The Time Out London blog team

Fancy getting your hands on a 200-year-old ballroom-turned-artillery-museum-turned-boxing-ring? Well, you’re in luck, because the Rotunda in Woolwich Common has been listed on Rightmove. No, we’re not joking, the Greenwich landmark, currently owned by the Ministry of Defence, is actually up for grabs.  The Grade II listed building was designed in 1814 by legendary British architect John Nash, who also designed Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch and Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. Ok, that’s one impressive CV.  The Rotunda was originally a temporary structure built in Westminster to celebrate Napoleon’s defeat. In 1819 it was moved to its current location on Woolwich Common for use as a museum by the Royal Artillery, which only closed in 1999 – a staggering 180 years later. Most recently, the bell-tent-shaped ballroom has held a boxing gym, but it’s been on Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ register since 2007, in dire need of some TLC.   Photograph: @rotundatrust.org.uk Greenwich Council undertook a series of repairs in 2023, intended to prevent the building’s collapse, but it’s been empty since then.  Now, the building could get a new life. In March, The Rotunda Trust was formed to oversee its conservation. The charity, which will hold a secure long-term interest in the building, is now looking for a commercial partner to operate it, protecting ‘the heritage asset in perpetuity while allowing a sustainable commercial use’, the trust has said. The trust wants the Rotunda...

If you tend not to venture west very often, your first thought when we say the words ‘Warwick Avenue’ might be Duffy’s 2008 break-up banger. God, what a throwback.  If your postcode starts with W, however, you’ll likely be familiar with, well, the actual road, and its tube station. Located between Maida Vale and Paddington, Warwick Avenue acts as the gateway to Little Venice. And it’s about to get a glow up, thanks to plans from Westminster City Council. A scheme to revamp the area surrounding the station, called the Warwick Avenue public realm project, was first proposed four years ago. It was publicly announced in February 2024 and now the plans have been approved by the council. So what can we expect from the new scheme? Well, its whole purpose is to make the area around Warwick Avenue station safer and more welcoming. To do that, it will create cleaner and safer pedestrian and cycle routes at Warwick Avenue and Warrington Crescent and add additional greenery to the neighbourhood, while still ‘preserving the existing character of the street’, the council said.  The project will also upgrade recycling facilities at the station and provide direct access to the Underground and facing St Saviour’s Church. Photograph: William Barton / Shutterstock.com The plan’s hefty price tag has ruffled some feathers with local councillors. It was originally supposed to cost just £1 million, but that has since been bumped up significantly. Plus, in a meeting on Monday (April 20),...

There’s a surprising amount of wildlife living in London. Beyond pigeons, bright green parakeets, red foxes, there are aesculapian snakes living in the trees along Regent’s Canal and 50 pairs of peregrine falcons nesting across the city’s rooftops (as revealed in David Attenborough’s recent documentary). That’s not to mention all the other creatures and critters roaming our streets, parks and skies. But there’s room (and a need) for more.  Last month, the Mayor of London laid out a local nature recovery strategy, which identified green corridors and pollinator support as key priorities for boosting biodiversity in the capital. Now, there’s a project underway to restore ecosystems and bring wildlife to some of London’s most nature-deprived communities. A 14-mile ‘nature corridor’ will run from from Lee Valley Regional Park south towards the Thames through the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Haringey and Newham. The project is being led by conservation charity Wild Cities in collaboration with local authorities, landowners, delivery organisations and civil society partners. The corridor will link community gardens, rooftops, canals, parks, football grounds and neighbourhood streets, turning them into one connected system rather than isolated pockets and making it easier for wildlife and pollinators to move freely through the capital.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Wild Cities (@wildcities_)   The charity hopes that...