Weekend roundup for 22 May
Includes cabby conversations, chaotic karts and Cuban cocktails
đ¨ Dozens of Met officers are being investigated âfor looking up details of the Sarah Everard case on the police computer system.â Accessing this kind of information without a good reason âcould amount to a breach of professional standards or even be a criminal offence,â but we will have to wait and see if âany further action is required.â
đ´ Here comes the e-scooters. TfL has confirmed a 12-month trial of rental scooters will start on June 7 across Ealing, Canary Wharf, the City, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Richmond upon Thames. No news yet on what youâll have to pay, but itâs likely to be around 20p a minute on top of a ÂŁ1 unlocking fee.
đ¤ď¸ Just when things were looking up for Crossrail, the project has found another problem to run into. According to a recent report there are âchallengesâ with the delivery of Bond Street, Whitechapel, Paddington and Canary Wharf stations, but itâs Bond Street which is causing the real headaches. âFurther enhanced collaboration from all partiesâ as well as âconcessionsâ are apparently going to be needed to get it ready for trial running and then opening next year.
đ At the same time, TfL has agreed another short-term extension of its Government bailout. And we do mean âshort-termâ. This additional ÂŁ65 million is only designed to get TfL through until May 28, while a more long-term deal is thrashed out. For those that are counting, thatâs over ÂŁ3 billion in emergency funding that the Government has pumped into TfL since the start of the pandemic.
đ As for the more long-term deal, one of the main sticking points is apparently the refurbishment of Hammersmith Bridge, which has got a ÂŁ150m price tag on it. (Although thatâs a mere drop in the ocean when you consider that Khan is asking for ÂŁ15.8bn to âpay for upgrades to public transport until 2030â). Grant Shapps was on LBC on Thursday having a bit of a go at Sadiq Khan while saying that he is doing his bit âto sort of knock heads together to get this thing reopened as quickly as possible.â (Also at risk if the deal doesnât get made: Elephant & Castleâs tube station revamp.)
đŁď¸ TfL only have to pay for about 5% of Londonâs road maintenance, which is lucky because the fourth annual State of the City report has just revealed that cost of our road maintenance backlog just passed the ÂŁ1bn mark. That bill is going to be shared across local councils who (and we didnât know this until this week) receive no funds from the Government for maintaining roads.
đ The âremote sign onâ argument between bus drivers and Metroline hasnât been resolved yet, and that means thereâll likely be a two day strike next Tuesday and then another three day strike from 7-9 June. Around 4,000 Metroline drivers will go on strike affecting routes across North and West London. Although Metroline have said âwe have halted the implementation of remote sign on and now question why Unite are continuing to pursue industrial action,â so thereâs a chance it may not happen.
đ Dubious PR survey of the week this week comes from taxi company Free Now who partnered with mental health charity, Calm to discover that Londoners are more likely to âshare their personal troubles with a cab driverâ than the rest of the UK. Apparently 44% of us have shared our âpersonal troublesâ during a cab ride (the UK average is 20%). This seems waaaaay too high to us. In a short survey of the LiB office, 99.5% of us spend most cab rides diligently staring at our phone while trying to avoid any mention of anything vaguely personal or political.
đ If you do want something to talk to a cabby about on your next journey though, how about the fact that someone smashed into the Grade II listed Cab Shelter in South Kensington earlier this week. The shelter is one of the 61 âlittle green hutsâ built between 1875 and 1914 of which there are thirteen of left, and all but one of those still serves food to cabbies (thereâs more details and history over on Cabbie Blog). Hopefully this crash wonât take that number down to twelve.
đď¸ Last week we mentioned the new batch of skyscrapers that are due to be going up around the Gherkin. Now Bloomberg have taken a proper, nerdy look at why developers are still investing in huge office buildings when âCity office vacancies have soared about 70% during the pandemic to more than 12 million square feetâ. Also, one of the buildings is called â1 Undershaftâ. Theyâre going to have to change that, surely?
đ˘ And if you canât get enough phallic structure news, Bloomberg also has a pretty extensive look at how Canary Wharf is reinventing itself for the post-pandemic world.
Arts and culture bits
đ¨âđ¨ď¸ Can you stand to read anything more about that David Hockney tube roundel? If you can stomach one more article, then you should make it art critic Eddy Frankleâs editorial, which argues that people donât âgetâ what Hockney is doing thanks to the âslow but sure decimation of arts education in Britainâ. Weâre not sure we agree completely, but itâs probably one of the most worthwhile discussions to come out of this whole thing.
đˇ James Barnor is a British-Ghanaian photographer who has been documenting London life since the 1960s. Now, at the age of 91, heâs got a âmajor surveyâ (thatâs a retrospective to you and me) at The Serpentine. The exhibition opened this week, and runs until October. You can book tickets here.
â This June thereâll be a two-day festival in Brixton âcelebrating the achievements of the black community.â Running over the weekend of 12-13 June, The Power of___Festival will mark the one-year anniversary of the Black Lives Matter protests with a âprogramme of events celebrating diversity, equality and inclusion in art, fashion, and cultureâ. Brixton Buzz has more details.
đď¸ Sticking to the rule that at least one augmented reality attraction has to open in London every week, Chaos Karts have announced theyâre giving go-karting the Lawnmower Man treatment (weâre showing our age with that reference arenât we?). The âlive action video game experienceâ is due to open on Fleet Street Hill near Brick Lane, and for ÂŁ30 youâll be able to play immersive Mario Kart, minus anything that would make Nintendo sue them. It opens in August but you can book tickets now.
đIf you fancy something with fewer âlaser gunsâ and less âpumping musicâ, then maybe keep an eye on Aire Ancient Bathâs Instagram account. The company is opening their first London thermal baths in an â18th century buildingâ in Covent Garden this summer. The baths will include a series of pools at different temperatures, called (we honestly did not make these up) the Tepidarium (36Âş), the Caldarium (40Âş) and the Frigidarium (14Âş). There will also be âa jet bath, a steam bath and a salt bathâ and a range of treatments including the Wine Ritual which involves being immersed in âSpanish Ribera del Deuro red wine.â
đ How has Saoirse Ronan never been on a UK stage before? Well thatâs about to change as sheâs set to make her debut as Lady Macbeth in a âfeministâ version of Shakespeareâs tragedy at the Almeida this September, alongside James McArdle as the man himself. It starts in September, and tickets go on sale in July.
đ¨âđď¸ You might remember that, back in February, a meteorite fell on to someoneâs driveway in the market town of Winchcombe in the Cotswolds. Well, that meteorite is now at the Natural History Museum if you want to go take a look at it. According to the Museumâs interim curator of meteorites (actual job title!), the meteorite is âmade up of things like water-bearing minerals, which suggest at some point in its history it was exposed to water... This meteorite might answer some questions about where the water came from.â
Food and drink bits
đł In case you hadnât noticed: restaurants are open again, and Sadiq Khan really really wants you to spend your money in them. This week he launched the London Eats campaign (itself part of the the Letâs Do London campaign, details of which can be found on Visit London⌠London London London). To kick off the campaign the Mayor went on a restaurant crawl, beginning with a Dishoom breakfast (smart), before heading off into Chinatown for lunch with Monica Galetti and Angela Hartnett. Then he had another lunch at Mildredâs with Bimini Bon Boulash, and the internet approved:
đĽ Williamsburg brunch legends Sunday in Brooklyn have announced theyâre coming to London this summer (specifically Notting Hill). We could bang on about the innovative cocktails and fresh take on diner classics etc, but all you really need to do is watch this short video of someone pouring hazelnut maple praline syrup on a load of pancakes:
đ¸ The Last Talisman is a cocktail bar in Bermondsey that did manage to open for one week in December, but is now fully functional. Thereâs food as well as booze (Asian flavours, small plates⌠etc) but the real reason for visiting has to be their modern art exhibitions. Especially as the current artist in residence is⌠Maxim from the Prodigy, who is showing off some of his ceramic work (file under âsentences you never thought you would writeâ).
đ¨đş Speaking of musicians and restaurants: Nasâs fried chicken and waffle venture, Sweet Chick, closed down last year leaving a gap on Market Place square, just off Oxford Circus. That gap is now being filled by Cuban-inspired bar La Rampa. Expect rum-focused cocktails and âsome banging sandwichesâ from the same people who brought us the Iberian katsu sando.
đš Staying with rum for a second: A distillery based in Brixton has just won a silver medal in the International Spirits Challenge for its Market Row Botanical Rum. The Brixton Distillery Company only launched seven months ago, but their âblend of pot still rums from five historic and award-winning distilleries in Jamaica, The Dominican Republic and Barbados⌠infused with vibrant, interesting and unique botanicals inspired by Brixton Marketâ went down a storm with the judges at the ISC. You can pick up a bottle for ÂŁ34 on their site.
đŚ Seafood got a lot of mentions in Wednesdayâs newsletter, and as of August thereâll be a new addition to Sohoâs oceanic offerings. The unimaginatively-named Seafood Bar is coming to Dean Street from Amsterdam and theyâre bringing their âtowering seafood plattersâ and âlate night oyster partiesâ with them. The best bit is theyâre installing a basement bar. You canât beat a good Soho basement bar.
đ¤ Ever been eating some cheese and thought âHmm, wonder if this would taste better if I was on a boat?â Well, wonder no more, because the Cheese Barge is finally open. Brought to you by the same people behind Camdenâs Cheese Bar, the Cheese Barge is a 96-foot double-decker boat in the Paddington Basin, on Regent's Canal. Itâs permanently moored though, so thereâll be no chance of sea sickness. You can book tables here.
đĄ As the government advises us all to socialise outside wherever possible, and make sure any inside spaces are well ventilated, the London Eye has said âyeah sod that for a larkâ and created âone of the most intimate pubs in Londonâ in one its pods. For ÂŁ55 you can enjoy a hand-pulled pint or a Beefeater gin through your face mask. And thereâs even a dart board, because, you know, thatâs what us Londoners do in pubs.
đ One to file away for the next time you want to impress someone (or if you want to set yourself a very very expensive challenge): Luxury London has listed every single Michelin-starred restaurant in the city, separated into North, East, South and West and listed in descending order of stars.
Long read of the week
In the week that Priti Patel delayed the publication of a report into the death of Daniel Morgan (the private investigator who was murdered in a Sydenham pub car park in 1987), itâs worth reading the Guardianâs extensive article about the case from back in 2011.
Thereâs also this this ten part podcast on the murder and the subsequent investigations.
Tweet of the week
The public has spokenâŚ
