🪧 London locals fight back against AI data centre

📰 Residents near Brick Lane, East London, are protesting a 5,200 sq m data centre planned for the historic Truman Brewery site: citing noise, ugly design, and heavy water/power use (as much as 15,000 homes) amid the city's worst drought in decades.

👌 The UK government approved it anyway, overruling Tower Hamlets Council and the Save Brick Lane campaign, saying economic benefits outweigh the downsides:

• Mayor Lutfur Rahman: the centre will do nothing for "the activity, vitality and character" of the area.

• Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook: it'll give City of London traders faster, lower-latency connections.

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👂 A "quiet space" appears in the London Underground as part of a new trial

📰 Rush-hour crowds can be a real barrier for neurodivergent travellers. TfL, together with NOOK pod and the charity Autistica, has trialled a calm space at Ealing Broadway station – a small low-stimulation nook with acoustic shielding, soft seating and nature-scene panels, open until 2 October and accessible to wheelchair users, pushchairs and assistance dogs.

ℹ️ Autistica's research with neurodivergent people found that having somewhere quiet to retreat to can boost confidence and help people keep travelling independently instead of avoiding journeys altogether.

📍 A second calm space opens this autumn at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, as part of TfL's £3m-a-year, five-year accessibility push.

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🇬🇧 Bank of England holds rate at 3.75%

📰 The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to keep rates unchanged, with the minority pushing for a 25bp hike to 4%. The call largely matched analyst expectations, even as inflation hit a 5-month high – UK CPI rose 3.1% y/y and 0.5% m/m in August.

ℹ️ Governor Andrew Bailey signaled a possible future hike amid energy market volatility, saying that for now rising energy prices have had limited pass-through to pricing and wage growth, but the longer this instability persists, the more it will feed into inflation – and the more likely a rate hike becomes to bring inflation back to the 2% target.

📆 Next MPC meeting: November 5.

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🚂 Ruislip Lido Railway opens for a two-day special

📰 This weekend, the UK's longest miniature railway (with a track gauge of just 30.5 cm) is running trains every 15 minutes through woodland and around Ruislip Lido. Visitors can also check out the locomotives, join a depot tour, and browse the gift shop.

📅 September 19-20, 11:00-17:00
🎟 Tickets on the official website

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🧡 London doesn't need summer to shine

🍂 Golden plane trees along the Thames, misty mornings, crunchy leaves in the parks, and that first proper coat-and-scarf weather. Add roasted chestnuts and cosy pubs, and you've got the most underrated season in the city.

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🎤 The legend lives on

📰 A mural of Freddie Mercury has appeared next to London's Wembley Stadium. Titled "I'm Mr. Mercury," the anamorphic artwork by street artist Frank Styles stretches across all 58 of Wembley Park's Spanish Steps — and only reveals itself as a single portrait from one designated viewing spot.

• The mural is surrounded by symbols close to Mercury's heart: koi carp, a nod to his love of Japan, and winged fairy figures tied to his zodiac sign, Virgo that is imagery he once wove into the Queen crest himself.

• The location is no coincidence, too. Wembley is where the legendary Live Aid festival took place in 1985.

📍 Free to view 24/7 through December 2026.

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🌉 Waterloo Bridge could close over cracks

📰 Cracks and water damage have been found on Waterloo Bridge, and it could be forced to close within three to four years if urgent repairs aren't carried out. Over 25,000 vehicles and thousands of pedestrians and cyclists use it every day, so a closure would put real pressure on neighbouring bridges and roads.

📍 It joins the list of ailing London crossings: Hammersmith Bridge has been closed to cars since 2019, and Albert Bridge got car restrictions earlier this year.

👌 For now, Waterloo Bridge is open as usual.

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🏚 London landlord started demolishing a building while a tenant was asleep inside. Now he's suing for £100k

ℹ️ Nicola Saia says he woke up in July 2023 to a loud noise and debris falling from the ceiling. Workers had begun stripping the roof with the landlord's approval, even though Saia was still inside.

📍 The building is the former Cricketers pub in Kennington, right next to the Oval cricket ground. It was a famous music pub in the 1980s, later a Portuguese restaurant, and its roof was used by fans to watch sold-out matches for free.

📰 Saia is seeking up to £100,000 for distress and unlawful eviction. The owner disputes that he was a tenant in the conventional sense.

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👓 UK smart glasses: ban them or not?

⚖️ Camera glasses are splitting British society. Courts across the UK have barred them since August, several London venues have restricted them over covert filming, and UK cinemas are weighing bans over piracy. Campaigners are pushing to stop their mass-market sale and want the devices banned.

🧾 On the other side, groups like the RNIB warn that over-regulation could take away a key tool for blind and visually impaired people, who use the glasses to read menus, signs and labels.

🤔 The government said in June it has no plans for specific legislation and points to existing laws. Meanwhile, a YouGov poll found 49% of Brits support a ban in public spaces, and 30% oppose it.

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🎨 Johnny Depp’s first major London exhibition is now open

📍 Halcyon Gallery, New Bond Street

📰 On October 13, the actor unveiled a large show of his paintings and sculptures at Halcyon Gallery on New Bond Street. It features floral compositions, psychological portraits and fantastical imagery, many inspired by the outsiders and antiheroes he has played on screen.

⭐️ Highlight: his first-ever sculpture, The Rabbit Man, based on a drawing by his son Jack, made at age five. It echoed a recurring childhood dream Depp had at the same age.

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🎫 London has a new immersive experience

🆕 Absurd City at Westfield London is a surreal parallel world with 5 districts, each with its own story, quirky installations and hidden rooms:

🛍️ Bloom Street – a bizarre shopping paradise
♻️ Reclamia – discarded objects turned into spectacular creations
🎨 Imaginopolis – a colourful world of art
👾 NEON // NEXUS – a futuristic underground world
💎 Elite HQ – a surreal world of luxury and excess

🎟️ Tickets: from £22.95 (price depends on date and time)
📍 Absurd City, Westfield London, Ariel Way, W12 7SL (Shepherd’s Bush)

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🏙 Skyscrapers win: new towers to rise near the Tower of London

📰 The UK government has approved new skyscrapers on the eastern edge of the Square Mile, within sight of the Tower, despite objections from Historic England. The heritage body warned that river views of the fortress underpin its UNESCO World Heritage status.

ℹ️ The Planning Inspectorate disagreed: the City’s plan protects the Tower just as well, and visual separation from the cluster will remain. The City had warned that the alternative could block up to 20 towers and cost £1.2bn a year in economic output.

🗯 As City planning chair Tom Sleigh put it, this was never a choice between the Tower and jobs.

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