London's Royal Docks are a collection of three magnificent docks built between 1850 and 1921 in the Plaistow Marshes area of East London. Until that time, the marshes were quite often flooded and only really suitable for grazing. However there is evidence to suggest that the area was inhabited during the bronze age, iron age and during Roman times. The docks were created to relieve the overcrowding of the River Thames as the expanding British Empire generated more and more trade. The main docking areas in the Pool of London had become almost impossible to navigate safely and the East India Docks, constructed less than 50 years earlier were struggling to cope.
The first of the docks to be completed was Victoria Dock. It was designed to accommodate the latest steamships and was around 9 metres deep and at the time of opening it was the largest man-made expanse of water in the world. In 1880 Albert Dock was opened and this was followed in 1921 by King George V Dock. At this time, the docks were also assigned their royal prefix. The docks were of course a huge success and led to factories and housing being developed in London's East End. They were also the first docks to be serviced directly by the railways. As time went on container shipping became the preferred method of transport and as these ships were too large to reach the Royal Docks, in 1981 their time inevitably came to an end.
At exactly the same time, the London Docklands Development Corporation was set up. It's purpose was to regenerate the Docklands area of East London. Canary Wharf, The Docklands Light Railway (DLR), The London City Airport and the London Arena all followed and the area is now a major business centre with many skyscrapers as well as being a highly desirable place to live. In 1988, Jean-Michel Jarre staged huge performances at Royal Victoria Dock which attracted 100,000 people on each of the two nights. Called 'Destination Docklands' it was designed to showcase the history and future development of the area and featured projections onto buildings, a spectacular light show which included WW2 search lights and lasers, as well as fireworks.
The Royal Victoria Dock dockside is lined with many modern buildings, which are largely residential and hotels. There are also a few historical buildings and the dock's cranes have been retained as a nod to the area's past. The most well-known of these is probably the ExCel London Exhibition Centre which hosts all kinds of events including the London Boat Show and the London Comic Con. It is of course also the venue of the London Marathon Running Show.
As far as public transport is concerned, there is no mainline train station within easy reach of the venue, meaning the DLR will likely form part of the journey. The closest station is the Royal Victoria DLR which is 3-4 minutes walk away from the start. The DLR actually has two lines running past the dock, so if you end up on the Woolwich Arsenal branch you could alight at West Silvertown DLR instead. A more recent addition to the travel options has been the opening of the Elizabeth line (crossrail) which stops at Custom House station next to the Excel Centre. Alighting here is handy should the toilet be required. One can be found in Starbucks (open from 8am) on the footbridge in between the station and the Excel centre. It is only available for customers, so a small purchase should suffice.
For those looking for a local overnight stay, there are quite a few options. Firstly, the closest Premier Inn is their London Docklands (ExCel) hotel. There really are too many to list them all, but there are also branches of DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Holiday Inn Express, Ibis, Novotel, and Crowne Plaza London Docklands. There are also a couple of hotels that offer a unique stay. The first is called the Good Hotel - this floating hotel is just two minutes from the parkrun meeting area. The boat itself was acquired and refurbished in Amsterdam and was originally destined for Brazil, however the plan changed and it ended up sailing to London in 2016 and it has been there ever since. It is possible that the Good Hotel staff may let parkrunners use the toilet, but I can't guarantee this will be the case. The other hotel is the Sunborn London which is a five-star yacht hotel. Interestingly, it was constructed specifically to be a hotel and as a result it does not have an engine.
It's also worth noting that the entire course is right underneath the flight path for London City Airport, so you may get to see and hear some low flying aircraft. Even if you don't see any during the parkrun, watching the planes land and take-off is a brilliant post-parkrun activity. The turn-around point for the out-and-back varies depending on which course is being used. The original course goes past the Sunborn then continues all the way to the far end of the ExCel centre to reach its turn-around point (this point is only about a kilometre away from Beckton parkrun). The double out-and-back course goes about three-quarters of the way along ExCel before turning around. Finally the triple out-and-back course's turn-around point is next to the Sunborn.
The 'back' section just follows the dockside path back around to the start area. If the original course is in use the parkrunners continue around to the south side of the dock where the second (different) out-and-back takes place. Again there are more cranes here and the surface underfoot is not quite as smooth as the northern side. This particular course has not been used since 2021. If one of the other two courses are in use the participants simply repeat that course's out-and-back section the desired amount of times and once done the finish can be found back at the original meeting point and start area. Barcode scanning takes place in the immediate vicinity.
Related Links:
The first of the docks to be completed was Victoria Dock. It was designed to accommodate the latest steamships and was around 9 metres deep and at the time of opening it was the largest man-made expanse of water in the world. In 1880 Albert Dock was opened and this was followed in 1921 by King George V Dock. At this time, the docks were also assigned their royal prefix. The docks were of course a huge success and led to factories and housing being developed in London's East End. They were also the first docks to be serviced directly by the railways. As time went on container shipping became the preferred method of transport and as these ships were too large to reach the Royal Docks, in 1981 their time inevitably came to an end.
At exactly the same time, the London Docklands Development Corporation was set up. It's purpose was to regenerate the Docklands area of East London. Canary Wharf, The Docklands Light Railway (DLR), The London City Airport and the London Arena all followed and the area is now a major business centre with many skyscrapers as well as being a highly desirable place to live. In 1988, Jean-Michel Jarre staged huge performances at Royal Victoria Dock which attracted 100,000 people on each of the two nights. Called 'Destination Docklands' it was designed to showcase the history and future development of the area and featured projections onto buildings, a spectacular light show which included WW2 search lights and lasers, as well as fireworks.
The Royal Docks are now a focal point within the area and many activities take place on and around them. Watersports are one of the main attractions and you'll find opportunities to try all sorts of traditional water-based activities including rowing, sailing, and canoeing. For the adrenaline-junkies there is the Wakeup Docklands centre, on Royal Victoria Dock, which specialises in Wakeboarding and Flyboarding. It's also home to the London Triathlon which uses the dock for the swim section and the Dock2Dock event.
The Royal Victoria Dock dockside is lined with many modern buildings, which are largely residential and hotels. There are also a few historical buildings and the dock's cranes have been retained as a nod to the area's past. The most well-known of these is probably the ExCel London Exhibition Centre which hosts all kinds of events including the London Boat Show and the London Comic Con. It is of course also the venue of the London Marathon Running Show.
Directly opposite ExCel is the large white art-deco building. This is Millenium Mills, built in 1934 to replace the original 1905 Millenium Mills building which was destroyed in 1917 when 50 tonnes of TNT exploded in a munitions factory. The current building suffered significant damage during WW2 and sections were rebuilt in the 1950s. The mill closed down at the same time as the docks and has been lying derelict for many years. It was one of the buildings used for projections during John-Michel Jarre's performances in 1988. Since then it has been used extensively in music videos, TV and scenes in movies including The Batman and Paddington 2. It is currently being redeveloped as part of the £3.5 billion Silvertown regeneration scheme.
Since 2018, the dockside has been home to a free, weekly, timed 5km community event called Victoria Dock parkrun. It is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk. Like all parkruns it is primarily a community event which offers plenty of volunteering opportunities. The main meeting point for the event is at the western end of the dock just outside The Crystal building which is one of the world's most sustainable buildings. Since 2022 it has been the headquarters of the Greater London Authority and is now officially called City Hall. It is worth noting that this parkrun has no official toilet facilities - the original arrangement that parkrunners could use the Crystal Gardens Community hut is no longer in place.
Since 2018, the dockside has been home to a free, weekly, timed 5km community event called Victoria Dock parkrun. It is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk. Like all parkruns it is primarily a community event which offers plenty of volunteering opportunities. The main meeting point for the event is at the western end of the dock just outside The Crystal building which is one of the world's most sustainable buildings. Since 2022 it has been the headquarters of the Greater London Authority and is now officially called City Hall. It is worth noting that this parkrun has no official toilet facilities - the original arrangement that parkrunners could use the Crystal Gardens Community hut is no longer in place.
There are a few options for travel to the venue including driving, however it is worth noting that parking on the local roads is heavily restricted with parking only possible for local residents. There are a few local car parks including the official ExCel car park which charges £25 per day (2024 price). A bit further along the dock is the Dockside Road car park which is managed by Just Park. The cost for this one appears to be around £3 per hour, but the walk to the meeting point is further away. The closest free on-street parking that I have found is adjacent to Beckton Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station which can then be used to complete the journey.
As far as public transport is concerned, there is no mainline train station within easy reach of the venue, meaning the DLR will likely form part of the journey. The closest station is the Royal Victoria DLR which is 3-4 minutes walk away from the start. The DLR actually has two lines running past the dock, so if you end up on the Woolwich Arsenal branch you could alight at West Silvertown DLR instead. A more recent addition to the travel options has been the opening of the Elizabeth line (crossrail) which stops at Custom House station next to the Excel Centre. Alighting here is handy should the toilet be required. One can be found in Starbucks (open from 8am) on the footbridge in between the station and the Excel centre. It is only available for customers, so a small purchase should suffice.
This venue is well-known for its unique travel option, which is the IFS Cloud Cable Car (it was formerly known as the Emirates Air Line, but that sponsorship ended in June 2022). It crosses the Thames between Greenwich Peninsula (the O2) and Royal Victoria Dock. The station/terminal is only 1-2 minutes from the meeting area. For the record there are toilet facilities in North Greenwich tube station. From April 2022, the cable car can be used for free on Saturday mornings before 10.30am just by showing your parkrun barcode. However as of 6 May 2025 the opening time changes to 9am meaning it is no longer an option for travelling to the parkrun. It still remains an option for a post-parkrun activity. Also bear in mind that services may be postponed in poor weather conditions, especially if it is windy or if there is a risk of thunder and lightning.
For those looking for a local overnight stay, there are quite a few options. Firstly, the closest Premier Inn is their London Docklands (ExCel) hotel. There really are too many to list them all, but there are also branches of DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Holiday Inn Express, Ibis, Novotel, and Crowne Plaza London Docklands. There are also a couple of hotels that offer a unique stay. The first is called the Good Hotel - this floating hotel is just two minutes from the parkrun meeting area. The boat itself was acquired and refurbished in Amsterdam and was originally destined for Brazil, however the plan changed and it ended up sailing to London in 2016 and it has been there ever since. It is possible that the Good Hotel staff may let parkrunners use the toilet, but I can't guarantee this will be the case. The other hotel is the Sunborn London which is a five-star yacht hotel. Interestingly, it was constructed specifically to be a hotel and as a result it does not have an engine.
The route of Victoria Dock parkrun has changed a few times over the years, but all versions of the course feature out-and-back sections around the perimeter of the dock. Underfoot is 100% hard surface which features a mix of tarmac, paving and bricks, so road shoes are always the perfect footwear choice. The course itself is completely flat and seems to be a good venue for those looking for a decent finishing time. People using wheelchairs or pushing buggies are very welcome and the course itself is suitable for both. Those participating with a dog are also welcome. I will also mention that this is a flash-mob style parkrun so expect to see no sign of a parkrun until after 8.30am.
The original course was effectively a single lap route, but took place over two different out-and-back sections. This was in use from March 2018 until 2021 when some maintenance works on the south side commenced. This forced the organisers to change the route and that's when the double out-and-back route came into use. Then in the summer of 2023 even more works started on the dockside and this initially caused the parkrun to cancel for about three months. However a triple out-and-back route was created and this enabled the event to return - the triple out-and-back remained in use until the works had finished.
As of 21 December 2024 the double out-and-back course is in use.
All three versions start on the dockside right underneath the path of the cable car and head to the north passing The Crystal building / City Hall before following the path round to the right and onto the dock's north side. From here the routes pass the Good Hotel and then continue to follow the natural path around the dockside. The paths here are generally very quiet and there are a few pairs of the dock's cranes placed in this next section which are fascinating to see, but do watch out as they stand directly on the path. Looking ahead at this point, beyond the Sunborn yacht hotel is the Royal Victoria Bridge up ahead. This is a high level pedestrian bridge which cost £5 million to design and construct. Its design reflects the appearance of the tall sailing ships which regularly use the dock.
It's also worth noting that the entire course is right underneath the flight path for London City Airport, so you may get to see and hear some low flying aircraft. Even if you don't see any during the parkrun, watching the planes land and take-off is a brilliant post-parkrun activity. The turn-around point for the out-and-back varies depending on which course is being used. The original course goes past the Sunborn then continues all the way to the far end of the ExCel centre to reach its turn-around point (this point is only about a kilometre away from Beckton parkrun). The double out-and-back course goes about three-quarters of the way along ExCel before turning around. Finally the triple out-and-back course's turn-around point is next to the Sunborn.
The 'back' section just follows the dockside path back around to the start area. If the original course is in use the parkrunners continue around to the south side of the dock where the second (different) out-and-back takes place. Again there are more cranes here and the surface underfoot is not quite as smooth as the northern side. This particular course has not been used since 2021. If one of the other two courses are in use the participants simply repeat that course's out-and-back section the desired amount of times and once done the finish can be found back at the original meeting point and start area. Barcode scanning takes place in the immediate vicinity.
The results are usually published online a short while after the event. At time of writing I have visited this parkrun twice and taken part on the original course and the double out-and-back course. I hope to revisit and try out the triple out-and-back course soon. I recorded the course using my Garmin on both visits and you can find the GPS data of the original route on my Strava account. I also created a Relive course flyby video which you can find on Youtube. I revisited in 2022 and you can see the GPS data of the double out-and-back on Strava and the Relive alternative course flyby can be found here. While I haven't taken part on the triple out-and-back course, I have sourced some GPS data of it, so the GPS data of the triple out-and-back course can also be found on Strava.
In terms of attendance figures, there were 93 participants when I first visited at event 5 in 2018. This had risen to 178 when I revisited at event 141 in September 2022. As of December 2024 the average attendance figures tend to hover around the low to mid 200's. An interesting quirk of this venue is that the first time tourists quite often outnumber the regulars. This means the pool of regular, local people is fairly small and the event can quite often struggle to fill the essential volunteer roles. This can lead to cancellations.
Most of the event's cancellations are due to other events taking place along the dockside or in the dock itself. Sometimes they are announced at very short notice, so be sure to check the event's news and social media pages right up until the morning of your visit to avoid a wasted journey. Expect to find the event cancelled on the weekend of the London Marathon as people collecting their race packs from the ExCel centre have in the past caused the parkrun's numbers to swell to unmanageable numbers. The current attendance record is 699 from 2023's London Marathon weekend.
It is quite a unique parkrun and this makes it a very popular destination for parkrun tourists, some of whom may also be using the event as their 'V' in the parkrun alphabeteer challenge. Finally a huge thank you goes to all of the volunteers.
Related Links:
- The course GPS data (original course using the north and south sides of the dock)
- The Relive course flyby video (original course flyby)
- The alternative course GPS data (double out and back on the northern side - Current course)
- Relive alternative course flyby video (double out and back on the northern side - Current course)
- The 3 x out-and-back course GPS data (triple out and back on the northern side)
- The London parkrun Venues (blog7t page)
- Beckton parkrun blog (2023)
