Trading Posts

We wouldn’t normally get excited about a cornershop changing hands, but when the shop in question is possibly the most famous in the world, and the current owner the irrepressible Mohammed Al Fayed, we call it news. ‘The store’ (as those that work there call …

We’re in a recession, right? Unemployment figures are soaring, and there’s lots of eager beavers out there job hunting. And yet today a report has been released by the CBI suggesting that London has a skills shortage which will damage the city’s recovery. The Department …

Our friend the shopkeeper is normally a mild mannered soul, and so this blackboard had us very alarmed. ‘Twas a power cut that triggered it. Often happens in London. The record for our pal’s shop was 36 hours, so last night’s affair at a mere …

Well, by outlaws, we mean those not awfully welcome in London’s shops. *Retail criminals*. Shoplifters, thieves, hustlers, beggars, general ne’er-do-wells, momes and breed-bates. A new report indicates that business crime is up, and whilst we are sure that the figures include everything from major embezzlement …

Now it’s really rather rare for Londonist fulsomely to praise a government initiative. Lambast and satire is more our style. But something rather encouraging has caught our eye from the Local Government Association. They are today calling for the government to enable councils to intervene …

We were delighted to see that we are not the only High Street geeks out there: snapping London’s shop fronts seems to be a popular pastime. Which is excellent news: as John Londei’s exhibition showed us, things change, and it is important that someone is …

So what’s it like at street level, then, this recession? What does our friend the shopkeeper make of it all? What’s going down on the high streets and by-streets of the capital? Londonist has spent the last week chatting to shopkeepers big and small to …

There’s a lorra lorries in London. The UK imports 750,000 tonnes of goods each day, worth over £750 million. 80% comes in through Britain’s 15 big ports, and the vast majority of that is distributed by road freight. We got bored with reading the House …

Oh our fur! Oh our paws and whiskers! Singing butcher Brian Clapton is facing court proceedings over his cheery morning serenades at his shop in darkest Dagenham (or maybe it’s brightest Barking). Credit crunch? Credit schmunch! It is this sort of killjoy bureaucratic twattery that …

When is a Londonist not a Londonist? This is of course a trick question dear reader – we never take our Londonist badges off. Even when we’re not conspicuously blogging, we crowd around the fire at Camp Londonist and tell tales of London of yore, …