Heron Tower closed off following reports of suspicious package November 30, 2020 The City’s Heron Tower has been cordoned off as police carry out a controlled explosion following reports of a suspicious package. City of London police said a 200m cordon was placed around the skyscraper this morning, while nearby roads were closed. Heron Tower, located in one of the City’s busiest commuter regions, was initially evacuated [...]
St Paul’s Cathedral awarded £2.1m in government funding November 7, 2020 St Paul’s Cathedral has been awarded £2.1m of government cash as part of a series of lifeline grants for cultural venues during the pandemic. The latest raft of government funding has seen more than £18m handed out to 182 cultural icons around the country. Thirty per cent of the money was awarded to London venues [...]
Coronavirus: London to lose £10.9bn from tourist spending, Sadiq Khan warns October 23, 2020 London is set to miss out on £10.9bn from a drop in tourist spending as a result of the coronavirus crisis, Sadiq Khan has warned, as footfall in the capital remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Overseas tourists will spend £7.4bn less on goods and services in London this year, while domestic tourists will spend £3.5bn [...]
Sadiq Khan urges ministers to build more London council houses to ease post-pandemic inequality October 21, 2020 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has urged ministers to significantly increase the number of council houses in London, in a bid to offset increasing wealth disparities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Khan today launched a major new report calling on the government to “stop blocking the aspiration of London’s councils to build” and urging ministers [...]
Our Pick: Pictures of the Day – October 15 October 15, 2020 Our Pick: Pictures of the Day - October 15
Finsbury Circus Gardens to become ‘City haven’ in major facelift October 13, 2020 The City’s largest open space is set to undergo a major revamp to transform it into a “haven for people and wildlife”, the City of London Corporation announced today. Finsbury Circus Gardens, London’s oldest public park, will see a new “secret garden”, urban forest and multi-purpose garden pavilion transform it into an “active cultural hub” [...]
Don’t let London become a Donut: Crowded on the outside, empty in the middle October 2, 2020 As a Londoner born and bred, I am acutely sensitive to the ebb and flow of people travelling in and out of London on a daily basis — the human tide of our capital. Despite various pleas and edicts, right now the centre of London is pretty much empty. The tide went out abruptly at [...]
The hotel industry needs to reinvent itself – and fast October 2, 2020 In the 1800s, several new hotels emerged that reimagined the standards for luxury accommodation. Over the course of the next two centuries, grand hotels withstood the Great Depression, two world wars, and countless market disruptors — always finding a way to reset their role in society. The global hotel industry has been through hard times [...]
We must find a new way of funding Transport for London September 25, 2020 London without the tube would be like the Shard without any lifts. And, just like the lifts in the Shard, it costs pretty much the same amount of money to run the tube every day, regardless of how many people use it. But unlike the lifts in the Shard (and unlike any comparable metro system [...]
Silvertown Tunnel to cost £2bn over next 30 years September 16, 2020 A controversial tunnel which will connect Greenwich with London’s Docklands will cost Transport for London (TfL) almost £2bn over the next three decades. Although the actual construction of the Silvertown Tunnel remains at £1bn, figures from the capital’s transport operator show that the overall cost for building, maintaining and operating the tunnel will be £65m [...]