Wansteadium

 

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “At first I thought it was a person peering from this window. However, doing a double take I realised that it was just a mannequin. A little unusual but I like it.”

This is pretty impressive. At Monday night’s Area1 Committee, during a discussion about parking, a point was made from a resident that the disabled parking bays outside the Co-op on Wanstead High Streeet were very faint. The council officer present said he would report back and get it fixed.

Hey presto, on Wednesday morning, council workers arrived and painted the lines in. Eyewitness, and Wansteadium reader Tina, reported: “Disabled paint job road marking outside Co op done in seconds and freehand. Amazing!”

Concentrating readers will remember last year that Tamara Ecclestone’s boyfriend, Jay Rutland, was robbed after driving his Ferrari down the A12, pulling off at the Green Man and getting petrol at the Jet garage on New Wanstead.

He was mugged by two men as he took a leak, and lost a £50,000 Rolex and a £20,000 bracelet. He did, however, get the mobile phone from one of his attackers.

Anyway, it’s reported in Tuesday’s newspapers – most detail here in the Daily Mail – that the CPS has decided to drop a prosecution because of insufficient evidence.

In early December we reported the filming of a TV advert in the newly smartened Wanstead Barbers at the Snaresbrook end of the High Street. It wasn’t, alas, a new Mike Leigh production, but rather an advert for a bookie’s. You can see the whole thing below. Whatever your views on the advertiser, they chose a good venue for their advert.

Wansteadium reader Marian Temple writes:

After a shaky start, things are picking up for Piccolo [the restaurant which took over from Giorberti’s]. Julio the chef and his delightful wife Marta, the new owners, are determined to offer a successful Italian cuisine on Wanstead High Street. Julio trained at the prestigious Italian “Il Cucciaio d’Argento” in New York and for many years he was the head chef at the Adriatico and the Bel Sit in Woodford Green. He is a true master at creating delicious sauces to complement his pasta, meat and fish dishes. All the ingredients are locally sourced; the fish is fresh daily; the deserts are made in house; nothing is bought in frozen.

Marta and the front-of-house team, Nino and Lenka, will be sure to give you a warm welcome, helping you to make a wise choice from the menu and the wine list. Of course there are specials on the blackboard; these change every week. And there is also a take-away service but you do have to collect the food yourself.

Plans for the future include upholstering the benches, refurbishing the toilets, extending the kitchen area – but these will take time and money. Another long term project will be offering an English style roast dinner on Sundays. I am only one of the many Wanstead residents who are delighted to have this Piccolo gem on the High Street, so please go and try it out for yourself.

Suki Orange, Wansteadium’s food blogger, writes: Thank you Marian for this – I confess I haven’t made it to Piccolo since it opened, so it’s good to hear promising things about it.