Wanstead is the proud owner of a new set of ‘village’ signs, positioned at either end of the High Street.
Tag: wansteadhighstreet
Wanstead candidates out in force
In what will probably become a fixture of Wanstead High Street in coming weeks, both Labour and Conservative prospective parliamentary candidates spent their Saturday mornings with trestle tables and volunteers within feet of each other handing out leaflets. Below are the leaflets they were distributing. 
Wanstead’s Knock Down Ginger knocked
Wanstead children’s shoe-shop owner Rina Henry has told how bailiffs emptied her shop of £30,000 stock over a £193 debt.
Rina, of Knock Down Ginger on Wanstead High Street, told the News of the World that she was handcuffed by police who she had called to help her.
CCTV footage shows Rina collapsing in a panic attack. The paper says the footage, which it shows on its site, “shows slightly-built shop boss Rina Henry restrained by two police officers she called in to HELP HER, as bailiffs carry her cash till out of the door… Bizarrely, it then captures a bailiff and a policeman shaking hands on a job well done.”
UPDATE 2200GMT: Rina Henry tells Wansteadium: “Thank you for your kind wishes. The shop is back in business!”
More details coming on Tuesday.
Wanstead news roundup, 20.03.10; UFOs, dead birds, and the under-40s
UFOs were spotted from Wanstead/Leytonstone borders, apparently, according to the UK-UFO website:
Went to feed the foxes in the early hours Friday night when I noticed that all sound had ceased in the garden. Couldn’t hear the trees or M11 sound in the distance of the motorway which you would expect to hear on a Friday night. Looked up and saw 5 lights coming towards the allotments in the sky. Curious as I thought they might be military helicoptors because of the size but realised I could not hear a pin drop. As they got closer I saw they were very bright and in formation and knew then that they were ufo’s. I ran upstairs to my husband and woke him and pulled the curtains open and said ‘now do you believe’?
There were two arrests following the deaths of at least 80 birds – and one Alsation – at Alexandra Lake on Wanstead Flats. Scientists are still examining the bodies of the birds. More details at Wanstead Birder; picture courtesy Jonathan Lethbridge.
Twice as many couple under 40 who have children can afford to buy houses in Redbridge compared to the rest of London, according to the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit, which basically means family houses are more affordable in Redbridge than they are in other boroughs. The question is why?
Redbridge Council gave permission retrospectively for the demolition of the Truffles chocolate shop – which had been one of Wanstead’s oldest buildings – but they really had no choice: it was pulled down in May last year by a developer who says it turned out to be dangerously unstable. Abdul Rafeeq told the Wanstead Guardian that he will rebuild the house to its original specifications. He faces legal action for the demolition in June.
Nightingale Primary School has been classed as “outstanding” by Ofsted, a dramatic turnaround for head teacher Liz Barrett since she arrived at the school in 1997. Work by the pupils is currently showing in Wanstead Library foyer.
Wanstead news roundup, 5.03.10; The Larder, the bookies and more on Susan Boyle’s cat
The Larder has been ranked by the Independent as the 12th best coffee shop in the country.
A licensed café and very tempting deli, the owners of the World’s Larder work with small, artisan producers for everything from their delicious coffee to their daily bread (delivered each morning from French bakery Boulangerie Jade). Alan calls it a ‘great little star in the east and brilliant all-rounder’.
(Well spotted, I Heart Wanstead.)
Meanwhile bookies Jenningsbet, which became the High Street’s third bookmakers when it opened in the former Woolwich Building Society office, has ceased trading at Wanstead.
A sign on the shutters refers customers to its branches elsewhere. Jenningsbet was the subject of a Wanstead Society campaign when it opened with an illuminated sign; planning permission was later refused for it. One tweeter believes it’s going to become a cafe.
Much to-ing and fro-ing in Labour party circles has resulted in former MP and union official John Cryer being selected as the candidate to follow Harry Cohen as Leyton and Wanstead MP. TV historian Tristram Hunt was one of the losing hopefuls.
And Wanstead’s most notorious feline resident, Pebbles, better known as Susan Boyle’s cat, seems to be on her way west. The Sun has reported that SuBo is leaving Lothian to buy a flat in Chelsea, meaning cat and owner can be reunited.
What the Wanstead Co-op will look like
The Co-op, currently an increasingly tatty-looking Somerfield, has applied to put new signs on its shop. The question of what kinds of signs Wanstead shops have is a vexed one, especially for the Wanstead Society, which ran a competition last year to encourage a “smarter High Street”.
The Co-op’s designs are available to view on the Redbridge-i website, and though much larger and (literally) greener than the existing Somerfield signs, will not be illuminated plastic boxes – they will be lit with spotlights. This may be cheering news to those who thought the High Street was in a spiral of aesthetic decline.
The council is inviting comments on the application now.