Wansteadium

It’s been a hard few months on Wanstead High Street, with several closures and not a lot seeming to be going on. But suddenly there are three shoots which hopefully mean better times to come.

The first is the visible sign of a new restaurant in the former Cooks/Seasons spot. As the photo attests, it is to be called Provender Cafe Bistro, and if its website is anything to go by (they usually are an indication of a discerning nature, of course), it could be pretty swish. Lunch options have been feeling a bit limited in Wanstead of late, and so with 80 seats to be available here, it’s surely a good thing. The only downside is that the Snaresbrook end of the High Street seems ill-fated, but if Provender can become a destination that will surely help.

The second is a new dress shop coming to Wanstead. Dress2Party is advertising for staff for a new branch (it has them in Mill Hill and Cheshire) and bills itself as specialising in dresses for birthdays, proms, weddings and bar mitzvahs. It seems likely that the shop will be opening in the former Knock Down Ginger location.

The third is taking shape at Wansteadium’s spiritual home, in the former Andrews’ Builders’ Merchants. As we first revealed, it is shortly to become a fabric shop. Some impressive work has taken place to renovate the site, including the long-overdue making up of the pavement into Woodbine Place.

Wansteadium’s property blogger George C Parker writes:

Design-conscious Redbridge residents will be delighted to hear that there is a newly-published Householders Planning Guide available at www.redbridge.gov.uk. The document is is intended to uphold aesthetic integrity in future residential developments. On the subject of aesthetics, I understand that there’s a new establishment in Wanstead which says it provides aesthetics, by which it means Botox. Not quite my, or Mrs P’s thing – we’re more interested in the details of best practice for extensions, conversions, dormers, solar panels and the like, so this new guide is more up our street. The publication does make me wonder where the aesthetic integrity of Redbridge’s various municipal works has been hidden in the past 20 years – concreted under some cheap-looking paving slabs would be my guess on past form. Perhaps we may see some coherent strategy in the future – if Walthamstow Village can be beautiful, so – surely? – can Wanstead.

Beauty
The design guide would have nothing but praise for this Overton Drive property (a four bedroom semi for £750k), with beautiful views of the Basin lake, once the approach to Wanstead House. It’s a nine iron to the golf course, the rooms are tall, light and airy – a beautiful family home.

Olympics
Thanks to all those who left comments on my 2011 crop of articles. While Olympic lets and prices in general tended to pique your attention, this remains a property blog concerned with all aspects of life and living in Wanstead. To those who read, but didn’t comment – come now, these things are surely best out in the open. Share.

My 12-point plan
Finally, About this time of year, there are those who are starting to lose grip of their dearly-held resolutions for the new year. To these people I offer one comforting thought: if the resolution was worth making last year, it’s probably good enough for next time around too.

And remember – a potential resolution is still a resolution – you’ve just deferred breaking it for a little while. Let me give you an example or twelve. On 1 January 2011 I awoke to a proud and brave new world in which I would deliver the following Wanstead-enhancing projects and enterprises:

January: Create a family-friendly (especially mum-friendly) gym in Aldersbrook
February: Thoroughly remodel the gardens at Parker Towers, arboriculture included
March: Buy out a local bakery chain, updating the shops and repertoire, bringing wonderful and diverse breads from post 1952 to the High Street
April: Reintroduce boating to Wanstead Park
May: Rebuild the chocolate shop
June: Found a cinema/music festival on George Green (yes I know the 406 might be quite noisy)
July: Co-ordinate the inaugural Wanstead Beach festival (slightly ripped off from Paris Plage) to mark the Olympics
August: Return from Caribbean exile during said Olympics
September: Open sophisticated wine bar on High Sreet and behave in an unsophisticated way therein
October: Set up Wanstead’s first spa hotel in the former church site on Cambridge Park
November: Build new member’s cinema at the “kinema” site
December: Unveil a wonderful toy and book shop to magically complete Christmas for Wansteadians old and new.

Ok so 1 January 2012 I awoke to the same list – but remember, none of these resolutions has been broken – yet…

*Plans to introduce cycle lanes across the middle of Christ Church Green – from the High Street to Woodbine Place -  have been dropped by councillors. Redbridge has been given a £250,000 grant by TfL to promote cycling. Wansteadium readers may well have ideas for how the money could be spent (via the comments form, if you please).

* Anyone planning ahead for street parties for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee can now apply for permission to close roads via the council site. Organisers of the Big Lunch – a collective picnic – are planning their event to coincide with celebrations on for Sunday 3 June.

*A new display has been installed in Wanstead Library. It’s of Ethiopian coffee pots, and tells the story of the significance of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Wansteadium reader Peter Chamberlain is responsible for the display, and writes that the pots can be bought for £12 each, of which £2 is paid to the potter in Ethiopia, £1 for transport, and the remaining £9 to Save the Children. He can be contacted at pjchamberlain@ntlworld.com.

*British Transport Police have issued a CCTV image of a man they want to question in relation to an assault on a 34-year-old woman at Snaresbrook station on Christmas Eve.

*Redbridge has a plan to offer to rehouse pensioners whose own houses are now too big for them, and in return take on the letting of those houses to families. The plan is not yet in action, but has won praise from the government this week.

*Wanstead cafes are expected to see a surge in bewigged fellows lunching this week. Suggestions for what a judge might eat for lunch are welcome.

The Sun is reporting today that  police are investigating whether the food served to judges at Snaresbrook Crown Court could have been spiked with urine. It reports:

It is feared someone with a grudge against the justice system has launched a grubby revenge campaign. Traces of urine are believed to have been found in soups, salads and sandwiches…

Food safety officers and police are investigating, the paper says.

Last year Wansteadium featured some stunning photos of Wanstead taken by photographer Gary Lashmar (aka Marshal Gray). He and his partner Claudia Carter are planning to take a Wanstead-related photo every day for a year , and Wansteadium will be featuring a regular selection. Here is the first.

Gary says: “I took two images of this lady. One was candid in which she was straight faced. But as soon as she saw me she gave me the biggest smile ever. It totally melted my heart.  Not all folk are as willing to be photographed. I’ll treasure this picture forever.”

Gary’s blog is at Marshal Gray Photography.

Wansteadium, for one, did not really expect the police to be tweeting about this sort of thing. But it will answer some people’s questions.

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