The London Minute ⏰ Thursday 3 July 2025
New pedestrianisation plans, changes to Eurostar, red light bike crackdown, £11.7 billion for social and 'affordable' houses + Wrighty helps football families
🌤️ Good morning London. A sunny start but cloudy later on. Here’s Thursday’s London Minute.
🚇 There are ‘severe delays’ on the entirety of the District Line this morning. - Get live TfL updates here.
🚧 New plans could see the road linking Piccadilly Circus to St James's Park pedestrianised. New ‘safer’ cycling routes could also be introduced on Regent Street. - Jess Warren, BBC London News.
⮑ A consultation run by Westminster City Council and The Crown Estate is due to open until 10 August.
🚄 Eurostar passengers are being allowed to board trains 30 mins early - rather than wait in the departure lounge - in a bid to avoid overcrowding at St Pancras station. - Ross Lydall, The Standard.
🇵🇸 Four people, including ‘a man who blocked the gates of Downing Street with his mobility scooter’, have been arrested following a Westminster protest by Palestine Action, the Metropolitan Police has said. - Alastair Lockhart, The Standard.
🚔 A manhunt is underway to find a man who sexually assaulted a woman in Ealing after following her off a bus. - Jacob Phillips, The Standard.
🚦 Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to destroy London’s ULEZ cameras. - The Met police shared this update.
🚴♂️ Almost 300 cyclists have received fixed penalty notices for going through red lights so far this year, more than ten times the number of motorists clocked for the same offence, according to the City of London Police.
Police in London have been accused of ‘abusing their powers to curb protest’ after research found that less than 3% of arrests for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in the past five years resulted in a prosecution. - Damien Gayle, The Guardian.
🎾 A special chemical is being used at Wimbledon to ‘make water wetter’ to try to reduce water bills and tackle rising temperatures. - Geneva Abdul, The Guardian.
🏡 A £3.4m house in Sheen is the London Centric ‘Preposterous property of the week’.
✌️ 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.
🏡 London is set to receive £11.7 billion over the next ten years to support social and affordable housebuilding. - The Mayor’s office published more details here.
🏫 The Harris Academy in Peckham hosted a party last week after the school was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. - Issy Clarke, Southwark News.
⚽️ The Women’s Euro 2025 football tournament kicked off last night and runs all month. Boxpark venues in Croydon, Wembley, Shoreditch and Camden are among those showing the games on big screens. - Will Noble, Londonist.
Despite extremely limited resources, small East London football clubs are ‘thriving thanks to the passion of their fans’, writes David O’Driscoll in the Waltham Forest Echo.
📸 Neil Kenlock MBE, whose photographs of community activism in Brixton in the 1970s and 80s are now held in the collections of the Tate Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, is a recipient of the Paulette Wilson Justice Award from this year’s Windrush Caribbean Film Festival. - More details on Brixton Blog
🛍️ Daisy and Liv from Salad Days Market share their current trends:
📆 Happy 2nd birthday to Londonist: Time Machine. Editor Matt Brown shares which stories have been most popular:
⚽️ This Saturday there’s a one-day conference for football families in South London. It’s organised by Marcia Lewis, founder of No1FanClub and proud mum of Arsenal’s teenage star Myles Lewis-Skelly. Among the speakers is Les Rowe, father of Fulham player Emile Smith-Rowe. - Full details are here.
⮑ If the cost of tickets is a barrier for you and your child is on free school meals, the organisers can help you attend.
⮑ Ian Wright explains why he’s supporting the initiative:
📌 The London Minute Community Noticeboard:
📌 “London has long been known for its entrepreneurial spirit, but new data from Grow London Local shows that many of the city’s emerging small businesses are starting out without the basics in place.” - Thanks to a subscriber for sharing this.
⮑ Please get in touch using this form. < It’s the only way to get something featured in the newsletter.
📈 The most-viewed links from the last newsletter:
🎾 Tennis player complains of ‘dangerous’ spectator at Wimbledon.
🏗️ Fourth ‘sky garden’ skyscraper proposed for Fenchurch Street.
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