Tough times go on

So Wanstead High Street is still seeing hard times, though it’s not all bleak.

The Dress2Party shop, which briefly filled the Snaresbrook shop formerly occupied by Knock Down Ginger, has shut, even though it had a thriving online presence.

Santa Fe, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in November, is now completely vacant, though signs on the window say this is because of a refurbishment.

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It’s farewell to the Olive Branch too – which is also undergoing pretty substantial refurbishment and will no doubt come out the other side as something different. If that does happen, the half-dozen or so years that the Olive Branch has been in business should be noted and appreciated in some way.

But two very good signs – literally. The Orange Tree has a new frontage – the kind of style and quality you’d expect in any aspiring hipsturbia. Or even in Columbia Road. And  work is  nearing completion at the Wanstead Barber Shop, near the junction with New Wanstead, which we mentioned here in January. It’s looking smart indeed.

Also Heads ‘N’ Tails appears to be thriving – and is increasingly taking on the role of Wanstead General Store. It now sells a wide range of wools – thanks no doubt to Mas Beg’s wife, who is a keen knitter.

And if you we’re thinking of going out for Mothering Sunday lunch at Provender or Queens British Grill, good luck. You won’t get a table.

Armageddon hits Wanstead on Wednesday. No cause for alarm.

It will look bad. There will be smoke billowing from the tunnel under George Green. Fire engines, police and ambulance will be there, as will people looking like casualties. But the incident – due to happen in Wanstead on Wednesday night – will really be nothing.

The smoke will be “cosmetic”. The emergency services will be real, granted, but on a training exercise. And the victims, despite bandages and stretchers, will be actors from the Casualties Union (“The original and best in casualty simulation“). So there will really be no cause for alarm.

Nearby residents are to be warned of the event on Tuesday, while the council switchboards have been alerted that people may be calling to report the event.

So in short the message will be “move along, please, there’s nothing to see here”.

 

Letter to Wansteadium: Guides write…

Dear Wansteadium

book bus

We are 20 local Guides, and this August we will be travelling to Zambia and Malawi to volunteer with The Book Bus charity. Last year we told you about our volunteering adventure. Here is an update.

The Book Bus travels to schools in rural villages across Zambia and Malawi. Although children learn to read at school, classes can contain over 100 children so it is easy for those children that fall behind to go unnoticed. The Book Bus project works with small groups of children to ensure that all children receive the literacy support they need and the inspiration to read through games, drama and craft activities.

To give us experience of reading to children, we have been visiting local Brownie Units. We have been able to practice reading stories at the right pace, trying out different voices and ensuring that the Brownies understood the stories and found them interesting. We have come up with and tested out craft ideas and games which complement the stories. Working with the Brownies has been good fun and we have learnt which stories work best and which activities children are most enthusiastic about.

Fundraising for the trip has also kept us busy. At Christmas we spent two days bag packing at Waitrose in South Woodford. In February over 100 children came along to our Valentine’s Disco and enjoyed an
evening’s partying and dancing, as well as activities including face-painting, cake decorating, card-making,
mehndi and pink mocktails.

Our next fundraising event is a Barn Dance on Saturday 16 March at 7.30pm in St Gabriel’s Church Hall,
Park Road, Aldersbrook, E12 5 HG. We have a live band, Fiddle and Squeeze to accompany the dancing.
Tickets cost £10 in advance and £12 on the door and include a jacket potato bar. Bring your own booze,
glasses and nibbles. To buy tickets call or SMS 0777 44 65 000 or email africaBookBus@Gmail.com.

For more information about the Book Bus see www.thebookbus.org

Letter to Wansteadium: The Wanstead Yeti

Wansteadium reader Gabrielle Collard, a usually reliable source, writes: 

“Has anyone else noticed the yeti like cries echoing out of Wanstead? Usually in the afternoons, it sounds Chewbacca belching after a heavy meal. Sounds like it’s coming from the end of Nightingale Lane.”

As ever, intelligence is welcome via wansteadium@gmail.com

 

Anonymous writes:

Not only have we heard it, but we have seen it. Definitely frightens the wife. Also has been known to wander streets of Wanstead shirtless in summer. Often seen ‘presumably foraging for scraps’ near Toms corner shop in Wellesley Rd.

 

Hey, Prezzo coming to Wanstead?

© Geoff Wilkinson
© Geoff Wilkinson

Rumours are still spreading that pizza chain Prezzo is to open a branch at the former Conservative headquarters on Wanstead High Street (the building with the bust of Winston Churchill outside).

Though not confirmed, the move would make a certain sense. The company is still expanding, having opened a number of restaurants including Chingford at the end of last year, and now has 120 branches across the country.

And the factor seeming to make sense is that the company prides itself on opening in buildings which are “listed or of particular local significance“. The 18th century mansion, historically known as Manor House, is mentioned in W.V. Phillips’ Wanstead Through the Ages. Phillips, writing in 1949, says that while other historic houses in Wanstead were covered with a “soulless facade of shopfronts”, Manor House – which was by then tenanted by the Conservative Club – had “a reasonable chance of of being preserved for a little while longer from the unblushing assaults of the houebreakers or converters”.

He added that the house had two storeys with cellars and attics, and are enriched inside by “much fine panelling”. It was the base for Winston Churchill’s local party while he was MP for Wanstead and Woodford. Churchill died in 1965, and the bust was erected the following year.

That probably qualifies for Prezzo’s criteria, as does the availability of off-street parking. Comparing other local branches (Chingford and South Woodford) only makes the suspicions stronger.

Wansteadium has contacted the company to ask them if they can confirm the rumours.

New branch of Prezzo in Chingford
New branch of Prezzo in Chingford

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