[1] The riverside of central Silvertown continues to be dominated by the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery, with residential developments being built to its east and west.

Central Silvertown features St Marks Church (now Brick Lane Music Hall), London City Airport, and a new community arts and creative space called The Factory Project.

The area was cut off for much of the time by lifting bridges over dock entrances and level crossings which were closed for up to three-quarters of each hour by train movements.

[9] On the first night of The Blitz, Tate and Lyle's sugar refinery, John Knight's Primrose Soapworks, and the Silvertown Rubber Works were all badly damaged by bombing.

[11] Another major local employer was the Loders and Nucoline plant at Cairn Mills, a traditional port oleo industry and formerly part of Unilever.

[12] Since the closure of the former mainline Silvertown rail station, the small commercial area nearby has suffered, with a loss of shops, post office, local social club, and library.

The 7 million square foot (650,000 m2) development will provide offices, a tech hub, 3,000 new homes and brand experience pavilions.

A school, health centre and shops are also included in the plan and a new bridge will cross the Royal Docks to get people to Custom House station[14] and Crossrail.

Their plan was to develop the site with homes, restaurants, commercial buildings, local convenience retail facilities, and significant public realm for community use.

[15] In January 2015, the Mayor of London announced an initial £12m of government funding to start work on demolishing part of Millennium Mills and clearing it of asbestos.

Access to Silvertown was much improved by an extension of the Docklands Light Railway from Canning Town to Woolwich Arsenal, which opened on 2 December 2005.

A new bridge to connect West Silvertown with Crossrail's Custom House station is one of the features of a £3.5bn redevelopment plan for London's Royal Docks.

[20] Transport For London public buses that serve Silvertown include the 473 that runs from Stratford to North Woolwich and the 474 that operates from Canning Town to Manor Park.

[21] The docks and factories of Silvertown also provide the backdrop for his 2015 book Constance Street which traces the once thriving community through the lives of 12 women and their struggle for survival during the chaos of the war years.

[22] The Sugar Girls, by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, tells the true stories of women who worked at Tate & Lyle's Silvertown factories, and features much detail on the area.