Author: Wansteadium

Last year we ran a selection of Autumn pictures by one of our favourite photographers Richard Chambury. Here’s his 2012 selection. You can see more of his photos on his blog.

Suki Orange, Wansteadium’s food blogger, writes:

Wanstead’s new tea shop, Time for Tea, which opened last month opposite Snaresbrook Station (next door to Tiffin Tin) seems like a jolly fine thing. Starting with a bit of a sow’s ear of a building, they have made something silky and actually quite cool.

As you’ll see from the photos, it’s clean, chic, slightly tongue-in-cheek,  but without designer prices. Tea brewed in proper pots, (coffee too if you want it) plus a pretty wide choice of home-made cakes. They look good, too, and though I approve on principle of all baked goods, a Rocky Road bar I tasted could have done with a touch more biscuit and chewy stuff, rather fewer peanuts.

Tracy and Dave, the Woodford couple who have done the renovations and are doing the baking and hosting have  also spotted an opening in the lunchtime market for Wanstead – simple inexpensive sandwich lunches. I wondered, in the days before it opened, and with its proximity to Snaresbrook Crown Court, whether it would appeal more to lawyer or defendant. It’s clearly more the former, but they will be outnumbered by Wanstead mums.  It’s good too that they are active tweeters – @TimeFor_Tea – from which we learn that their first celeb customer was Una Stubbs.

So for all the wishful thinking we sometimes engage in here about the potential for Wanstead, here is an example of something really rather good actually happening. Do go along and see for yourself – I’d be interested in knowing what you think. Let me know on this page at Wanstead Talk. 

PS. I do have one quibble about how the shop is dressed. There are copious copies of Country Life, which work much better as a prop than as something to entertain the customers. I think I can probably pull some strings if Tracy and Dave want to widen their appeal and become the third venue for the magazine-sharing collective, the Wanstead Magazine Club.

A point of view rarely heard about Wanstead – and therefore a contribution to the debate about the renovations to BBQ Express.

I've just come to realise that there is absolutely no fast food (KFC, McDonalds) available in Wanstead. What a nightmare this is… #hungry

— Jamie Hearne (@jamiehearne89) November 11, 2012

This is just one of the subjects being discussed at Wanstead Talk – our new free-to-join forum for civilised conversation for the people of Wanstead. 

Our regular photograph from the Wanstead Daily Photo blog.

6 November – Wanstead’s first frost of 2012. It is 16 days later than 2010, which was the earliest frost since records were kept (by this blog, beginning in 2009). Last year’s was on 25 November.

Our newly-launched Wanstead Magazine Club – which aims to encourage sharing of interesting magazines among the people of Wanstead – has had a good reception. Our initial distribution points – the newspaper carousel in Wanstead Library and a perspex box in the Larder – have seen new additions (Esquire, New Yorker, the Economist, various newspaper supplements and a copy of the Beano) for which we thank donors. You can read more about the noble scheme here.

Anyone who is keen to join in, please drop us a line at magazines@wansteadium.com with your postal address and we’ll send you a sheet of stickers to put on any magazines you share (see picture).