Living in Leyton: area guide to homes, schools and transport
The exact location of Leyton town centre is hard to pin down. The north-east London district is strung along Leyton High Road, stretching from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the south to Hoe Street, Walthamstow, in the north.
These days, the heart could be around Francis Road. This “new” Leyton is all about Hackney overflow. Young families and creatives moving to Leyton for homes they can afford to buy have encouraged independent shops, restaurants and cafés to open.
There’s a great community feel here, and part of the road is pedestrianised, with wider pavements and new trees and planting.
Others might say the centre is around Leyton Technical — a pub in the old town hall; pretty Coronation Gardens, Leyton Mills Retail Park, the Tube station, Leyton Orient FC, and the shop fronts that were spruced up ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
Or could Leyton’s centre be the Bakers Arms area on the Walthamstow boundary, named after a pub that’s now a betting shop? The pub got its name from the Bakers’ Almshouses, the mid-19th century Italianate landmark building in Lea Bridge Road.
Leyton has large established communities of African, Caribbean and Pakistani origin and, more recently, families from Eastern Europe.
They’re being joined now by those Hackney incomers seeking homes within their budget, along with families similarly priced out of Stoke Newington and Walthamstow.
Meanwhile, the council’s Lea Valley Eastside initiative envisages 4,500 new homes in the next 10 years. First will be Coronation Square in Oliver Road, where Waltham Forest and developer Taylor Wimpey plan 700 homes, half of them affordable.
Redevelopment of Leyton Mills Retail Park and a new station in Ruckholt Road are possibilities, while the listed pavilion at Leyton Cricket Ground, a “village green” in the city, is set for a Heritage Lottery-funded makeover, with plans to create a Borough Market-style food hub, an event space and training kitchen.
The council and the England and Wales Cricket Board are also working to create a world-class cricket facility, with the sports hall and changing rooms refurbished for this summer’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
The Bakers Arms area of Leyton is eight miles north-east of central London.
The property scene
There are plenty of Victorian and Edwardian mainly bow-fronted terrace houses with three to five bedrooms in Leyton, where it is still possible to find a doer-upper.
A three-bedroom Edwardian house in Nottingham Road on the Barclay Estate between Hainault Road and Whipps Cross University Hospital, owned by the same family for many years and in need of work, is for sale priced £585,000.
Purpose-built Victorian flats are a feature of the area, with one flat on the ground floor, one on the first floor, both with their own front door and section of garden.
Those around Francis Road built by JG Abraham are particularly sought after. Two-bedroom Abraham flats currently for sale range in price from £370,000 for a home in need of work, to £475,000.
Late-19th century landowner and builder Thomas Warner is best known for the houses and flats around Lloyd Park in Walthamstow but there are also Warner flats in Leyton, on the Clementina estate south of Lea Bridge Road, with two-bedroom homes from £350,000 to £400,000.
Leyton also has period conversion flats, plus flats from the Sixties onwards and “right-to-buy” flats in estates of social housing.
New-build homes
A joint venture between developer Hill and housing association Peabody, Motion offers 300 studios and flats in Lea Bridge Road near Lea Bridge station.
Across six buildings including three towers of up to 18 storeys are 128 homes for private sale and 172 affordable. July will see the first residents move in and the scheme will finish by next March. One-bedroom flats start at £295,000; two-bedroom flats at £330,000 and three-bedroom flats at £425,000. Call 020 3906 1955.
NEST is a scheme of 61 flats in Dunedin Road, with 12 for private sale and the rest shared ownership, from housing association Newlon Living.
One-bedroom flats start at £395,000; two-bedroom flats from £485,000 and three-bedroom flats from £585,000. Call 0800 058 2544.Church Road, on the corner of Church Road and Tallack Road, by Galliard Homes, has 38 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats and two three-bedroom townhouses.
Ready to move into early next year, one-bedroom flats start at £300,000, with two-bedroom flats at £400,000 and the townhouses at £750,000. Call 020 7620 1500.
Ashby House in Leyton High Road and Skeltons Lane offers 15 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats and three two-bedroom houses near Leyton Midland Overground.
The nine flats in phase one in Leyton High Road will be move-in ready next month, with one-bedroom flats from £360,000, two-bedroom flats at £475,000 and three-bedroom flats at £525,000. The remaining flats and the houses will be ready in summer next year. Call Samson Estates on 020 8221 9222.
Liberty Court in Leyton High Road will be ready next month, with one-bedroom flats from £385,000; two-bedroom flats at £460,000 and three-bedroom flats at £515,000. Call Saffron Property on 020 7424 9500.
Elizabeth Mews in Coopers Lane, with six homes, will be move-in ready next month. A three-bedroom house is £675,000 and four-bedroom houses start at £715,000.
First-time buyer homes
Help to Buy is available at Motion, Church Road, Ashby House and Liberty Court (as before).
At NEST, Newlon Living is selling 49 shared-ownership flats, starting at £82,500 for 25 per cent of a one-bedroom flat; £116,250 for 25 per cent of a two-bedroom flat and £141,225 for 25 per cent of a three-bedroom flat.
Renting
Families and sharers go for Leyton’s Victorian and Edwardian houses, and anywhere near a station is popular.
Since Lea Bridge station reopened, investors have been buying homes nearby and Warner flats on the Clementina estate have also been popular with investors.
Staying power
Estate agent Charles Newman of Estates E10, based in Francis Road, says Leyton used to be a staging post, with people often making a final move out to the Essex suburbs, but now families who first buy a flat are moving on to buy a house in the area.
Postcode
E10 is the Leyton postcode. To the east it strays into the E11 Leytonstone postcode and to the north into the E17 Walthamstow postcode.
Best roads
In Richmond Road and Twickenham Road, both close to Francis Road, Victorian terrace houses sell for £700,000 to £750,000. They are also close to the popular Newport School, a primary with an “outstanding” Ofsted rating.
Up and coming
Charles Newman’s suggestion is the area around Capworth Street and Vicarage Road, south of Leyton Cricket Ground and west of Leyton High Road, where a “rat run” traffic problem has been overcome.
Transport
Leyton Underground station is on the Central line with direct trains into the City and central London. The station is one stop from Stratford where there are Docklands Light Railway services to Canary Wharf.
Leyton Midland Road is on the Gospel Oak to Barking Overground line. Lea Bridge station, which reopened three years ago, has trains to Stratford taking five minutes connecting with the DLR, trains to Liverpool Street, the Central and Jubilee Tube lines and the Overground to Highbury & Islington.
All stations are in Zone 3 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,648.
Council
Waltham Forest council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2019/2020 is £1,693.95.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Starting at the northern end of Leyton at Bakers Arms, straying in to Hoe Street there is a long-standing community café, the Hornbeam, and Gnarly Vines, a wine bar and off-licence with a real passion for unusual wines.
Venturing south down Leyton High Road there are pubs the William the Fourth and Peppers Ghost and some seriously impressive Indian cake and sweets shops.
Close to Leyton Midland Road station, Perky Blenders is an independent coffee roaster and café. Next door is Host, an event space which at the weekends opens as “a design and lifestyle residency”.
Taking a detour down Francis Road, now dubbed by some “Leyton Village” there is a concentration of independent shops, restaurants and cafés in this now mostly pedestrianised street. Neighbourhood restaurant Marmelo Kitchen serves brunch and lunch; Yardarm is an off-licence, wine bar and deli and next door is baker Henrietta Inman at Yardarm, open for breakfast, lunch and tea.
Phlox Books, according to its window, combines Books, Booze and Coffee; and Venner describes itself as “a shop and gallery space celebrating independent artists, designers and makers”.
Back on Leyton High Road, the Curved Brick Co is a café and coffee roaster based in a small Victorian clapboard shack; Sahara Grill is a shiny halal restaurant on the ground floor of a new development; there are two branches of Deeney’s café which has a Scottish vibe and serves its famous haggis toastie.
Then there is the Coach & Horses pub; Five Lads for peri-peri chicken; Leyton Technical, a pub in the magnificent setting of the former town hall; and finally the popular Leyton Star pub.
Leyton Mills Retail Park has branches of Asda, B&Q, Currys/PC World, TK Maxx and Next, and Westfield at Stratford is one Tube stop away.
Two local craft brewers have taprooms: Neckstamper Brewing on the Cromwell Industrial Estate in Staffa Road, and Magic Spells in Rigg Approach.
Open space
Leyton has lots of small parks and there is a footbridge over the railway to Hackney Marshes and the River Lea. Leyton Jubilee Park in Orient Way, the largest park, has a children’s playground with a pirate ship; outdoor gym; football pitches, the Leyton Beach volleyball pitch; wildlife area, café and community garden. Coronation Gardens in Leyton High Road was named in honour of Edward VII’s coronation.
It has a fountain, a maze, a bandstand and an ornamental garden. Abbotts Park in Abbotts Park Road has children’s playgrounds, tennis courts and table tennis.
Leisure and the arts
There are cinemas in Walthamstow and in Stratford. The nearest theatre is Stratford East. The council-owned swimming pool is at Leyton Leisure Centre in Leyton High Road.
This year, Waltham Forest is London borough of culture. Atomic 50, a recent art installation at Leyton Sports Ground, combined theatrical performance and an interactive tin-making workshop, transforming a disused site at the back of the cricket ground into a “ghost factory”.
Schools
Primary school
Leyton’s primary schools are all judged to be “good” or better by the Government’s education watchdog Ofsted.
Those that get the “outstanding” rating are: Newport in Newport Road; Davies Lane in Davies Lane; Riverley in Park Road; Willow Brook in Church Road and Barclay in Canterbury Road.
Comprehensive
The local state comprehensive schools are all judged to be “good”. They are: Norlington (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Norlington Road; Connaught (girls, ages 11 to 16) in Connaught Road and Lammas (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Seymour Road.
There are also two all-through state schools, both rated “good”: George Mitchell (co-ed, ages three to 16) in Farmer Road and Buxton (co-ed, three to 16) in Cann Hall Road in Leytonstone.
Higher education
Leyton Sixth Form in Essex Road is also judged to be “good”. Chobham Academy (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Cheering Lane in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is judged to be “outstanding”.
Planned schools
Two new schools are planned for a former Thames Water depot in Lea Bridge Road: an Athena primary school and a comprehensive Barclay Secondary Free School.