The pedicab crackdown begins
Plus: dodgy illegal immigration data, Soho's 'queer identity under threat', and a birthday party for Lucy Letby in Clapham
Morning — so ends the only unregulated form of London transport. Today TfL has unveiled new rules for pedicab drivers — a system which is basically like the one it has for taxis. A lot is still up in the air, but on the table are fare controls, criminal background checks and a ban on drivers ‘plying for hire’ on the street. And TfL also has some ideas on how to tackle many people’s least favourite thing: the boomboxes. More detail on the coming pedicab crackdown leads your round-up below.
Plus: dodgy illegal immigration data, Soho's 'queer identity under threat', and a birthday party for Lucy Letby in Clapham.
In case you missed it: on Saturday we published our investigation into the 30-year failure to create London’s next country park. For decades, Sutton council have been unable to get a series of companies to deliver a promised nature reserve roughly the size of Hyde Park. All the while species at the site have been going extinct. A naturalist called Peter Alfrey, who's been bird-watching in the area since he was 13, was immensely helpful in our reporting. Here's some of what he told us:
As someone that's been involved in this process since 1995, all I've seen is 30 years of broken promises, of unaccountability, of breaches of planning conditions, of a council unable to hold corporations to account. And fundamentally, the worst thing is just watching all the wildlife be destroyed.
From a personal level, the mental impact of that was so great I had to move out of the area. As a naturalist, we all get really quite attached emotionally to our local wildlife. I've been going over there since I was a child. I've got loads of memories, you know, and basically a bond to that site, a bond to the wildlife.
Seeing that destroyed, it's like seeing your friends and family destroyed. A lot of us have been really affected negatively by this.
What we've spied
🚲 TfL has unveiled its proposed regulations for central London's pedicabs, including fare controls and a potential ban on boomboxes. Drivers would also be subject to criminal background checks, one-year licenses, insurance requirements and vehicle inspections, according to the rules proposed by TfL in a public consultation that it launched on Monday. The transport authority has said the regulations are like "those that apply to taxis and private vehicles, but tailored to the unique nature of the pedicab and the market they operate in". Among the unique pedicab qualities TfL seems to be targeting are the boomboxes many drivers blast as they peddle through central London — as part of the consultation, Londoners are being asked if they'd like to see controls on music at certain times of the day, or banned entirely. TfL also says it's proposing fare regulation using a "time-based, distance-based or zonal-based structure", which is almost certainly in response to reports some have been charged hundreds of pounds for short journeys. TfL is also considering whether to ban pedicab drivers from "plying for hire" on the street and make them pre-bookable only.
What's clear from the press material TfL sent out to announce the consultation is that it very much has the businesses of the West End on side. The New West End Company, a lobbying group for 600 businesses in the area, was among those pushing the UK government to give TfL the power to regulate pedicabs, through what eventually became the Pedicabs (London) Act of 2024. NWEC's chief exec, Dee Corsi, is quoted by TfL in its press release as saying: "This new system will positively impact the West End, a global flagship destination. The consultation is a vital step towards ensuring passenger and pedestrian safety. We look forward to playing our part in shaping a safer and more professional pedicab service for all."
As for actual pedicab drivers — there's the piece we published last October, by the brilliant Tom Duggins. He found that while many drivers welcomed regulation — to root out bad apples and improve the trade's reputation — some feared the new rules might end up too draconian, and push them out of a job. Not least because London taxis were apparently lobbying TfL for something tough. We'll get an update on what pedicab drivers think when we can, but in the meantime, TfL's consultation closes on March 27. Announcing the consultation, Will Norman, London's walking and cycling commissioner, said: “Pedicabs should be a fun and sustainable way for people to see London but, without regulation, some drivers are behaving unsafely or antisocially, and charging extortionate prices. I’m pleased that TfL are launching this consultation on how to regulate the pedicab industry, ensuring the safety of customers, pedestrians and other road users."
🏳️🌈 "I firmly believe Soho has lost its vibrancy," wrote the owner of G-A-Y Bar on Friday, as he announced he is shutting and selling the iconic Old Compton Street venue. Jeremy Joseph revealed the news in an Instagram post, in which he also explained he'd suffered "irreparable" financial and mental damage from the fight to stop G-A-Y's sister venue — nightclub Heaven in Charring Cross — being shut down by police and the council. Heaven was temporarily closed in November last year following an alleged rape by a bouncer, but narrowly avoided permanent closure at a later license review. "I was clear to Westminster council's licensing committee that if they closed Heaven for even a short time it would potentially put G-A-Y Bar at risk financially," Joseph wrote.
G-A-Y Bar's sale comes a little over a year after Joseph shut down his other venue in Soho, G-A-Y Late, bringing to an end 15 years of operation in the neighbourhood. Joseph continued: "It doesn't feel like anyone with power cares about hospitality and it definitely doesn't feel like they care about LGBT venues". He added: "Old Compton Street has lost its queer identity. When I started G-A-Y it was always about having a venue on Old Compton Street and Canal Street, being the gayest streets in the gayest capitals. But it's not like that anymore". He also said he'd recently considered extending G-A-Y Bar's license to 3am, but: "What's the point when I know Soho Society will object, police licensing will object, [the environmental health officer] will object". A spokesperson for the Soho Society told the Spy they were sad to hear G-A-Y Bar was closing, but "respectfully" disagreed with Joseph's remarks, adding: "The more likely cause of the loss of gay venues in London is increased rents and intense property development, not licensing policy". A spokesperson for Westminster council told us they couldn't "comment on the commercial decisions of any operator". Very much related is our piece from last October, exploring the tensions between Soho's late-night scene and its residents.
And while we're on London nightlife: former night czar and lightning rod for criticism, Amy Lamé, is now getting some flak for her new job since she left City Hall last October. The Spectator reports, via her LinkedIn, that Lamé has set up a 'global consultancy' called '24hr Cities'. Cue scoffing about her new clients hopefully getting 'better value for money' than Londoners.
👮 Inspectors have announced they're taking the Met Police out of special measures, in a boost for commissioner Sir Mark Rowley's reform drive. The policing watchdog, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, said on Thursday that it was ending its enhanced monitoring of the Met, having been satisfied progress was being made since the force was first put into special measures in 2022. Inspectors specifically said London's police had improved the time it takes to answer emergency calls, its handling of missing children and child abuse cases, and its "professional standards". The Met started being inspected more closely by the watchdog in June 2022, off the back of a series of crises and scandals — notably the murder of Sarah Everard by rogue cop Wayne Couzens — and the ousting of former commissioner Cressida Dick. Reacting to the end of special measures, Rowley, Dick's successor, said: "The progress we have made over the last two-and-a-half years would not have been possible without the unwavering passion, sense of duty, courage and hard work of our officers and staff in the face of some incredibly challenging circumstances. The whole of the Met has worked to fix our broken foundations and make sure our officers are set up to deliver for London."
🌉 Hammersmith Bridge could be fully closed until 2035, a local MP has warned. Fleur Anderson, Labour MP for Putney, last week told London's Local Democracy Reporting Service that it was not realistic to expect the bridge to be reopened by the end of the current Parliament as "even if they started [now] it would be 10 years of building". Hammersmith Bridge was closed to motor vehicles in 2019 when cracks appeared in its pedestals, but it's since been re-opened for only pedestrians and cyclists. This week, on January 30, a task force for the bridge established by previous transport secretary Grant Shapps is meeting for the first time since 2021, this time chaired by the new minister for local transport, Labour's Simon Lightwood. Probably on the agenda: where to find the estimated £250m needed to fix the bridge once and for all. More bridge news: the Millennium Bridge will be closed in the spring for £3.5m in refurbishment works.
💰 City Hall debated the mayor's latest budget on Thursday, leading to a predictable row over tax and the suggestion of ultimately doomed spending ideas from other parties. Conservative assembly member Alessandro Georgiou led the grilling over Sir Sadiq Khan's proposed 4% rise in his share of council tax, pointing out that the mayor had now raised it by 75% since he first took office in 2016. He asked if Khan could "speak to your mates in this commie new Government and [ask] whether they’ll give you money, as you promised they would". Khan responded by saying the rise was needed to fund the Met, which had seen real-term cuts to its funding under the previous Tory government and his mayoral predecessor, Boris Johnson. Meanwhile, the London Greens put forward an amendment with their own spending ideas, together worth £15.6m, to be partly paid for by increasing the congestion charge by £1. They included setting up a drug consumption room in London, like the one recently opening in Glasgow, as well as the creation of more public toilets. The ideas were voted down by the Labour-majority assembly. BTW, on loos: earlier this month Age UK put out some detailed stats about the decline of public toilets in the capital over the past decade. It found that London boroughs had closed 97 existing toilets since 2023/24 and only opened 32 new ones.
🏚️ London's social housing waiting list has hit a decade high. As highlighted by London Councils, the umbrella group for the boroughs, recent government data shows there were 336,366 households waiting for social housing across the capital, the highest since 2013, when there were 344,294, and a rise of 32% since 2014. London Councils blames an effective £700m cut to local social housing budgets. It comes after data published at the end of 2024 that also showed affordable housing starts have suffered a sharp decline in London, falling 88% in the year to March. Evidence of how desperate some London councils are to deal with their growing homelessness crisis can be seen in Havering, which last week announced a plan to convert office blocks into temporary accommodation.
🗺️ FROM THE BOROUGHS 🗺️ At a crunch meeting last night, Hackney council's cabinet gave final approval to another wave of school closures, citing falling pupil numbers in the borough. See our report from last November for more on the Hackney schools crisis. Also on schools: teachers at schools in Redbridge have been on strike this month in a long-running dispute over working conditions and pay.
Meanwhile, in Tower Hamlets, the council has had official confirmation that the government is sending in ministerial envoys. It follows an inspection of the council last year that raised concerns about a "toxic" and fractured working culture at the town hall. And in Lambeth, the borough's ceremonial mayor is getting some heat for reportedly boasting about his taxpayer-funded limousine, despite the council's wider moves against car use.
🔍 And finally, we leave you with:
Lucy Letby supporters celebrating her birthday at The Windmill pub in Clapham Common (Daily Mail)
The sinister vibes of Old Street’s National Rail platform (TikTok)
The £138m sale of a Regent's Park mansion to a new mystery owner (Guardian)
A day in the life of a four-hour London super commuter (TikTok)
Tiny parks on the Underground (TikTok)
A big proposed change to Elephant & Castle’s skyline (TikTok)
A massive immersive exhibition space coming to Battersea Power Station (www)
Places in London that should be turned into Wetherspoons (TikTok)
How Nigerian Londoners found their identity through football (Guardian)
How influencers are snapping up homes in London's poshest postcodes (Times £)
Lime bikes keep breaking Londoners' legs (London Centric)
50 things to do in London for less than the price of a pint(Time Out)
TfL celebrating its 25th birthday (Londonist)
Why TfL charges you at 4am (TikTok)
Being esoteric and connected to nature in Hackney Marshes (TikTok)
How renting in London became an unimaginable hellscape (Independent)
Dodgy data on London's undocumented
There's been a lot of focus on exactly how many illegal migrants live in London, following a dubious headline in the Telegraph.
On Thursday the newspaper splashed its front page with "One in 12 in London is illegal migrant", and claimed it had unearthed the figure from "a previously confidential report".
The one in 12 stat was then picked up by the likes of Laurence Fox and Richard Tice, who used it to bash the capital as an "occupied city".
But in the reality, the Telegraph's source was much more underwhelming — the highly classified material the paper had acquired was a 2023 report commissioned by Thames Water assessing, er, water demand.
Specifically, researchers had attempted to quantify the company's "hidden" and "transient" water users, which, along with those living short-term in London or at second addresses, included "irregular migrants".
Having got our hands on a copy of that report ourselves, we think there's three reasons why the Telegraph's reporting wasn't accurate.
First, the paper's headline used the upper estimate provided by researchers, 585,533 irregular migrants in London, instead of the researchers' median figure of 487,944 and a lower bound of 390,355.
Second, the paper used an odd figure for the total London population, 7,044,667, to arrive at the one in 12 statistic.
This population figure was included by researchers as an estimate of London's "usual resident population" — which means the Telegraph should have added all the unusual resident populations the report was actually estimating before calculating the proportion.
If they had, and used the median figure for irregular migrants, their headline would have been more like one in 15. But, lastly, the Thames Water researchers weren't really doing much original analysis themselves.
Instead, they had arrived at their figures by drawing on previous studies specifically aimed at estimating irregular migrant populations.
That included a far more thorough study by researchers at the University of Wolverhampton from 2020, commissioned by the Greater London Authority to figure out how many undocumented children lived in the capital.
If you take that study's figure — 397,000 undocumented people, including children — and divide it by London's population in the 2021 census — 8,799,800 — you get one in 22.
That's basically double the Telegraph headline.