‘Mr Larder’ leaves Wanstead


James Ward, the man who brought us the Larder, is leaving Wanstead and moving with his family to the Sussex coast. The cafe is now to to be run by James’s former business partner Daniel Beharall.

In the eight years since he opened the Larder, the business has expanded to have branches in Bethnal Green and Chingford. But it has also become a central part of the attraction of Wanstead High Street.

Earlier this month Kerrie Dainty, who has run Nice Croissant for the past 15 years, also quit Wanstead.

James said: “For as lovely as Wanstead is – and indeed it has been a fantastic place to be for the past eight years – it isn’t beside the seaside. My family and I are packing our trunk (and our trunks), and moving on to Brighton. The Larder will still remain the Larder – just a different structure. There should be very little disruption and certainly most people will not notice any difference at all. I will visit from time to time when I have time, though we are actually going to open another little café down there on the borders of Hove and Brighton so won’t have a great deal of spare time. This new place isn’t part of the Larder collective, though doubtless will share some genes… It’s a very exciting time. We will of course greatly miss the Larder, Wanstead and all those who sail in her, but these opportunities don’t come along too often and when they do we always try to grab hold.”