Dialogue Express is the name of the new train carriage café at the Carpenter’s Estate in Stratford. The Café is run by Dialogue Hub, a social enterprise promoting dialogue and exchange with Londoners who are deaf or hard of hearing. On board, customers receive instructions for ordering in British Sign Language. This is helping to spark conversation between visitors and their deaf baristas.
The project is part of Newham Council’s plan for the regeneration of the Carpenters Estate. Proposals will create a sustainable neighbourhood with 2,152 homes, new commercial spaces, green spaces and community facilities. In 2023, and with the intention of forwarding placemaking objectives, fostering community development, maximising access to amenity, play and learning spaces during the phased roll-out of the masterplan, Populo, Newham’s housing association developed the Meanwhile Framework for the Carpenters Estate. The strategy identifies 20 potential projects through 5 phases that interface with the phasing of the masterplan.
Dialogue Express forms part of the 1st phase of the Meanwhile Framework which also includes a games area, a green + social space, the Dovetail community room and JKAs TMO Meanwhile work- and community space project which is programmed to start on site in 2025.
The café represents the carriage’s 3rd re-incarnation after its previous deployment as a visitor attraction at the Eureka Children’s Museum in Halifax. Re-using a vintage train carriage is more sustainable than building a new building. The interior has been carefully re-made using plywood panelling, bold colours and soft lighting. A miniature train set travels above head height, along wall-mounted shelves and through tunnels cut into the in-built furniture.
Meanwhile projects like the Dialogue Express Cafe provide early benefits: community space, training opportunities, and a garden tended by residents offer visible proof of regeneration underway as building work is yet to start on the remainder of the estate.
