Wansteadium

Whatever is going on inside the former NatWest on Wanstead High Street, it’s a bit of a closed book.

It’s coming up for the third anniversary of the branch closing, since when nothing at all seems to have happened, a symptom of the weird times our high streets are in. Theories abound as to what’s happening here now and what caused the fresh boardings to be put up – either a defensive move by the owners to prevent squatters, or a move by squatters to keep the owners out. If it’s the latter, it’s a weird mirror of what happened on the other side of Nightingale Lane in the former Barclays, bank, now Gail’s. Now THAT was an interesting time.

And, just because we can, cast your minds back to the depths of 2023 when this was a busy High Street bank.

Wanstead’s NatWest to close

It’s that key moment in the year when the full programme for the Wanstead Fringe festival is published, and once again there will be more than 100 events taking place at venues across Wanstead.

The theme for this year’s Fringe is ‘We Are Here’, adorned by images of urban wildlife. “Whatever our plumage, we who call Wanstead home are here, with a chance to live in community,” says festival co-director Giles Wilson. “That’s the point of the the Fringe, and has been since we started in 2013.”

The programme includes a full range of theatre at the Wanstead Curtain and upstairs at the Bull, all kinds of musical events, talks, and history walks. And for the first time, it includes a range of events for children and young people in the Family Fringe.

In the coming days we will be highlighting some of the events. But it should be noted that once again the entire Fringe is being paid for by a team of faithful sponsors – it receives no public money (and doesn’t ask for any either).

So a special hat-tip to these organisations:

…there’s no need to write your name on the front of the shop.

The former Wanstead Dry Cleaner, next door to Tesco, is finally being refurbished and thus starts another round of Wanstead’s favourite parlour game… what if?

What if it’s a coffee shop? What if it’s a nailbar? What if it’s a vape shop? What if it’s a branch of Daunt Books?

But here’s a thought… perhaps that’s not graffiti on the window but actually the name of the shop? It would be the modern thing…

An increasingly valuable voice in these times of weeiiird weather is the Wanstead Weather social account run by long-time weather observer Scott Whitehead. Based on his own personal measurements and collection of data, he tells a worrying tale based clearly in facts.

The much-anticipated rain Wanstead had over the weekend smelt good, he wrote on his Bluesky account, but since less than 0.15mm was measured in the gauge, officially our drought continues.

He gave a useful reminder that this weekend was the fifth anniversary of the flash flooding that hit Wanstead in 2021. (Some amazing pics and video on our story from the day here.)

This weekend is usually our best chance of rain in July. Tomorrow marks the 5th anniversary of the deluge that turned Cranbourne Avenue into a stream and flooded some houses in Elmcroft Avenue. There was also a serious cloudburst at Brettenham, Suffolk wansteadmeteo.com/tag/brettenh…

— Wanstead weather (@wansteadweather.bsky.social) 2026-07-24T16:26:52.930Z

It’s perhaps a good job that the rain held off. Redbridge seems to have decided not to clear the weeds from the side of Wanstead roads this year, so who knows where the water would have ended up on its circuitous routes to the drains.

You can follow Scott’s account on Bluesky here, and also on this curated group of Wanstead accounts which you can follow with one click.

A delightful summer holiday art project has sprung up, offering an ideal outlet for creative endeavours. Like a little library, the Little Art Gallery invites anyone to leave a bit of homemade art and take one in return. We love it.

An extra pint of admiration for Wanstead’s celeb milkman Steve Hayden, who was all over the media on Thursday after being given the Freedom of the City of London, an honour which is a recognition of contribution to public life. Steve, who is 68, has been delivering milk in Wanstead for more than four decades.

In its report on the award, the BBC said that in 1970, 99% of UK milk was delivered to people’s front doors – but that figure is now just 3%. If you want to join the number of Wanstead houses which maintain this honourable and deeply satisfying tradition, you can sign up with Parker Dairies for deliveries either from Steve who covers central parts of Wanstead and Aldersbrook, or Dave (pictured, but not yet recognised by the City fathers) who covers the rest of Wanstead.

Parker Dairies are here.