The Sunday Times has yet again said E17 is one of the most vaunted postcodes in the capital, reports Marco Marcelline

Walthamstow has been named one of the best places to live in London by The Sunday Times.
In their annual Best Places to Live List, the newspaper paid tribute to Walthamstow’s rich cultural offer including the Trades Hall and Soho Theatre in Hoe Street.
The Times said: “E17 offers as much fun per square foot as anywhere in the capital.
“Soho Theatre Walthamstow has been bringing West End-worthy theatre, comedy and music out east since it opened last May, while Trades Hall caters for all tastes: its programme spans tea dances, cabaret, poetry nights and hardcore punk gigs.
“Music in the Village is a series of concerts at St Michael and All Angels from April to October. You may see swifts, kingfishers or even a peregrine falcon in the tranquil Walthamstow Wetlands, while the much-loved Lloyd Park is perfect for a leisurely stroll around a moated island, fuelled by pulled pork tacos or a mushroom croissant from the Saturday farmers’ market.”
A whole host of food and drink venues were also name-dropped in the piece, such as “convivial” wine bar Hometipple, pubs The Nag’s Head and Queen’s Arms and the St James Street Mexican joint Comalera.
It’s far from the first time a Waltham Forest neighbourhood has made this list – in 2024, Highams Park was praised as a “lively, leafy neighbourhood on the Weaver Line that boasts a reassuringly metropolitan E4 postcode, yet lies a Swarovski crystal’s throw from Essex”.
Speaking to the Echo at the time, judge Tim Palmer said Highams Park was picked because it jumped out as a place people were “proud” and “happy to live in” with “good quality schools”.
Its proximity to the ancient woodland in Epping Forest made it especially desirable, meaning that dog owners had ample opportunity to walk their dogs.
Tim said judges had opted for Highams Park over Walthamstow because house prices in the latter had inflated “too much” plus “everyone knows about Walthamstow already”. Leytonstone was considered for the shortlist, Tim said, but it was not as “established” as other areas, “yet”.
According to the property seller Rightmove, the majority of properties sold in Walthamstow during the last year were terraced properties, selling for an average price of £716,000. Flats sold for an average of £432,741, with semi-detached properties fetching £793,967.
House prices in Walthamstow in 2025 were 6% up on the previous year and 9% up from 2023.
You can read the Best Places to Live List here
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