London estate laundry celebrates fresh start as council backs down on closure

Community facility on UK's first council estate reopens after outcry at local authority's attempt to hike rents

Washing machines are once again whirring and dryers tumbling at a community launderette in east London that the local council had abruptly closed just weeks before, in a victory for local residents.

People living in and around the Boundary estate, the UK's first council estate, between Shoreditch and Bethnal Green, had launched a campaign to get the facility reopened after bailiffs changed the locks in February. Now Tower Hamlets council has made a U-turn and handed the keys of the launderette to residents.