Memorial to Lucinda Ferrier We've seen them around New York, but this is the first time we've spotted a ghost bike in London. This white cycle, across the road from Stoke Newington station in northeast London, commemorates the life of Lucinda Ferrier, who died while biking past this spot earlier in the year. According to this map, a few other ghost bikes are starting to crop up around the capital now, offering a poignant memory......

We've been keeping a close eye on the London Roller Girls for a good while now and we're pleased to report that it seems these girls can party as hard as they can roll. This Saturday the girls will be taking over Barden's Boudoir in Stoke Newington for one of their semi regular fundraisers. Non skaters amongst us shouldn't be scared for this evening is deemed as a 'non skating event'. Those of you......

The arthritic pygmy goats of Clissold Park will be hobbling for joy. Hackney's favourite place, as voted for by borough residents in a 2007 poll, and venue for the yearly Stokefest fun, is set for a £8.9 million revamp. We brought you the news of Cedric the rabbit last year, whose ears were flapping with excitement about the park winning a significant lottery grant. Well, Hackney Council have ponied up another £4.1 million, and......

Hackney wasn't very happy that Jacqui Smith singled it out as an unsafe place to walk alone, late at night. We sympathise with Ms Smith as it's not our favourite place to hoik it home from in the small hours but it was bad press nonetheless. Spotting an opportunity to be a local hero, MP, Diane Abbott, bounced back for the borough and organised a late night stroll round the mean streets of Hackney,......

And now for something completely different. We stumbled upon Joey Herzfeld and some of Hooverville at the Carling Academy back in January. Their extraordinarily different sound, great musicianship and stage presence alienated half the crowd and transfixed the rest. Were they mental or brave musical pioneers? We couldn't resist snagging them for an interview purely on the basis of a song called "Cavity Search" and a frenetic gypsy dancing interlude. It went like this.........

After receiving what they judiciously describe as "a lot" of feedback, TfL has announced significant changes to the recorded information announcements on London buses. Those changes mainly seem to involve - hooray! - reducing their frequency. The announcements, rolled out last year in conjunction with a display system, are designed to help visually impaired travellers, as well as visitors, navigate the confusing streets of London. A worthy project, certainly, though it means less hilarious......

Four years, countless consultancy fees, umpteen broken promises and many millions of pounds later, Clissold Leisure Centre in Stoke Newington is finally re-opening this weekend. For those who've not followed the saga, here's the story in brief. In 2000 the Centre opened amidst a brass band's worth of pomp and publicity, the very model of a modern, major, New Labour endorsed Lottery-funded Millennium project. Come early 2004, the facility was closed, having accumulated a......

Bored tonight? Well if you're hanging round East London without much to do then we recommend a visit to Stoke Newington's Bardens Boudoir. Constantly a source of exciting small bands and DIY events, tonight Upset The Rhythm are your hosts. Girl Talk is their headlining act and one we're particularly excited about. A big star in the music circles, Gregg Gillis has been mixing up all types of songs in his DJ sets as......

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......

Residents of Stoke Newington, you should be proud. Local proprietor Kirit Ved is flying the Stokey flag all the way up in Birmingham where, at a glittering ceremony, he has just been named Independent Newsagent of the Year 2007. VED News, on Church Street in N16, was singled out by the judges for its impressive range of newspapers and magazines from around the globe. Reflecting Hackney's polyglot populace, Mr. Ved stocks titles from the......

Missed out on tickets to Glastonbury? Can't wait til the end of the summer for Reading festival? Wish all the cool festivals were on your doorstep? No need to worry as we have the answer. Get yourselves down to Stoke Newington (yes, you did read that right) on Sunday 10th June and go and party at Stokefest 2007. It's London's very own mini festival right in the middle of Hackney. OK, so it's not......

There's no question in my mind that My Space is a wonderful thing but I find it alternately inspiring and overwhelming when you get a glimpse of the sheer number of bands and promoters are out there trying to do their thing. It doesn't help that at the majority of gigs I've played on the so-called "toilet circuit" I haven't been that keen on the other bands, I'm not someone who will randomly pop......

The National Archives might be shut today (for maypole dancing or demonstrating - we just don’t know) but they’re amusing us all through the release of correspondence between Buckingham Palace and the Home Office from 1947 about affairs of grave, national importance. Wedding tat, to be exact. That pivotal moment in history when the good old, tacky ‘n’ tasteless, cheap and cheerful royal wedding souvenir trade emerged straying mutinously far from the acceptable tradition......

You may remember the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston for its inspired football World Cup sessions last summer where the on-screen action from Germany was accompanied by two competing free jazz ensembles. This time the club has turned to blues in the shape of South-East London guitarists Steve Morrison and Billy Jenkins who are presenting a brand new programme of topical music to accompany... a chess tournament. This Sunday sees the climax of five......

See that bunny, there? We call him Cedric. He lives in Clissold Park. It’s a nice place to live. His neighbours are a group of fallow deer and some pygmy goats. When he’s not eating celery Cedric enjoys watching the children splishing about in the paddling pool, listening out for the twitterings from the nearby aviary and the pock, thwack from the tennis courts and feeling very glad that the thousands of dogs that......

This is the new, rather rad, video from Charlotte Hatherley for her new single Behave which was released on download just before Christmas. In fact Londonist even ate some buttered muffins with Charlotte and talked about growing up in Chiswick and where her musical career is going just before the festival season. The chat involves choice quotes such as "Some of Stoke Newington could do with falling into the sea." When we stop being......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Wednesday The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghoutir has fourteen books under his belt and has been described by Edward Said as “one of the finest existential accounts of Palestinian displacement we now have”. Tonight Barghouti will give a talk on the nature of exile, read his poetry (in English) and a short extract from I......

The clubbing part of Londonist are about to jump in a car and head down to dance to Sasha and only the bloody Pet Shop Boys at Bestival (thanks to everyone who entered our competition to win tickets, but you should have read the date - it was 2005!). Before we whizz down to Portsmouth though, we thought we'd better fill those of you left in London as to what's going on this weekend.......

A Royal Family of clowns, teddy bears and moomins, spotted on a wall down Stoke Newington Church Street. But does anyone know who painted this unorthodox royal portrait?......

Friday: Misterlee play Big Fibbers Beautiful Bucket of Fun at The Bodrum Cafe, 61 Stoke Newington High St, N16. Doors at 7.00pm, show 8.00pm, £3 in and we're told there's hot & cold food available which should be enough to sway anyone still to be swayed by Misterlee's slightly unhinged lo-fi Engish eccentrica. Saturday: the sultry, sexy Sohodolls saunter down to Underworld from 11 till late. Monday: Mike Rosenberg's Mike Rosenberg Band are at......

Tonight: Kaibosh are back to deliver some meaty crunching riffs at G Lounge, 18 Kentish Town Road. Doors open 7pm and £4 in. Or else make your way down to The Social for a second dose of Sonic Cathedral where prime Norwegian MBV-ers Serena Mareesh and The High Dials will be playing whilst Spiritualized's Will Carruthers djs. The Legion, 348 Old Street, doors at 7, tickets at 5. Friday: Super lo-fi furries, Champion Kickboxer......

If Londonist ever had to get itself a 'board of directors' a few names would immediately spring to mind: Iain Sinclair, Peter Ackroyd...and Lee Jackson. Lee is the author of three historical thrillers as well as a huge, illustrated book on Victorian London. He is also the creator of victorianlondon.org, a website he describes as "a resource for anyone interested in how life was lived in Victorian London". So, as you an imagine, we......

This is Irene. She's 96, from Stoke Newington...and the new face of Dove. Her face is currently adorning a 69ft tall billboard in Times Square and the campaign hits the UK this week, amidst a little controversy over Dove's "exploitation" of the elderly. "This is absolutely cynical. It’s just like using children in advertising," says psychologist Dr Mairead Tagg...which seems a little harsh on Irene if you ask us. She's old, not retarded. What......

Pete Doherty apparently turned up at the XFM Winter Wonderland last night and by all accounts, the word 'shambles' was entirely appropriate. If you'd rather not feel like an ambulance-chaser when watching a band on stage, try this lot: Monday 6th Londonist favourites The Pipettes play The Eye in Stoke Newington High Street from 9pm. They're be joined by Vincent Vincent and the Villains. Tuesday 7th The highly-recommended (by us) Thread (right) play POP (off......