September 2024

The Wanstead Fringe will return this month with over 100 events taking place, including 10 different plays.

“The Fringe runs from 7 to 28 September, and this is your chance to help make it the success Wanstead deserves. Take a look through the listings in the Fringe section of this issue and get the dates in your diary so you don’t miss out!” said Fringe director Giles Wilson.

A number of popular Fringe events will return this year, including the open-air Kinema on 14 September and the jumble trail on 21 September.

Visit wnstd.com/fringe

People have always cycled in Wanstead, but now there are more of us, says Jeremy Cross, treasurer of the Redbridge Cycling Campaign, which will be leading two bike rides from Wanstead this month

We cycle to the shops, work, school and Central and Elizabeth line stations. The elite cycle far into Essex, the antisocial and nervous on the pavements, the liberated into central London. As a result, we are fitter, emit less carbon dioxide and pollution and require no major road-building schemes, just safe cycle lanes and crossings. 

I cycled as a child, then joined the car drivers for most of my adult life. I rediscovered the joy of cycling with the support of friendly cyclists in Redbridge. When I had bleeding in my visual cortex – a minor stroke – I was forced to give up driving, became more committed to the bike and a volunteer for the local cycling campaign.

London Cycling Campaign have groups in every borough. We are very active in Redbridge, not only lobbying the council for better cycling infrastructure but also organising many rides and running a cycle buddy scheme for those wanting help to find safe routes.

If you are out and about on Sundays, you may have encountered one of our rides. Up to 30 cyclists, occasionally more, would have passed you on the road, a cycle lane, in a park or by a riverbank, with a leader and marshals in pink tabards. You may have paused to look, to cheer, resented a slight delay to your own journey or even shouted abuse, but we know that is because you envied our joy!

We are proud of our annual programme of rides. Family rides of up to 15 miles, along quiet routes, are suitable for nervous cyclists and families with children. We typically go along the Roding Valley Way, the C16 cycle route to Fairlop Waters or the Olympic Park. We do rides of about 30 miles to central London, the Docks, or south of the river, and longer rides to Richmond or far into Essex. The shortest is the children’s ride around the Ornamental Water in Wanstead Park. The best attended is the Ride London Freecycle, when we lead 100-plus riders and join thousands more cycling around a circuit of iconic central London streets closed to motor traffic for the day.

On 8 September, we have the Redbridge parks circular ride, which departs from the Wanstead Park tea hut at 10am, visiting Claybury Park and Fairlop Waters before returning via Valentines Park, a total round distance of 17 miles. You can even join the ride at any of the parks along the way.

We will also be at the Wanstead Festival on 15 September. Our taster ride will leave at 2pm from the High Street, at the junction with Grove Park (outside the Co-op) and will go along quiet roads and the Roding Valley Way to Ray Park, pause for a tea break, and come back the same way. We will be accompanied by marshals to keep everyone safe when we have to cross main roads and will go slowly so no-one will feel under pressure to keep up. If you think you would like to get more into cycling, we hope to see you there, and if you enjoy it, to see you again on future rides.

We hope to see you on your bike soon, on one of our rides or out and about in Wanstead, cycling safely!

For more information and to take part in any of the rides (free; booking required), visit wnstd.com/rcc

In the first of a series of articles by those leading the campaign to save The George, Jackie Clune questions Wetherspoon’s decision to sell the much-loved, affordable pub

The George pub in Wanstead is many things to many people. Standing in all its Victorian glory on the corner of the High Street, right opposite Wanstead Tube station, it is a local landmark, a meeting place, a lively hub for celebration, for first legal pints, for later-in-life lunches, for nursing mums, families feeding kids on a budget, for students, for workers seeking a swift one after falling off the train, for community meetings, for good times and for bad times. It is the closest thing we have to a community centre. It is a multi-cultural, inter-generational beacon of life in modern London.

The decision by JD Wetherspoon to sell The George prompted a petition by local people with over 3,300 signatures to date – but strong feeling has not dissuaded them and the pub remains under offer, with economic unviability cited as the reason. The chain’s ‘pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap’ business model is the reason everyone loves a Spoons; most people can afford to buy a round there without taking out a small mortgage. Even my kids have bought me a drink in The George!

Wetherspoon’s net profits for 2023 were just shy of £60m across its 873 pubs, so why are they intent on asset-stripping on our turf? I’m not usually one to champion the homogenous chain – for all their competitive pricing and talk of inclusivity, they are still a for-profit, Brexit-championing big business – but Wetherspoon has been gifted prime sites in historical buildings for four decades now and to suddenly pull the (bespoke) carpet from under us feels like a dereliction of duty. 

We must resist. We have to try to stop the allegedly inevitable pricing out of local people. Bad enough that our kids will never be able to afford to live independently near where they grew up – at least let them be able to afford a burger and a pint. It is not inevitable that profit must always be king. If we are to resist London becoming one big unaffordable playground for the uber-rich, fights such as these must be fought and won.

Our High Street is great – we have several boujee chains and some really successful independent businesses – but in my 20 years in Wanstead, I have seen some awful closures. Restaurants, cafes, the launderette. When we first got here as part of the first wave of the Hackney overflow, we had a Woolworths! I truly feel we are impoverished by not having somewhere to buy lightbulbs, affordable kids’ school shoes and Pick n’ Mix under the same roof. No doubt commercial pressures and changes in shopping habits have contributed to these closures, but if we are to keep our glorious and diverse community, we must not bow to what they pretend is inevitable. There has been an affordable pub on the site since 1716. Let’s not be the ones that let it die.

A new police hub on the Orchard Estate in Woodford is expected to open by the end of September.

“The hub will house at least 20 police officers, who will work in partnership with council staff to prevent antisocial behaviour and support people across the west of Redbridge,” said a council spokesperson.

Safer Neighbourhoods Teams from Wanstead Park, Wanstead Village, South Woodford, Churchfields, Bridge and Monkhams will use the hub, reducing travel time from their current base in Barkingside.

The Leader of Redbridge Council has issued a statement in response to the government’s review of the New Hospitals Programme.

“The redevelopment of Whipps Cross is essential for the provision of healthcare to people living in the west of Redbridge… We are seeking assurance from Whitehall that plans to redevelop Whipps Cross Hospital will go ahead. The pressing need for action is clear, as the proposed redevelopment will improve health outcomes for around 400,000 residents across Redbridge and Waltham Forest.”

High Street Wanstead will be closed to traffic between Grove Park and Wanstead Place from 7am to 7pm on 15 September to create a car-free Wanstead Festival.

A market will be in place on the High Street from 10am to 4pm, with the annual festival taking place on Christ Church Green from 11am to 6pm. “Our biggest outdoor event of the year is just around the corner! There will be something for everyone, including arts and crafts, sports, pony rides, children’s rides and even a wellbeing zone,” said a spokesperson for Vision RCL.