Wansteadium

Time Out has belatedly realised that Wanstead is not part of Forest Gate, following complaints from two Wansteadium readers.

Last week we noted that the magazine’s Love London awards had given accolades to Bare Brew, The Larder, Manor House, Luppolo and the Duke – but had classified them all as being part of Forest Gate.

Readers @lovevintagecary and Andy wrote to the magazine pointing out the error of their ways, and both received assurances that next year Wanstead would be classed as Wanstead. The error had come, apparently, because they had taken their definitions of neighbourhoods from Google Maps. Andy offered to post them an A-Z, while Cary proved her point with copies of Boundary Commission maps.

Next year, they were told, things would be set right. We’ll be watching.

 

Wanstead Tube station has come out second highest on the whole London Underground for passenger injuries. There were 22 injuries recorded in 2017, compared to seven for South Woodford and three for Snaresbrook.

The figures for local stations are:

No explanation has been given for the figures, or rationale as to what makes stations more dangerous than others. Wanstead’s relatively long escalators, for instance, might be a factor, but it still has more accidents per passenger than Holborn (2.06) or Angel (1.19) which have longer escalators.

The data was released by TfL and published by Accident Claims Advice, which has produced this map based on the figures.

 

Sadly no Wanstead establishments made it to the Time Out Love London Awards 2018.

Several Forest Gate ones did though, including winners Bare Brew, The Duke and the Manor House, and runners up including The Larder and Luppolo.

Year after year the Time Out awards seem to have a problem with  the existence of Wanstead – for several years Wanstead venues were listed as being part of Leytonstone, until we threw our toys out of the pram and they were reclassified as “Leytonstone and Wanstead”. But now Wanstead is officially a part of Forest Gate. Personally we blame the Wanstead Tap for blurring the lines.

In the meantime, many hearty congratulations to all these Forest Gate winners.

Labour have made huge gains in the Redbridge council elections, winning 13 seats from the Conservatives and now holding 51 out of the available 63 seats.

In the new wards of Wanstead Village and Wanstead Park, it was a clean sweep for the Labour candidates, with newcomer Jo Blackman receiving the highest number of votes (2009). Long-standing Snaresbrook Conservative councillor Michelle Dunn did not win a seat in the new ward, and chair of the Wanstead Society, Scott Wilding, missed out by just 10 votes, also being beaten by a newcomer, Labour’s Daniel Morgan-Thomas.

The new state of the parties is:

The final of the fine watercolours of Wanstead which Wansteadium reader Terry Law painted in the 1990s. Thanks to Terry for allowing us to publish them.

 

 

Thursday sees the first occasion where “Wanstead Village” is an actual thing, rather than just a romantic fondly-held notion the name on a couple of road signs.

Yes, it’s election time, and for the first time the new council ward Wanstead Village –  encompassing most of Snaresbrook and Wanstead and even a bit of Aldersbrook (but not the area closest to Wanstead Park) – is up for grabs.

This will mean some new faces among councillors, and some stepping down after many years’ service. And with power delicately balanced on Redbridge Borough Council, campaigning activity has been pretty visible.

Here for your easy reference is a list of the candidates standing, with links to their profiles on the Democracy Club website. Polling is on Thursday.

• Crispin Acton Liberal Democrats

• Jo Blackman Labour Party

• David Bruck Liberal Democrats

• Tony Csoka Green Party

• Paul Donovan Labour Party

• Michelle Dunn Conservative and Unionist Party

• Cedric Knight Green Party

• Daniel Morgan-Thomas Labour Party
  

• Scott Wilding Conservative and Unionist Party

• Steve Wilks Conservative and Unionist Party

• Ann Williams Green Party