heart of london = wanstead?

I still haven't been there you know, not after Katie warned me off it.

Don't be ridiculous.

i think this question could be addressed seriously but i'm not sure how it would be approached. i think there is something to be said for this

Wanstead is virtually Essex as far as i'm concerned, so no

Is it something to do with the way that Essex feels more attached to London than eg Surrey?

i dont think this idea was given adequate attention

you could at least suggest why YOU think Wanstead might be considered the heart of London, O transatlantic giant flying head

i think its probably because of a couple of things

a) the sinclair-ackroyd books (esp sinclair) focus on the east more, partly tied in with history, theres this feeling of the east as timeless, as perhaps predating london itself

b) a wider shift over the last 20 years, sort of like the fetishization of working class people, you know, like on tv 20 years ago everyone sounded like hugh grant, and now they're all mancs, yorkshire and geordies. and the east is perceived as being more working class than the west, even though the west still has many many working class and poor areas, somehow perceived as less real, or at least less real in a 'glamourous' way

c) for a long time, london has been perceived from outside as having a north-south split, but this has been eclipsed, or at least equalled, by the current east-west split, and suspicion that this is in fact an older split, london as commerce, east as the workers.

d) the rise of hoxton/shoreditch in last 10 years, and gentrification of the warehouse districts around the city itself, leading to growing interest in the east in its entirety rather than just the bits which are in essence the city itself

e) the acquiescence of the west in this process, and the disappearance of betjamen as a orator of the 'wider london', which would have balanced the skewedness now. the death of the west, leads to unbalanced aesthetic of what constitutes the city

f) will brondesbury or kensal green ever be perceived as 'cool'?

Death of the west?!?

Wanstead doesn't constitute the city. Crikey - it only got a London postcode in 1965.

Death of the west?!?

Yeah - Gareth wishes...along with the death of the south at the same time.

This thread should really be subtitled 'or How the West was Wanstead'.

Wanstead is the spleen

If London is judged solely on its tapas restaurants (which is sensible), then Wanstead is an integral part of the city. The only thing missing is a decent monorail.

monorail! monorail Monorail!

is there a chance the track could bend?

you're damn right, it's maintained by Jarvis

The Wanstead / Snaresbrook monorail link is part of Ken's alternative infrastructure plans for 2004. Along with Business Class seats on the Circle line and licensed bars on night buses.

A tube station in Hackney? Don't stretch the credibility, mate.

i went on the holloway-barking line, and saw some more of this locality. i think my idea holds water, (though, of course, could be any number of other places), but wanstead feels high on this list. it seems tied up with the M11 somehow. perhaps i should start an M11 thread, was anyone on ilx in leyton around the time of the M11 protests. they seem iconic now, more so than twyford dam, but perhaps less than castlemorton. that summer was a balmy summer, pressure keg atmos

M11 starts at Charlie Brown's roundabout which is more Redbridge than Wanstead, no?

yes, this is true, i think i mean general environs in this case, rather than wanstead specifically. (i think the A106 takes that feel from there on in, rather than the M11 anyway)

somehow redbridge feels 'proper' east, whereas wanstead is part of londons missing northeast

I liked the way that Modern Romance name-checked it in their songs in the early eighties - e.g. "Everybody Salsa" includes "This ain't Puerto Rico this is Wanstead E18".

i like how south woodford has a london postcode, but woodford itself doesn't

ha, that's a bit like the fact that the northernmost point in Ireland isn't in Northern Ireland!

I think it's the A12 that gives Wanstead that disconnected feel. Despite the way it's been tunnelled under the green. It has small town Essex feel rather than edge of London cling.