Pity London's poor crafty underagers. A further hurdle was today placed in the way of their illegally buying booze and fags as supermarket chain Budgens unveiled a trial of hi-tech face-recognition cameras in one of its London stores – technology that will weed out teenage drinkers and smokers before they reach the tills. First the smoking ban. Then Boris's quaint 'don't drink on the tube' posters. Indulging in our favourite national pastimes is getting......

The legendary girls from St Trinians had their premiere last night in Leicester Square. St Trinian's is the 2007 film of the 1950s film series is getting certain bits of the press excited, with a cast that features Rupert Everett in drag, Russell Brand twatting about with no noticeable change of costume or persona, Colin Firth striding about being humourless and lots of attractive women playing schoolgirls. Celia Imrie and Anna Chancellor both have......

Today marks 20 years since a dropped match started a blaze at King’s Cross tube station that killed 31 people. Smoking on the sub-surface portions of the Underground had been banned two years before the 1987 fire, but at the time smokers were still allowed to light up on their way out of the station. It’s thought that a smoker’s match fell beneath the wooden escalator and ignited the mixture of grease and rubbish......

You can get packed into a club playing bad techno any weekend, but it’s not often that you get to party like it’s 1859. Saturday’s White Mischief, themed “From The Earth To The Moon”, was an evening envisioning the future as the Victorians imagined it (well before George Orwell came along and scared the crap out of us). The crowd was split between those in standard club dress and those who went all out......

The name of the band Korpiklaani means 'forest clan' in Finnish, so perhaps it isn't so surprising that the band started their set at Camden Underground an hour or so late. Our theory is that they got lost on the Tube, distracted by the leafy promise in such place-names as Oakwood or Wood Green or Green Park, only to be met with bitter disappointment upon venturing aboveground. What really matters is that Korpiklaani eventually......

Smoking is cool – hhhm, potentially debatable, although we know which side of the fence we straddle. Puffing a six-inch, battery powered ‘e-cig,’ which bears an uncanny resemblance to a pregnancy test, so not cool – non-debatable … or so we thought … A meagre few months into the ban, with chilly season fast approaching, club owners are getting savvy with the ciggie, most specifically the owners of Soho hotspot Chinawhite, who have just introduced......

As befits a truly global capital, London has established itself as a hub in the important international trade of tourist-attracting human reproductions, importing Chinese warriors and exporting waxwork celebrities. While the first crowds were taking a gander at 20 members of the Emperor Ying’s terracotta court at the British Museum, 51 waxworks produced by Madame Tussauds arrived in Washington DC, naked and apparently ready to party. The likes of Beyonce, George Clooney, Tom Cruise......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to Win-nie, Happy birthday to you! Londonist would like to congratulate Winnie Langley for reaching the precious age of 100 years old today. To put this in context, this means she's seen two World Wars and no less than 19 different Prime Ministers. Wow, that's a lot of stuff to see in a lifetime. So how is Winnie, from Croydon going to celebrate her......

Stones told off for smoking on stage. What has happened to our rock and roll? Thousands of jobs may go in the City. Serpentine Pavillion unveiled. No bail for Dando killer. Wife branded with iron for not doing housework to hubby's satisfaction. Image courtesy of atharabidi via the Londonist flickr group.......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

Hello Jack! I've not blogged here for a couple of weeks. Did you miss me? ...what do you mean you've forgotten that this column even existed? Damn your face, and all it stands for! Actually, that's nasty of me. I apologise profusely and unreservedly. You've got a lovely face, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, least of all David Milliband. It would be a terrible shame to cast your face asunder from the......

BBC 6music news reported this evening that KOKO, Camden Town’s premiere indie-club-gig place and home of Club NME, is planning to introduce smoking rations for those undisciplined weaklings who’ve been unwilling or unable to kick the filthy habit by 1 July. Under a new scheme, on club nights only (we assume gigs present too many security issues) those wishing to smoke will be generously granted 7 minute fag breaks outside - but none of......

Roding foreboding - East End river's flood defences may be inadequate. Pensioner dies after being pelted by by kids. Man ploughs car into group of girls. The nightclub owner who's openly flouting the smoking ban. There's always one. DLR to get longer trains. Image courtesy of onionbagblogger via the Londonist flickr group.......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

How many weeks after a smoking ban is implemented does it take before the wrath of the smokers results in violence? The answer is three. A trio of men at a south-west London club were seen fleeing the scene after James Oyebola, a former British heavyweight boxer, was shot in the head and leg. Oyebola, 47, had confronted the men about smoking at the club, Chateau 6 in Fulham Road. He was taken to......

The other week our drinking water was excellent - now 80,000 people must boil it. We're sticking to scotch. 'Original' Arsenal pub knocked down. Mistaken identity over art student's smoking display leads to councillor getting pub ban. Bloody students. St Panc catches fire, causing travel delays. Carnival route unchanged from last year. Image courtesy of (KG) via the Londonist flickr group.......

Rockabaret is fabulous. Dress up. Be crazy, silly, decadent, beautiful. And then dance the night away to your favourite songs! Londonist had a chat with Nikkie Amouyal, director of Rockabaret, who runs the night with Tony Maggs. The next night is on Saturday 21st July at the Cobden club: Viva La Revolution! What is so different about your club night? It's glamorous, extravagant, elegant and what a rock star party should be! We have......

Whether we're happy about it or not, everyone is aware that the smoking ban is in full force. And going down surprisingly well for the most part. The one downside of the ban is that it will unfortunately have an impact on some pubs and restaurants. Especially those without outside seating areas. But two weeks into the ban and it seems that some people aren't too happy with this. They think that for some......

Police go 'on the buses' to tackle crime Arsenal of weapons concealed at foot of child's bed. Lack of ethnic sperm donors. Bernard Manning punchlines unwelcome. Wacky vicar blesses no smoking sign - with smoky incense. Those Catholics. What will they do next? Image courtesy of ~Misty~ via the Londonist flickr group.......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

When the long arm of the law finally caught up to bike thief Daniel Westrop, it....slapped him gently on the wrist and said “You naughty boy! You’ve been very bad. Now go sit on that comfortable armchair and think about what you’ve done!” Westrop, 27, had been stealing scores of expensive mountain bikes from stations in the heart of commutersville, mainly targeting Walton on Thames, West Byfleet, Brookwood and Surbiton. Though only charged with......

We couldn't resist really. After all, Londonist used to be known as The Big Smoker. How could we not mark the smoking ban with a bit of pictorial fun. Please send your own images of the capital, all twisted and distorted, to londonist - at - gmail.com......

The big day has arrived! I couldn't be happier that never again in this country will I have to play a gig in a smoky room, but it is going to be interesting to see what side effects the new smoking ban has. Scaremongers are predicting that less people will go to gigs if they can't smoke and that the people who do go will keep going running during the performances to smoke. Now......

Fresh from the muddied fields of Glastonbury, Fat Freddy’s Drop arrived in London on Wednesday, playing the first of two sold-out Astoria dates. Most of the city’s dub reggae-loving New Zealanders must have turned up to see their countrymen mix up reggae, soul, jazz and electro-dub in the way that only FFD do best. Kicking off in fine form with their biggest hit Wandering Eye, the Astoria was transformed into a sea of bopping......

With gay pride hitting London this weekend for its annual raunchfest of protesting, parading and partying, we thought it the right time to approach Megan Jones, promoter of Vauxhall house music mega-club FiRE, to find out what they will be getting up to. What are your plans for Pride? We've got loads on for Pride this year. Firstly we'll be participating in the parade on Oxford Street, and afterwards we'll be hosting the sound......

Europe's biggest gay and lesbian festival, Pride London, is back this Saturday. Expect a hefty downpour, if the current forecast is accurate. There's heaps on this year, though, if you make it out to support your brothers and sisters. It all kicks off when the ever-eclectic Parade heads through the centre of town from 1pm, along a route taking in the West End's Oxford and Regent Streets before heading over to Tafalgar Square and......

Londonist's resident toddler draws the news. This week: the smoking ban. by David Le Fleming and Paul Ewen.......

We're not going to lie to you – Londonist likes a pint now and then. And, on occasion, we've been known to get a bit drunk. So, if we were going to set out to get ourselves barred from every pub in a London borough, we would probably take it one pub at a time. And, because we're not really very troublesome, it would probably take a very long time to manage it. A......

Ken Livingstone has joined the anti-patio heaters brigade, which is sad news for all the smokers that will be huddled outside pub doors after the 1st July smoking ban. While he doesn't have the power to actually ban the heaters, he feels very strongly about their use and has urged retailers not to promote them. Environmental group Friends of the Earth called for the ban of the heaters earlier this month, and garden centre......