Jazz Cafe East and the area's continuing cultural rise - what's next?
Plus: Tilbury Road's latest incomer, E10 gallery-cafe ArtWorks opens, Leyton Midland's new Indian streetfood cafe and The North Star's top chalkboard dish
Earlier this month I wrote an article for BBC Travel on the rise of ‘outer’ East London, the swathe loosely stretching from Stratford to Walthamstow. The hook was this year’s trio of big arts openings — Sadler’s Wells East, V&A East Storehouse, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow — as well as the current reinvention of Leyton’s Tilbury Road railway arches.
While it was aimed at international travellers and visitors, the piece seemed to strike a chord and has driven many hundreds of new subscribers to this Substack. So first up, I just wanted to say thanks — and welcome: I hope you enjoy the ride and find time to explore the dozens of food and drink stories published in over thirty issues since last September. There’s also my OG Leytonstoner website that dates right back to 2015 if you want to dive into less recent food and culture history.
As my BBC research far exceeded the article’s word count, over the next few weeks I plan to run the interviews I conducted with our local indie business owners in a little more detail, starting today with a chat with Natalie Stopford, the force behind Francis Road venues Marmelo and Loop.
ArtWorks East opens, with Jazz Cafe East on the horizon
It’s further proof of how fast-moving things are round these parts that, since that article was published two weeks ago, there have been two further significant cultural developments. The first is that Leyton’s new ArtWorks East launched a few days ago on Osier Way, a few minutes’ walk north of Coronation Gardens.
It’s a new venture from the founder of E11 co-working space Wanstead Works, but this time its focus is contemporary art gallery, artisan coffee shop and bar. Inaugural exhibition Ripple Effect runs for a couple more weeks, described by artist and gallery co-founder Leia Darla Davies as “a fusion of styles, voices, and ideas to spark conversations and connections.” From Monday (May 19th), the cafe, bar and gallery will be open to the public from 10am-4pm, with extended hours from June 7th, along with a new show called Pieces of Me. @art.works.east
Over in E15, another big new arrival has just been announced — Jazz Cafe East. Camden’s iconic music venue will spawn an East End counterpart in the former 1896-built Rex Theatre on Stratford High Street, pictured top, a site shut for over a decade that’s so forlorn it’s often stopped me in my tracks as I’ve walked past.
Located next to Ukrainian restaurant XIX (mentioned in Lucy Craig’s recent Ukrainian food special here), the takeover by Colombo Group, responsible for some of the capital’s best-known venues including Old Queen’s Head, is an inspired solution to a run-down corner of E15.
There’s no launch date yet for Jazz Cafe East, but I think we can safely say 2026 at the earliest.
And that’s not all. There’s a raft of new openings across E10 and E11 that you may have missed if you’ve just started subscribing. These include Leytonstone’s sizzling new sandwich joint Earl’s, Leyton’s smash hit bakery Win’s, E10’s tucked-away absinthe distillery, new cafes Tun and Farha this summer, Leytonstone’s latest craft beer taproom Calamity Tank and forthcoming new Gallic wine bar Le Regret.
Speaking of food, the new weekly KERB Saturday market will now kick off on Francis Road on Saturday June 7th, pushed back a couple of weeks since the original proposed date in May. There’s still no announcement of the vendors but expect confirmation any time soon.
And things are still happening apace locally. In this week’s issue I check out a fantastic new Leyton High Road Indian streetfood cafe — and get the lowdown from Lorenzo Ottaviani, owner of pizza truck 450 Degrees, on why he’s moving his set-up to Tilbury Road.
Welcome to issue #33. How are you? I’m up early, a little weary from watching a phenomenal two-hour set by singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf at Outernet last night. As an entirely reader-funded newsletter, for £5 a month (or £49 a year, just 94p a week) you can bask in local food and culture stories, frank restaurant reviews and the latest foodie gossip. The more people who pay to subscribe, the more in-depth stories I can publish.
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Behind this week’s paywall:
Leyton Midland’s stylish new Indian streetfood hotspot
North Star, Bushwood: the two essential dishes to order from the chalkboard
Marmelo and Loop founder Natalie Stopford on the changes she’s seen in the area over the last decade
A quick chat with 450 Degrees founder Lorenzo heading to Tilbury Road
Weekend inspo: a walk over the parks to Tasca at Cav
All this week’s food and drink news, hearsay and gossip
**To celebrate all the new subscribers, if you fancy upgrading, enjoy 10% off for 24 hours only**
At this point in the newsletter today the intention was to run my review of Leytonstone High Road newcomer Butt Karahi, housed in the former pub once known as the Cowley Arms, and most recently the short-lived Eastern Spoon. Specialising in Pakistani cuisine, it’s the latest of six branches, independently run as franchises, include Hounslow, Southall, Croydon and Tooting.
However, my first visit, during its first week, was admittedly not a total success, so I owe it to regular subscribers to allow teething issues to settle down before making a return trip and publishing a full review. If you have been, however, I’d love to hear any thoughts below.
Happily, the other day I stumbled across another new place a mile or so away. Near Leyton Midland, its incredible £6.99 lunch offer was too good to resist.