The London Minute ⏰ Monday 23 September 2024
Overnight flooding, Kew illegal plants crackdown, Chiswick explosion, Hackney housing warning, 'serious threat' to MOTH Club + the Primrose Hill restaurant fighting homelessness
🌧️ Good morning London. Autumn has officially arrived. Here’s Monday’s London Minute.
💧 Torrential rain led to minor flooding overnight and more downpours are forecast throughout today. - William Morgan, Mirror.
⮑ Commuters could struggle this morning as the Bakerloo, District, Metropolitan, Piccadilly and Overground lines have all been impacted by flooding. - Check the TfL live status page here.
⮑ National Rail is warning of flood-related disruption to Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express trains. - Lydia Chantler-Hicks has just published this morning weather round-up on The Standard.
⮑ More details in the Met Office forecast here.
🚎 Whistleblower London bus drivers say they work in 'dangerous' conditions, feel 'drowsy and fatigued' while on the job and are concerned about vehicle maintenance. - Adam Toms, MyLondon.
💰 Transport for London’s income from fining drivers using major roads has soared by 57% in the last five years to £89.3m. - ITV London News.
💥 A fire broke out in a Chiswick High Street restaurant on Saturday morning after residents reported hearing an explosion. - Anna Willis, MyLondon.
🔥 ‘The unsafe use of incense sticks’ has been blamed for an East Ham flat fire that forced 33 people out of their homes. - London Fire Brigade.
🛏️ Nearly 3,500 households are in temporary accommodation in Hackney, the council has confirmed, just a week after a collective of London authorities warned the Treasury about ‘unsustainable’ levels of homelessness. - Joe Steen, Local Democracy Reporter, Hackney Citizen.
⮑ Meanwhile the seventh annual Streets Fest was held in Finsbury Park at the weekend, with a range of help for homeless people. - Daisy Clague reports from the event for the Islington Tribune.
🎵 The owners of MOTH Club music venue in Hackney have warned it’s facing a ‘serious threat’ from plans to build a block of flats opposite the building. - Jacob Phillips, The Standard.
🐾 A rescue puppy ‘nearly died’ after eating litter on Wandsworth Common, according to his owner. - Amelia Morgan, South West Londoner.
🦠 A 'unique set of factors' have been blamed after Lambeth topped the sexually transmitted infection charts. - Local Democracy Reporter Adrian Zorzut in My London.
⚖️ A prolific shoplifter in Greenwich who stole more than £14,000 worth of goods has been jailed for more than three years for almost 100 offences. - Met Police.
🚔 The Met Police's new strategy to tackle drug dealing in Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, is not going to plan according to local shop owners. - Callum Cuddeford, MyLondon.
⮑ The junction of Blackstock Road and Seven Sisters Road also needs a safe cycle lane, according to campaigners who were out leafletting at the weekend. - Isabel Loubser, Islington Tribune.
🪴 Scientists at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are working with eBay to tackle the online sale of illegally obtained ornamental plants. - Josh Butler, South West Londoner.
🍽️ A new-fine dining restaurant has opened in Primrose Hill, staffed by 15 people experiencing homelessness. Not-for-profit Home Kitchen was founded by Michelin-starred chef Adam Simmonds. - Sophie Thompson, Independent.
⮑ Staff get training and qualifications and there are no zero-hours contracts (still common in hospitality.) Instead they are paid above the London Living Wage and travel is subsidised. - Mabel Banfield-Nwachi, The Guardian.
🏡 A house left empty for four years after being bought for £7.5million by the government because of HS2 ‘should be used to help struggling families in the housing crisis’, say residents in Camden’s Park Village East. - Tom Foot, Camden New Journal.
📚 Haringey Council is consulting on proposals to reduce the opening hours of its nine libraries, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter, in Haringey Community Press.
🎉 Brixton’s Atlantic Road was closed off from on Saturday for a street party as part of Car Free Day. - Mike Urban of Brixton Buzz shared these photos.
🍿 More than 10,000 people have seen films at Walthamstow’s new Forest Cinema since its August opening, according to its owners. - Holly Kintuka, Waltham Forest Echo.
🎆 The Alexandra Palace Fireworks Festival is confirmed to return for two-day festival in November, with a drone show before the fireworks. - Haringey Community Press.
⏳ If you love local history, there’s plenty in the latest edition of Londonist Time Machine, including a postbox that went viral, the Totally Thames festival and a whole week’s worth of events in the ‘history radar’ section. - Matt Brown, Londonist Time Machine.
🛍️ ‘Sure, you can hit Harrods. But London also has small specialized shops, some centuries old and still crafting items by hand. Here, a selection of singular shopping experiences.’ - At the weekend, The New York Times featured some of London’s smaller shops.
🚇 ‘‘It deserves to be called iconic’: London tube map creator’s archive goes up for sale’ - Vanessa Thorpe, The Guardian.
⛔️ ‘So far, there is little detail about funding, or how the space will be run in the longer term.’ - The Guardian editorial view on Oxford Street pedestrianisation.
⮑ Shoppers and workers Oxford Street shared their views on the plan with Local Democracy Reporter Adrian Zorzut in My London.
⮑ More than 100 of you voted in this newsletter poll on the plan last week, with the majority in favour of it.
⮑ On Friday the local Tory candidate Tim Barnes regained his West End council seat from Labour, with Oxford Street among the issues raised on the doorstep. However, only 1,284 people (just 16.77% of the electorate) voted in the by-election, reports Local Democracy Reporter Ben Lynch in Fitzrovia News.
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