Goodbye forever to the London night czar?
Plus: victory for Euston haters, the return of Thames mudlarking, and charades on the Overground
Morning — a smaller round-up than usual today, as we recover from birthday celebrations at the weekend. Leading your stories is the news that London's night czar Amy Lame is resigning after eight years on the job, and it’s not guaranteed she’ll be replaced.
Plus: victory for Euston haters, the return of Thames mudlarking, and charades on the Overground.
In case you missed it: on Saturday we published our inside look at the bitter battle to make Soho alfresco again. We’ve long wondered what happened to the neighbourhood’s outdoor arrangements during the pandemic, and whether it could ever come back. After weeks of digging, we think we’ve got an answer.
What we've spied
🌝 Amy Lamé is standing down as London night czar, and it’s unclear whether the mayor is going to replace her. Lamé announced her resignation on Wednesday, saying it was "the right time" to "move on" and that it had been “a real privilege to serve Londoners”. She was the first person ever appointed to the role in 2016, with Sadiq Khan giving her the brief of championing the capital's late-night culture. Whether she succeeded is a matter of debate. Some have praised her advocacy for the nighttime economy, or the moments she's stepped in to help save venues, like the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Others say she's basically been AWOL for eight years and done nothing to stop clubs and bars shutting, despite being paid £132,000 a year. "We’d drink to the departure of Amy Lame, but all the pubs are shut," writes Elliot Keck for City AM. But then there are those who say she was given an impossible job — public responsibility for London's nightlife without the power to do anything about it. This might be why, instead of announcing a new night czar, the mayor's office has said it's waiting for a forthcoming London Nightlife Taskforce to complete its work before making "any decisions on the night czar role". Oh well — if she's not replaced, at least we'll all be able to agree Lamé was both London's best and worst night czar. For more on Lamé, we recently published this excellent deep dive into her tenure by Morgan Jones.
🌃 More on London nightlife: in our last issue we shared a viral ranking from the Times of the late-night scenes of UK cities, based on the share of venues open past midnight or 2am. London came in towards the bottom. But this last week, a 'debunking' of the Times ranking has been doing the rounds. Writer Dan Hancox claims the methodology was flawed, pointing to late-night haunts local to him in Peckham that were seemingly missed off the list, and argues the Times’s report perpetuates "racist myths", like that London has seen a surge in crime or is full of no-go areas. One more thing on nightlife: the iconic nightclub Printworks is re-opening, after Southwark council approved redevelopment plans that include the previous operators.
🚆 The Euston haters have won: the government has ordered a review into improving the station, after criticism of overcrowding and obnoxious ads from passengers and a transport watchdog. The first act of the review, announced by transport secretary Louise Haigh on Friday, will be to turn off the giant overhead screens at Euston that display advertisements instead of actual journey information. These drew the ire of the likes of the Guardian's Barney Ronay in a recent viral post on X: "Euston is easily, easily the worst main station in Western Europe. It’s like being taken away to be machine gunned in the woods by various mobile phone and soft drinks companies. Congrats to everyone involved". But aside from the ads, the review will also seek to address concerns raised by the watchdog London TravelWatch that passengers at Euston were being put "in danger" by "high levels of overcrowding" and "last-minute announcements" leading to rushes to platform. Network Rail, which is undertaking the review, says it will also be exploring upgrading toilet facilities. More from Euston: Sadiq Khan has said it's "looking increasingly positive" that HS2 will reach Euston and not terminate at Old Oak Common.
🚇 More London transport bits: it's been confirmed that the new air-conditioned, walkthrough trains for the Piccadilly line are going to start entering service by the end of 2025; Sadiq Khan has said he's lobbying the government for cash for extending the DLR and Bakerloo line as well as for opening the West London Orbital rail line; TfL has said it has 'no proposals' to widen the narrow Tube platforms at Clapham, amid safety criticism; and a group of 40 businesses have called on City Hall to abandon plans to extend the congestion charge to electric vans.
🚨 A 14-year-old girl has sustained 'potentially life-changing injuries' after a suspected acid attack outside a school in west London on Monday. The girl was walking with a 16-year-old relative in the vicinity of Westminster Academy in Westbourne Park at around 4.30pm when they were approached by the attacker, who was reportedly riding an e-scooter. Police arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm on Thursday, but he was released on bail on Saturday. The girl's father, Corey McFarlane, has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for her care and long-term support, so far raising £15,000. "Words cannot express the shock, pain, and trauma she is going through right now, both physically and emotionally," he wrote. "This senseless act of violence has left her with severe injuries that require urgent and long-term medical care, surgeries, rehabilitation, and mental health support."
💩 Thames mudlarking is coming back, though with a cap on the number of permits. The Port of London authority has announced it's going to start granting permits again for the practice, which sees people search the riverbank for valuable or interesting objects, often with archaeological value. The PoL had suspended the scheme in 2022 to “protect the integrity and archaeology of the foreshore", following a surge in permit applications. There were around 200 applications in 2018-19, but this rose to 5,000 three years later. Overall permit numbers are now being capped at 4,000. More info on how to join the mudlarking permit waiting list is viewable on the PoL's website.
👮 LONDON'S FINEST 👮 The trial of a Met Police firearms officer accused of murdering Chris Kaba began this past week. Martyn Blake, 40, is in the dock, having been charged with the murder of Kaba, a 24-year-old who was unarmed when he was shot in the head during a police stop in Streatham in September 2022. Blake, who denies murder, was charged last year, leading to more than 100 of the Met's firearms officers putting down their weapons in protest, though they eventually returned to duty. Revelations from the trial so far include claims Blake gave a "false" and "exaggerated" account to justify the shooting, as well as testimony from another officer on the scene who said he feared Kaba would kill him. Dashcam footage of police pursuing Kaba has also been released to the public after it was shown to the jury. The trial is expected to last three weeks. Elsewhere for the Met: a black executive who alleged he was racially profiled during an arrest has reached a settlement with the force, while the sacked officers involved in the stop-and-search of Team GB athlete Bianca Williams have been given their jobs back.
🔍 And finally, we leave you with:
Playing charades on the Overground (TikTok)
The detection of an £8 pint in London (TimeOut)
A blue plaque for the Liz Truss lettuce in Walthamstow (Guardian)
An embroidered map of London's population (LinkedIn)
When you're a bit too obsessed with London transport (TikTok)
On the distance between Victoria station and the coach station (TikTok)
The pros and cons of each Tube line (TikTok)
"I served this country – now I live in a battered caravan in one of London’s richest boroughs" (Telegraph £)
100 couples getting married for £100 each in Marylebone (BBC)