A market street that runs almost the length of the High Street backs onto a grid of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, with timber framed buildings around the old village church.
What Walthamstow looks like
runs along almost the whole of the High Street, close to five hundred stalls under a run of awnings and canvas covers. Shopfronts stay open behind the stalls, so the pavement and the shop windows are both in view at once.
Away from the market, side streets run off in a tight grid of two storey terraces. Most are yellow brick with red brick dressings around the windows and doors and bay windows to the front. The roofs are slate, and most terraces went up between the 1870s and the 1900s. Some rows switch to a bolder red brick, with gabled fronts and recessed porches under tiled roofs instead of slate.
The grid gives way to Walthamstow Village around Church End. stands behind old almshouses on Church Hill, part of the building dating to the 12th or 13th century. Orford Road runs past the , a jettied timber frame hall with black beams over white infill panels, stone flagstones underfoot and low black bollards along the kerb.
, a former workhouse behind a walled front garden, sits on Vestry Road close to the church. , a Georgian house behind iron railings in Lloyd Park, stands further north on Forest Road.
Hoe Street runs south from the market toward the , a white rendered 1930s cinema front with arched windows and a domed parapet over the canopy. Boarded corner pubs and terraced shopfronts continue along the surrounding side streets, some with the upper floors still in the original yellow brick.
Shot in Walthamstow
I Hate Suzie filmed on Orford Road in Walthamstow Village in late 2019. Slow Horses used Walthamstow Trades Hall on Tower Hamlets Road for the scene where armed men seize Ahmed outside a comedy club, a few streets north of the village.
I Hate Suzie, 2020
Orford Road
I Hate Suzie filmed on Orford Road in Walthamstow Village in late 2019. The lane is stone flagged underfoot. The Ancient House's black timber frame and white infill sit on the corner, and weatherboarded cottages continue past it.
What Walthamstow can double for
Dalston in Hackney, England
Ridley Road runs a similar market street, awnings and stalls tight along a narrow road with Victorian terraces rising directly behind them. The houses there are the same scale and period as Walthamstow's own side streets. Ridley Road's stalls sell more fresh produce than Walthamstow's clothing and homeware mix, so dress the goods to match. Keep wide shots below roofline to avoid newer infill blocks at the market's western end. Try searching market stalls Victorian terraces now.
East Ham in Newham, England
Green Street runs the same long straight line of market stalls and dense signage in front of two and three storey shopfronts. The terraces behind it are a similar Edwardian scale to Walthamstow's own. Green Street's shopfronts lean more toward gold and marble South Asian retail fronts than Walthamstow's, so choose stalls carefully in frame. The street is narrower, so a wide shot needs a longer lens to compress the crowd. Try searching long market street stalls now.
Lavenham's timber framed houses carry the same black beam over white infill pattern as the Ancient House, without a market street around them. The scale is a single village street rather than Walthamstow's busy grid, so it suits a quieter period scene. Lavenham has no through traffic or modern shopfronts in view, so a wide shot holds the period cleanly, unlike Orford Road's parked cars and street signage. Close framing on the timber alone works either way. Try searching timber framed black beam houses now.
