Your Sunday morning best-of-Londonist weekly round-up.
London news
- Three incidents on London’s roads left two men dead and a woman in critical condition this week
- Ch-ch-ch-changes are coming to London Bridge station from December. N-n-n-naff off
- Camden Market to be floated on the stock market later this month
- The tale of the £1,000 beef (and other stories of excessive eating)
- The Battersea Cats and Dogs Home carol concert raised over £17,000 this week. Congratulations!
- Hackney MP and future Mayoral candidate Diane Abbott calls for rent controls
- TfL announces the first cycle Quietways (cycle routes using low-traffic streets) will open early in 2015
- Are investors buying homes and then just letting them stand empty?
- Government figures show evictions are responsible for four in 10 Londoners being made homeless
- London's New Year's Eve fireworks is still trying to find a sponsor
- NHS trusts are struggling to hire 8,000 more nurses
- People who thought they were getting away for the weekend had to think again as power outages closed London airspace on Friday
Must-read articles
- In pictures: Santacon 2014
- Garden Bridge is looking likely to happen. But what is the actual point of it?
- What the tube map may have looked like during the Middle Ages
- Speaking of tube nerdery... do you remember our Secrets of the Underground video series? It's now available to buy on DVD!
- Who gets the arm rest on the tube? We asked you, and the results are in
- Thames TV uploads some spectacular 1980s news broadcast footage to YouTube
- Celebrities including Stephen Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch and Andy Serkis appear in a video to save Soho
- Our pick of the top five London books (non-fiction) released in 2014
- Let us introduce you to a band with a name we very much approve of: Elephants and Castles
- A look at the early Royal Institution Christmas lectures that began in 1825
- Warm your cockles with these hot and mulled cocktails
- London's shop windows have gone all festive
- There's a foody feel to this week's podcast, as NQW meets and speaks with the founder of Grub Club
Top reviews
- We tried the veggie options at The Dysart Petersham (and recommend the semolina gnocchi) ★★★★☆
- Hauser & Wirth put on a pair of attention grabbing, yet very different exhibitions ★★★☆☆
- What is the much-hyped Cereal Killer Cafe actually like? (Spoiler: it's grrrr-eat!) ★★★★☆
- Mad Hatter's Tea Party gets a hip-hop makeover in time for Christmas ★★★★☆
- Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands at Sadler's Wells is slick, sharp and a cut above the rest ★★★★☆
- Winning, utterly insane, misplaced his marbles comedy from Adam Riches ★★★★☆
- Elvis at The O2: retrospective with over 300 artefacts is cool, if superficial ★★★☆☆
- The Cat in the Hat at Pleasance Theatre is the cat's whiskers ★★★★☆
- A musical look at London author Noël Coward hits the right note ★★★★☆
- Children's opera The Way Back Home is a slightly different theatrical offering ★★★★☆
- We were down and out charmed by English National Ballet's rendition of The Nutcracker ★★★★☆
- This stage version of It's A Wonderful Life will warm your heart ★★★★☆
- Our thoughts on the latest art openings on offer across London
Things to do
- An old, abandoned HMV store in Leadenhall Market houses The Waste Agency — an exhibition that examines our culture of consumerism
- The Abram Games exhibition at The Jewish Museum has been extended until January due to popular demand
- Nab seats to top London shows at discounted prices, thanks to Get Into London Theatre
- Every man and his dog seems to be on Oxford Street around this time of year. And from next week there'll also be a donkey
- Fancy a nibble on roast Rudolph? You can, at Finnish pop-up Tënu
- Things to do in London during Twixtmas (those few days between Christmas and New Year)
- We’ve found a few alternative ways to see in the new year in London
- But if you prefer the more traditional parties and clubs on New Year's Eve, there's plenty of those too
- The art of mime will be celebrated at the London International Mime Festival next month
- See images of early London from 1914 — the works of UK’s first female press photographer will go on display next year
Give the gift of Pact this Christmas
Love coffee? We recommend you try out Pact Coffee. We first met them last year and have since become loyal customers of theirs. This London start-up is on a mission to get the UK drinking better, fresher coffee by delivering it straight to our homes and offices. Now, clearly in the festive spirit, they’re offering new customers their first 250g bag for only £1 with free next-day delivery, just use the code LONDONISTXMAS at checkout. Get yours here, or for more info and T&Cs click here.
They also offer coffee Christmas gift bundles for the caffeine lover in your life, check those out here.
This week’s Best of Londonist is sponsored by Pact.
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