I see that the hoardings in front of Wilkinson's wonderful new shop in the High Street have come down. They are not far off from opening by the looks of things - there was a cherry-picker in use yesterday afternoon by a couple of workmen giving the frontage a final spray paint, while through the still shuttered windows, the shelving systems can be seen in a fairly advanced stage of construction. It will be a great boost when the hole left by Woolworths is finally filled, though I suspect that some of the pound shops in Walthamstow will now find they will have to work harder for a sale than they did when sleepy old Woolies was their most obvious competition.

The sight of a new neighbour to bring footfall seems to have cheered up some of the other businesses - Style Overdose, directly opposite was having its own signage washed and polished yesterday as well. Style Overdose, by the way is a shop I once royally slated for stocking gangster clothes, but I do notice that they have weathered the recession. They seem to have done this by having a much more thoughtful, fashionable and also softer edge to their offerings. These have been very carefully and as a result attractively displayed.