Drama at the ponds
Drama at the ponds
Plus: a crackdown in Covent Garden, the mysterious 'Project Detroit' and a pub chain collapse
Morning — the Spy’s on a bit of a break this weekend, so just a round-up for you to graze on today. We lead on locals ‘throwing their hands up in horror’ over a plan to put a sauna on Hampstead Heath, plus a crackdown in Covent Garden and the collapse of an east London pub chain.
👀 Eyes peeled though: we’ll be back in your inbox early next week with the inside story on the campaign to kill a London super venue. On Monday mayor Sadiq Khan announced he was blocking the MSG Sphere in Stratford — a huge, 21,000-capacity orb covered in screens. We’ve been speaking to the people who’ve waged a five-year campaign to stop the plans, battling a global media giant, an unelected board of planners and at times a faceless third party.
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What we’ve spied
🏊♀️ A lukewarm response from Hampstead Heath swimmers over a proposal to bring a sauna to the mixed pond. A philanthropist has offered to front £100,000 of his own cash to install a wooden sauna in the corner of the changing compound at the pond — an idea he thinks could cover the cost of more lifeguards during winter, so the pond doesn’t have to close to the general public. But the response from regulars hasn’t been positive, with a member of the Mixed Pond Association saying: “It would change the atmosphere. There are 300 people in the winter swimming club and we do not think any are interested. Most people have thrown their hands up in horror. There have been comments like ‘what’s next? An underwater disco?’”. The would-be sauna donor in question is Mark Lamb, a Heath pond regular who founded Wild Sauna Community Interest Company. He recently installed a sauna at the Parliament Hill Lido — a spot that gets quite a few hypothermia cases during the nippier months. A source tells the Camden New Journal that the Hampstead Heath proposals are being “seriously considered” by the owner, the City of London Corporation.
🪄 400 years of street theatre in Covent Garden may be at risk from a council crackdown. For the past couple of years performers in the central London spot — magicians, daredevils, illusionists — have been boycotting a fee-based licensing scheme introduced by Westminster council in 2021 after facing noise complaints from businesses and residents, particularly around Leicester Square. Performers say the old, self-regulated system was better, and that the new fees and restrictions on their pitches, noise and props would put them out of business. But, in the face of the noncompliance, Westminster councillors will be deciding on December 4 whether to toughen up enforcement action — including through a formal partnership with police. They also may decide to scrap the scheme at the council meeting, though.
🪩 More on central London: there’s hope a club’s re-opening will revitalise nightlife around Tottenham Court Road. It’s been quite dead in the area since the construction of Crossrail took over, but that’s all done and venues are re-opening — including HERE at the Outernet, a 1,800 capacity live music space with a respectable 4am license. In the Standard Emily Phillips recounts her memories of “nights well had“ around Tottenham Court Road in her youth, and her hopes for the area’s future.
💿 And lastly in central — HMV re-opened their old flagship store on Oxford Street this week with much fanfare. HMV’s been absent from the strip for four years after hitting financial rock bottom, but it’s now back, with three floors of music and merch, and a performance space down below. A messier story for another, nearby retailer: the high court has allowed M&S to continue pursuing its legal dispute over the demolition and rebuilding of its Oxford Street store.
🚗 A mysterious scheme codenamed ‘Project Detroit’ gave Sadiq Khan and TfL a headache this week. At a City Hall meeting on Thursday, the London mayor was grilled about whether he’s planning to introduce a ‘pay-per-mile’ road user charging across the capital, after a Conservative member said he’d got his hands on internal TfL documents that mention a road pricing prototype project called Detroit. But Khan replied he’d not heard of the project and insisted: “I’ve been crystal clear. A pay-per-mile scheme is not on the table and not on my agenda". It’s not exactly reassured the pro-car lobby though, who’ve leapt on the ‘Project Detroit’ codename and posted slightly conspiratorial videos on social media. Related: this week there have been reports the mayor and TfL might be getting a slap on the wrist from the Advertising Standards Authority over claims made about the benefits of expanding London’s ultra-low emissions zone.
💸 Only meagre spoils for London in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday. The capital’s transport chiefs are particularly gutted they missed out on funding for a Docklands Light Railway extension under the Thames. But Jeremy Hunt did announce £23m for a rapid bus network to connect Woolwich and Thamesmead as part of the government’s ‘Docklands 2.0’ plans — the spiritual successor to the redevelopment of Canary Wharf back in the 1980s and 1990s.
🎾 A huge derailment to plans to expand Wimbledon, after Wandsworth council rejected the proposal. All England Club’s application to build 38 new courts will now be referred to mayor Sadiq Khan for a decision.
🏚️ This week there’s been scrutiny of empty houses on London ‘Billionaire’s Row’ — a north London street with some of the most expensive houses in Britain. Architects have spoken to the Guardian about a derelict site on The Bishops Avenue in Barnet that, they say, has enough space for 300 affordable homes. They’ve even drawn up a blueprint for the 7.4 acre site, which is currently owned by an Isle of Man-registered company with planning permission to build luxury flats on the plot. Meanwhile, the waiting list for affordable housing in the borough of Barnet has more than tripled in the last decade.
🍺 Anxious times for a group of pubs in east London, as their parent company goes into administration. The East London Pub Co, which includes The Ten Bells and The Gun in Spitalfields, The Saxon in Clapham High Street, and The Lock Tavern in Chalk Farm, appointed administrators earlier this month, but the sites are continuing to trade.
🔍 And finally, we leave you with:
Rat droppings being found at Marco Pierre White’s London restaurant
A look at whether Sweden’s ‘say hi’ campaign could work in London
Footage of new Piccadilly Line trains being tested in Germany
Former health secretary Matt Hancock getting a haircut in Clapham
Plans to convert a shopping centre into a nightclub in Peckham
Also, news of an anti-graffiti blitz by the council in Peckham
Drama over the placement of a duck crossing sign in south London
A too-real take on what living in London is like in your 20s