A Conversation for Walthamstow, London, UK

What a pity!

Post 1

Jimi X

Here is a well-written Guide entry about a place I've never heard of and nobody has made any comments yet!
C'mon people, somebody must have something to say about this entry!!

Don't say I didn't try DO! smiley - winkeye

- X


What a pity!

Post 2

Flollop

Well written yes.

However, despite the quality of the article on Walthamstow I have to say that Walthamstow is a pit of dispair more venal than that of poor old Stevenage, or even Letchworth for that matter.

Furthermore, the article fails the mention the renowned Manzies Pie and Mash shop in which you have a choice of sucking the flesh off diced eel bodies or risking the boiled pastry "meat" pies served with lumpy mash and "Liquor" (snotty green substance tasting of vinegar). No visit to Walthamstow is complete without this experience.




What a pity!

Post 3

DelphicOracle

Ooops, yes, I forgot Manze's. Although that was probably because I have never frequented the place myself, not possessing either of the obligatory entrance requirements:-
a) being aged over 78, and
b) being able to remember rationing, and therefore a time when food was actively worse than that currently sold in Manze's...

It does have nice tiles, though.


What a pity!

Post 4

Researcher 131508

On a saturday night the Bell usually has a few dead animal heads i.e. a significant proportion of the custommers.

Still it is safer than the palmerston


What a pity!

Post 5

There is only one thing worse than being Gosho, and that is not being Gosho

Walthamstow is odd in that although it has a definate 'east London' feel about it and an E17 postcode, I've always considered it to be part of north London - after all, it's neighbour across the marshes is Tottenham, which is most definately north. I guess it's just at the border of north-east and north London.

A few things you might want to add, although you'll probably have to research them a bit. The first ever manned flight in the United Kingdom was made on Walthamstow Marshes by A.V. Roe, and there's a blue plaque on one of the railway bridges to commemorate the occasion. Secondly, I believe that Walthamstow Market is the longest street market in London, or maybe in the UK - longer even than Portobello Road. And thirdly, the people who ran Small Wonder Records (Pete and Marie), which used to be in Hoe Street and which was one of the first record shops (along with Rough Trade) to specialise in selling punk, began their own record label and released The Cure's first single - Saturday Night/Killing an Arab. Oh, and one more bit of trivia - there's a gym in St James St which is run by Len Sell who was Mr Universe in 1962 smiley - smiley

I like Walthamstow, even though these days it's pretty well clogged up with traffic all the time, because it still has the feel of a town seperate from London, and when I was living in Lancashire around 1979, I would always go there during my trips back to London to pick up a dozen saveloys, some tins of pease pudding, and to spend far more than I could afford at Small Wonder.

I just did a bit of research myself and came up with these two links
http://www.leevalley-online.co.uk/towns/walthamstow/wstowhist1.htm
http://www.leevalley-online.co.uk/towns/walthamstow/marsh.htm


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