The London Overground railway line forms an unofficial boundary between Leytonstone town centre with the southern part of Leytonstone running down through Harrow Green and the Cathall and Cann Hall Estates to the Thatched House junction, which forms the border of Leytonstone and the London Borough of Waltham Forest with Stratford in the London Borough of Newham.
Cathall
The Cathall Estate is to the west of the High Road. There is a physical boundary with Leyton to the west of Leytonstone, formed by the M11 link road and the Central line which runs above ground at this point, the only road crossing is Cathall Road which connects the High Road at Harrow Green with Grove Green Road, running past Cathall Leisure Centre.
This part of Leytonstone has seen a lot of regeneration over the last 10 or more years with new housing on Cathall Road (above) and the creation of Langthorne Park in an old hospital ground and the High Road was improved (2011-12) in the run up to the Olympics, see New Look Leytonstone.
Cathall also includes Waltham Forest Construction Training Centre, St Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery, the Langthorne Health Centre, CLaSS Community Learning Centre and the Birkbeck Tavern.
Cann Hall
Cann Hall hit the national headlines in May 2012 when the Fred Wigg Tower was named as a potential site for surface to air missiles to defend the Olympic games in the event of an attack.
Bordering on the wide expanse of Wanstead Flats, part of Epping Forest, Cann Hall forms the border with the London Borough of Newham — with Stratford to its south and Forest Gate to its east.
Cann Hall is a mainly residential area, with a mixture of Victorian terraces and 1960s and later flats and houses. It has two pubs, the Woodhouse Tavern and Lord Rookwood.
Harrow Green
Harrow Green straddles Cathall and Cann Hall at the junction of Cathall Road and the High Road. The war memorial is at the centre of Harrow Green, with two pubs, The Plough and Harrow and The Shepherd’s Inn, a traditional East End eel and pie shop and the former library which closed in 2012 providing the focal point. Further up towards the town centre is The Bell pub (not to be confused with The Bell pub in Walthamstow which gives its name to the junction near Waltham Forest Town Hall).