Settle in
Wanstead & Snaresbrook…

10 miles from the heart of the capital, this part of East London truly does have everything going for it. A remarkable High Street, glorious green spaces and extraordinarily beautiful property. 

There was a time when Wanstead, an unusually leafy spot of east London, was most famous for its Member of Parliament. They don’t come much more recognisable than Sir Winston Churchill, who served Wanstead from 1924 up to 1964 with a patch of absence in the middle for his Wilderness Years.

There is one other thing this attractive suburb is known for; families. It is that rare thing, a pretty London village on the Tube that’s renowned for green spaces, good schools and big houses to boot. No wonder it made an appearance in The Sunday Times’ Best Places to Live in the UK supplement in 2018.

Victorian, Edwardian and Twenties houses are to be found in Wanstead, along with Thirties flats and period conversions. The Warren Estate south of the town centre around The Green, close to Wanstead Park, has mainly Twenties houses with some large detached properties in St Mary’s Avenue. Between the High Street and the North Circular road in the Wanstead Grove conservation area is The Counties estate, made up of Warwick, Hereford, Rutland, Gloucester and Buckingham Roads.

Here you will find semi-detached Edwardian houses, some of them double fronted. In Wanstead village itself, two and three bedroom Victorian houses are frequently the first purchase for young families coming fresh to the area.

The Gothic clock tower of the former Wanstead Hospital is a local landmark on Hermon Hill. The listed hospital buildings were converted into flats in the Nineties.

Family houses near the primary schools — Wanstead Church School, Our Lady of Lourdes RC, Nightingale and Aldersbrook — are sought after. Rental flats with easy access to Wanstead or Snaresbrook Tube stations are in demand from commuters who want to come home to a leafy area.

Location

Wanstead Tube station is at one end of the High Street and Snaresbrook is at the other. They are both in zone 4 on the Central line with trains to the City and West End.

Best roads

The Warren Drive where there are detached houses from various eras and St Mary’s Avenue, where there are large detached Edwardian houses with carriage drives.

Postcode

Wanstead falls into the E11 Leytonstone postcode. The Aldersbrook conservation area is partly in E11, partly in the E12 Manor Park postcode.

Green Space

Wanstead Park and the adjacent Wanstead Flats are part of Epping Forest. It has the remnants of the lakes, islands and canals created for Wanstead House, one of the country’s largest Palladian mansions which was demolished in 1824. There is an 18th-century temple housing a visitors’ centre which tells the story of Wanstead House. Wanstead Flats is an area of grassland with the addition of 60 football pitches.

Christchurch Green is a large open green space with a newly refurbished children’s play area that is conveniently situated in Wanstead High Street. It is close to lots of local amenities and places to eat and drink. This area is very popular especially in the summer where families enjoy having a picnic on the grass.

Education

The “outstanding” primary schools are Wanstead Church School in High Street and Aldersbrook in Harpenden Road. Judged to be “good” are Our Lady of Lourdes RC in Chestnut Drive; Nightingale in Ashbourne Avenue and Snaresbrook in Meadow Walk.

The two local secondary schools, judged to be “good”, are Wanstead High (co-ed, ages 11-18) and Leytonstone School (co-ed, ages 11-16) 

There are two “outstanding” grammar schools, They are Ilford County High (boys 11-18) in Ilford and Woodford County High (girls 11-18) in Woodford Green.

Snaresbrook Preparatory (co-ed, ages 3-11) and St Joseph’s Convent School RC (girls, ages 3-11) are the two local private primary schools. There are also  two popular private schools; Forest School (co-ed, ages four to 18) in Snaresbrook with separate girls’ and boys’ schools between the ages of 7-16 and Bancroft’s (co-ed, ages 7-18) which is in Woodford Green.