Victoria Park Reviews Summary

Amenities

Pros:

• "Great place to walk your dog. Has great markets on a Sunday for fresh fruit, veg and meat 10-4pm."
• "There are numerous amenities including cafes, picnic tables, children's playing areas, boating lake, Chinese Pagoda & tennis courts."
• "It's a massive park with a boating lake and great kids play areas."
• "A massive, excellent park with toilets, cafes, a play area for kids, wide open spaces, large trees, roads for rollerblading and skating."
• "There is a skate park, kids play areas, cricket facilities, lake and much more."
• "Children's areas, toilets, various sports areas, recently installed exercise equipment, running track, cricket nets, tennis courts, bowling green, formal flower garden, lake, cafe with outside seating, picnic areas and tables."
• "Accessible Toilets ♿ 🚽 are available on both sides of the Park!"

Cons:

• "The only negative I have is the public toilets as they were rather smelly and untidy."
• "Spent an afternoon in Victoria Park, to use a public toilet…mission impossible!! Huge queues and no toilet paper in the end."
• "The toilets behind the pavilion cafe are tiny and the system to wash hands wasn't working when I went."
• "No where near enough toilets men women going anywhere they could find, the prices of beers £6 20 for half a pint of pale ale total rip off music was excellent Friday 25th August but day spoilt by massive queues for toilets."
• "The downside of the park is that, toilets are dirty."
• "The only disappointing was the public toilet near pond (need cleaning on busy days and definitely refurbishment)."
• "The toilets are shut fairly early in the evening."

Activities and Events

Pros:

• "Great park in East London with plenty going on throughout the year. Music festivals, dogs' competitions and a very cool farmers market every Sunday."
• "Best park in London. Has everything from great walks, cafes, places for kids to play, lovely dogs enjoying the space, bikes for hire, and markets/events and people just happy to be out."
• "They also do boat hire in the summer time."
• "Family friendly atmosphere, lots of dogs around and a beautiful setting make this one of the hot spots of the city during the summer."
• "All points east festival with multiple stages, many bars and many restaurants serving a variety of foods from across different cultures."
• "Visited for a music festival with Stormzy headlining. Good transport links well organised and laid out event."
• "Every Sunday farmer market with high quality products from locals."

Cons:

• "On our visit a large area been designated to a concert, which may limit access to some parts of the park."
• "However, there are quite a lot of music festivals that take place in summer that generate too much noise and people."
• "The amount of single use plastic was ridiculous. There were recycling points but they weren't getting used."
• "It's just crowded. Cyclists and people on the scooters are careless."
• "Rarely visit it without seeing a rat."
• "Unfortunately with pandemic its a bit hard to do social distancing."
• "Watch out for cyclists though, some of them can be annoying, they'll pass you really fast without warning."

Environment and Maintenance

Pros:

• "Superbly maintained Park."
• "A wonderful green space full of history."
• "Absolutely beautiful park. Full of tranquility with a beautiful pond, a Japanese pergola, and a canal that run alongside it."
• "The park is beautiful and peaceful. It really makes you feel like you've escaped the city."
• "The park itself is as clean as it can be, considering that many people leave behind their rubbish."
• "The park is well maintained all year round with the lawn mowed low."
• "In all aspects the best park in London, thousands of visitors every weekend, can't be wrong & on top of people visiting, locals as well seven days a week, now well managed, clean & attractive to all ages."

Cons:

• "And the trouble is that South Hackney - or at least, the bit that abuts the Park - consists of social housing for vulnerable, disabled or impoverished people, whose needs Tower Hamlets treats with apathy or seeming contempt."
• "The only real detraction from the experience was a group of men at the Chinese pagoda who were urinating in public."
• "The pagoda and fountains are beautiful, though its a shame that its dirty or vandalised at times."
• "The park itself quite dirty with a lot of rubbish lying around and it’s not being picked up."
• "However, the boating lake and splash pool were closed on the day we visited."
• "The grass was yellow though and it made it look unattended."
• "Used to be a favourite park years back, now we avoid it due to too many dogs without the leash."

Accessibility and Transport

Pros:

• "You can park on Sunday for free on any side road or just outside the park."
• "Alot of roads are free parking after midday near the park."
• "Easy to get to from Hackney Wick station or Mile End, and one of my favourite park in all of London."
• "Also easy by bus."
• "If you are connecting via underground, I believe the closest station should be Benthal Green."
• "Parking after 12 noon free Mon-Fri."
• "You can park nearby. I usually enter via Gore road. the most of the roads are free parking outside 9-12. ample parking options."

Cons:

• "The only thing that nearly ruined our visit was the white racist man ice cream seller in the van with '99 Job' number plate that also sells tango blast."
• "It's closed to traffic so you've got a nice outer part that's perfect for cycling, running and walking."
• "Slightly awkward to get too, but numerous boris bike cycle stations nearby."
• "Only drawback is the fact that it is all permit parking apart from Sunday and it is in a densely populated area."
• "You may find that you have to park your vehicle a long away from park."
• "Parking is very expensive, £14.50 for 3 hours but that’s London I guess."
• "The eastern half is less impressive."