London Pleasure Gardens

went on sunday - got told about it by my neighbours who went on saturday , had a great time and i did on sunday as well..the meadow area was open on sunday which was fantastic - spoke to one of the helpers who explained they couldn't open it on saturday because of the firework display (something about a fall out zone) but reccomend everyone to got now as its a real peaceful oasis in the middle of urban wasteland - the acts were great , street theatre enjoyable and the only down points were the dust (which i hope they deal with) and the fact we couldnt use the grassy mound yet as the grass was bedding in..cant wait to go on it though....i live locally and am so excited that something like this is happening on wasteland thats been empty for decades..great effort ..not perfect yet but a major improvement on what was there before ..and it was free..have never seen so many people in this area in my 25 years living here..it reminded me of an old ken livingston glc gig .and i got to dance with that women from dreamgirls.... what more can i say

My family and I had a fabulous time and loved that it was so different from the bog standard fest in a field. Yes it was dusty but also pretty quirky and we loved it. The atmosphere felt like Butlins circa 1972 crossed with hipster east London. Best was baroque version of Tinie Temper and the view of the bedraggled factories.

this place surely has to be a joke? No wonder it was free, if I paid here I would've demanded my money back and kicked up a real fuss. There is no pleasure to be hard at this non-garden. Its just a big, dodgy dust bowl. Do not bring your children, as there is broken glass all over the site. It's just an excersie to rinse ever more money out of you at £4.50 for a can of beer. I'd stay away from the food as well, all of it was disapointing, tasted like rubber and massively over price. I'd suggest popping over to the park next door as it actually has grass there. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Used to work in the area and was amazed to see the turnout to this once forgotten part of London. The site is industrial and somewhat crazy but that's one of the reasons why London is an exciting place to live. Will be back this summer!

I live opposite and have seen what they have done in such a short time.. It was FREE anyone feeling cheated needs a reality check. Can't wait to see how this transforms this area. H

Had a great time!!! It was a FREE festival dont know why everyone is moaning ? They should of been having a nice time in the sunshine... Def going back to see the site progress!!

Was looking forward to the Pleasure Gardens. Great concept and something needed in London for a long time. But oh dear, the reality doesn't live up to the hype. A few market stalls, a car park, dust, and what the hell was the smell? Seading the comments on Facebook and on here and it looks like maybe this isn't the Shangri-La promised and more of a Scrapyard Challenge - the challenge being how long before you start thinking about heading back into town. I really wanted this to be good. But its not. Far from it. And thats a real shame. I doubt I'll be back.

This was really disappointing and I didn't even have expectations as had no idea what it would be. It was like walking around a dusty carpark, with the option to buy crap food and expensive beer. It was free, but its also free to go to any of the parks in London or Southbank and get much more pleasure!

When is a Pleasure Garden? When its neither pleasurable nor a garden it seems! London's much hyped "cultural destination" fails to deliver on any front, other than to annoy the local residents with noise and litter. Apparantly transforming this wasteground cost around £5million, with Newham Council investing £3million in taxpayers money into this abomination of a project. A "paradise Garden" this most definatly isn't. A dusty urban wasteground with some shanty town wooden huts painted with skeletons and graffiti... Dust, a feeling of desolation, and a lack of any real atmosphere. The funfare was sparce, the "stages" loud with terrible sound systems, the beer over priced and the toilets (those smelly blue cubicals) needed cleaning. Nothing to keep my kids occupied and the number of drunks (and trippy festival people) by the middle of the evening saw me and my family leave well before the fireworks on the opening day. We'll not be returning and feel cheated. We tracelled across from West Kensington for this, and wished we had not bothered! Avoid at all costs. The organisers should be ashamed and the council should be questioning the wisdom of investing such a huge amount of public money into this ill concieved and frankly shambolic venture. BEST AVOIDED!!!

Went to both days of Paradise Gardens, the launch of London Pleasure Gardens and despite the late opening and the dust the day got into full swing late afternoon/early evening with a really nice atmosphere and on the whole people appeared to be enjoying themselves. A nice mix of families with young children and young people that you would normally expect to see at festivals. It's clear that whilst there were quite a few teething problems and this is just the beginning of the LPG project... looking forward to seeing the artwork and a more complete site soon. That said highlights were Silo D on the Saturday and Musical Youth on the Sunday which isn’t bad for a free festival. Overall verdict: work in progress.