As you leave West Ham on a London-bound District or Hammersmith & City line train, you can see a bridge crossing the main road next to West Ham station. This carries the twin pipes that are the Northern Outfall Sewer, taking all the sewage from as far afield as Ravenscourt Park, Kensal Green, Kilburn and Hampstead down to the treatment plant at Beckton.

The nickname of local football club West Ham United ­– The Hammers  – comes from its historical association with the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, which constructed many notable ships nearby up until 1912. Despite sharing the same name, West Ham Tube station is not as close to the football ground as Upney station.