Sound of The Walnut Tree Leytonstone on a Sunday night

I sit at a table at the very back of my local Spoons. I have my notebook, the latest copy of London Archaeologist and Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. I check the football results on my phone and scroll the Apple News feed. I actually feel a bit rough and have spent the day in bed but I often use the pub as therapy – both physical and psychological. I’m trying not to get annoyed by the couple at the next table playing clips of awful Euro techno on their phones but shoot them a few glares. They stop for all of five minutes before carrying on. This is a lesson in acceptance. I try to place their language but fail which often means it’s either Portuguese or Hungarian. Then I embrace the cacophony that had broken out around me, a phone call through the speaker, someone’s playing games, a fella is spinning yarns stood over a table, music through phone speaker. I can’t even see what I’m typing anymore on the blogging app. I haven’t even listened back to the recording but it’s of the here and now.

Walnut Tree Leytonstone

This is a throwback to the early days of this blog when I would post photos from a booth from the Spoons on Farringdon Road 2004-05 excited by the possibilities that this new medium offered.

George & Dragon Wanstead – opening date

George & Dragon Wanstead

The George is re-born

My Christmas morning wander took me past the old beloved George pub on Wanstead High Street. It was brightly lit inside – was this an unexpected Christmas gift? The new signage was up with the pub reverting back to its older name (or possibly the original name) The George & Dragon.

The George & Dragon Wanstead
The George & Dragon Wanstead

I took a peak through the window and must say as much as I miss the old Spoons George, I do like the like of the new interior and the placement of the bar in the centre of the pub. The George is now under the ownership of Urban Pubs and Bars, who recently acquired The Red Lion, Leytonstone along with a number of other London pubs with a portfolio of over 50 establishments.

The George & Dragon Wanstead
The George & Dragon Wanstead

The George & Dragon re-opens on 16th January, 2025 – which is great news, not only to see this landmark boozer at the heart of Wanstead serving again but also because it means the Walnut Tree at Leytonstone can return to normal.

Exploring the History of Plaistow & West Ham Park

Two suggestions in a recent Q&A video led to great East London day out.

I started with a walk from the Gurney obelisk on Stratford Broadway to the Black Lion pub in Plaistow to meet Tweedy Pubs, an 18th century coaching inn. It is indeed a great pub, an authentic London boozer as had been suggested with excellent cask ale. After our pint we started our stroll and Tweedy pointed out a couple of lost pubs – The Coach and Horses, and The Greyhound. I’d passed another lost pub on the way to the Black Lion, The Railway Tavern opposite Plaistow tube station. Tweedy talked about Plaistow resident Luke Howard who came up with the naming convention for clouds, although in the comments people are very keen to point out that Howard is claimed by Tottenham with a blue plaque to seal the association.

We then walked through Plaistow Park and discussed some of the history of Plaistow from Thomas Burke’s enthusiastic description of Plastovians in the 1920s to the grand houses that once marked this marshy lowland including homes of the Earl of Essex and the Duke of Cumberland. Our meander took us to the site of a former tramway garage just off Tunmarsh Lane. Then we parted company on Barking Road where I signed copies of my new publication The Black Path at Newham Bookshop.

John Rogers at Newham Bookshop
John Rogers Plaistow Park

From the bookshop I walked through the backstreets of Plaistow to West Ham Park where I delved into the history of this fantastic London park which is celebrating its 150 year anniversary this year. Once the home of Dr Fothergill at Ham House, it was bought by the Gurney family from Norwich in the 18th Century and then eventually purchased by the Corporation of London in 1874 to be preserved as a public park. The park keeper’s whistle ended my autumn stroll around Plaistow and West Ham Park and I made my way over the railway tracks and up Odessa Road for a pint in Leytonstone to round off a fantastic day.

Watch  @TweedyPubs video here

Final night of The George, Wanstead

Closing time for this popular local pub

Last night at midnight, Sunday 13th October, Time was called for the final time at The George, Wanstead, as a Wetherspoons pub. There was a sense of occasion from the time we arrived at 10pm. It was packed and stayed that way til midnight when drinks were no longer served. The George Orwell portrait went missing at some point. I wondered what would happen to the maps and paintings of Wanstead Park with the local history information. I ended many a Wanstead Park stroll in the George. And although the pub will re-open under new ownership it will be as part of a more upmarket chain which will price out many of the regulars who had a second home at The George, particularly the older people who could sit there for a few hours with unlimited tea refills for a pound, or enjoy a cheap meal. Wetherspoons get a lot of stick (mainly for their owner’s support for Brexit) but their pubs provide a valuable community resource which will be sorely missed in Wanstead. It felt like a true end of an era. And good luck getting a pint at midnight on a Sunday in Wanstead now.

The George Wanstead 13th October 2024
The George Wanstead 13th October 2024
The George Wanstead 13th October 2024
Site of the missing George Orwell portrait


Here’s some background on the pubs closure as a Spoons and it’s future as the George and Dragon

December 2024 Update Post with opening date

Pub Chat from the George, Wanstead

London Pub Chat – Old Traditions, Best Walks, Tube Problems etc.

Sunday chat over a pint in the historic George pub in Wanstead, East London. There’s been a pub on this site since at least 1716 (see the shot of a historic sign on the side of the pub) and it’s reported that Wetherspoons have put the lease up for sale. Read more here
While drinking a pint of Adnams Ghost Ship I answer some of your questions and generally chat about London. Some of the topics covered include:

  • Old London Traditions such as the Knollys Rose Ceremony
  • encounter with the magical walking elf
  • the proliferation of St Mary’s Churches along the Thames from Battersea to Rotherhithe
  • Soho in the 1950s and Iain Sinclair’s Pariah Genius
  • visits to North America and the Continent
  • Favourite tube stations
  • Problems on the Central Line
  • Hugenots in London
  • Roman London around Westminster
  • Best gig memory
  • What does it take to be a good Londoner