Let’s move to Leytonstone: the Olympics still niggles, but it’s on good form

What's making it work? The new Walthamstow. Or then again that may be Leyton, I overlook. Or on the other hand Maryland. Or then again Forest Gate. There are such huge numbers of contenders for Outer East End Hotspot nowadays I can't keep up. Accuse 2012. The Olympics splattered cash round these parts, as recently stamped bollards and merry paint plans. It additionally isolated supposition. Strike up a discussion about "it" in the line at Percy Ingle on the High Road and after six years you're still liable to leave with an insect in your ear and in addition a cut developer. In any case, Leytonstone shows up on great frame. The tootsie toes of Epping Forest dunk into the avenues toward the north, its Hollow Ponds green space bordered by office specialists on their meal break, longing for escape over BLTs. A couple of squares south, then again, escapees from whatever is left of the planet have stopped on the High Road, from Romanian stores to Turkish flame broils to Madame Chic's "frizerie". There are even indications of those most ignorant of foreigners: specialists. They've lived round here since the 1980s (the 1890s on the off chance that you incorporate local 'Stoner Alfred Hitchcock), broadly adding chutzpah to the M11 Link Road dissents 10 years after the fact. Nowadays the workmanship's less bolshie (however July's Arts Trail is an impact) and more theoretical macramé, yet at any rate the gentrifiers haven't attacked in full power yet.

The argument against… Sliced by that M11 Link Road, burping contamination. Very modest (yet for the most part nicy). Still far from the kool kats in Hackney and the Stow, if that is your desire.


Very much associated? Speedy in and fast out of London – an uncommon item. Trains: the Central line for Stratford (5 mins), Liverpool Street (14 mins) and Oxford Circus (24 mins); Overground each 15 mins or so to Barking (10 mins), Gospel Oak (25 mins) by means of Walthamstow (4 mins). Driving: on the A12 for a quick getaway; 20 mins to the M25.

Schools Primaries: Gwyn Jones, George Tomlinson, Mayville, Jenny Hammond and Downsell are "great", says Ofsted, with Barclay, Davies Lane and Newport "remarkable". Secondaries: Leytonstone, Buxton, Connaught (young ladies) and Norlington (young men) are "great".

Hang out at… The remarkable Red Lion. The Birds bar. The Wild Goose Bakery completes a mean portion.

Where to get It's for the most part late Victorian to 1930s. Upper Leytonstone is poshest, with fine roads generally Victorians; likewise Bushwood, east of the High Road alongside the greenery of Wanstead Flats. Porches and townhouses: four to six rooms, £500,000-£1.2m; three rooms, £450,000-£725,000; two rooms, £400,000-£575,000. Pads: three rooms, £350,000-£600,000; two rooms, £300,000-£500,000; one room, £220,000-£375,000. Rentals: a one-bed level, £500-£1,300pcm; a three‑bed house, £1,500-£2,000pcm.