Re Wanstead’s forthcoming Queen’s British Steakhouse and Grill, Mark Bentley adds:

Spare a thought this weekend for Wanstead’s Gabrielle Collard (@dollycreative) who is about to embark on a Land’s End to John O’Groats cycle ride (yes, that’s right, uphill).  She is planning to complete the 860-mile ride in 17 days, all in the aid of the Depression Alliance and the Maria Falco Trust.  You can follow her progress on her site, or donate if you wish through her JustGiving page.

Queen’s British Steak House and Grill, the rather stylish-looking venture in the former British Queen pub on New Wanstead, will be opening on 18 September, Wansteadium can confirm.  It’s been reported that it’s the owners of the even-more stylish-looking Blue Boar in Abridge who are behind the plan; the website for the restaurant is not yet giving much away – and certainly not anything as detailed as menus and prices. More details to follow when available…

Bizarre, but this was the scene in St Mary’s Avenue on Saturday, as captured by Wansteadium reader (and urban morphologist) Reza Masoudi. More pictures on Reza’s photo blog here.

Volunteers to demystify things are welcome.

Public service announcement time: the rearranged rubbish and recycling collection dates after Bank Holiday Monday are as follows:

Official confirmation from Redbridge Council here: Holiday collection dates.

Ain’t it great when removed shop signs reveal layers of the past? (Click to enlarge.)

Windy Tuesday in Wanstead almost resulted in drama in the comically named Nutter Lane near the tennis club, when a falling tree landed on a white van, narrowly missing a Wansteadium reader walking by with her children.

@janeclapton reports: “The tree fell across the road on to the van, luckily falling on top of the roof and only slightly shattering the windscreen in the corner. The driver and another van man moved the tree to the side of the road.

“A tree surgeon was working in the lane at the time and after examination diagnosed ‘black spot disease’!”

She adds: “I could sensationalise further by commenting that my young children and I narrowly avoided potential tragedy by crossing over to the other side of the road only seconds earlier! Ha ha – technically true although ‘seconds’ a slight exaggeration!”

That’s the kind of understatement that does E11 proud.

It’s a bit of a comedown since the heady days of Horsfall and Wright, but estate agents Elizabeth Pryce is now comfortably settled in the shop next door to its former offices. As such it’s a bit of a zero sum gain for Wanstead High Street diversity, but on the plus side it does free up a very attractive corner office which should be tempting for all sorts of interesting shops (fingers crossed).

• The full list of artists participating in the Wanstead Art Trail – a fantastically enlightened bid to give Wanstead artistic buzz (rather like the regeneration-inducing Folkestone Triennial) – has been published by the Wanstead Society. It shows 63 venues in Wanstead which will be showing works by more than 130 artists, both professional and amateur. It will take place between 19 and 26 September and more details, including the full map, can be found at the Wanstead Society website.

• Rumours that the Metropolitan Police had started marking out the part of Wanstead Flats where they want to site their Olympic operational headquarters were scotched when it turned out the lines had been painted by the Showman’s Guild for the Wanstead Flats Fair. Opposition to the Met’s proposal is increasing in volume; the force is making its case online.

• Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, the decision will be made about the Arcelor Orbit sculpture, which, in June, Wansteadium revealed risks interfering with the Freeview TV signals of people living in Snaresbrook.Details here. It now appears that if there did turn out to be a significant effect, the Olympic Delivery Authority would be required to pay for corrective measures, though it’s not clear what this could be.

Four months after it shut its doors for good, and in doing so found a use for some of its range of padlocks, Andrews’ Builders Merchants, in Woodbine Place, has now been cleared out. It made for a pretty sorry sight. What the future holds for this unique building is not yet known.