India Lawrence

‘This rat just hurled out of the bin bag and jumped really high,’ says Oliver from the Rats out of SE5 Instagram account. ‘It looked massive, so at first I was like, “Oh my God has someone thrown a kitten in a bag?” But then I realised it was a rat. I was disgusted.’ Oliver, who preferred to remain anonymous because of his job, has lived next to Camberwell Green for the past three years. Over the summer, he noticed an insurgence of vermin running riot in the area. ‘It's suddenly got crazy,’ he says. ‘I’ll walk across the green and notice about 16 rats. People aren’t hanging out there much anymore. It feels like it’s been surrendered to the rats.’ Oliver can hear the emboldened pests from his flat at night, as if taunting him away from restful sleep. On top of giant flying ones, he’s also seen ‘20 rats all on top of each other eating a piece of mouldy bread’. Some locals have incredibly even taken to feeding them. ‘There is a lot more litter and I feel like it’s had a ripple effect,’ he says. The rats seem to be down to one problem: overflowing piles of garbage. A rising tide of rubbish It’s a London rite of passage to go through bin-related trauma. Whether it's being loudly woken in the mornings by banging refuse collections, having foxes tear apart your bags leaving festering trash outside your window for days on end, or fly-tipping the decrepit IKEA furniture your landlord just won’t get rid of, no one is spared from the Kafkaesque nightmare that is trying to figure out whe

Feeling brave? It’s almost Halloween, so grab your ghost detector and gear up for these genuinely terrifying ghost tours in London. Whether you're up for lurking in an eerie theatre or creeping around the most haunted places in London, we're here to hold your hand. Check out our list below of the scariest ghost tours in London this Halloween (Monday October 31 2012).  RECOMMENDED: Fancy a spooky pint? These are the most haunted pubs in London.  The best cemeteries in London.

‘As a Londoner, I felt an urge to visit Buckingham Palace on the evening of the Queen’s death,’ says London photographer Orlando Gili. ‘The atmosphere was one of uncertainty and excitement. Lots of people had brought flowers, pressing them into the palace gates. It’s something I’d never seen before. ‘In the following seven days, I returned with my camera to photograph the constant stream of people who felt compelled to leave flowers for the Queen. It wasn’t just Londoners who wanted to pay their respect to the Queen. ‘There was a broad sweep of people, young and old. I met eightysomething lifelong friends in cardigans, teenagers in uniform straight from school, workmen who had spent years tending to the gardens next to Buckingham Palace, couples and families, a retired pilot from the United States, and two friends who felt compelled to steal two single flowers from outside Nando’s. ‘For a great deal of people in Britain and beyond, the Queen was special. She represented a reassuring constant in increasingly turbulent times.’  Photograph: Orlando Gili Photograph: Orlando Gili   Photograph: Orlando Gilli       Photograph: Orlando Gili   Photograph: Orlando Gili   Photograph: Orlando Gili   Photograph: Orlando Gili   Photograph: Orlando Gili Orlando Gili is a photographer based in London. What Elizabeth II’s death means to London. In pictures: Coronations of British kings and queens through the years.

Autumn isn't just about pumpkin-spiced lattes and crisp orange leaves, it's also the time when brits collectively gather to celebrate the time that guy tried to blow up Parliament. A much loved, albeit weird when you really think about it, celebration, this is everything you need to know as we gear up to watch Catherine Wheels whizz and sparklers crackle.  When is Bonfire Night in London? As the adage goes: remember, remember the fifth of November. Bonfire Night is officially on November 5 every year, and luckily that falls on a Saturday in 2022. A lot of the displays are happening over the weekend of November 4-6 this year, so pay attention! As has become the norm, lots of displays get going in the afternoon, with funfairs, food stalls and more, making it a proper fun family day out. NOTE we’re keeping this page as up-to-date as possible as more details of displays are released but for God’s sake try and book asap, and double-check with the local organisers before you traipse along to your local recreation ground with kids/mates/dates in the freezing November twilight.  RECOMMENDED: The best things do in London this November.

Whether you’re prepping for Halloween, New Year, your mate’s ABBA-themed birthday or just another night out at one of London’s many clubs, donning fancy dress makes everything more fun. Sure, you could paint the town red in those battered old New Balances or classic jeans and a nice top, but surely things would be heaps better if you were gussied up in Elizabethan garb or flaunting a fabulous flapper dress. From Jedi weddings to Jane Austen conventions, whatever the reason for finding that perfect costume, we’ve put together a list of the top-notch fancy dress shops in London for all your needs. Choosing your ideal alter-ego will be the only dilemma...

London is an objectively scary place. It’s often dark. We don’t make much eye contact with each other. Pints now cost more than six pounds. What’s even scarier is that there are plenty of buildings and places in the city totally crawling with history, gruesome stories and alleged ghost sightings: Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London are among the most well-known, but there are tons more. Prepare thyself for our definitive list of spooky spots in the capital, from haunted inns and pubs to weird stretches of woodland, crumbling cemetery catacombs and London’s exceptionally creepy museums.  RECOMMENDED: Our guide to Halloween in London. Eight haunted pubs in London. Spooky things to do in London.

Fast fashion is out and secondhand fashion is in. Even ‘Love Island’ has caught on, so if you don’t know about London’s excellent array of charity shops, now’s your chance. These aren’t just musty stores full of the garms of the dead. Charity shops are exciting bazaars where you can find pre-loved things to wear, stuff to read or listen to and bizarre objects to adorn your dwelling with. Flex your sustainability chops at a knock-down price.  Even the rich and famous are donating their cast-offs to charity shops, so if you choose the right location – Primrose Hill or Chelsea, say – you might pick up some exclusive designer garb. As we all become more conscious of the ethical impact of our wardrobes, there’s never been a better time to have a rummage and bag a secondhand bargain.  From charity ‘boutiques’ with more cashmere than your average yacht club to old-fashioned junk shops you can lose an afternoon in, here are London’s best charity shops. Just don’t go telling everyone.   RECOMMENDED: London’s best flea markets.

As dazzling as London can be in the summer, there’s really only one place that everyone wants to be at the height of summer: the beach. And if the British seaside is calling to you, siren-like right now, you’ll be pleased to know that London is actually within easy reach of plenty of gorgeous seaside towns and scenic coastal walks – not to mention some of the best beaches in the UK.  From the vast unbroken expanse of Camber Sands to the eerie other-worldly beauty of Dungeness, we’ve rounded up the 15 best beaches within two hours of the capital. Whether you’re after secluded spots or bustling resort towns, we’ve got you covered.  So pack your swimming cozzie, grab your bucket and spade, and head to one of these gorgeous beaches near London. Just don’t forget the factor-50. It might be England, but it can still get scorching out there. RECOMMENDED The best day trips from London.

‘Burrata is not a product that is suitable for travelling,’ declares Simona di Vietri, founder of La Latteria, a burrata-maker in west London. ‘Would you ship bread made in France to Australia?’  Simona is referring to the thousands of burratas that are packed into vans every day and shipped from cheesemaking factories in Italy to locations all over the world, many of which are wolfed down by us Brits: in 2020 approximately 164,200 tonnes of cheese were imported from Italy to the UK. We’re mad for the stuff. The ostensibly bland-looking blob of white cheese has been having a main-character moment over the past couple of years. Initially hailed by foodies as a passing fad, burrata is now so ubiquitous on London menus (and the internet) that it’s difficult to avoid big balls of the cream-filled formaggio. Cut it open and its centre, filled with stracciatella (cream-soaked mozzarella bits), bursts out like pus from a giant pimple. A gushing globule of milky cheese doesn’t sound like the world’s most appetising dish, but to the thousands of Londoners that consume burrata every day, and the 500 million people who’ve watched #burrata on TikTok, it absolutely is.  Created in Puglia in the south of Italy more than 100 years ago, the on-trend cheese has humble origins. It was born as a way to use up leftover cream and mozzarella scraps (ritagli): #sustainable. Burrata has now joined the ranks of ’nduja, truffle and harissa as somewhat niche ingredients that have been adopted as recurr

When Mangal 2 opened 30 years ago, it was one of the first ocakbasi restaurants in London. Now with a cult following, Sertaç and Ferhat Dirik are still finding ways to surprise. Their cull yaw kofte (meat from older ewes) pays homage to their Turkish heritage, but with a twist. They use ‘retired’ sheep instead of lambs, giving a unique flavour. ‘Things that are considered waste are opportunities to create something that might not be on other menus,’ says Sertaç. They tell us how it’s made. The supplier ‘We get our cull yaw from Matt Chatfield. He has all these wild ideas about silvopasture and bringing life and certain species back into otherwise dead soil.’ The meat ‘Using an animal that has lived for eight years rather than eight months makes a massive difference. It’s almost like a prime steak: it’s so nutty and clean.’ The kofte ‘We break the rump down, grind it and spice it with sweet Aleppo pepper, cumin, oregano and salt. It rests for 12 hours before it’s shaped on to skewers for grilling.’ The schmaltz ‘We render our fat from chicken wings in the oven so it caramelises. That goes in a mixture to make a basic schmaltz, which we emulisfy with egg yolk and some salt.’ The aroma ‘The street is filled with a smoky grill smell, it makes your mouth water immediately. The underlying tone of Mangal 2 is that smoky nuttiness and our connection to Turkey.’ 4 Stoke Newington Rd. £5. More from our Hype Dish series: Roti King’s buttery, flaky and fragrant roti canai. Café Cecilia’s

Decent chips and gravy are something you can rarely get in London. Northerners who’ve migrated south often bemoan the capital’s serious lack of the good sauce to slather on your spuds, which is typically confined to northern chippies or KFC. Although chips and gravy aren’t the main item on the menu at Rotorious, it's certainly worth going there to scoff them. Heading up Rotorious, the new audaciously named rotisserie chicken joint at Market Stalls in Peckham, are brothers Adam and Sam Reid, neither of whom come from a foodie background. If you peer behind the bar, you can see the poultry slowly spinning as it sizzles under the heat. They’ve ditched the traditional lemony, herby seasoning à la française, instead smearing the chicken with their signature Caribbean-inspired rub that they developed in their back garden, and are now bringing to the south London masses. The setting is nice enough, if a little sterile. Rotorious is part of a new food complex (shared with Forza Wine and Mambow) which has a vintage clothing store downstairs, and a co-working space and gym upstairs, which explains the pseudo WeWork vibe. So far as food markets go, it’s pretty small, but there’s also a Peckham-y courtyard out the back that shares its graffitied walls with the beloved Bussey Building smoking area. Having accidentally over-ordered chicken portions in the past, I grabbed the quarter rotisserie chicken, which wasn’t quite enough. The chicken was simple but seriously delicious. The impeccabl

Caia is a tale of two venues. The upstairs room of this new Notting Hill restaurant and wine bar gives off an air of sophistication, with chic bar stools to perch on and floor-to-ceiling bottles. But there’s a clear vibe shift when you walk downstairs to the basement. Suddenly you’re at a ’70s house party, with kitschy-cool velvet seating, chandeliers and even a disco ball. And here’s the kicker: on the far wall is a massive vintage record stand, bedecked with retro vinyl and three turntables. The swish speakers pump out funk, disco and jazz, all curated by Noreen McShane of Stranger Than Paradise Records. Conceptually, Caia joins the rising London trend of cool music-first joints that also offer banging grub and cocktails. But can this new venture from Rishabh Vir (The Fat Duck, Kiln) and Tim Lang (Streetfeast, Dinerama) compete with the likes of Spiritland and Brilliant Corners? Only time will tell. To kick off, we grabbed the signature cocktail, the MiTo, which was tasty but not much different from your straight-up Negroni. Then after tasting one of the natural wines (from Broc Cellars), which was a little too funky for my liking, we settled instead for a trusty glass of Mary Taylor X Jean-Marc Barthez Bordeaux, which inevitably slipped down easily. As for the food, first came the crispy chicken skin, an adorable amuse bouche that I would have liked more of. The wafer-thin, nutty skin was a vessel for a little dollop of preserved lemon and nori emulsion, which was a mini-e

Much-loved south London pub the Prince of Peckham is celebrating it’s fifth birthday with an epic week of fun ranging from a Big Fat Queer Quiz hosted by voguing legend Jay Jay Revlon, to a massive chicken wing giveaway brough to you by the White Men Can’t Jerk. Expect events across the spectrum, including spoken word night Moetry on Tuesday, and a comedy takeover by Dane Batiste on Thursday, with the likes of Capital XTRA’s Teeshow and Yinka Bokinni, and Radio 1 Xtra’s Manny Norte spinning afrobeats, dancehall ampiano and more at the venue throughout the week. The birthday week will be rounded off with a night of karaoke and a family rave and bingo session hosted by baby-friendly drag troupe Clip Theatre. Yes you read that correctly. There really is something for everyone.

Last week, Pink Floyd teased fans with a social media post showing a picture of Battersea Power Station. This sparked rumours that Algie the Pig, from the original 1977 ‘Animals’ album artwork, could be making his grand aerial return. We now know that sadly Algie won’t be making an appearance, but the band will light up the power station with an epic projection tonight (Thursday September 29), from 8pm to 11pm. Promoting the release of their new album ‘Animals (2018 remix)’, the renovated building was lit up with an epic light show last night. And if you missed it, it will happen again this evening.  https://t.co/nJY97DqdQI pic.twitter.com/i3E2puGwNL — Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) September 29, 2022 The record dropped yesterday and includes remixes of ‘Pigs on the Wing 1’ and ‘Dogs’.  On the original album cover there’s a picture of the giant inflatable porker flying over the station, which famously broke free during the shoot. The remix album artwork features an updated image of the iconic Art Deco building.  And if you can’t get enough of the grand old station, the spanking renovated building will finally open to the public on October 14. Battersea Power Station’s booze and ice-rink licence has been approved. Need a laugh? Get your mitts on a copy of our hilarious ‘Word on the Street’ book.

Regular folk rarely get the chance to get up close and personal with the way the royals live. But that could slowly start to change, as there’s a campaign to turn a strip of the lawn at Buckingham Palace into a public garden.  The proposal was first made in 2015 to mark the Queen’s ninetieth birthday, but is now being suggested again as a memorial garden for Her Maj. The plans would involve knocking an arch through the palace wall at Grosvenor Place and building a new wall around the rest of the gardens.  The campaign is being led by the Buckingham Palace Park Project, which is independent of the royal family. Campaigner Stefan Simanowitz said: ‘We had hoped this part of the palace gardens would be bequeathed to the nation by the Queen herself, but now – to mark her passing – the proposal is to create a new Royal Park as a living legacy to our longest-serving Monarch. ‘As this period of official national mourning comes to an end, our thoughts turn to how we will mark Her Majesty’s memory, we are hopeful that this project might act as both a fitting tribute to the Queen as well as a welcome new green space in a congested corner of London.’ Antonia Pisano, the architect designing the walled garden, said by creating a new public green space in this ‘sliver of the 42-acre Buckingham Palace Gardens’ would ‘reflect Her Majesty’s love of nature’.  Pisano added: ‘It will be an act of care towards London and its unique, fragile yet resilient ecosystem.’ We can’t promise there will be

ボーイ・ジョージの頭の中をのぞくと、きっときっとそこはキラキラしたもの、スーパーモデル、凝った帽子で一杯だろうと思っていたが、彼の家がそれに近いものだった。 「カーマは気まぐれ」で知られるジョージは、ロンドン北部のハムステッドにある豪邸を1,700万ポンド（約25億8,000万）で売りに出しているのだが、その装飾が彼同様とてもユニークなのだ。 ジョージは、ハムステッド・ヒース公園を見下ろす豪華なビクトリア朝時代の邸宅に40年以上住んできた。その中でここ数年、彼はこの巨大な住居を修復するための許可を得るために、地元当局と争ってきたそうだ。物件情報を掲載したウェブページには、最終的には3年かけて「苦心の」改装が施されたとある。 同ページでは、この家を「ゴシック様式とイタリア風建築を組み合わせた風変わりな建築で有名な独特の邸宅は、元々は 『The Logs』 と呼ばれ、1868年に建てられました。敷地は、4分の1エーカー（約1010メートル）あります」と説明している。  内部は想像の通り、奇抜で風変わりなディテールに満ちていて、黒いトイレ、モデルのエイプリル・アシュレーの巨大な写真、裸の男性の胴体をモチーフにした銀の彫刻などが並ぶ。部屋は6つのベッドルームのほか、映画館や瞑想（めいそう）室もある。3層吹き抜けのエントランスホールの上を彩るステンドグラスも特徴的だ。また、庭園からの眺めも抜群だという。 ハムステッド・ヒース公園周辺は、金持ちや有名人が住むことで知られている。物件情報によると、ジョージが売り出している家は、以前はコメディアンのマーティ・フェルドマンが所有していたとのこと。 1,700万ポンド「さえ」あえば、あなたもセレブになったような気分になれる。気になる人は、ジョージにオファーをしてみるといいだろう。 関連記事 『Boy George's mansion is on sale for £17 million（原文）』 『切手やパスポート、ケチャップまで？ エリザベス2世の死去で変わるもの』 『エリザベス2世の時代、ロンドンはどう変わったのか？』 『約40年間停止していたロンドンの発電所、総合商業施設として再生』 『「ストレンジャー・シングス」シーズン4の「あの家」は実在した』 『東京、レトロ建築のミュージアム10選』 東京の最新情報をタイムアウト東京のメールマガジンでチェックしよう。登録はこちら  

London’s Museum of Homelessness, which aims to fight stigma and spread awareness of the challenges faced by homeless people, is getting a permanent location in Finsbury Park. Ironically, the museum has struggled to find a permanent home in the seven years it’s been running, but now it’s going to be settled at Manor House Lodge in Finsbury Park. The museum is run by married couple Jess and Matt Turtle. It’s the world’s only museum about homelessness, and everyone who works at the museum has some experience of rough sleeping, or is homeless themselves.  ‘Our aim is to tackle the stigma and biases around homelessness,’ said Matt. ‘You can only really do that if you are educating on it through the museum but also trying to tackle the things that are happening at the same time. We are involved with a lot of campaigning work as well. ‘We don’t aim to eliminate all homelessness, that’s a huge project, but we want to provide input and help where we can.’ The new museum will open in the spring of 2023. It will primarily be used as a space for workshops, talks and performances about homelessness, as well as storing archive items.  Matt Turtle explained that Finsbury Park could be an area where there is a lot of hidden homelessness, meaning that the issue doesn’t just include people who sleep rough on the street, but also those who live in emergency accommodation. The museum will provide 250 support sessions for people without permanent homes in the area every year. Find more info on th

Since the Elizabeth Line opened in May, it has been missing one vital central London station. The entrance at Bond Street had to be delayed for a few months due to setbacks in construction, but its opening date has finally been revealed. Hooray! Bond Street Elizabeth line station will open on Monday October 24. Entrances at Hanover Square and Davies Street will provide a new link to the West End, while step-free access at Oxford Circus station will make the area more accessible and improve passenger congestion.  There will be two brand new ticket halls, steeped in natural light, and the station expects to see 140,000 passengers every day. At first, trains will run every five minutes. There won’t be a service on Sunday October 30, but after that trains will run every three to four minutes, seven days a week.  Opening at the same time is the Medici Courtyard beside the station’s Hanover Square entrance – the first new public space to open in Mayfair for more than a century. In more news, from Sunday November 6 the currently separate sections of the Elizabeth line will be joined up, meaning commuters will no longer have to change trains at Paddington or Liverpool Street. Trains from Shenfield will no longer terminate at Liverpool Street, instead running straight through to Paddington, and the south-eastern line from Abbey Wood will go directly to Heathrow or Reading.  Andy Byford, London’s transport commissioner, called the new station ‘the jewel in the crown of the West End’s t

Do you have a penchant for penitentiaries? Or at least for the theatrical? If you fancy, er, getting banged up in jail for fun, Alcotraz, London’s prison-themed cocktail bar inspired by the infamous San Francisco prison island, is opening a massive new venue in east London.  The original bar was the first of its kind – a dramatic immersive experience where guests play a role in the plotline, with cocktails included. After the success of the first Alcotraz on Brick Lane, which has been open for five years, the bar will open its flagship venue in Hackney in November 2022. The all-new chokey is three times the size of the original bar, spanning 5,000 sq ft and housing up to 180 inmates across three cellblocks.  Alcotraz’s flagship promises to deliver new storylines for inmates – after smuggling in your own bootlegged booze you’ll be taken on an adventure, potentially coming face to face with the curmudgeonly prison warden, helping the infamous inmate Cassidy with their schemes, or in the middle of an interrogation. Badly behaved prisoners might even get banged up in solitary confinement, so beware.  The venue will also be working with a UK-based criminal justice charity, which they will announce closer to the time.  Sam Shearman, founder of Alcotraz said: ‘This will be our biggest project yet and offers scope to expand our storylines and offer an ever-increasing unique experience to guests. We are also truly excited about the charity partnerships that we have on the horizon whic

In 1977, Pink Floyd created the iconic album artwork for ‘Animals’, by flying a massive inflatable pig over Battersea Power Station. The original photo took three days to get. During the 1976 photoshoot, the unruly pig, who went by the name Algie, broke free from his moorings above Battersea Power Station and soared all the way to a farm in Kent, becoming something of a legend.  But is Algie set to make a grand return? On Friday September 23 Pink Floyd teased fans with a cryptic message on their social media accounts. The band posted a picture of Battersea Power Station on Twitter and Facebook with the message: ‘To mark the release of Pink Floyd’s “Animals (2018 Remix)”, London’s Battersea Power Station will be an eminently suitable canvas next Wednesday and Thursday, between 8.30pm - 11pm, with a sneak preview on Tuesday night at the same time, as a test run…’ To mark the release of Pink Floyd's Animals 2018 Remix, London's Battersea Power Station will be an eminently suitable canvas next Wednesday and Thursday, between 8:30pm - 11pm, with a sneak preview on Tuesday night at the same time, as a test run... pic.twitter.com/omyKhGO0Xc — Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) September 23, 2022 While we’re not sure what exactly this means, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for giant flying pigs on Wednesday and Thursday evenings (September 28 and 29).  The 40ft porker last flew in 2016, when they launched Algie above the V&A to promote the Pink Floyd exhibition at the museum.  Ba

So, the bus strikes are off now? Londoners bus users can breathe a collective sigh of relief, because a huge strike affecting more than 40 bus routes in London has been cancelled. Around 2,000 bus workers were supposed to walk out indefinitely next Tuesday (October 4), but thanks to a new pay offer the industrial action won’t go ahead.  Members of Unite union, working for Arriva, were going to strike at eight bus depots in north and east London, disrupting routes across Camden, Hackney, Haringey, Enfield, Waltham Forest and Barnet.  The union members originally said that they would strike indefinitely unless they were offered a pay rise of 12.3 percent, which is in line with current inflation.  Which routes were affected? The disrupted bus routes were:  19, 29, 34, 38, 41, 73, 78, 102, 121, 123, 141, 144, 149, 150, 158, 175, 191, 192, 221, 242, 243, 253, 254, 259, 279, 313, 318, 325, 329, 340, 341, 349, 368, 377, 675, N19, N29, N38, N41, N73, N242, N253, N279, W3, W4, W6. Unite union regional officer Steve Stockwell said: ‘Following intensive negotiations a new offer has been tabled and as an act of goodwill the planned strike action has been suspended.’ The strike would have caused huge disruption across London's travel network, coinciding with rail strikes that will affect London Overground and Network Rail.  Where to watch the London Marathon 2022. The Bakerloo line might be extended all the way to Kent. Need a laugh? Get your mitts on a copy of our hilarious ‘Word on the

The beloved venue Printworks will live to fight another day, as plans to shut down the south London nightlife institution for good might be shelved due to a massive public backlash. It was first announced that Printworks would be closing to be developed into offices in July this year. The huge industrial venue is in the middle of British Land’s redevelopment of Canada Water, and plans were approved to transform the 490,000 sq ft building into offices, co-working areas and retail spaces in the summer.  Since then, there has been an outpouring of support for the venue from dedicated electronic music heads and partygoers, including a petition signed by more than 11,000 people and almost 700 council objections. Thanks to this, Southwark Council has rethought its plans, and British Land has said that it is working with Broadwick Live, the company that runs Printworks, to keep the venue operating as a club in the new building. While the majority of the structure will still be redeveloped, British Land said it was going ‘to explore retaining a cultural venue’ permanently.  The Surrey Quays venue opened in 2017 and can host up to 6,000 clubbers. It’s been renowned for its stellar electronic music programming and banging sound system, and has seen the likes of Helena Hauff, Aphex Twin and Peggy Gou behind the decks over the years.  This good news shows that not all hope is lost for London’s waning club scene, and that collective action in the capital can lead to some good. Keep using

On Saturday September 24, 150 boats with twinkling lights will sail down the river Thames as a tribute to the Queen, making a ‘stunning river of light’. The flotilla was originally planned to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, but will instead go ahead to honour the late monarch after her death and commemorate King Charles’s accession.  The watery procession will start at Albert Bridge and finish at Tower Bridge. You can watch it for free from anywhere along the route, as long as there’s a view of the river. The boats will begin bobbing along the water at dusk, just in time to see the sunset. They will pass Chelsea Bridge at 7pm, Westminster Bridge at 7.30pm and arrive at Tower Bridge at 8.15pm. The luminescent tribute to Her Maj is part of an installation called ‘Reflections’, and the sparkling boats are hoping to recreate a beautiful ‘nighttime Canaletto scene’ – the Italian painter who’s best known for his canvases of Venetian canals.  And it’s not just the boats that will be lit up, as the bridges will also be illuminated with creations by light artist Leo Villareal. When the boats arrive at Tower Bridge for the grand finale the structure will light up in bright purple, commemorating Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.  Among the procession will be the Royal Row Barge ‘Gloriana’, as well as traditional rowing boats including Cornish pilot gigs, Thames watermen’s cutters, skiffs and skerries. The flotilla hopes to raise £20,000 for the RNLI, with the money going towar

If you love outdoor swimming but prefer the kind of pool that isn’t filled with algae, Parliament Hill Lido may be a firm favourite. One of London’s older lidos, the 84-year-old pool has revealed plans for a swanky new revamp, where it will be kitted out with a new gym, toilets and changing rooms.  It first opened in 1938 and currently opens 365 days a year with a 60m heated swimming pool, café, sauna and small gym. The pool is managed by the City of London Corporation, which also looks after Hampstead Heath’s freshwater swimming ponds.  A report by the corporation’s assistant director for natural environment, Stefania Horne, says the lido is getting old and needs investment. In the report, the plan includes a new a 200 square-metre gym with 40 stations, new staff offices, a shop, new toilets and improved changing rooms. The cafe could also be extended but it is currently rented to a private operator. Whether this will actually go ahead is still up in the air, but the City of London’s Hampstead Heath Committee will give feedback on the proposed plans on Monday September 26.  Next year, the corporation also plans to invest £700,000 in Highgate Men’s, Hampstead Mixed and Kenwood Ladies ponds to make them more accessible to disabled swimmers.  Charlton Lido is getting solar panels.  The best outdoor pools and lidos in London.

It really is the season of strikes, and there’s going to be even more travel misery for Londoners this Autumn. On October 4, 2,000 bus drivers are going to strike across 46 routes indefinitely, meaning we don’t known when it’ll end.  This will predominantly affect buses in north London, and parts of Camden, Hackney, Haringey, Enfield, Waltham Forest, and Barnet could be devoid of double deckers on the strike days.  The bus strike also coincides with national rail strikes on October 5, which could disrupt the London Marathon Which bus routes are striking? Workers from eight Arriva depots in north London including Ash Grove, Barking, Clapton, Edmonton, Enfield, Palmers Green, Tottenham and Wood Green will strike.  The following routes could all stop running entirely:  19, 29, 34, 38, 41, 73, 78, 102, 121, 123, 141, 144, 149, 150, 158, 175, 191, 192, 221, 242, 243, 253, 254, 259, 279, 313, 318, 325, 329, 340, 341, 349, 368, 377, 675, N19, N29, N38, N41, N73, N242, N253, N279, W3, W4, W6. Will there be other strikes? Separate strikes planned in west London were postponed last week after the news of the Queen’s death. It’s not yet been announced when those will take place. If the west London strikes are scheduled for the same day as the north London action, we could see one in five London buses affected.  Why are bus workers striking? Members of the Unite and Arriva unions are planning the continuous industrial action over pay. Union members have rejected a 11.2 percent pay rise t