Author: Wansteadium

It’s ok everyone – it turns out the new shop on Wanstead High Street is going to be a Tesco! The long mystery is over.

(Some people apparently aren’t happy about this. But it’d be worse if Wanstead had a Tesco which was closing down.)

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EXCLUSIVE: Wansteadium can reveal that the new occupants of the United Reformed Church halls in Grove Road and Nightingale Lane are to be a nursery which is already based in Wanstead.

The church has said that the proposed buyer would preserve the existing community use, and you can see this being a possibility, especially if the halls were used, as Wansteadium understands is the case, for an after-school club.

The halls were put up for sale to help the URC raise £750,000 to repair the 150-year-old Grade II-listed church building itself. It’s an interesting building, because it was transplanted in Wanstead from its original site in King’s Cross.

If this deal means that the groups which currently use it – Scouts etc – continue to be able to do so, then lots of people will think this is all round a good deal, though there were plenty of opponents of the sale. Most people probably assumed that it would be sold to property developers – and it’s true that as you walk down Nightingale Lane, it’s clear just what an impressive building the Grove Hall is (see right).

Wanstead Guardian has more details on the sale of the halls here (though not the exclusive detail above)