Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of Waltham Forest on Monday to cheer on the most famous faces in the cycling world as they whizz through the borough.

This year the Tour de France route will bring cyclists in from Epping via the Waterworks roundabout onto Woodford New Road, down Lea Bridge Road, through Leyton and on to the Olympic Park.

Ahead of the event, businesses in the borough are expecting to see a lively and profitable day, despite the bikes passing for just a few minutes at 2.30pm.

Pubs, shops and cafe owners are preparing to make the most of the historic occasion.

Art has been a major theme in the week heading up to the event with business owners transforming their shops to mark the event.

Rita Acharya landlady of the Hare and Hounds pub in Leyton is having a yellow strip painted around her pub with murals of bike wheels on the side.

For more on this story see this week's Waltham Forest Guardian and Chingford Guardian - out tomorrow.