Your Sunday morning best-of-Londonist weekly round-up. If you like it, please share it and forward to a friend. This week is sponsored by the National Theatre.
London News
- Remember how the Garden Bridge wasn’t going to cost the public any money? We're now on the hook for maintenance costs.
- Horace Walpole's private rooms at Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham have been refurbished and opened to the public for the first time.
- The Aylesbury Estate: Southwark council calls it regeneration, residents call it social cleansing.
- Charities have blamed benefits cuts for a 37% increase in rough sleeping over the past year.
- TfL and Development Securities are redeveloping a Southwark site to create 300 homes, plus shops and restaurants.
- Gallions Reach and Belvedere have been identified as potential sites for a new east London river crossing.
- The blue cock has left Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth. Step up, Gift Horse.
Must-read articles
- Thought Shoreditch was street art central? We take a look at the rise of the Camden street art scene.
- National Pie Week may finish today (sorry about that) but console yourself by tracking the history of eel, pie and mash shops.
- How corrupt is the property market in your borough? 36,342 properties in London are held by offshore tax haven companies.
- The most common tree in London may not have even existed until the 17th century.
- Find traditional Holi food in London.
Top reviews
- Our two reviewers have completely opposing views on Salt and Silver: Early Photography 1840-1860 at Tate Britain — which of them do you agree with? ★☆☆☆☆ or ★★★☆☆ ?
- Get into the mindset of a pathologist at Wellcome Collection's Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime ★★★★★
- Scarves printed with propaganda messages and handbags fitted with gas masks feature in Fashion on the Ration ★★★★☆
- Voyeuristic Game forces the audience to decide what's right to watch — and asks what you'd be prepared to do for a nice house ★★★★☆
- Inventive but good quality Spanish tapas at affordable prices at the new Tapas Revolution in Shoreditch ★★★★☆
Things to do
- Mother's Day: A week to go, folks. If you haven't got anything planned yet, take a look at our unusual things to do in London on Mother's Day.
- A new month, a new round of art exhibition openings. Here are our March picks.
- Screenwriter and director Mel Brooks is in London for one night only later this month. Tickets will soon go for this one.
- Parents: the Easter holidays are fast approaching. Keep kids and teenagers entertained in London.
- Watch films for free at Camberwell Free Film Festival next week.
Don't miss: Dara and Treasure Island at the National Theatre
Two spectacular, but very different, shows are entering their final month at the National Theatre. Dara is a powerful tale of two warring princes, locked in a battle for supremacy. Beautifully directed by Nadia Fall, this simmering story transports you to the Mughal Empire. We said: "few plays are this thought-provoking, or as sumptuous" ★★★★☆
If "magic tricks, swashbuckling action and truly spectacular sets" are more your scene (or your child's scene!) then don't miss Treasure Island. This staging of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure tale is high energy and a visual feast. We said: "this is high-end family fare that lives up to the standards the National has set itself over the years" ★★★★☆
This week’s Best of Londonist is sponsored by the National Theatre.
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