Wanstead weekly photo


Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “Why is it when we see something old, not necessarily antique, we tend to get all nostalgic? Take this wonderful old VW spilt windscreen camper van, as you know by now I’m not really all that interested in cars but this did tug my heart strings. Visions of the open road, camp fires etc who knows where you might end up..”

Demolition begins for original Kinema

Architect's impression of the site, from Platform 5 Architects
Architect’s impression of the site, from Platform 5 Architects
This may come as a surprise to some, but the end has arrived for the original Wanstead Kinema with the start of the building’s demolition.

Only those who monitor planning news closely will have realised permission was granted this summer for the knocking down of the building which housed Wanstead’s cinema until 1956, and latterly a snooker hall and then the Nam Am restaurant.

Though the redevelopment means the end of one of the High Street’s oldest buildings, it does mean the creation of  two new four-storey buildings on the site giving a shopfront on the High Street and some housing – three three-bedroom flats, three two-bedroom flats and two one-bedroom flats.

The designs are by Platform 5 Architects from Hackney and seem, when compared to an earlier view of the building, to be not dissimilar.  The architects say the plan has been “carefully crafted to fit into its sensitive context and echoes the vernacular building forms in order to maintain the village character of the street”.

 

The site, as captured by Google Streetview in 2008
The site, as captured by Google Streetview in 2008
The demolition comes after a number of attempts at obtaining planning permission – one of which in 2010 was rejected with the verdict that it involved the “inappropriate and unjustified demolition of a modest and relatively simple Victorian building”. 

Update, Friday: Wansteadium reader AJS Sends this photo and writes: “Not much left of the back hall yesterday..  and agree it’s a shame the plans couldn’t have included a revamped Purbani’s.

 

*Fans of cinema need not be too sad. The spirit of the Wanstead Kinema long ago left that building, and now resides at wansteadkinema.org. If you’d like to get involved in future screenings, please get in contact via that page.
 

No ‘Cube’ for Wanstead

According to the Wanstead Society, an appeal against the rejection of  planning permission for the former Joliffe site has been rejected by the Planning Inspectorate. The proposal - nicknamed The Cube  –  would have included a green copper facade and would have comprised a number of flats and shops.

The Wanstead Society opposed the plans, and says that the rejection of the appeal means the developer will have to submit a new proposal with what it describes as “better plans and a good design”. Wansteadium has contacted the developers, Mammoth Texryte inviting them to comment.

 

 

Wanstead weekly photo, CXXXVI


Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “Every time I pass these water meter covers in Nightingale Lane I despair. They are outside a block of flats so I understand there has to be quite a few meters but why oh why didn’t whoever put them in do a neater job? They are just so higgledy piggledy, I know in the overall scheme of world affairs its not a big deal ….. but it just gets to me….”

Buying bits of the Nightingale

Anyone wanting to make their own pub in their shed needs to hotfoot to the Nightingale where they are staging a grand sale of its fixtures. The pub is being renovated in time for a reopening next month.

Plans displayed at the site spell out some of the thinking, including plenty of space for “FOOTBALL/DRINKING BASED PICTURES”. Who knows what they might be.
IMG_6711

The document also introduces (as far as Wansteadium is aware) the word “neuk”. It’s apparently a Scots word for nook. Anyone who can make a link is welcome to do so.
nightingaleplanes

Good luck to all concerned with the renovations.