Stories of the week

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Story one

A businessman who has converted a former bank into a restaurant has been granted a premises licence to sell alcohol and remain open past midnight at weekends.

Former banker and owner Mark Foster, 40, of The Manor House in High Street, Wanstead, spent five hours finding out the conditions of his licence at a licensing sub-committee meeting at Redbridge Town Hall today.

After hours of consultation and deliberation, Mr Foster said it was a "measured result".
Mr Foster has been granted permission to sell alcohol and play music until 11:30pm during weekdays and 12:30am on Friday and Saturdays.

Story two

Pupils have intervened in an attempt to stop parents putting children’s lives at risk by parking dangerously outside a school.

Due to a lack of spaces around Aldersbrook School in Harpenden Road, Wanstead, parents on the school run have been spotted stopping in the middle of the road and dropping their children off.

Now members of the school council, aged between five and 11, have started a campaign to raise awareness of the problem.

Story three

There is hope a derelict grade II-listed pub at the heart of a long-running legal dispute between its owner and tenant could be saved by the community.

A group of campaigning squatters moved into the abandoned Doctor Johnson Pub, in Longwood Gardens in Barkingside, in May in an attempt to bring it back into use.

But a week later they voluntarily left after security employed by the pub's owners, Cloverton Properties turned up at the pub.

Story four

A decision to close a maternity ward which had reached capacity is normal practice and does not justify the re-opening of a unit at a nearby hospital which closed last year, according to a director of midwifery.

It was revealed at a board meeting of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust (BHRUT) on Wednesday that the ward at Queen's Hospital in Romford was closed to new admissions on April 29 for four hours.

It has since emerged that the ward was closed in similar circumstances on two other occasion in the last 12 months.

Story five

The Mayor of London has agreed to offer Redbridge residents the same discount as host boroughs for using facilities at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Residents living within the six host boroughs and eligible for a concessionary discount at venues inside the Olympic Park can purchase an annual Pay and Play card for £10 as opposed to £25 for people outside of these boroughs.

Despite the London Borough of Redbridge not being listed as a host borough, Boris Johnson has agreed to other the concessionary rate after Conservative councillor Keith Prince wrote to the London Mayor in May.