Following Westminster's purge of the Oxford Street sandwich boards whose draconian fines kicked in yesterday, the New West End Company (another of those BID companies) is also taking steps to improve the 'up West' shopping experience by quizzing its 100,000 retail staff on their knowledge of the "wonders" of the area. The company, funded by the area's businesses aims to make shopping in the West End a more pleasant experience for tourists and locals......

A sight ubiquitous with West End shopping could be scrubbed forever from the streets, if Westminster Council get their way: they are planning on banishing "sandwich boards". Such walking advertisements have been scattered across London since time immemorial, and for much of their existence performed a valuable service, offering, in the pre-horoscope days, vital globs of millenarian musing: "The end is nigh" and "Repent! Repent! Repent!" being two popular missives. With rumours of the......

What's the Tokyo Look, then? Simpering ads for mascara featuring hot young Japanese models batting their lids while riding the Bullet train? Middle-aged American men crooning bad karaoke to their doe-eyed young companions? Nope. The Tokyo look is inspired by that city's Shibuya district, which offers diagonal pedestrian crossing at busy junctions. Oxford Circus, whose crosstown traffic makes it so hard to get through, may adopt the same system under a new proposal. Currently,......

So, it seems that Steven Bigby who was just 22, was killed over a drink being thrown outside McDonald's on Oxford Street yesterday. Steven died in hospital from a stab wound to the chest. The police are not treating the incident as gang related or premeditated, but are looking for "Four men, who were black and aged between 20 and 30, [who] fled the scene after the attack." Anyone who took photographs of the scene......

A man in his 20s was fatally stabbed yesterday evening, in broad daylight, outside McDonalds on Oxford Street. The incident happened at the beginning of rush hour, around 17.00, when the area must have been packed with hot, shoppy people who could have witnessed the incident. Police are talking to those on the scene and examining CCTV footage. It seems the young man had been in McDonalds and was subsequently involved in an altercation outside.......

Credit crunch, you say? Bah, we're having none of it. Shops in the West End have punched above their weight so far this year: according to a new report from the British Retail Consortium, retail sales in London grew 10.5% in February, up from 3.8% in January, while footfall on the city's major shopping streets recorded a 4.3% year on year rise for March. All this in a climate where the national market is......

It's been a strange ol' week for Londonist music-wise. On Monday we got worried about a rise in nightclub violence, on Tuesday caught Goldfrapp at Union Chapel, on Wednesday caught Nick Cave at HMV and on Thursday got excited about a new-ish club night at Three Blind Mice. Looking ahead to this week however, Monday sees Panic At the Disco and Kate Nash play sold out shows at the Roundhouse and Hammersmith Apollo respectively, whilst......

Seems like Monday was a good day for album launch shows. Whilst Londonista Dave was experiencing the fragile ether-eality of Goldfrapp in Union Chapel, we were in the slightly less salubrious surroundings of HMV Oxford Street, where a reed thin moustachioed man is hopping up and down preaching hell and damnation, or at least something about scissors and prolix, next to some guru-esque sixties serial killer lookalike who's doing strange things to strange things.......

It's officially Spring and by Pisces it's lovely out there in the sunshine. Crocuses have been spotted in Highbury Fields so our biggest recommendation for expenditure light trips this week is get to the parks and into the gardens and witness the miracles of the changing seasons. If you're in need of more artificial stimulation, however, and are squirrelling all your spare cash into your ISA before the end of the tax year then......

That burly fella on the tube looking a bit shifty? The diminutive woman with a suspiciously large rucksack giving you the heeby jeebies? Got a funny feeling about that couple walking along Oxford Street? The Met want you to report it. A new campaign is being launched to encourage Londoners to "trust their instincts" and contact the Anti-Terrorist Hotline if they see anything untoward. Adverts on the tube and on radio will exhort people......

A series celebrating the talent of our friends over in the Londonist Flickr pool who make our site look pretty with their fabulous photographs. Here, they introduce themselves and share their favourite London shots. I was on Oxford Street, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I'd originally gone to do some shopping, but ended up spending the better part of an afternoon taking photos of Londoners next to an abandoned......

The Germaniaxx Isn't the weather glorious? Stand in the sunshine and it's definitely spring. This makes us happy! This means that we can walk in the park and get about town and not feel miserably wintry and therefore desperate to waste our hard earned on firelit pubs and woolly accessory buying. Well, not quite so much. We are, however, saving up our cash to spend on Creme Eggs and the rebuild Camden Market fund so......

Bourne And Hollingsworth, an erstwhile department store on Oxford Street, has been recalled to life as a snug basement speakeasy at the foot of Charlotte Street. Why? Who cares. It's one of those word-of-mouth Narnia places that would normally only exist if you weren't looking for it. Last night, hundreds of people were looking for it. The powers of Facebook had conjured up a crowd to witness the first Fitzrovia Radio Hour. The idea......

The Chinese New Year Celebrations in Soho are undoubtedly one of the highspots of London’s cultural calendar, and this year there’s a load of extra stuff (some would say hype) going on ‘cos of the Beijing/London Olympic connection. Last year’s ceremonies were the biggest outside China, and this year’s look set to be even more impressive. So here’s a special Londonist round up of where to see and what to do…. 6th February: kick......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 28th January 1807: The gas lamps on Pall Mall are lit, making it the first street in the world to be illuminated in such a fashion. Tuesday – 29th January 1976: Twelve IRA bombs explode in the area around Oxford Street, injuring a taxi driver and starting several small fires. Wednesday – 30th January 1969: The Beatles perform live for the last time ever, on the roof......

Every month, the folks at Fancyapint? get together to vote for their top ten favourite pubs. These are recently visited pubs that for one reason or another (the ambience, the booze, the company) stuck in their collective memory. Kindly, these booze-savvy Fancyapinters have decided to share their latest picks with Londonist and all our readers. Cheers! Here’s the current list from Fancyapint? in no particular order of merit. They assure us that all ten......

2007 is quickly slipping away, and with it the few remaining book events for the year. As most of us are busy buying books for the bibliophiles on our shopping lists rather than reading or going to signings this week, we thought we’d present you with an alternative Book Grocer today. For those of you already finished with your shopping (you overachievers you), the traditional listings follow. If, like Londonist, you go for the......

It’s the week before Christmas, and like us, you’re probably panicking because you’ve still got loads of shopping to do. If you have a spare night when you’re not out at wild and crazy office Christmas parties or fighting the crowds on Oxford Street, here are a few suggestions to keep you entertained. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 17 December Dispatches: How Safe Are Your Christmas Toys? (Channel 4, 21:00-22:00) If you’re Christmas shopping......

Last full week before Christmas, we expect your bank account's feeling the strain. All that Christmas shopping and partying taking its toll? If you want to make the most of being out and about before Christmas cabin fever and complete exhaustion set in then we're here to help. Monday: Keep the braincells going through silly season. Go to the free lecture at Gresham College about why our society rewards celebrities, fads and fashions and......

If you're stumbling around department stores, going red and sweating with embarrassment as you try to choose the perfect piece of lingerie for your other girlfriend, then this Thursday help may be at hand. Both this week and next Thurs (20th Dec), John Lewis on Oxford Street are hosting a Lingerie Buying Academy for Men. With detailed instructions on how to gather the necessary information you need beforehand (check for size, colours, brands etc),......

We love music videos obviously set in London and we love it even more when it's someone we think is ace. Malcolm Middleton is challenging X Factor for Xmas #1 and while we think it's extremely unlikely that he'll manage it, we're going to give him all the support we can. This is the funny video for "We're All Going To Die", mainly set down Oxford Street. It's out on Monday and we hope it......

So this week, we spent all our money on cold remedies and extra balmy tissues for our beleaguered noses. The plan is to be back and fighting fit by Monday so here are some of the things we could all get up to this week for very little wonga. Monday: Call the BBC Ticket Line on 0870 901 1227 and get free tickets for the recording of Clare in the Community - the radio......

London is getting more dangerous by the day ladies and gentlemen. It's not enough that a quick trip down Oxford Street is going to leave you gasping like a floundering flounder on the deck of a homeward bound fishing trawler, now you can't even grab the number of your local brass from that phone booth down the road in safety. Well, not if you live in Camden, so breath easy SE London for the......

OK, so maybe not kills, although it might, but it is bad for you. Details to follow. A new report shows that shopping in an area with a high volume of traffic has a worse affect on your lungs than walking around a park. For a moment this looks like one of those no shit Sherlock stories; however, the study is specifically related to people with asthma and the effect that diesel engines have......

The Londonist Music Minions have had a night off from their hectic gigging schedule tonight, and we hope that you have done the same. The party season is rapidly approaching, and you need at least one laid-back evening to conserve your energy for the rest of the week… If you can, start things off gently tomorrow (Tuesday) with one-time Zero 7 vocalist Sia at King’s College Student Union (tickets are officially sold out, but......

It happens at the worst of times, always. You'll be in that changing room of Topshop, jeans straddled around your hips, or on that tube platform, waiting for a train with a requisite five minute delay and then it strikes you - the urge to pee. Out of your comfort zone (the zone of knowing where the nearest cubicle is), the fear magnifies tenfold. You could surreptitiously enter that local restaurant, and negotiate the humiliation......

Four weeks till Christmas! Argh. Funds are all focused on present buying and getting through the party season but we still want to go out and about because the heating isn't working properly at home. We can't afford to go and see Gandalf drop his trousers in King Lear but, thankfully, there's lots of cheap and interesting stuff about as usual. Monday: Start the week with an event truly in the spirit of London......

We’re gob-smacked we are that Brits have a bad bed rep. As far as the eye can see, quite literally, we’re about as randy as a canine on heat. Sexual sighting number one: freshers strip during freshers week – now that sure is an original way to make friends (although the residents of Kingston might argue to the contrary). Sexual sighting number two: Swedish porn at the ICA. This really qualifies as six sightings,......

Bored of eating your sandwich at your desk or trying to resist heading out to Oxford Street and spending more money than you have in your lunch hour? Well MINI may have the answer as over the last few weeks they've been instigating a series of learning lunches. They've already taught a bunch of people how to lie effectively (!) and this week it's time for a session all about talking your way back......

A night of clubbing is as much about the music you want to hear as it is the experience you hope to get out of it. Whilst there are endless opportunities to don your best threads and brave the night buses to see and be seen, we prefer to come as we are, get sweaty and get down. With their irresistible selection of post-punk and electro classics and obscurities, Our Disco ticks all our......