ( 1665 ) was Spitalfields , and cholera epidemics broke out in Limehouse in 1832 and struck again in 1848 and 1854 . Typhus and tuberculosis were also common in the crowded 19th century tenements . The was a passenger steamer crowded with day trippers returning from Gravesend to Woolwich and London Bridge . On the evening of 3 September 1878 , she collided with the steam collier '' Bywell Castle '' ( named for Bywell Castle ) and sank into the Thames in under four minutes . Of the approximately 700 passengers , over 600 were lost
1996 Docklands bombing
1996 Docklands bombing
East End of London