Anna Mahtani

Dreams of a fully walkable Oxford Street are officially set to become a reality. No more being shoved off the pavement for near-misses with blaring pedicabs and lumbering double-deckers. Soon you’ll be able to saunter down the famous shopping street all the way from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been working towards a car-free Oxford Street since 2017. Sir Sadiq officially unveiled plans for pedestrianisation in 2024 and last September the shopping district went totally car-free for a day, with street food stalls and live music to boot.   Following two rounds of consultation, Khan gave pedestrianisation plans final approval yesterday (February 26). The plan will turn much of the iconic road into a walkable street, with vehicles banned and buses diverted. Additional cycle routes will be constructed around the shopping district.  The mayor said: ‘I am delighted to be moving forward with my bold vision to transform Oxford Street into a world-leading urban space for shopping, leisure and outdoor events.’ When will Oxford Street go car-free? Works will begin in the coming months and continue until late 2027. The BBC reports that vehicles could be banned from the street by September 2026.  What are Londoners reactions ? Around 2,700 people responded to TfL’s traffic diversion consultation, with City Hall saying that a majority agreed to the plans. An initial consultation last summer showed that 63 percent of Londoners supported Oxford Street’s pe

Miserable news, Piccadilly line users: TfL has announced that the rollout of the navy blue line’s brand-new trains has been delayed again.  The new vehicles, which have been tested in Austria and constructed in Yorkshire, will be walk-through and air-conditioned – but now they might not arrive until next summer.  When will the new Piccadilly trains start running? Commuters will have to wait until December 2026 to June 2027 to marvel at the Picc’s sleek air-conned carriages. Overall, the upgrade will have been delayed by nearly two years.  And the new trains aren’t just late: their cost has ballooned by an extra £409million, bringing the refurbishment’s total cost to £3.4 billion.  Stuart Harvey TfL’s chief capital officer explained the organisation needed to be ‘confident that these trains are ready to operate safely’. TfL said the delays were due to ‘the complexity of introducing entirely new trains onto ageing infrastructure’. Some sections of the line date all the way back to 1906. Photograph: TfL Aglaja Schneider, joint-CEO of Siemens Mobility (which is building the trains), said: ‘As a Londoner, I know how excited everyone is about the new trains coming into service and, whilst there will be a delay, it won’t be long before these trains transform travel for millions of people.’ The long-awaited update will bring in 97 new trains to the navy blue tube line, increasing the service from 24 to 27 trains per hour (and eventually be boosted to 36). The new vehicles will ha

Wrexham has been on quite the roll in recent years. Since officially becoming a city in 2022, the place has seen tourist numbers soar, thanks in part to the growing popularity of tourist sites like the UNESCO-protected Pontcysyllte aqueduct and canal, and thanks, of course, to the rise of its Hollywood-owned football club. Thinking of planning a trip to Wrexham? Soon it might be easier than ever – the city could be getting a direct train link with London.  Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR) has submitted a proposal to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to build a direct rail service between London and the Welsh city. The train would connect Wrexham to Euston four times a day, stopping by Milton Keynes, Shrewsbury, Telford, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Nuneaton, Coleshill, Gobowen and Wellington, Shropshire. If approved, the operator hopes to start services in December 2026. In July 2025, the ORR rejected WSMR’s previous application due to rail capacity concerns and foot crossing safety. This new submission took into account those concerns, along with stakeholder and MP feedback to suggest a path which repurposes tracks until recently used by Avanti West Coast.  A spokesperson for WSMR said: ‘By making better use of available capacity – including paths that have been released and remain unused – we aim to strengthen regional links and support economic growth.’ Wrexham County Borough Council has welcomed the plan, with deputy leader of the council and lead member for str

Sure, London might not be perfect – see: the most expensive public transport in the world, astronomic rents and house prices – but boy, do we have a tip-top roster of brilliant museums. And it’s not just us here at Time Out that think so: one of the capital’s museums has just been crowned the best in all of Europe.  As part of the European Museum of the Year Award, the 2026 Council of Europe Museum Prize is dished out to celebrate museums that centre democracy, cross-border dialogue and human rights. London’s Young V&A, a free museum for kids in Bethnal Green, won this particular award. Young V&A was celebrated for ‘connect[ing] design and play with real-world themes such as sustainability, belonging and empathy’ as well as actively including disabled children and those with special educational needs. Luz Martinez Seijo, a committee representative for the prize, said the V&A’s children-oriented sibling was outstanding thanks to its ‘mission to engage visitors with the themes of human rights, equality, participation and cultural democracy.’  Photograph: Jess Hand for Time OutYoung V&A The European Museum of the Year Award isn’t the only place gushing about the Young V&A. In 2024 the institution was named Art Fund Museum of the Year, and Young V&A features in Time Out’s definitive ranking of the finest museums in London.  An offshoot of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Young V&A is a free museum for children. With plenty of hands-on activities, installations and historic artef

Sad news, south Londoners: Lambeth Country Show won’t be taking place in 2026.  For those not in the know, Lambeth Country Show is a fair that the local council has been running since 1974 in Brockwell Park. The much loved south London show is, according to its website, one of the biggest free family festivals in the UK, with highlights including petting zoos, flower competitions, live music and jousting. On Friday (December 5), Lambeth Council released a statement explaining that it will be reducing event days in Brockwell and that all future festivals will have full planning permission. The council needs to save a further £84 million over the next four years, and so can no longer justify subsidising the country show.  Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth Council Cabinet Minister for Stronger Communities, said that the council would need to spend £1 million to run the two-day event. He also noted the need to reduce the impact of events on locals. Anyanwu said: ‘The proposals for next year balances the desire to hold these important events which bring joy to hundreds of thousands of people and celebrates our borough’s diverse culture, with reducing the total number of event days to lessen the impact on local people.’ The council will also not be contesting Brockwell Park legal challenges ‘to avoid unnecessary costs to the taxpayer’. Earlier this year, campaign group Protect Brockwell Park, backed by Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance, took the council to court over events in Brockwell