Wansteadium

An increasingly valuable voice in these times of weeiiird weather is the Wanstead Weather social account run by long-time weather observer Scott Whitehead. Based on his own personal measurements and collection of data, he tells a worrying tale based clearly in facts.

The much-anticipated rain Wanstead had over the weekend smelt good, he wrote on his Bluesky account, but since less than 0.15mm was measured in the gauge, officially our drought continues.

He gave a useful reminder that this weekend was the fifth anniversary of the flash flooding that hit Wanstead in 2021. (Some amazing pics and video on our story from the day here.)

This weekend is usually our best chance of rain in July. Tomorrow marks the 5th anniversary of the deluge that turned Cranbourne Avenue into a stream and flooded some houses in Elmcroft Avenue. There was also a serious cloudburst at Brettenham, Suffolk wansteadmeteo.com/tag/brettenh…

— Wanstead weather (@wansteadweather.bsky.social) 2026-07-24T16:26:52.930Z

It’s perhaps a good job that the rain held off. Redbridge seems to have decided not to clear the weeds from the side of Wanstead roads this year, so who knows where the water would have ended up on its circuitous routes to the drains.

You can follow Scott’s account on Bluesky here, and also on this curated group of Wanstead accounts which you can follow with one click.

A delightful summer holiday art project has sprung up, offering an ideal outlet for creative endeavours. Like a little library, the Little Art Gallery invites anyone to leave a bit of homemade art and take one in return. We love it.

An extra pint of admiration for Wanstead’s celeb milkman Steve Hayden, who was all over the media on Thursday after being given the Freedom of the City of London, an honour which is a recognition of contribution to public life. Steve, who is 68, has been delivering milk in Wanstead for more than four decades.

In its report on the award, the BBC said that in 1970, 99% of UK milk was delivered to people’s front doors – but that figure is now just 3%. If you want to join the number of Wanstead houses which maintain this honourable and deeply satisfying tradition, you can sign up with Parker Dairies for deliveries either from Steve who covers central parts of Wanstead and Aldersbrook, or Dave (pictured, but not yet recognised by the City fathers) who covers the rest of Wanstead.

Parker Dairies are here.

Wansteadium was not heart-broken to see the closure of the health food shop on Wanstead high street – too many conspiracy theory posters in the window for its liking – but it does not know what to make of the new occupant of the site.

Vanguard Property Consultant is offering to buy any property for cash, which sounds a bit unusual. But it seems to have many other services on offer, so we wish them good luck.

Incidentally – does anyone know what happened to the plan to demolish the shop along with the Wanstead Barber shop next to it to fill in the gap (pictured). We reported on it last year here, but there don’t seem to have been any developments. Someone might need a property consultant.

Vanguard Properties write: Our team features a RIBA-certified architect and an MCIOB-qualified building surveyor. All certification documentation is on display at our office and fully verifiable with the RIBA and CIOB governing bodies. We invite anyone with questions or concerns to pop into our office anytime—we’d be happy to chat and introduce ourselves!

It was nice while it lasted, but the days of Wanstead Fish seem well and truly over. Thanks to Kevin the Fish and his successors for bringing us a fish shop while they did.