Author: Wansteadium

Wansteadium reader Noel sends this photo, saying: “A new Thai restaurant where 62 Spice was. Fantastic. They open (according to the builder) next Monday.”

Fellow reader Trevor adds:
We were told it was our last meal in 62 Spice on Friday evening, news which dismayed us seeing as we’re in there 3 Fridays out of 4 and believed it to be the best Indian in the area by miles (until we recently tried Kanchans at Gants Hill – fabulous!). Astounding to see the signage already replaced by the Thai place which is its successor (good luck with that!). How long did the Cooks – Provender metamorphasis take?
I wonder if the new owners are aware the Wanstead Society are obsessed with the frontage, and its apparent incompatibility with the conservation area (as opposed to neighbouring delights like Chicken Spot and Bairstow Eves!)?

Wednesday update. The Wanstead Society’s Geoff Horsnell adds:
It is very strange that the owner of 62 Spice has now decided to convert to a Thai restaurant. Yes, that is correct. It is not under new ownership. So now, in addition to the enforcement notice that was served in January as a result of the change in shop frontage, he has now decided to compound the problem by introducing internally iluminated signs. These are not allowed in a conservation area, and so Redbridge will have no option but to ensure that the signs are removed.

Also, as for the Wanstead Society being “obsessed” with the frontage, we in the Wanstead Society simply want to see Wanstead remain a pleasant area in which to live. To that end, people must abide by the rules and regulations that are in place. Without this, chaos would reign – and Wanstead would cease to be the pleasant place it currently is.

Wansteadium reader Fiona writes:
Boris Johnson caused quite a stir on the High St at 5pm on Saturday. He was outside Tesco/Images in Frames happily chatting to people and posing for photos for quite a while before a member of his team whisked him away…

Wansteadium reader Nick Dixon proves the claim that Wanstead is indeed in the Bible:

“My God, my soul is vexed within me : therefore will I remember thee concerning the land of Jordan, and the little hill of Hermon.” – Psalm 42:6

Vivid photos and memories apparently of Wanstead Fair in the 60s have turned up in a box in an antique sale, and now have ended up online. The My Found Photos blog, run by @Bruce_M_W, features discarded but interesting pictures and tries to discover as much of a story behind them as possible.

After posting several atmospheric shots from an unknown fairground, which Bruce found in a sale in Hitchin, he found some pages of writing among them. They seemed to indicate that the picture were of Wanstead Fair. The writing is jaded, alienated, and clearly of its time – which appears to be the 1960s. One part reads:

Half a dozen assorted cretins spin the cars to the delight of the sex starved girls riding within. The spinner, who collect the fares from the coloured cars and place the money in the corresponding coloured circles in the cash desk (a simple check to stop the spinners stealing), have various dated states of hair, earrings, scattered tattoos, waistcoats or leather studded jackets or just shirts, ill fitting trousers, jeans, crushers, sneakers, winkles, battered hands, bad eyes, heavy smoking and beer drinking regularly. They are paid very little but short change the clientele and place small blocks of wood under the car seats to allow the dropping money to fall to the bottom of the car, to be collected at the end of the day, 18/- a car, 12 cars in all. That money plus numerous combs, buttons, pens, rings, knives, lipsticks, house keys and dirt congregate in the cars and slip to the ground under the waltzer.

The article in full, along with the photos, can be seen at My Found Photos. Bruce writes: “When reading it, he comes across as a bit angry, but it’s important to remember when it was written. I share many of the memories of fairgrounds that are written here, but it is clear how times have changed. I wonder why he kept only this piece of writing in the box and no others. It’s all a bit of a mystery, but a really interesting one at that.”

If by some miracle you can identify photos, writing or even the handwriting, it would be some miracle.

Wansteadium’s food blogger Suki Orange writes:

Now this is what I call austerity dining with a bit of style. An inspired move from Queens British Grill.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/QueensBritGrill/status/178483679734153216″]