Living in Walthamstow, a groovy if gritty place to call home

Recently named by spareroom.co.uk as London’s best place to rent, ‘the Stow’ is no longer an inferior pocket of the capital. Increasingly within the sights of househunters who are reclaiming the east, it has emerged as a groovy, if gritty, place to call home.

Why Walthamstow?

It’s cheap, with the Global Financial Crisis to thank for its immunity from the gentrification juggernaut gripping north and east London, leaving renters to benefit from a ripple effect from the Stratford regeneration. Spareroom.co.uk was especially impressed with Walthamstow’s proximity to the City as it nominated it the area in London for value and convenience. It is also one of those rare urban corners framed by some serious countryside – Walthamstow Marshes, Lee Valley and Epping Forest, a hidden gem.

The people

Mike Buniak, from Bairstow Eves in Hoe Street, explains Walthamstow is attracting young professionals priced out of the increasingly expensive property market. “People are migrating here from comparatively expensive markets in north London and Hackney, where prices are prohibitively expensive,” he says. “It’s got a balanced, ethnic community and is a reasonably pleasant area to live.”

The connections

Walthamstow is in Zone 3, served by the Victoria line at Blackhorse Road and Walthamstow Central, which takes 22 minutes to get to Oxford Street. National Rail from Walthamstow Central and St James Street gets you to Liverpool Street in a reasonable 20 minutes. Sean Hewitt, from Spencer’s Property in Hoe Street, says: “There so much in the way of night buses, which means young City professionals can stay out after work for a meal or enjoy a few drinks, knowing it’ll be easy to get home.”