The London Minute ⏰ Thursday 26 June 2025
Women feel unsafe at night, 25,000 new homes, another Putney High Street crash + better news
🌤️ Good morning London. Rain is forecast around 10am, clearing for a sunny afternoon, according to the Met Office. Here’s Thursday’s London Minute.
⏰ I’ll send an update at the weekend about the future of this newsletter. Thanks to everyone who’s had a say on the post here.
The future of The London Minute ⏰
🌤️ Good afternoon, good people of London. I’m close to stopping this newsletter. I’ve sent it to thousands of you for free every day for over a year on a ‘pay if you want’ basis. While a handful of absolute heroes do pay (thank you, sincerely), there aren’t enough to keep it afloat, sadly.
🚇 There are severe delays reports on the Jubilee Line this morning due to a late finish to engineering work at Green Park. - Get live TfL updates here.
💰 A Camden commuter who suffered catastrophic injuries falling down the gap between the platform and a Tube train has launched a personal injury claim against Transport for London ‘in excess of £25m’. - Ross Lydall, The Standard.
🚔 Most women don't feel safe on London's streets, according to a new ITV News survey. A quarter say they have been physically or sexually assaulted. - Helen Keenan, ITV London.
⮑ Meanwhile ITV News London reporter Carolyn Sim joined the Met Police outside Wembley Stadium while they tried to stop sexual offences against women at concerts. - See the video here.
⮑ Jess Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said she was ‘saddened’ but not surprised by the figures.
🏥 A London hospital patient’s death has been linked to last summer’s cyber attack on the NHS, according to the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Denmark Hill. - Anthony France, The Standard.
🎪 More than 200 people have signed a petition stating that the commercialisation of Victoria Park has ‘gone too far’, although not all Tower Hamlets residents agree. - Sophie Howarth, Roman Road London, Tower Hamlets Slice.
🏗️ A ‘new town’ named Old Oak is being planned, with 25,000 homes built within 30 years across Brent, Ealing, and Hammersmith and Fulham council areas. - Philip James Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter, Harrow Online.
🏢 An ‘iconic’ South Kensington housing block is facing demolition. - Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter, MyLondon.
🚑 A man was hit by bus on Putney High Street yesterday, one month after a fatal lorry crash in same area. - Rebecca McCulloch, MyLondon.
🏳️⚧️ Hundreds of trans activists and allies campaigned outside Westminster yesterday over the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s interim guidance on single-sex spaces. - Megan Howe, The Standard.
🥵 There is loads in the latest edition of London Centric, including a report on the heatwave by Rachel Rees, titled: Why is London heat the worst kind of heat?
🛜 A deal has been signed to eliminate 4G and 5G mobile signal blackspots at London train stations. - Matt Watts, The Standard.
🚴♂️ Cyclists riding through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel could face ‘substantial’ fines if Tower Hamlets and Greenwich councillors can agree on plans. - Darryl Chamberlain, The Greenwich Wire.
🚴♀️ Southern Rail has paused its planned closure of cycle parking at East Croydon station after a ‘public outcry’, days before the changes were due to take effect. - Harrison Galliven, Local Democracy Reporter, MyLondon.
🍋🟩 ‘How Lime squeezed out the Santander bike’ - Andrew Kersley in The Londoner.
🚧 Residents and businesses in and around Warren Street are facing three days of disruption in early July due to a fashion show in the street. - Linus Rees, The Fitzrovia News.
🛍️ Described by Vogue as a ‘fashion It-girl’, Kat Qiu is launching a multi-brand store in Shoreditch in August, named VoyeurVoyeur. - She speaks to Maliha Shoaib in Vogue Business.
💰 The Tate has launched an endowment fund and secured £43m from donations in what it calls “one of the most ambitious cultural fundraising campaigns of its kind in the UK”. - Nadia Khomami, The Guardian.
✌️ Better news
This section aims to include better news from all over London. It’s a wide range of things, and as always you’re welcome to submit yours here. My hope is that it inspires more civic pride and community spirit, new plans in your calendar and a few smiles or laughs along the way.
🎵 If you haven’t made it to Glastonbury but still want your music fix, there is plenty happening in London this weekend. - Eliza Bruce-Jones has a weekend guide in City AM.
⮑ Speaking of Glasto, BBC presenter Lauren Laverne will be there. The Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 6 presenter and Kenickie singer shares her personal favourite spots in the capital in The Standard.
🎨 A new six-storey high public mural, 160 metre-squared, has been unveiled at the Priory Court estate in Walthamstow. - Sophie Mitchell, Waltham Forest Echo.
🔑 “The Clapham Fire Brigade are top notch” - A woman who was locked out of her flat - and filmed it - has thanked local firefighters for helping her regain access to her home. - BBC London News.
🚒 Firefighters will be offering a car wash service at Peckham Fire Station this Saturday to raise money for their charity. - Claudia Macaluso, Southwark News.
🏊♀️ The Park Road Lido in Crouch End is due to reopen tomorrow. - More details from the user group here.
📌 The London Minute Community Noticeboard returns tomorrow. Share your weekend events here!
📈 The most-viewed links from the last newsletter:
🏠 “There’s two blokes staring” - Clerkenwell couple’s privacy plea.
🦕 ‘New’ 150-million-year-old dino skeleton at the Natural History Museum.
⏰ The Minute is written between 5am and 7am every day. Thank you for reading daily edition number 233. This newsletter remains independent, ad-free and free to 5,845+ subscribers, sending 100,000+ visits to other local news sources since launch last year. Word-of-mouth is how it’s growing. The Minute is free but it takes more work than it looks so please consider supporting it.