London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

Barking Town Hall

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is a London Borough in East London, on the north bank of the Thames. It was formed in 1965, initially as the London Borough of Barking, by combining the former Essex boroughs of Barking and Dagenham. It received its current name in 1980. The Ford plant at Dagenham once employed 40,000 people.

LGBT history

Tom Driberg was the Member of Parliament for Barking from 1959 to February 1974 when he stood down.

There was briefly a Barking CHE Group in 1972.

The Essex Gay Youth Helpline was set up in June 1983 and ran from the flat of Steven Power in Cobham House, St Margarets.

There is/was a Barking and Dagenham LGBT Forum

Between June 2014 and September 2015 Stephen Port murdered four young men at his flat in Barking.