A - Z Challenge 2024 - E is for Events & Entertainment

This year I'm blogging about my local area.  

My area?  Highams Park which is in the borough of Waltham Forest in North East London, (UK) a little known place that nestles between Chingford and Woodford that most people only come to if they have a specific reason to - if not we usually get bypassed.  Suits us.

Having lived in Forest Gate in East London for 36 years (and for my husband 65 years!) moving was a big deal for us.  But we've been in Highams Park since September 2020 so I feel I know enough about it now to fill out 26 posts! 

We've only moved just over 5 miles but we didn't know this area at all before moving here.  Although of course we did have a good look around when looking for a house and there were a number of things we wanted on our check list.

We wanted somewhere that had a community feel to it and with things going on.  One of the nice things about Highams Park is that people do seem to care about the area.  The Highams Park Planning Group are very active in keeping the community up to date with what's going on and although a lot of that is about the events, workshops, exhibitions etc that are taking place, they are also very proactive when it comes to planning applications for the area.  They have a very informative website here.

The HPPG organise several large events each year, e.g a Spring Festival, Picnic in the Park, Christmas Markets.  Waltham Forest, our borough, has a music society so there are often musical events taking place locally and many of the local schools have active PTAs holding quiz nights and other fundraising events.

One thing we are lacking is a cinema.

Well sort of.

This is what the cinema looks like at present:

But plans have been approved for the building to be restored and developed.  The main facade will be kept but there will be 2 cinema screens and residential flats built on the site.  This is an image produced by the developers of how it will look.

Yes it looks great but I'm not holding my breath about it ever happening.  Since we moved here in 2020 the site has changed hands and new plans were submitted to the council for approval.  An amended proposal is currently being considered.  The closing date for anyone to object to the proposals was 25th March so hopefully it won't be too long before the council make a decision on final plans.

Even if the plans are approved I'm sure there will still be many obstacles to overcome and only time will tell if we will ever be able to go to the cinema.  It would be lovely as it's only a 10-15 minute walk from our house. 

I guess I'm sceptical because with films being released so quickly to TV these days I'm not sure there is the same demand for cinemas.  But perhaps I'm just being a bit old fashioned?