Guide to Wanstead

Wanstead’s fabulous village lifestyle has sometimes seen it dubbed East London’s answer to Twickenham, and a few years ago it was named one of the Top Ten Places to Live in London by The Sunday Times.

Everything about Wanstead is lovely. Two beautiful village greens—Christ Church and Memorial—host a thriving scene of independent local shops, gorgeous streets of Victorian homes and even a modernist Tube station designed by Charles Holden. 

Wanstead has two Tube stations (Wanstead and Snaresbrook). You’d never know it from the leafy environs and laid-back lifestyle, but Wanstead is just 18 minutes by Tube from Bank, 25 from Holborn, and 22 from Canary Wharf via a quick change at Stratford (where you can also enjoy the retail therapy of Westfield or take the Elizabeth Line into central London and beyond). 

Wanstead is bordered by Wanstead Flats to the south and the Epping Forest to the west and north, so there is no shortage of green space to enjoy. Wanstead is also home to the respected golf and cricket clubs and, along with its bounteous tree-lined avenues, the overall impression of the area is as a verdant haven.

The village has pleasant Victorian terraces and the odd Georgian house off the high street. The streets around Wanstead Park are the finest and have broad avenues of Victorian and later properties. The Aldersbrook estate is another beautiful location, bordered between the Flats and ornamental lakes of Wanstead Park. Spratt Hall Road has late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces and semis. You’ll find more leafy suburban environs on and around the Counties Estate and Nutter Lane. The Warren estate has fine semis from the 1920s and 30s.

Local schools rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted include Wanstead Church School, Nightingale Primary, Snaresbrook Primary and Wanstead High. There is also the Catholic, Our Lady of Lourdes School.