The ‘half and half’ balance means those born and bred in the area can enjoy the new wave of creative businesses, but some still miss the ‘old’ Walthamstow
08:04, 04 May 2026Updated 08:11, 04 May 2026
Brenda Griffiths, 73, and her partner Steve Windsor, 68, enjoy a ‘cockney elevenses’ at Barney’s pie and mash shop(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
“It’s his birthday today, I said I’d take him for an Italian and listed all these different restaurants but he said ‘no, I wanna go Barney’s’.” Brenda Griffiths, 73 and her partner Steve Windsor, 68, are enjoying their “cockney elevenses” in Walthamstow’s last remaining pie and mash shop.
The bright sunlight illuminates its blue and white tiles as the quiet scrapes from cutlery are heard over the hum of the dishwasher. Owner Tommy Barnard raises his arm to shield the sun. “I’ll put that birthday cake on for him now, Brenda,” he says. “It should be ready when you’re finished.”
Visitors walking into Barney’s in Garnett Way for the first time might be surprised to find out it only opened in 2018 when Tommy, who worked as a plumber, took the plunge to fulfil his dream of running a pie and mash shop. Manze’s in Deptford and F.Cooke in Harold Hill are among several forced to shut in recent years due to rent increases and the decline of East London’s working-class identity.
Tommy believes pie and mash shops, once a local staple, will only be able to survive if they leave high streets and market areas and move into neighbourhood parades. “Who goes to markets now?” he tells MyLondon.
Steve Windsor travelled back to his native East London from Southend to celebrate his 68th birthday(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
“When I was little I used to go down to Walthamstow Market with my mum for shopping. We’d then pop into Woolworths and afterwards get pie and mash. Nowadays you have big places like Westfield for shopping or people order online. That tradition is gone.
“All the high street shops are suffering, not just pie and mash, so you have to adapt to the changes. The future of it is in residential places like this.”
The ‘death of the high street’ is not the only contributor to the near-eradication of pie and mash shops in Walthamstow. A wave of gentrification propelled by the 2012 London Olympics saw house prices double in Waltham Forest between 2013 and 2023, only increasing since.
This new middle class crowd is far removed from old ‘cockney’ Walthamstow, opting to set up and spend money in businesses that have come to represent the area’s new upmarket identity. But rather than being disheartened, Tommy sees it as an opportunity to introduce the delicacy to a new demographic.
“It’s become very trendy to live in Walthamstow,” he says. “You can see the massive amount of money coming into the bottom of St James Street and Copper Mill Lane.
“Now people come here off the back of seeing online reviews. It feels crazy that I’ve given a load of people their first pie and mash, and these aren’t 16-year-olds, they’re between 25 and 35 who’ve never had it because they weren’t brought up on it.
“That’s been a really positive thing. It’s also become quite a trendy thing to have and tell your mates about.”
Barney’s is the last remaining pie and mash shop in Walthamstow(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
Brenda, who has also lived in Walthamstow for her entire life, interjects slightly off topic. “The new crowd has opened too many coffee shops, but it’s still a great community here,” she said. “We all mix in together, if you’ve got good neighbours then you’ve got good neighbours.”
Walthamstow’s transition from a working-class hub into a hotspot for upwardly mobile professionals is no better characterised than ‘The Village’ which has become one of the most sought-after places to live in East London. Terraced homes along its Victorian and Edwardian streets often fetch more than £1million due to their quiet location just a 10-minute walk from the Victoria line.
During this transition Orford Road has become home to a collection of trendy businesses including Eat17, The W Store and Petals in Bloom. Although traders are aware the influx of better-off residents has been a factor in their success, many have become wary the continued process of gentrification will see wealthy chains moving in, thus disrupting the road’s indie feel that made its reputation to begin with.
In 2024 a ‘middle class class war’ broke out when bakery giant Gail’s announced it would be opening a site near the top of Orford Road. Some 1,800 residents signed a petition against it, claiming Gail’s would “threaten the existence of independent shops” and “dismantle” the area’s charm.
David Ryner, 77, owner of Here on Earth in Orford Road(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
David Ryner, who opened the art shop Here on Earth with his late wife in 2015, is one of the many traders concerned it has detracted from the Village’s charm. “We don’t want this to end up like any other upmarket high street,” he tells MyLondon, while gazing out at passers-by on Orford Road.
“I used to go to Spitalfields Market to see my friend who owned a shop. It was a great market, seeped in culture which lots of artistic people loved. Now it’s a corporate offer of what a market is, so it loses that authenticity and ultimately makes it like anywhere else.”
The 77-year-old says the same rent increases and corporatisation fuelled his decision to move from Camden 11 years ago. David admits there is some prestige in being “ahead of the curve” and seeing an area improve, but feels Waltham Forest Council needs to step in to stop too many chains replacing independents.
Walthamstow Village has always been among the most affluent parts of the borough, so can’t be seen to emulate the textbook gentrification cases of Spitalfields and Broadway Market, but there is unease among artistic shops who feel under threat from private capital.
Walthamstow Village has been transformed into a hub of upmarket shops and restaurants, but many traders are concerned about the arrival of chains such as Gail’s(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
“The new Soho Theatre is a great example of how we can be upmarket and still be a unique location,” David continues. “Now the council needs to make the Village a wider offer and also make tourists want to come for the day, as that would really help the local economy.
“Overall, it’s about creating a balance to make it work for local people and visitors alike. My partner started with a firm idea that we’ll never charge more than £1 for a postcard and always have some cheap things on sale, even if we look like an expensive shop on the surface.”
Walthamstow’s changed middle-class identity is not only represented by surging house prices and artsy independents. Over the past decade it’s become London’s craft beer capital with industrial sites along Blackhorse Road and in the Ravenswood Estate being transformed into a vibrant community of independent breweries.
Signature Brew on the ‘Blackhorse Beer Mile’ has become London’s largest independent brewery since it moved from Leyton to Walthamstow in 2019. Disaster struck just five months after opening when a series of Covid lockdowns forced the business to shut, but co-founder Tom Bott believes the Mile was well poised to benefit from the post-pandemic shift towards experience-based drinking.
Tom Bott, co-founder of Signature Brew, has been at the forefront of Walthamstow’s craft beer revolution(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
“Over the last few years our average audience has trended towards being younger, and that’s something we’re trying to harness because we don’t think there are many breweries out there who are really serving that young audience well and speaking to them in a way they can connect with,” Tom, 37, tells MyLondon.
“Young drinkers still want to go out, and it’s an absolute myth that young people don’t drink, but they want to do so on their terms and in a way that’s meaningful to them. People who are in their mid to late 20s and have lived through Covid have learnt the hard way the benefit of going out and seeing people.
“They live their lives entirely digitally, in a way that I didn’t when I was younger, so that moment to go out and connect with people is really important and we think we’re playing a critical part in that.”
Post-industrial areas or underused warehouses have been slated for demolition by developers across London in recent years as councils look to catch up on housebuilding targets, but similar to the sentiments shared by independent traders in Walthamstow Village, Tom believes the Blackhorse Road area’s newfound appeal should be protected as much as possible.
Signature Brew has become London’s largest independent brewery(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
“There’s a real cluster of makers and creatives stretching from here to Tottenham Hale,” he continues. “It’s nice to see how they bridge that industrial world to the connection with the consumer by opening their doors and welcoming them in.
“I hope this is appreciated by the council and protected. It’s conceivable that this area becomes an ocean of flats, because we are only five minutes from the Victoria line, but I believe the area would lose something quite significant if this happened.
“Here you’ve got a really nice collection of different breweries. We’re proud to be London’s biggest independent brewery, but there are also some uber cool craft breweries, traditional breweries and great late night spots.”
There are varied opinions about gentrification in Walthamstow, but its location in outer London and ample green spaces; all while still enjoying excellent transport links, means it has always been a sought after place to live for young families. One resident on social media site Reddit said the ‘half and half’ balance means those born and bred in the area can enjoy the new businesses springing up while much of the ‘old Walthamstow’ is alive and kicking.
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