About Swan Housing Group

We’ve been asking for 24/7 concierge forever and they are still dragging their feet. Same with getting a K9 patrol to rid the area of drug dealers and other ASB.

Be ready to have to escalate and chase regularly to get them to do anything; and when they send someone to fix something watch them like a hawk because chances are they will break something else while attempting to repair your snag.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

the area still has issues but they are being slowly addressed; this is a very well connected development with almost instant access to the cycling lane, DLR, bus station, or highway. It’s very convenient no matter your favourite mean of transportation.

Republic is very nice with several spots to grab a coffee or dessert and more shops are due to open soon, which is lovely.

The main pain point is the anti social behaviour still happening right there; this is still a hot spot for drug dealers, and we have an ongoing issue with anti social driving, especially during the weekend
The bin collection is a joke and is still a problem. For some reason someone decided they putting the bins right in front of your building entrance was a good idea so you are greeted by mountains of rubbish regularly. The council is catching up and I did notice an improvement in the last couple months but it is still a work in progress.

The apartment are very nice, good surface for the price but watch out for snags and defects; and you really need to harass management to get them to do anything.
Poplar High street will change soon so I hope the new layout and other improvements will help.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish I visited the area after lockdown. We came when almost no cars were out so the area was very quiet.
With everyone back to normal the traffic noise is constant, and distressing during the weekend.
We had to budget for more soundproofing to make our flat liveable.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

They are very slow to address any issues we have and we had to threaten to sue to get them to finally do something.

Some of the fittings such as kitchen cabinets! Makes it hard to clean!

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Love having local nail salon and cafe! Amazing to live close to canary wharf and have it as view! Very clean nice building with lovely concierges! Feel very safe living here! Amazing being next to the DLR! Wish there was more local restaurants and bars!

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I can’t think of anything specific as we were given all the information we needed to move in!

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

They have been very helpful and responses swiftly to any issues we have come across!

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

It’s nice and clean, easily accessible, next to Stroudly that has takeaways, dry cleaners

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Not really, I share the flat with my mum who did the research.

What is the best feature of your home:

The view is amazing. We’re on the 23rd floor, and when you go on the balcony you can see everything.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Overall Blackwall Reach is positioned in the heart of Blackwall with Blackwall DLR being seconds away while East India DLR, Poplar DLR, Canary Wharf DLR and Jubilee and eventually Crossrail being minutes away. So links are amazing here. Also, Canary Wharf is so close that makes the 3 different malls it has and the numerous bars and restaurants very accessible. The business centre is also less than 5 minutes away offering F45 training, yoga, pilates, physiotherapy, sports massage studios, coffee shops, one of the best ice cream shops I have tasted with greek iced coffee (you really need to try this), italian restaurant Salento and its new deli shop and a newly announced whiskey bar. Don’t forget the nails spa, bubble tea, dock cafe right under the Blackwall Reach buildings. Unfortunately there is no parking on site but in the business centre there is underfloor parking and of course you can have residents permits for the area. Bin collections were horrible in the beginning but have now improved a lot with new, bigger bins provided for us and more regular collections from Tower Hamlets. We are not street facing so I would say the traffic noise is to the bare minimum, if any. Anti-social behaviour exists, not in great extend but we had the odd occasion where someone was blasting music very late or dodgy people in the streets, however, we fortunately haven’t encountered any issues on a personal level. The community that is being built here with young professionals is pretty amazing and I hope for more of those around and some good nurseries etc.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Bad: Funnily enough a lot of the issues we had with the bins was because people don’t dispose their rubbish properly. So, if you are to become a new neighbour, please be considerate about this.

Good: Explore the area! It’s much better than we thought initially. Definitely walk around in the business centre at different times, even night time, it’s so beautiful and has a few things to offer.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

They respond quickly saying they are busy and then you have to chase them a lot in order to get a response. We are currently still waiting on the 2 years guarantee form we filled for them to check on a couple of things. We sent that 3 months ago followed by a couple of emails and we are still waiting on a response.