The London Minute ⏰ Monday 7 July 2025
7/7 memories, football policing debate, Wimbledon review begins, Ping Pong gone + Kentish Town padel plan
🌤️ Good morning London. There are now more than 6,000 of you on this free mailing list. Thanks for giving it a go and sticking with it! Extra special thanks to those who pay to support it. Here’s Monday’s London Minute.
🚇 There’s a signal failure at Putney Bridge this morning, affecting the District Line. - Get live TfL updates here.
📆 Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 7 July bombings in London, which killed 52 people and injured more than 700 more. Among the coverage this morning is a report that victim Miriam Hyman’s family want ‘social cohesion’ and ‘tolerance’ to be taught in schools. - Fiona Hamilton, The Times. Also:
‘I was reporting in London on the day of the 7/7 bombings - here's what happened’ - Martin Brunt, Sky News.
‘How London’s darkest day unfolded, minute by minute’ - Holly Evans & Albert Toth, The Independent.
‘First responder recalls 7/7 on 20th anniversary of London bombings’ - Morning Star.
‘7/7 terror attacks: Scars have still to heal 20 years after bombings that changed London forever’ - Megan Howe, The Standard.
London 7/7 bombings survivor Bill Mann: 'Life is precious' - Charlotte Anderson, Richmond Times.
“We will always choose hope over fear, and unity over division, as we continue building a safer London for everyone.” - Mayor Sadiq Khan.
There will be a live-stream of a commemoration event today from 11.15am here.
🚔 A 24-year-old man has been arrested over the vandalism of the Windrush Untold Stories exhibition in Windrush Square. - Phil Ross, Brixton Buzz.
🚇 ‘New Bakerloo trains could be coming sooner than we thought’, writes Jim Waterson in London Centric.
⚽️ Football clubs should pay towards the £70 million cost of policing their matches in the UK, according to Metropolitan Police boss Mark Rowley. - Zahra Fatima, BBC News.
🗳️ Southwark’s local Labour’s leadership contest ‘breached its own rules’, during a closed-door vote last week, reports Issy Clarke in the Southwark News. A re-run has been ordered.
🎾 A judicial review will start this week as campaigners challenge Wimbledon's expansion plans at the High Court.
⮑ The Save Wimbledon Park group published this press release.
⮑ The AELTC has been approached for comment but hasn’t given any media statements recently.
⮑ Wimbledon’s tournament director, Jamie Baker, told The Guardian that the expansion plans ‘would enable more people to experience the championships and would open up a new public park for the local community.’ - Geneva Abdul, The Guardian.
🏠 New social housing in the Isle of Dogs and South Poplar is ‘on hold’ due to the expansion of AI data centres, writes Agatha Scaggiante in Poplar London.
🥟 London-born restaurant chain Ping Pong has closed down after more than two decades in the city. - Sam Courtney-Guy, Metro.
🪩 There’s an investigation into a crackdown on Hackney’s illegal raves in The London Spy.
✌️ 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.
🎾 Eight new padel courts are being planned for a site in Kentish Town. - Dan Carrier, Camden New Journal.
🛝 A campaign aims to raise £20,000 to rebuild Hackney Marsh Adventure Playground. - Hackney Citizen.
⮑ The fundraiser is here, currently at £7,000.
🎸 Chic star Nile Rodgers has guest-curated a display for the new David Bowie Centre, including personal correspondence between the two singers. It will open at the V&A’s new East Storehouse in September. - ITV News.
🍽️ Marie Mitchell, cookbook author and guest-chef of Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, launches a summer residency tomorrow at Walthamstow Village’s hometipple. - Waltham Forest Echo.
📸 There’s still time to enter this year’s Clerkenwell Photography Competition. - Find inspiration from this report by Surya Anthony in the EC1 Echo.
🦋 Wild Things columnist Eric Brown urges readers to volunteer for the national Big Butterfly Count, in the Wimbledon Guardian.
📆 Music festivals, Fringe comedy previews and Buckingham Palace opens to the public. - Here’s this week’s Londonist events guide.
📌 The London Minute Community Noticeboard:
⮑ Please get in touch using this form. < It’s the only way to get something featured in the newsletter.
📌 “Interview with Sadiq Khan on The Future of London for the ‘Jimmy's Jobs of the Future’ podcast (which is essentially interviews with leading figures about economics and politics), published 17 June. A wide-ranging 50 mins including the mayoral powers he'd like to have but doesn't, how to boost the London economy and diversity and immigration as one of London's key strengths. ” - Thanks to a kind subscriber for sharing this.
📌 “Join the Amplified choir for a summer concert of colourful songs from Purple Rain to Karma Chameleon at St Paul’s, The Actor’s Church, Covent Garden.” - Thanks to subscriber Anna for sharing this.
📈 The most-viewed links from the last newsletter:
🚇 Wimbledon travel chaos is ‘huge embarrassment’ for London, says MP.
🚗 ‘Exclusive: The shelved plan to ban cars from Central London’.
🏡 £3.4m Sheen house is London Centric’s ‘Preposterous property of the week’.
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