And South Woodford was reportedly hit by looters last night, with a jewellers, and the Nationwide Building Society being hit (photos here and here). There was also reportedly a fire in a carpet shop on High Road, Woodford Green.
At 11.30 a tweet claimed a brick had hit a Central Line train at Leytonstone
Wanstead however seemed to escape any activity. Throughout Monday there were lots of jokes on Twitter and Facebook about what rioters and looters would do if they came to Wanstead (e.g. “They’ll be OK if they want olive oil/haircuts/secondhand books/etc” or “Nothing going on in Wanstead – no one knows where it is”), but there were signs of real nerves that trouble would spread, certainly after reports of Tesco in Leytonstone being targeted earlier in the day.
According to reports on Twitter, the Co-op pulled its shutters down early, the George Inn was not serving large groups, and both the George and the Cuckfield stopped serving about 9.30pm.
UPDATE – Tuesday, 1230BST
• One Twitter user who apparently bragged about taking part in looting in South Woodford has now removed his page, this tweet reports.
• Tension seems to have eased now; jokes happily reappearing
• Redbridge Council issues statement
All Party Statement following civil disorder in Redbridge
Redbridge Council completely supports the quick and decisive action of the Police following isolated pockets of disorder in Ilford on Monday. Despite effective crowd control a number of shop fronts were damaged and shops broken into by small groups of young men.
Councillor Keith Prince, Leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Bond, Deputy Leader of the Council, and Councillor Balvinder Saund, Deputy Leader of the Opposition said, “We are disgusted by the actions of these individuals and our community will simply not tolerate anyone who seeks to cause unrest with lawlessness and senseless vandalism.
“These are the actions of a small minority of criminals, and the Council will do all it can to help the Police bring them to justice. The Council are working with the Local Community ands Businesses to offer support and advice to keep our shopping centres open for business as usual.”
Plans are in place to tackle any further disorder should it occur and policing will continue in the Borough to keep the community safe.
You can contact the Police anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or through the new non-emergency 101 number. You should always call 999 in an emergency.
UPDATE: 16:30BST
UPDATE 17:00 BST
Wansteadium reader Jane reports being turned away from the Co-op as it is closing “by order of head office”. Blush Temples florist boarding up windows, she says.
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The Red Lion in Leytonstone closed early – on police advice I think.
Just heard an ice-cream van doing its rounds in Wanstead!