Oh yes… house prices, 1987-style

In our write-up of the 1987 Evening Standard profile of Wanstead which we ran on Saturday, we neglected to muse too much on the price of property. That was clearly what interested a lot of people though. Just to recap on the figures…

1987property

Let’s try to add some up-to-date figures, though of course it’s a bit tricky to compare like with like. We’ll do our best.

  • A two-bed Victorian terrace in Cowley Road sold in Feb 2016 –£625,000
  • A three-bed 1930s terrace in Addison Road sold in October –£642,600
  • St Mary’s Avenue is a bit hard to compare, because there just aren’t many sales at all. A seven-bed detached house there sold in October 2015 for £1.9m; a three-bed detached house sold in 2011 for £1.6m.

 

 

 

 

A slice of Wanstead, 1987-style

Evening Standard 1987Regular Wansteadium contributor Marcus Tylor found this old page of a 1987 Evening Standard at the bottom of a cupboard. It paints a fascinating picture of how the paper saw Wanstead 30 years ago, and being published shortly after the great storm shows evidence of fallen trees on St Mary’s Ave.
The opening sentence – saying that Wanstead people were sorry their postcode was E11 and not one in Essex – is just one of the observations which feels rooted in the 1980s. As is this line about meetings at the golf club:
golf
Some things – like the debate about parking in central Wanstead – were concerns then as now.
parking
The piece drips with interesting lines – do share any that particularly intrigue you.  You can see a higher resolution image of the page by clicking or touching this link.

Guerrilla gardeners put down roots

wansteadcommunitygardenersThe much-celebrated guerrilla gardeners, who cultivate and plant on odd bits of unloved ground all around Wanstead, are going legit.

Now officially known as the Wanstead Community Gardeners, they have a new home  on the web – and we’re delighted that it’s here on Wansteadium.

You can see more of their work at their page, and find out how to get in touch with them. Details of when they have their working parties will be listed on the Wanstead Social Diary.

01 Fountain bed group

Announcing the 2016 Wanstead Fringe

Mark your diaries now… the 2016 Wanstead Fringe will be taking place between Saturday 10 and Saturday 17 September, with the Wanstead Festival happening on Sunday the 18th.

It will be the fourth Wanstead Fringe and will be more ambitious than ever. There will be some familiar favourite events – open-air Kinema for one – and some surprises too.

But as in previous years, the 2016 Fringe will rely on Wanstead people to organise events themselves.  If there is something you’ve always wanted to see happen – an exhibition, a talk, a demonstration, a workshop, a play – or if you are a musician who wants to perform, then this is your opportunity.

At the moment we’re particularly keen to hear from the theatrically-minded, and from anyone who would like to help run a big book event. Contact us at info@wansteadfringe.org

You can sign up for e-mail updates from the Fringe via its own site which is here – wansteadfringe.org – and Wansteadium too will keep you up to date with how things are progressing. And there’s always the Wanstead Fringe on Facebook  and on Twitter too.