Where to find the blue plaque dedicated to Leytonstone resident-turned-London MP Dawn Butler A Labour MP who once lived in Leytonstone has received a blue […]By Waltham Forest Echo

Dawn Butler MP (third from right) at the unveiling of her blue plaque

Where to find the blue plaque dedicated to Leytonstone resident-turned-London MP Dawn Butler

A Labour MP who once lived in Leytonstone has received a blue plaque.

Dawn Butler has been Brent Central’s Member of Parliament since 2015, having previously represented the now-defunct constituency of Brent South from 2005 until 2010.

Born in Forest Gate, Dawn spent much of her childhood in Leytonstone, later attending Waltham Forest College. As a 13-year-old, she began working at her father’s local bakery, Butler’s Bakery, where she was said to have first learned about politics, admitting she would often “debate with customers [there]”.

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The bakery has since gone – but it was situated at 102 Cann Hall Road, which is where the plaque is placed. Today, the site is occupied by Canon’s Farm Kitchen, a community café.

Dawn’s plaque was chosen by members of the public, as part of a 2019 Waltham Forest Council scheme, funded by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Of the honour, she said: “It is wonderful and not something I was expecting. It’s nice to think that it has been put on a building that means so much to me and it will still be there when I’m gone.

“But this isn’t just for me, it’s for my father and all the hard work he did living for the community. Hopefully local people will see this and realise that you don’t have to [go to] Oxford to make history.”

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