Author: Wansteadium

Wanstead news roundup, 4.7.10; The bowler’s Holding, Wanstead cinema, and no more Wanstead Sauna?

• A spectacular traffic snarl-up which stretched from the M11 to Wanstead High Street last Monday meant that legendary West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh didn’t make it to Wanstead Cricket Club in time to open new training nets as planned. But all was not lost – fellow legendary West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding was there and stood in for Walsh. (Photo: Dave Buba)

• The application to knock down the 160-year-old building which once housed Wanstead’s only ever cinema, Kinema – now Nam Pham, next to the George, has been rejected again. The plan was for a block of flats.

• A public inquiry into the proposal to develop the former Chepstow House in Leicester Road, Wanstead, has now finished. Report here from the Counties’ Residents’ Association, who oppposed the plan. Decision expected by the end of the month.

• Two council pest control officers denied charges that they deliberately poisoned animals at Alexandra Lake in March. More than 80 birds and a dog died at the lake.

• It appears that Wanstead Sauna is now no longer open for business, with a very large padlock having been put on the door.

Wanstead’s 7-11… something up?

Dolly Creative offers this picture of the new 7-11 in Wanstead High Street, with the acerbic comment: “Here’s our erstaz 7-11 store being opened by the shopkeeper at ten past eight this morning.” She adds:

@Wansteadium BTW, it’s a pretend 7-11. And they don’t even open at 7. http://yfrog.com/mgg1hjless than a minute ago via webGabrielle Collard
DollyCreative

R.I.P. Wanstead’s Olive Branch…

Wanstead Olive BranchLong live the Olive Branch.

As Wansteadium revealed in April, the Olive Branch was put up for sale. And the sale has now gone through, the cafe is now under new management. So what does the future hold?

The answer is that the cafe will stay open for the next few weeks, but then it will shut for about six weeks for refurbishment, and will re-open in the autumn as a cafe by day and a Portuguese restaurant by night. The name is as yet a secret, but it won’t be a Nando’s. New proprietor very friendly, so prospects look bright.

Olympic sculpture to hit Freeview in Snaresbrook

[picappgallerysingle id=”8382660″]The massive 120m Anish Kapoor sculpture to be built at the Olympic Park is going to cause disruption to the reception of Freeview TV signal to parts of Snaresbrook and South Woodford, Wansteadium can reveal.

The disruption is not expected to be massive – but could cause “ghosting” – and it doesn’t seem there is much that can be done to correct it, other than affected residents upgrading aeriels or switching to cable or satellite TV. There is no plan at the moment to fund those upgrades – they will have to be paid for by affected households.

The expected disturbance is revealed in a planning document published by the Olympic Delivery Authority. It says:

[the proposed sculpture] is likely to have a slight adverse impact on terrestrial TV services, due to shadowing of terrestrial TV signals caused by signal shadowing to Crystal Palace and Croydon transmitters, in a number of households to the north east of the development.  The affected locations may be able to have terrestrial television services restored by using one of the following methods as appropriate: installing a higher gain antenna or re-locating the existing antenna or re-pointing the existing antenna to another transmitter where possible or, if any of these solutions are unable to restore service, by installing satellite or cable TV services;

The affected areas, as detailed in this report, TV Reception Report and Appendix A – The construction of a Sculpture for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and Legacy phases, include parts of Stratford, Leyton, Leytonstone, Snaresbrook, South Woodford, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill. The areas are shown below, with the red line indicating disturbance from the Crystal Palace transmitter, the blue one Croydon.Comments on the application can be submitted via this page.


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