Channel 4’s Location Location Location returned to Wanstead on Tuesday night, as young couple Anisha and James attempted to find a 3 bedroom house for less than £425,000. They said they wanted to avoid suburbia and stay “in the creative buzzâ€. For the duration of the 4OD window, you can see the programme here if you missed it.
They started in Wood Street (which Phil Spencer said was “an area popular with young creativesâ€), then moved to Leytonstone (“an area to get their creative juices flowingâ€), then a new build on Wanstead Flats, about which househunter James said: “This is busting my noodle.†He wasn’t very comfortable with buying a new house.
They remained undecided for a while. Spencer’s advice was that he had always bought houses for location. The couple’s budget restriction prevented them from getting in to more central parts of Wanstead (three bedroom houses for £425k are now hard to come by) In the end they chose the new Wanstead Flats house, and got it for £420k.
There were a few sightings of Wanstead – including some shots which looked a lot like Sylvan Road. But otherwise (and unless Wansteadium blinked), anticipated shots of the Orange Tree did not materialise.
Pictures: Channel 4
Don’t you lot start – you should see twitrrs Leytonstone
Sorry typing on my phone on the train! You should see the Twitter furore! It is Leytonstone!!
Noticed a VERY quick shot of the Larder/Judiths and tried to convince the Mrs’s that the end interview with the young couple was being shot inside the Orange Tree. Have not seen any kind of confirmation on the @TheOrangeTree twitter feed though.
No leytonstone is full of plebs, no place for the aspiring middle classes, it’s why we have the village in walthamstow, somewhere safe and secluded for but handy for the cleaner, eeeuggh
There was a film crew in the barber’s shop end of the High Street op the New Wanstead junction just before Xmas, so something else is coming up.
Stressing how important location is completely ducks the question of why some locations come into fashion after years of neglect. They haven’t moved, after all. It can’t be a happy sign for an area to see these two vultures turn up.
Hi everyone, The Orange Tree’s interior & exterior was filmed for Location Location but in final cut only got featured as ambient background to couple’s interview at end of show. So yes, the frames and lights are ours!! We’re always happy to help out production companies and have been approached by several in the past. Still wasn’t it great to see our area described as “creative”! Rachel
does anyone know where those new build are on’Wanstead Flats’? And was the pub with the beer garden in Leyton? Wouldn’t it be nice if it was in Wanstead!
I was trying to work out where exactly the new build was. Does anyone know?
Hi all, the new builds are in Bushwood not Wanstead Flats as Phil kept saying – right at the end of Bushwood (the road) and all four sold pretty much as soon as they came on the market.
The programme was very misleading as the third property that they purchased (the new build) was not in Wanstead but Leytonstone. Just because a property is near Wanstead Flats doesn’t mean it is in Wanstead. The new build is on Bushwood (that’s the name of the road). I think they may regret their move as gangs congregate at the barrier near that property at night. I’ve heard of lots of violent muggings happening in the Bushwood area. I wouldn’t want to live there.
Violent muggings in Bushwood? Sounds like another example of Leytonstonephobia from cosy Wanstead. I have lived in Bushwood for more than two decades and am involved with the residents association. I am not aware of ANY violent muggings near the barrier mentioned. There were issues several years ago on the path through the forest which is actually in… Wanstead. Come over sometime to our great gastropub the Red Lion and have your prejudices dispelled. Bushwood is a fab place to live.
I agree with “Chris” that the programme was very misleading and shouldn’t have shown any shots of Wanstead itself given that none of the properties was actually located there. And talking about misleading, let’s hope the lucky couple don’t ever get to read Chris’s even more misleading, ill-informed and irresponsible comments about Bushwood. Anyone in their right mind WOULD want to live here (I live about 50 yards from the barrier mentioned) as it’s a safe, friendly community with fantastic access to the open spaces of the Flats. Although I did see a` “gang” of 3 dog-walkers having a chat at the barrier last night – scary!!
I am rather upset by the remarks of Chris on 9 January. I too watched the programme and was surprised that they thought they were buying in Wanstead as they had actually bought a house on Bushwood overlooking Bushwood open space which then runs over to Wanstead Flats. I very much object to Chris saying that they might regret moving there as residents in the Bushwood area are vigilant and work with the police in solving any problems in the area. Yeas there were problems with drug dealers but they have been sorted out and I bet there are drug dealers around Wanstead. At one point Wanstead High Street was a no go area on a Friday and Satruday night due to unruly drunken youngests so please stop trying to put the Bushwood area down. I have lived in Bushwood for 30 years and found it to be a friendly and caring community. We shall welcome the young couple into the community when they eventually move in.
I lived in Walthamstow for 25 years before we bought our house in Leytonstone, and I’d also thought that Leytonstone was much like the Bronx** – so much so we really had to be persuaded to look at our (lovely) house. It isn’t true! I’ve been part of the High Street police Safer Neighbourhoods ward panel for years, and now I’m on the Leytonstone one. The difference in crime figures is startling! High Street Walthamstow is actually a pretty safe place (unless you’re actually a member of one or two high-risk groups) but Leytonstone as a whole sees a fraction of the crime that High Street does. It’s a peaceful safe, neighbourly and friendly place where folk in the street are happy to strike up a conversation. We’re here to stay.
Meanwhile – about that programme. The first pub they were in was the Castle in Walthamstow Village (recommended) and the last one was the Heathcote (very much on the up under new management). The house they passed-over was in Jersey Road and the new build they chose was indeed on Bushwood, between Mornington and Stanmore Roads. They’ll doubtless join the welcoming and active Residents’ Association we have here. They may also like to join our new Conservation Group – “Friends of Bush Wood” (http://FOBW.net) which is open to anyone who shares our love of, and ambition for, the woodland that gives our area its name.
**Actually I have a dear friend who lives in the Bronx, only his part of the Bronx, close to Van Cortland Park, is clean, safe, and popular with professional people and families. What’s in a name, eh?
I very much doubt that the buyers were naive enough to think they were actually buying in Wanstead. They wouldn’t have been blindfolded when they went to the property – it’s very obviously in Leytonstone, which has a long-established (and growing) community of creatives. I suspect they already knew people in the area.
Yes, the comments about ‘the barrier’ are ridiculous. Much as I like Wanstead, it’s not as if there’s a forcefield around the place that keeps crooks out. Only a few months ago Tamara Ecclestone’s boyfriend was relieved of his Rolex in ‘genteel’ Wanstead. How I survive living in the very South of Leytonstone is something of a miracle. Some mornings I can hardly get to the bus stop for the piles of gangland murder victims.
The eventual choice says it all….Bushwood rocks!!
I was going to write a facetious reply to poor Chris, but rather than moan about his misrepresentation of Leytonstone in general and the Bushwood area in particular, let me try to encourage him to test his prejudices against a few facts.
Leytonstone is generally a nice and pretty safe place to live, with good shopping facilities and excellent transport links. But Chris’ concerns are specifically about the Bushwood area, a hotbed of violent muggings, he tells us. Well, the area is commonly reckoned to consist of the streets bordered by Leytonstone High Road, Lister Road, Bush Road and Bushwood itself – the road as well as the forest. It contains about 1,100 households and of those, around a third belong to one of the longest-standing and most effective Residents’ Associations around, the Bushwood Area Residents’ Association (BARA). BARA keeps an eye on local issues and responds to issues as they emerge. It holds all sorts of social events – quizzes, parties and so on – and issues an informative newsletter to members every quarter. It also keeps in touch with members through regular – three or so a week – email Updates to those on its email list, currently 491 individual addresses. Updates cover everything from offers of free items – a very effective form of recycling – through searches for lost cats, planning applications (the BARA planning officer was involved in then application for the new-build houses referred to in this thread), requests for help, information about charity sponsorship opportunities offered by BARA members and much more. Every Update brings forth about 20 general responses as well as specific responses relating to the subjects covered.
BARA also runs residents’ groups covering photography, cycling, dining, theatre-going, pet-minding and more. The enthusiasm of our members and their readiness to become involved in local events means that we are often asked by our friends in Wanstead to help them attract participants to “Wanstead†events such as Music in the Park. Our Photographic Group was asked to help provide photographs of Wanstead Park for use in a recent exhibition in the Temple. Indeed, BARA members are quite involved in “Wanstead†activities generally: the Friends Of Wanstead Parklands is Chaired by a BARA resident (and I can’t resist making the point that the purpose of the Friends according to their website is to “raise awareness of the history of Wanstead Park and aim to halt its declineâ€â€¦).
None of this supports the rather silly comment made by Chris that, “I’ve heard of lots of violent muggings happening in the Bushwood area. I wouldn’t want to live thereâ€. Bushwood people are not drug dealers or murderers or muggers but, on the whole, quite ordinary families. Because of BARA, I probably have more contact with my neighbours than Chris does with his, and I can tell him that BARA residents are lecturers, carpenters, musicians, psychologists, plumbers, businesspeople, retired men and women, teachers, secretaries, doctors, carpet cleaners, charity workers and lots more. I have never lived anywhere with more sense of community. I’d suggest that before making such misleading, unfounded comments in future, Chris might take his courage in both hands and visit Bushwood. He’ll survive, but his prejudices won’t.