Living in Forest Gate: area guide to homes, schools and transport

Find community spirit, craft beer and art under the arches and period homes in this East End gem. 
Daniel Lynch
Anthea Masey8 August 2018
With an interesting if little-known conservation area near the station, the east London suburb of Forest Gate also has roads of Victorian houses next to the open spaces of Wanstead Flats, along with good state schools and an easy City commute.

New bars and restaurants are opening in the railway arches and there’s a strong sense of community, with a lovely little garden in Earlham Grove run by volunteers.

Add to this the arrival of Crossrail in December cutting the journey to Canary Wharf from 23 to 12 minutes and to Bond Street and the West End from 28 to 19 minutes and you have a neighbourhood waiting to be discovered.

The Woodgrange Estate conservation area is one of the most attractive enclaves of late-Victorian houses in the East End.

Built between 1887 and 1892 by the Corbett family, one of the most prolific London housebuilders of the era, it comprises Hampton Road, Osborne Road, Claremont Road and Windsor Road in a grid to the east of Woodgrange Road. There are semi-detached and double-fronted detached houses, some with glazed canopies giving the streets an almost-jaunty, seaside feel.

Bars and eateries are opening in railway arches along Winchelsea Road, including wine bar Burgess & Hall; bar and restaurant Arch Rivals and craft beer and arts venue The Wanstead Tap, while in the arches off Cranmer Road new arrival Tromsø, a Scandinavian café, joins yoga and Pilates venue The Space East and bar and restaurant Tracks.

Award-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor grew up in Forest Gate, while Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger once lived there and trained at a local gym.

The Upper Cut Club in Woodgrange Road was a premier music venue in the Sixties. The Wanstead Tap last year celebrated the 50th anniversary of the night when US record label Stax brought a host of its stars over to play the Upper Cut Club, including Otis Redding.

On other nights locals recall watching Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, The Who and Eric Clapton, while Jimi Hendrix is said to have written Purple Haze there in 1

Forest Gate is made up almost entirely of Victorian housing, mostly terraces
Daniel Lynch

Estate agent Richard Strong of Estates 7 says Forest Gate is now home to a growing number of young professionals and creatives, drawn by Victorian homes in easy reach of the City.

Forest Gate is seven miles north-east of central London with Wanstead to the north beyond Wanstead Flats; Manor Park and Ilford to the east; Upton Park and Plaistow to the south and Stratford to the west.

The property scene

Forest Gate is made up almost entirely of Victorian housing, mostly terraces, but in the Woodgrange Estate conservation area there are semi-detached and detached houses ranging from £800,000 to around £1.25 million, and this is just the place to look for a big “doer-upper”.

Terrace houses with three bedrooms in what is known as Forest Gate Village, the grid of streets running south from Capel Road and Wanstead Flats, range in price from £675,000 to £820,000.

What's new?

Developers Aitch Group and Mura Estates have planning permission for 78 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in three blocks of five and six storeys in Earlham Grove in the town centre. There are also plans to redevelop the Methodist church site in Woodgrange Road.

The nearest large development of new homes is Upton Gardens in Green Street in nearby Upton Park.

This is the redevelopment of the Boleyn Ground, West Ham United’s former home before the football team moved to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

Barratt Homes is building 842 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments, of which 211 will be affordable. Buyers in Phase One moved in last summer, with those in Phases Two and Three moving in last month.

The fourth phase will be ready in September, with the whole scheme completed by 2022. One-bedroom and three-bedroom flats are currently available, priced from £349,990 to £514,990. Call 0844 811 4334.

Wanstead Flats has acres of heathland and is part of Epping Forest
Daniel Lynch

Affordable homes

Help to Buy is available at Upton Gardens (as before), where Newham council operates NewShare, a shared-equity scheme. Call 020 8502 5758 for more.

Renting

There is a shortage of quality homes to rent in Forest Gate. Prices range from £1,000 to £1,150 a month for a one-bedroom flat to £2,250 for a four-bedroom house in Tylney Road close to Wanstead Flats.

Loft-style flats are frequently available in the Art Deco Bridgepoint Lofts in Shaftesbury Road, the former Trebor sweets factory, where two flats with two bedrooms are currently for rent at £1,375 and £1,447 a month.

Staying power

Estate agent Richard Strong from Estates 7 says the families who are moving into Forest Gate are keen to put down roots while their children are at school.

Postcode

E7 is the Forest Gate postcode and is more desirable than the E6 East Ham or E13 Plaistow postcodes to the south.

Best roads

Those on the Woodgrange Estate.

Up and coming

According to Richard Strong, house prices are cheaper as you move south of Romford Road into E6 and E13 but this is likely to change as buyers note the better value to be had there.

He also tips the area around Winchelsea Road, south-west of Wanstead Flats, which is benefiting from new bar and restaurant openings in the railway arches.

Travel

Trains from Forest Gate station to Liverpool Street take between 10 and 15 minutes and stop at Stratford, where there are connections to the London Underground network.

Manor Park and Maryland are on the same line and all three stations will be served by the Elizabeth line when it opens in December. Woodgrange Park and Wanstead Park stations are on the Overground Gospel Oak to Barking line. Upton Park is on the District and Hammersmith & City Tube lines.

Council

Newham council is Labour controlled but with an elected mayor. Band D council tax for 2018/2019 is £1,258.77.

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants

Woodgrange Market on the corner of Sebert Road and Woodgrange Road runs every Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Other local favourites are Forest Tavern in Forest Lane, one of the growing number of shabby-chic pubs run by Antic; almost next door, the coffee shop Familia; and Corner Kitchen in Woodgrange Road for pizza.

Tromsø Café is a new Scandi café in a railway arch off Cranmer Road, and in the Winchelsea Road arches there’s wine bar Burgess & Hall; bar and restaurant Arch Rivals and craft beer and arts venue Wanstead Tap.

Open space

Wanstead Flats has acres of heathland and is part of Epping Forest. It leads into Wanstead Park which estate agent Richard Strong describes as one of east London’s best-kept secrets.

In the town centre in Earlham Grove, Forest Gate Community Garden is a lovely little volunteer-run garden which holds events.

West Ham Park is a restored Victorian Park maintained by the City of London, while the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is not far away in Stratford.

Leisure and the arts

The Gate Community Neighbourhood Centre and Library in Woodgrange Road runs a range of events for all ages.

Atherton Leisure Centre in Romford Road is the local council-owned swimming pool. There are cinemas and a theatre in nearby Stratford.

Schools

Primary school

State schools predominate in Forest Gate. All the primary schools are rated “good” or better by the Government’s education watchdog Ofsted. Judged “outstanding” are the very popular Sandringham in Sandringham Road; Elmhurst in Upton Park Road; St Bonaventure’s RC in Boleyn Road and Shaftesbury in Shaftesbury Road.

Comprehensive

The local comprehensive Forest Gate (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Forest Lane gets the “outstanding” rating as does St Angela’s Ursuline RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in St George’s Road.

Nearby comprehensives which get the “outstanding” rating are: Plashet (girls, ages 11 to 16) in Plashet Grove in East Ham; School 21 (co-ed, ages four to 18) in Pitchford Street in Stratford and Little Ilford (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Rectory Road in Manor Park.

Higher education

The London Academy of Excellence (co-ed, ages 16 to 18) in Broadway House in Stratford is also “outstanding”.

Grammar

There are two grammar schools in neighbouring Redbridge: Ilford County (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Freemantle Road in Barkingside and Woodford County (girls, ages 11 to18) in High Road, Woodford Green.

Private

There is one private primary school: Grangewood (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Chester Road.

There are two private girls’ Islamic schools: Azhar Academy (ages three to 16) in Romford Road and Quwwat-ul-Islam (girls ages four to 16) in Chaucer Road.

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