Wansteadium

This is just what Wanstead needs. A hotel for dogs.

Jane and Mike Walton are launching a venture which will offer holidaying dog-owners an alternative to kennels. Basically the pooches can come and stay with them in their home.

They are telling potential customers:

Our inspiration for starting our dog hotel is the fact that over the years we’ve never found anywhere we’d happily leave our much-doted-on dogs, and so have only holidayed where they could come too – which sadly does cut out quite a lot of sunbathing. We’re offering  the opportunity for you to leave your dog/s with us while you enjoy a holiday on an “our house, your rules” basis. If your pets are used to being snuggled up on the sofa at home, then they will be allowed the same here. Are your dogs allowed upstairs to sleep in your room in their own beds? Then that too is fine with us! We only accept up to two dogs at any time, and they live with us as part of our family. The dogs get the love and attention they deserve, whilst you relax knowing they are well cared for

Owners will supply the dog’s regular food, and bring its toys, lead, bed etc for the stay. For the truly obsessive owner, Jane and Mike will also send picture message updates on how things are going.

Anyone interested can contact them via jane@style.demon.co.uk.

So while unusual towing-based car crime HAS gone on in Wanstead (yesterday’s revelation that a Suzuki Jeep was stolen by being towed away), general level of car crime is down in both Wanstead and Snaresbrook wards.

This might have had some bearing on Zipcar’s decision to base two car-hire spots in Wanstead. The deal is that you book a car online, and if it’s available you go to the parking space, unlock it with your phone, start it with a smart card, and return it when you’ve finished.

This will be a useful service for some readers. And if the parking spaces marked “Car Club Only” are actually being used, it will also be a good thing. As very longtime readers of this blog might remember, in 2011 Streetcar (a predecessor of Zipcar’s) decided to withdraw its cars from Wanstead and Snaresbrook, saying:

Unfortunately we have had to withdraw the vehicles from Snaresbrook and Wanstead areas due to a very high volume of attempted break-ins and vandalism with the vehicles. We needed to withdraw these as we could not ensure their safety going forward.

It’s another way in which life in Wanstead is getting better every day. And it’s always a good thing for cars to have safety going forward, though backwards is important too.

Thieves have stolen a Suzuki Jeep from Wanstead by simply towing it away. Police admit the style of theft is unusual but are nevertheless warning residents to take note of the registration number of vehicles which are being towed, especially at night.

The incident took place in the Wanstead ward earlier this month.

Generally Wanstead and Snaresbrook wards are ranked average for thefts of motor vehicles, and as the diagrams from the Met’s Crime Maps site below indicate, the trend of the past three years is of falling incidents.

CAR CRIME	WANSTEAD ward	SNARESBROOK ward	REDBRIDGE whole
NOV 2015	6	2	78
DEC 2015	4	1	51

This week’s picture comes from reader Jenny Schenck, who took this picture of the sun rising over Wanstead on Wednesday. “It’s finally getting light when I walk to work in the morning :)”

I think someone is hedging their bets here…. #Easter #Xmas #crossover #Wanstead #globalfoodandwine

A photo posted by Thomas (@thingsthatididsee) on Feb 17, 2016 at 1:34pm PST

It’s looking like it might be reasonable now to get our hopes up that the Ginger Pig actually might be coming to Wanstead.

Reports of conversations – so technically rumours – are that the company put in an offer for the AG Dennis property late last week, and that now the offer has been accepted by the landlords. Some Wanstead folk (including Wansteadium) have asked the Ginger Pig on social media if the rumours are true, but they have not been confirmed. But it’s beginning to look like they might be. A string of garlic Toulouse sausages all round if it’s true!

UPDATE, WEDS PM:

Kevin Murphy, of Wanstead Fish, confirms the rumour on our Facebook page:  
* There is a Ginger Pig in Victoria Park (just over the road from Luppolo’s sister pub the Lauriston), but coming to Wanstead would be the furthest east the company has ventured. In the current copy of the Marylebone Journal (something far posher than Wansteadium could ever be), there is an interview with Ginger Pig founder Tim Wilson, who describes reactions to the company’s first foray north of the Thames:

POLICY ON REPORTING RUMOURS
* For the sake of clarity, here’s Wansteadium’s as-of-this-moment official policy on rumours. We love hearing rumours, getting tip-offs, seeing things on social media, chatting on the High Street etc. Love it. Please tell us anything you think which is newsworthy. Though just a humble blog, we follow best journalistic practice on keeping sources anonymous if they wish. Unlike most ‘professional’ media though, we are prepared to say when something is just a rumour. We’ve done it several times, and we think the readers of Wansteadium are sophisticated enough to know what that means. (We’re not flattering you – it’s just true.)

BUT. But. We won’t report rumours which libel people, cause them distress, stir up trouble or bad feeling needlessly, or endanger people’s businesses. It’s just not what we’re here to do. Also, people are always welcome to tell us things, but it has to be up to us whether to report them or not. And we might always change this policy, but for the time being, this is the way we blog.