Stephen Emms

2 weeks ago | leytonstoner.substack.com | Stephen Emms

How often do you contemplate South Leytonstone? Unless you live in the immediate vicinity, maybe not so much. And if you’re less familiar with E11, probably not at all. For the uninitiated, this mile-long thoroughfare north of Maryland station begins at the junction of Borthwick and Leytonstone Road — the Welcome to Waltham Forest signage is unmissable — and stretches all the way up to Leytonstone High Road Overground. You can walk it in 20 minutes, or less.

2 weeks ago | kentishtowner.co.uk | Stephen Emms

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals.

2 weeks ago | leytonstoner.london | Stephen Emms

You wouldn’t necessarily expect the chef at a petite new cafe in Leytonstone to have such a history. But Daddie – yes, it’s just the one name (“like a papa,” he explained) – spent 18 years heading up the kitchen at the renowned Luc’s Brasserie in Leadenhall Market. Such are the surprises of our ever evolving food and drink scene. No.23 is the kind of tucked-away spot that, if discovered on holiday, you’d return to each morning.

3 weeks ago | leytonstoner.substack.com | Stephen Emms

Step inside Leyton Midland’s newest arch on any given Friday afternoon and the boys - Jack and James, pictured above - will be very busy indeed. Under its curved aluminium ceiling, dozens of uncooked pasties lie on wooden benches in neat rows, while moveable metal shelves of both cooked and uncooked pies await their fate. The former will end up out west at Queen’s Park Farmers’ Market, while the latter are sold straight from the oven right here in Leyton, when the bakery opens weekly on Saturdays.

3 weeks ago | kentishtowner.co.uk | Stephen Emms

First thoughts? It’s so like the Highgate Road original that it’s almost discombobulating. With its dark mahogany panelled walls, green lacquered ceiling, battered counter and dark wooden boards, this place could have been here for years. And yet it only opened the other day. It has, of course, enjoyed various incarnations over the years (you might remember it as Four Sisters or 25 Canonbury Lane).