Walthamstow

i think the prices have been rising quite steadily, as they try and market it as "the next islington" or something.

(I have consulted Chris!)

Is there a good Walthamstow bootsale? ISTR something abt one but I know no details, never been up that way in my life.

CWM's bro Orange Tony lives in Walthamstow - I shall see him tonight and get a report back. CWM says he thinks it's grotty but that cd easily just be bcz of Orange Tony.

I love it, I really do.

Vicky liked it so much she bought a house there! The Lloyd park area is very nice, especially when your house overlooks the big bit of it which is actually called Averling Park fact fans. William Morris' house is just round the corner too.

The bottom end nearer Blackhorse road is a little patchy in parts but there are still good bits there.

Summer drinking at the Village pub R0x0rs, especially when they're showing films in the garden.

As far as I know, the Village is still the only good pub in Walthamstow, which some might find a drawback.

Then you've got the William the Fourth in Leyton which is quite nice and has it's own brewery, but it is the wrong side of the Bakers Arms, which looks lioke a scary pub.

Lloyd Park is ten minutes from the tube, so not too bad.

What I've been told so far: it has friendly atmosphere and is the nicest place my fella has ever lived.

What I know so far: good fish and chips. and I want to go to the Dogs!!

Nickie, the Chinese near to where I suspect you are house sitting is really really good, on Beulah road iirc, but it may be the next one either side.

Hmm.. well R&Y used to live just by the park and it was at least 15 and the first bit was uphill. I think Blackhorse Road was about the same.

I saw R the other day. Hadn't seen him in ages, esp. down the Village.

Popular side = first side as you approach from Walthamstow.

We went out on a Dissensus/Heronbone-style walk on Sunday, going through the Walthamstow Nature Reserve, past the Lea Bridge Reservoir, then wandering around Springfield Park, Upper Clapton Road (great Portuguese caff!) and back home via the canal. It was the first time I'd explored the place properly and I was astonished at how nice it was.

I think that recent events have driven home to me fairly hard the necessity of being close to people as opposed to being as far away from anyone as possible.

The shops and market are nice. Flats/houses are easily affordable. It's on the Victoria Line, ergo a million times easier to commute to work and a million less excuses not to go to NE London improv gigs!

I don't need to ask whether or not I'm doing the right thing, because everyone without exception has told me that I am!

l-r: stelfox, mark k-punk, woebot, carlin

Last June my non-common law spouse and I somehow bought - BOUGHT, Y'HEAR? - a beautiful flat round Blackhorse Road way. Great for the market, which in turn is great for cheap, fresh fruit and veg.

Again, the only problem is that there's no really decent pubs around there, save for a couple in the Village and perhaps the Rose and Crown - does anyone actually fancy opening one?

Other than that, it's fucking great - it also means you can get behind the bid to reopen the beautiful old cinema and reclaim it from the hands of the Un1ted Church of The K1ngd0m of G0d.

FINALLY - Walthamstow now has it's own bona fide semi-decent Motown / Northern Soul night, last Saturday of the month, next one on the 26th of this month. 'Stow needs more nightlife, come support.

there's the chingford - liverpool commuter line (via highams park, wood st, walthamstow, st james st, clapton, hackney downs, + bethnal green sometimes), or depending what side of the stow you live on, the bus down to tottenham hale, then in to liverpool st. I've discovered that there's an unstressful if slow way to get to Woolwich, via hackney on the north london line, which may come in useful for my daily commute come 2008.

To be honest, it's not that often that the victoria line's been completely down in the last two years. Maybe less than twenty?

In hindsight my decision to move there was very rash indeed, I didn't really look at buying anywhere else, and had only lived in Camberwell and Brixton Hill, but I was very lucky and I love it.

I guess you need to figure out what your budget is, what size place you want, and then look at the different areas of walthamstow and different types of housing that are available to you.

I could have bought a more modern conversion or newish build flat much nearer into town, but I loved the feel of the warner flats around Lloyd Park, and it was worth being a 10 min walk from town for that.

We've got two fairly decent boozers within a couple of minutes walk, which seemed important when we were buying, but we've hardly set foot in them since moving in! The shopping is decent enough that you don't need to venture far from the Stow for the basics. The market's great for cheap veg. etc. and there's an asda and sainsburys on the high street. Lots of local shops still. the Village is very quaint and has a very good pub, and some more local shops. It's great for takeaways, we probably get about 15 menus pushed through the door every week.

There doesn't seem to be anything especially bad about Walthamstow it just seems a bit too suburban. And most of my friends live around Kentish Town which would be a bit of a trek.

Have you done any flat hunting? Have you spent time in walthamstow at the weekend? It would be worth your while going along to the market on a saturday, spending time in some of the pubs (not the goose though) having a wander around. maybe even arrange to see a couple of places in your price bracket

Vicky, what are those two "fairly decent boozers" around Lloyd Park? I remember searching endlessly around there for pubs before we bought a place (yeah, it does seem really important - more so than, say, off street parking, or whether the building was structurally sound) and finding nothing but Happy Shoppers and Disco hire.

The other is ye olde rose and crown, which is on Hoe st, just at the top of Jewel Rd, so not much of a treck for us, albeit an uphill one.

Chris has been to the essex arms for sport, but I have no idea what it's like inside. The palmerston is another one that I haven't set foot in.

Perhaps my experience of bad pubs has meant that my definition of a 'fairly decent boozer' differs dramatically from yours though!

I've lived here for nearly 6 years now and haven't got sick of it yet. I don't make the most of it though, especially at the moment, but hey, it's always got something to do or, more importantly, eat.

Walthamstow (or The Waltham) as it is known to locals is a lovely place. The area around the original settlement is one of the prettiest in all suburbia. St Mary's church could do with restoration back to its pre-19th century makeover, but the Ancient House (the oldest in East London?) is as attractive as the breasts of Keira Knightly.

Two sets of almshouses flank the church and the Vestry House museum (in the old workhouse) has good displays, the Bremer Car and landscaped gardens. The Nags Head is a decent alternative to the Village. It used to be unfriendly and full of dribblers, but new owners looked at the Village pub and refurbished it with young trendies in mind. They seem to have stopped half-way and it attracts a mix of urban doofuses and dribblers who don't know when to move on.

The Bakers Arms has just reopened after a refurb and the new 'smart dress only - No E17 look' sign may keep the scum out for a while. The bus station is also a vast improvement on the arse pit that preceded it.

the picts were driven from eg walthamstowe AND wiltshire by brutal waves of celtic imperialism
-- mark s (mar...), April 28th, 2004.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note mark s's use of the Pictish spelling of Walthamstowe - the place where Picts would store their wintertime hoard of walthams.
-- Dadaismus (kcoyne3...), April 28th, 2004.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/guntaandressen9/previouspix/310-024-031125.jpg

http://www.hmsweb.co.uk/graphics/places/townhallweb.jpg

http://www.affects.me.uk/Walthamstow/CivicPride/TownHall.jpg

http://www.wfccu.org/images/100_wide_jpgs/town_hall-e17_03.jpg

We should have another fap at the dogs

Coming up: Wreckless Eric, Chas 'n' Dave, Mick Abrahams (Jethro Tull / Blodwyn Pig), London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra, Green Ray, Holly Golightly, The Aces, Tony McPhee (Groundhogs), and loads of other stuff.

Vicky, is that live Mario Kart Racing they're doing there now?

they don't like you using flash at the trackside, which led to interesting photos!

In 1834, Captain Fitzroy advertised for a naturalist to accompany him on a voyage to South America. A young Charles Darwin was interviewed and selected for the post onboard the Beagle. At the southern tip of Patagonia where the Andes curves and cuts the peninsula of Tierra del Fuego, Fitzroy set an expedition to trade with the local Yamana Indians. Four were seized against their will and taken back to England to be 'civilised'. One of these was Jemmy Button, first seen dancing naked on Navarino island. Later, in England, he met the King and became something of a dandy. He, and two of the others were schooled in the Village School in Walthamstow (it still stands opposite the church).

He returned to the end of the world in an attempt by god-fearing colonists to spread the good word of the gospel. Mr Button reverted to his 'primitve' ways and became implicated in the murder of several missionaries.

Deep by E17 was a tribute to the Yamana Indians of Tierra del Fuego.

x-post ah, chans, what night is services night again?

Last Friday evening, made the mistake of walking the full mile-and-a-half of Walthamstow Market to get to where I was going. Is it the traditional welcome to newcomers to have snarling dogs six feet tall being urged by their owners to "BITE THE BATTY BOY"? Put me off the idea completely and the weekend never really recovered from that.

I think in terms of moving house I'll stick to looking in places I know, e.g. Chiswick. Did not feel at home in E17, not one bit.

I know that Mr Bolton was living in the stow as he posted and the ip address was about identical to our home one!

The only hassle I've ever had there was walking down Markhouse Road - broad daylight - a few weeks ago because the trains were down and the buses weren't running 'cos the roads were shut.

I noticed I was being followed by a couple of lads, who then proceeded to tread on the back of my shoes - you know that way: "sorry mate, wasn't looking etc". They then started to giving it all that and chased me down the road. I hid in a shop until they'd apparently gone, when the ship owner informed me they'd "gone to get the rest of the gang". I ran home.

Admittedly, my laptop and camera were bulging out of my bag, which can't have helped, but still - at least they weren't dogs. I hate dogs.

Most people in the Stow are lovely.

What was a ship owner doing in a shop in Walthamstow?

Alternatively, I just mispelled shop. In the hackneyed world of Walthamstow, anything can happen.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

Features:
- Living room with working open fire
- Huge garden with seating area and shed
- 20 foot kitchen with seating area, utility cupboard and study areas
- Front garden with bike porch
- Large double bedroom (furnished)
- Big bathroom with corner bath
- Washing machine / dishwasher / fridge etc
- End of terrace
- Quiet, friendly street with plenty of parking

Transport:
- 5 minutes to tube (Victoria Line - 15 mins to King's Cross)
- 5 minutes to overground station (12 mins to Liverpool Street)

Rent:
- £895 p.c.m.

If anyone might be interested in buoying up what's looking like a growing Walthamstow ILX massive please e-mail us at handlworld@gmail.com. Ta!

Only joking, like.

Perhaps you could wheel the Joanna out onto the street and earn the extra money bashing out faux-C&W knee-ups for the localists. I'll probably be leaving my pedal steel there too, so perhaps Alix could back you up with a few licks?

You could always grow rocket in the back garden (very sunny, good for posh leaves) and hurtle on the overground down to Islington and sell it for a packet?

from my perspective this is v tempting but i'm not sure i would want to run the daily gauntlet of HORRIBLE HAPPYSLAPPING KIDS!

I went to one a few weeks ago, and I genuinely seemed to be the only punter there. There was a gaggle of ladies from Chingford attempting some line dancing, a tombola with gifts of pink Angel Delight, Brut aftershave and tinned kidney beans, and a bric-a-brac stall run by this vastly deaf woman standing stock still in front of a very very loud soundsystem playing "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins.

It's a lovely place and really needs local support. Needless to say it's extremely quiet (apart from when the Loggins fan runs the summer fete).

No incidences of happy slapping to be reported, I'm glad to say - it's a pretty strong Neighbourhood Watch area. Conversely, the neighbours don't seem to mind a few parties now and again.

But it's 3.7 times the fun, so economically it makes sense.

What I meant is that the neighbours haven't seemed to mind when we've had a couple of house-o's. They certainly don't thrown any bashes.

In fact the closest we've come to a meaningful relationship with our neighbours is when the old guy from number 11 came round and gave us a big bag of runner beans from the allotment and a beautiful giant trout that he'd caught that day. We stuffed it full of horseradish and pine nuts but it still tasted of rivers.

Oh God now I've made it sounds the The Good Life.

Alix, I guess you don't play the pedal steel then (xpost)? It's a shame, we really are just covering the mortgage.

We didn't want to go to any scum letting agents, who would have charged tenants an absolute truckful for it, and then probably kept the deposit as well. If anyone's going to be a scum landlord here, it's me.

Pam & I are currently fretting about moving and money and decisions and whatnot but it won't be E17, so that's a separate thread. Or, rather, not a thread at all.

xpost

and indeed, £900 - well the usual idea is that works out at £450 x 2 (i.e. 2 people live there); but in a one-bedroom flat? in oxford we lived in a two-bedroom flat in a prime location (off binsey lane), with balcony, panoramic views, lots and lots of space, etc. - pretty luxurious but it only cost us £565 pcm. mind you we're talking seven/eight years ago now, so i suspect it's probably shot up since then.

really at the moment i am looking to buy rather than rent, and looking for a house rather than a flat, but i suspect that if i buy anything it will not be in london.

Although, granted, when he brings his laydeeezz home, the joint does start a-rocking. (Lie).

I'm always surprised how surprised people are about London house prices / rents. Do they not read the Daily Mail?

handlworld@gmail.com

(DISCLAIMER: Again, apologies for turning this into a bit of a classified ads thread.)

I looked at a 2-bed (well, one was a box room) flat in the Village (that nice close opposite the pub) 4 years ago or so. It was £100000. I am a fool. As ever.

Is there a good reason why local councils / goverment cannot intervene and put a reaistic cap on house prices? I'm sure there's some complex capitalist economics as to why they can't, but it's always baffled me - no-one's a winner when it's in this state.

Yes, I think I have a relative called Irene, though given that she's a crumply 90+-year old living in a shack in Connemara, I'm doubting this is the Irene of which you speak. Unless you're the Michael Jones who brings her meals on wheels every day? How's your lumbago?

they're probably scared of getting on the wrong side of landlords/estate agents. free market innit?

presumably the idea is that ultimately no one will be able to afford to live in london other than celebrities and people who work in the City. we'll all be expected to commute to work from Lerwick, or Oban.

I'm no economist but I'd have thought that in the most basic terms, prices go up because of demand. If everyone who wanted one could suddenly afford one then there wouldn't be enough to go around. Price inflation is the way a market addresses this.

Mustn't grumble. (It was just the handl in yr address...)

This is a fact. What happened to you?

Ha ha! I hadn't noticed that! (handl = huey and leanski)

I really dislike London and the area of its gravitational pull now. It is not worth it.

Incidentally, you can very easily pay Walthamstow prices in Maidenhead.

So, in mid Oct the search started again, i found another property they had on the market, was told by them that we had our offer accepted, and put the wheels in motion again - ordered a survey. Then, three weeks later, we found out from the surveyor (not central) that he had been refused entry to the house - the vendors had not signed up with Central - they'd just sent people round in the hope that the vendors would want to sell the house quickly and so let them in. The vendors had NOT accepted our offer, but for some reason Central had decided to lie.....

We went with Spencers then, and finally moved into our flat on the 23rd Dec. Talking to the couple who we bought the flat off, central had tried the same trick with them - they'd been asked to value the flat, then kept hounding them with buyers who wanted to see the flat.

It was 3.9 pc fixed rate two years ago. I think I'm about to switch to 5.4 pc. So a bit more, yes. The value of my flat hasn't really gone up because there was a big fire down my street and it's now rocking the Easterhouse silver windowed look but in a year's time we should be comparible with the rest of Merchant City East.

I went to a party in Dennistoun once. I may have mentioned this before.

I think where I would like to live in Edinburgh, more than Glasgow. These days.

Michael, perhpas we start a campaign to relocate our entire industry, or sector, or whatever it is.

People come to London for a reason.

It looks as if they've emptied the living room onto that kids bed. You'd have thought they'd have tidied up, eh.

http://www.findaproperty.com/agent.aspx?agentid=5082&opt=prop&pid=324117&photo=1#photo

(That's if you fancy perpetuating that whole house price nonsense of course, and feel wholly comfortable with making pots of money out of a basic human right).

More specifically, did anyone catch Geno Washington and the Ram Jam band playing to an enormous crowd of very drunk, happy, flirty and grateful locals in the high street on the Sunday night? He was magnificent, like a postmodern James Brown.

/jumps out window

Go to WISTANSTOW, people.

I see they're going to close down the dog track in August:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7408061.stm

I'm a bit gutted about that, even though I've only been there once.

Prices will fall soon. They have to.

-- RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 21 July 2005 11:05 (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

I presume they have?

Anyway, yeah depressing news. Maybe Boris can save it.

The only time I ever went there was before I lived here! We were thinking of going out there sometime, I guess we'd better get a move on.

what happened with the bluebottles, then, colonel poo?

Yes - WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE BLUEBOTTLES?

lol er they went away after a couple of days, but then they came back again mysteriously a year later. And then went away again. We had mice a couple of times so probably mice died in the cellar and that brought the flies. That or satan, not sure.

Maybe the mice were attracted by the flies?

LOADS of cops around the square today. Turns out EDL were threatening a counter march against Muslims Against Crusades today. So Unite Against Fascism were in the square as well in case that kicked off. Guess nothing happened though as the march was supposed to be at lunchtime. Saw some bloke in an English Nationalist Alliance t-shirt outside the Goose having a pint so I guess EDL were indeed here earlier?

Hmm maybe a bit premature, the MAC march apparently left Leyton at 1:20 and they are on their way here now, so this could still kick off.

Uh-oh, my wife and kid are down in town at the moment

I doubt there'll be large enough numbers on either side to make this into a serious incident, they'll be outnumbered by the police I expect. My wife's down in the village at the moment but she'll probably be staying there until way after this is all over with.

Looks like it passed without incident just taking my cat to the vet and there's nothing going on, there's still 7 police vans and a helicopter over the bus station but that's it. No sign of any demonstrations.

Yup. I failed to contact my wife by phone so walked into town only to find there was nothing going on (apart from the helicopter and some tuneless Christians blaring out their songs), at which point my wife phoned from home to ask why on earth I'd gone into W'stow.

The Queen just drove past me while I was walking down Forest Road. (Well, she wasn't driving, she was sitting in the back)

There's a big poster (an estate agent's advert) at the junction of Forest Rd and Wood St which says 'AWESOMESTOW'. I might call it that from now on.

Awesomestow

The London Borough of Awesome Forest?

My landlord just sent us a letter that he's going to put the rent up. If he goes to market rates we have no chance of affording it.

So now Walthamstow is the new Stoke Newington, where is the new Walthamstow? Or, as it seems increasingly likely, is it time to just give up on living in London completely? The fact that literally all my friends have already moved out of London might have something to do with that I suppose. Maybe I _am_ tired of life?

it is a real issue

repeal green belt legislation to allow london to swallow entirety of england south of river humber imo

I believe Catford is the new Walthamstow.

I was thinking of looking to buy somewhere around Highams Park but it's ridic.

Am thinking of uniting with a friend to buy something - seems doubling up is the way to go, what I would eventually get on my own seems hardly worth the effort.

Feels odd being priced out of a place yr family has been for about 150 years when that place isn't all that nice to begin with. Would object less if it was Kensington rather than Waltham Forest.

Couldn't hack buying with anyone than my fiancee but that seems the way to go.

haha - well yes - i prob would favour buying alone to buying with another single man in his 30s, but it does seem like you could actually do well out of it with two incomes behind a purchase. which is obv part of the problem, but i'd like to keep living in london.

I do feel a bit conflicted about this situation as I was probably part of the gentrification process by moving there in the first place, but then I think where the fuck was I supposed to live then?

I do have one way out we're seriously considering, my wife is American, maybe I'll just hop on the brain drain train and move to California. It does feel a bit counterintuitive to leave one country because it's increasingly right wing and run for the rich and move to the USA though because lol.

i would be in the usa in a second if i could get a visa. maybe one day with the work i do now, it'll be possible.

i'd also prob move elsewhere in europe, somewhere warm, but i need to be in an english speaking city to do acting/comedy etc.

Maybe I _am_ tired of life?

When a man is tired of London he is tired of Consumption, Inequality, and Pulled Pork Sliders

tbh my wife had consumption so ^ OTM

tbh when a man is tired of any major city in the world he is tired of consumption, inequality, and pulled pork sliders

xpost

Is anyone here thinking of moving to Europe? If so, where are ppl looking at?

if I was moving, Lisbon or Porto for definite. accommodation seems affordable, both beautiful cities with amazing food and great weather. nice people too.

was just gonna say Lisbon :)

When I was younger I lived in Lisbon for six months. Yeah the weather is great, as is the food - especially if you love fish. Different pace of life (which can mean friendly on the one hand but also lots of bureaucracy on the other, always going to be a few things on the minus column). Plus I want to get my Portuguese going again.

Shame that the country itself is in the middle of severe stagnation blah. Be interesting if the economy picks up..

i often dream of working remotely from somewhere in southern europe.

there are smaller places in france that feel like they'd be good for a few months or a year too, avignon, sete, collioure etc.

London is so strong in the arts front tho' - lots of cheap-ish film screenings, concerts. I'd miss it but if I could find a city (and it would have to be a city) with a strong-ish film culture where you could leave near its centre that could be enough.

In this country it sounds like Glasgow and perhaps Bristol. Quite a few places in Northern Europe but winters are harsh.

Wider still I think Buenos Aires. Again the economy is a problem.

Stream of music venue closures is another reason to leave London for me. Just seems to be rubbing it in. Everywhere I go there's building sites for yuppie flats and office blocks. My entire commute is under construction. They're building expensive flats on my street, the local train station is under construction, then I get to Liverpool St and that's under construction, then the road that goes to my office is under construction. Just sick of the constant inconvenience as well tbh.

Bristol seems p cool. Friend of mine moved there last year. Bit closer to my family as well.

Somebody said a few years ago that the Bristol art scene was large enough that you wouldn't just be bumping into the same handful of people every time. Sounded pretty positive at the time.

Not sure about Walthamstow. Only visit there intermittently at Xmas time. But it is great to have the market and the shops around it. Nice to have fabric outlets the size of a couple of the ones on that High St. Even Brick Lane seems to have very few of them left.

Don't know enough about current situation in Walthamstow to really comment but I did grow up there from the age of 11 to around 22 or thenabouts. & before that Woodford Green where my mother is originally from.

Have been interested in the boundaries of Essex and if they have changed since I was more familiar with the area. I know South Woodford where I went to Junior school was E18 while Woodford Green was Essex. But that was 30+ years ago and I would assume that London would still be growing unless there was some legislation to stop the borderline from expanding.

Woodford Green has been part of Greater London since 1965.

Bits of Grange Hill, Chigwell & Buckhurst Hill were added later on though which might have included parts of north Woodford maybe?

Stream of music venue closures is another reason to leave London for me ... Bristol seems p cool.

The Fleece seems to be battling to stay open again though:
http://www.bristol247.com/channel/culture/music/news/new-petition-launched-to-help-save-the-fleece

Other Places are other places, not "Not London". Go towards not away from

it's not about london, it's about not being a big city - eg can i get a job, can i actually do things that entertain me, will i enjoy living there... it's not loaded towards any one big city to think that way

^

not going to live in a tipi dude

I do have one way out we're seriously considering, my wife is American, maybe I'll just hop on the brain drain train and move to California.

Just want to say, if spiraling, out of control housing costs is something you are trying to escape, I'm fairly certain California is the LAST U.S. state you should head towards.

Have been interested in the boundaries of Essex and if they have changed since I was more familiar with the area. I know South Woodford where I went to Junior school was E18 while Woodford Green was Essex. But that was 30+ years ago and I would assume that London would still be growing unless there was some legislation to stop the borderline from expanding.

Green Belt! The edges of London are frozen in the position they were at the start of the second world war. All of that area (Chingford, Woodford, Walthamstow, etc.) was historically in Essex, but then became part of Greater London whenever that (and the new boroughs like Waltham Forest and Redbridge) was invented. The difference between an E post code and an IG post code don't have anything to do with this.

So now Walthamstow is the new Stoke Newington, where is the new Walthamstow?

Leyton?

I do feel a bit conflicted about this situation as I was probably part of the gentrification process by moving there in the first place, but then I think where the fuck was I supposed to live then?

iirc you moved here about the same time I did (2005), both fleeing impossibly expensive north London (Crouch End/Muswell Hill). I don't think there was any gentrification or 'buzz' around Walthamstow until quite recently - probably 2012 at the earliest.

Right I just seem to remember there being an Essex sign up somewhere between South Woodford and Woodford green as in you're now entering or something. & I thought we were thought to be in Essex when I lived there though i wasa pre-teen so maybe I didn't have the full picture. Presumably still don't since i don't know ins and outs of the greenbelt legislation.

xxxp my wife is from California so if we move there that's where we're going.

In any case the housing costs even in LA are quite a bit below what they are in London, salaries are a bit higher, and cost of living is cheaper. It doesn't matter where you go in the US, you'll be better off than here.

xp

Leyton's already more expensive than we're currently paying unfortunately. It was 2007 I moved here but yeah basically. But doesn't that make us part of the first wave of the gentrification process?

xxxp my wife is from California so if we move there that's where we're going.

ah, that does make a big difference.

xxp - I get all the different parts of Woodford mixed up. Woodford Green is the one with the cricket pitch, isn't it? And South Woodford is the bit on the other side of the bridge over the North Circular with a cinema? If so, I think the 'Essex' sign is a bit further north (when I'm cycling out of London towards Epping Forest I see it) in what might be Buckhurst Hill on one side of the road and some part of Chingford on the other.

But doesn't that make us part of the first wave of the gentrification process?

I could be wrong, but I think it was more of a sudden thing about 3 or 4 years ago when property prices shot up as 'normal' people got priced out of everywhere else and desperately tried to find somewhere relatively cheap in London.

I lived down the road from the Cricket Pitch if you're talking about the one on the Green that extends from where the Churchill statue is to Broadmead rd.

Trap 1 and 6 through every card of this week, 18 million threepenny bit reversed f/c doubles and two winning selections and fucking 3 alleged non-runners - better check SIS teletext for the next fucking hour whilst folk shout loud abuse:(

Hasn't the gog racing track been gone for the last decade at least? I thought it odd when it went cos I thought it was one thing Walthamstow was famous for apart from the longest market in Europe or whatever.

that should have read dog racing not gog

I can't remember if it was Walthamstow or Hackney who lost their BAGS license because of gangsters wrecking races when their dogs were losing or engineering the track in such a Fast going condition that every trap 1 pissed every race, regardless of form.

I once spent a night tending the bar at Wimbledon greyhound track through a temp agency and had the satisfaction of the bar manager repremanding me for my lager-top technique only for some gangster type to chip in and deflate him with a "wots wrong with that fucking prick, the boy is doing it the right way" type response.

Dog track closed in 2008, to build flats on, but the property market totally crashed at that time so nothing happened at all for years. They're building them at the moment.

Broadmead Rd is the one that goes down the hill to where all those tower blocks are, isn't it?

Don't know about Tower Blocks it's after my time. I think the Town Hall used to be off it. Cos that''s where they had a Charity Opening of Young Winston when I was a kid. Though that sounds a bit late for that film being made. It is 1972 but I would be surprised that I remembered that as well as I do. Was there a fire stationoff that too or is that closer to Woodford Wells on the main road that runs down past Bancrofts etc.
I think one side of the road lead down to where the station on the circle line is and the other lead down to Ilford/Stratford etc before they built the major road around South woodford. Could be remembering that a bit wrong though. Has been a while since I was using any of those roads. & about 8 years since I walked around between South Woodford and where I used to live in Woodford Green.

Does Romford / Gidea Park have much going for it other than relative affordability, reasonable access to the centre and an irl working dog track?

Friend of mine lived right by Gidea Park station for a few years, it was convenientish for Liverpool St and pretty safe I think, but there's not much there.

Area of Walthamstow I live in has apparently been rebranded "Blackhorse Village"...

See ya later Walthamstow!

Where are you going?

Moved to Brighton. London just not worth the bother any more.

Although I still have to commute there twice a week, but I can probably put up with that.

My landlord told me he's putting up the rent over 50% on advice from local estate agents.

cool I mite ask my father if he can rent it for me as a sort of second london pad for parties and shit. So jokes

j/k sorry 2 hear ur being shat on like that

Sorry wasn't quite like that - we didn't get shat on really - landlord actually kept the rent pretty low compared to market rates while we were there because we'd been there a long time and he didn't want the hassle of getting new people in. Now we've gone he doesn't have to worry about that so he can up it to what the going rate is. I meant he told me that after I told him we were moving.

Even with the low rent we were getting, our new flat in a really nice part of Brighton is still cheaper.

good news everybody! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-41685566/walthamstow-wetlands-new-urban-reserve-opens-in-london a mere 20min walk from where I live

Ugh seeing my old post there, not knowing the relentless stream of shit that was about to hit me :(