Wanstead Barclays to close (but Tesco looks smart)

(Pic: Google Streetview)Barclays Bank in Wanstead High Street is to close at the end of June. Letters have been sent to customers announcing the closure, advising them that they will need to bank at the South Woodford branch.

The closure will mean one of the prime spots on Wanstead High Street will be available. The news comes on the same day that the new look for the refurbished Tesco is unveiled.

It would be interesting to know how long Barclays has been in the spot. Any longstanding customers please add a comment blow

Wanstead, formerly a top 10 place to live?

Cast your mind back to the long distant past of 2013. A sense of optimism and positive drive gripped the populace of Wanstead as it basked in the glory of being named “one of the top 10 places in Britain to live” in the Sunday Times. (This was how we covered it then.)

The Sunday Times published its 2014 guide this week and, friends, Wanstead was not mentioned.

But be not blue. This glowing endorsement came in the Leyton Orient programme from last Saturday, as midfielder Romain Vincelot (below right) had this to say about Wanstead:

“I live in Wanstead and I love it, it is the perfect area for me, my wife to be and my dog. We are so close to the centre of London with the Central line, or we can drive to Shoreditch, plus we have Epping Forest just five minutes away where you can go and walk for hours. I have everything in Wanstead too, there is the High Street, a little park and a few places with a terrace that I can enjoy a coffee. London can offer so much… and we’re off to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden soon.”

Romain, we salute you. Should we encounter you on the terrace (the Larder terrace) we will shake you by the hand.

Wanstead, best before 1979?

20140315_143632Wansteadium reader Marcus Tylor found what he describes as “a little Wanstead curio” while spring cleaning his bathroom cupboard.

20140315_143605“Number 25 Wanstead High Street – now the Chinese takeaway, I think – used to be an old worldly chemist with mahogany cabinets and counter, back in the 1970s. It was run by an old couple. Here is a tube of Savlon, with ‘best before 1979’ printed on the box. I haven’t got the heart to throw it away, so am sharing it here. The couple retired in the early 80s.”

So, Wanstead hivemind, any memories of L. Matthews and Son? Send comments via the form below.

Wanstead weekend photo, LXXIV

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “At first glance you may think that I took this picture on the beach at Southend or some other pebbled location. It is however, the new surface on the paths of Nightingale Green. For the last few weeks it was thought we would look at a sea of black tarmac. A sigh of relief our new pebbles look wonderful.”

Good crop of tweets about Wanstead

An unusually rich crop of tweets about Wanstead on Thursday.

Wanstead ‘arcade’: Off to Pickles

A bid to convert the former Jolliffe builder’s office and surrounding land into an arcade with shops, restaurants, artists’ space and flats has been referred to the secretary of state.

The developer, Bali Singh-Digpaul, who owns the sushi bar Sumo Fresh, has appealed to Eric Pickles as secretary of state because Redbridge Council has not determined his application within a time limit.

As we reported in October, planning officials were adamant that the plan should not be approved, saying the plan was “cliched”, a “poor development” which would “harm …the Wanstead Village Conservation Area”.

But Mr Singh-Digpaul said he had based the design on the art deco Shrubbery in Grosvenor Road, and told the Wanstead Guardian: “I’m talking about bringing in local businesses, not driving out current ones. I’m talking to a fishmonger, an artisan bakery and various businesses to take over affordable spaces.”