Author: Wansteadium

Just like Hay-on-Wye suddenly found itself the centre of a multitude of second hand bookshops, so Wanstead is becoming a centre of barbering.

The A1 Hair Dresser in the formerly-demolished-but-now-rebuilt Chocolate Shop (right) has been the subject of much conversation in its first couple of weeks (commenters on this site have called it “an utter disgrace on the high street” and “appalling”).

Another barber’s has opened at the peak of Hermon Hill in a former bookmakers

And now change is afoot in a longstanding barber’s on the High Street.

The barber shop at the Snaresbrook end of the high street, cunningly known as “The Barber Shop”, is to have a pretty major-sounding refit after it changed hands. Motorbiking 77-year-old Alan Wiseman, who has run the shop for the past 20 years, has now retired after spending many decades cutting hair. The new owner is Emma Huseyin, who has been working at the shop for the past six years.

Her aim over the next three months is to “transform it into a traditional barber shop, offering hot towel shaves with 1950s style chairs, reclaimed wooden floorboards and a ‘heritage’ shop front to give it that Wanstead village feeling”.

For that many people will thank her. For others, of course, the defining Wanstead experience is to be had at the Wanstead Hairdressers on Woodbine Place. But there are plenty of heads to go around, even without a Hay effect.

Warnings abound of snow on the way. Hardcore Wanstead weatherman Scott Whitehead writes on his blog,

There has been much talk of severe weather arriving from this weekend onwards, with some chatrooms on the web ramping up rumours of a repeat of the severe winter of 1947. Whilst it is going to turn cold, with the possibility of snow increasing from Sunday onwards, it is far too early to make predictions of a repeat of the famous ’47 winter which did not really get going until well into the second half of January. Indeed, records from Camden Square show that this week in 1947 would be remarkably mild – with a mean maximum of 10C while nights were a mild average of 5C. So what has the seven days got in store? With unprecendentedly low confidence in weather forecasting models it is hard to pin down exact values on temperatures and weather much beyond Sunday. At the time of writing we can expect maximums to gradually creep downwards through the period – giving an average of 2C by the week’s end. Minimums are forecast to average -1C – so plenty of frost around. It currently looks like any precipitation on Saturday will at least start as rain though there is the chance this will turn to snow by Sunday morning to give a covering. Far more snow looks likely from Monday onwards.

You can follow Scott on Twitter where he is @wansteadmeteo

Too much time on hands update: here’s the FSF Football Tube Map in which Snaresbrook is Trevor Snaresbrooking, and Wanstead is WanSteed Malbranque.

In other news, the Twitter “tubetheatre” hashtag harvested these contributions:

Henry IV, part Wanstead #tubetheatre

— Phil Gibby (@philgibby) January 9, 2013

Wanstead Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest #tubetheatre

— Andrew McKay (@AndrewMcChase) January 9, 2013

Snaresbrook Bank in Angel #tubetheatre (work that one out..)

— Alistair Smith (@smithalistair) January 9, 2013

It’s early in January, so it’s our annual New Year public service announcement.

To request your Christmas tree to be collected from outside your home, you need to request the collection from Redbridge Council. And you do that by entering your details at this page: Request Green Waste Collection. Once booked, trees should be collected within 10 days, though you will have to leave the tree at the edge of your property.

And before you thank us, the pleasure was ours.

© Geoff Wilkinson who writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “Walking past the River Roding, the muddy appearance of the water and the speed at which it was flowing gave me the impression that the river is still inching up. I wish I had shot some video to show how fast it was moving. Another time.”

Closing down time for Vintage as eager bargain hunters make the most of the last few hours. The shop closes today, Sunday, and rumour suggests the Enigma hairdressers will relocate there. No confirmation yet from Costa as to whether it will be opening in Enigma’s current spot.