If you spot a gaggle of wedding-suited lads and ladettes marching Canary Wharf way this afternoon, fear not: it's no open casting call for hilarious new Steve Martin - Diane Keaton vehicle Father Of The Bride 3: Groomsday, but it is in fact a protest by narked newlyweds, angered by the closure of wedding gift merchants Wrapit, which called in administrators earlier this week. Some 2,000 couples, and around 100,000 guests, lost out when......

With the rising cost of oil, and ergo jet fuel, it's about time we got round to establishing a permanent beach here in London. We propose Greenwich Peninsula, with its underused Tube station and impressive views. Buildings by daejn, beach and montage by M@. Do you have a vision for London that's more twisted than the Artful Dodger's DNA? Send your images to londonist - at - gmail dot com.......

We gave you a heads up last week but here's a big reminder - the Museum in Docklands is having a 5th birthday party this weekend, flinging open its waterside doors and welcoming all, waiving its entrance fee. The Museum is lesser known than its big sister, the Museum of London with pride of place on London Wall since 1975, but the converted warehouse at West India Quay brings the importance of the river......

So that hot, bright London summer has proven rather elusive as of late, but we can be comforted by the fact that our fair city more than compensates for its rainy climes with its overwhelming cultural offers. July tapers off this week with a forecast of heat, sun, and plenty to do both outdoors and in. Monday: Almedia Theatre is showcasing a collection of music in collaboration with the current Cy Twombly exhibit at......

Tis the season to protest for fair pay. First tube cleaners, then council staff. Last night, waiting staff at Italian chain Carluccios, supported by community group London Citizens joined the call for a living wage. Diners at the Canary Wharf branch were interrupted at their pasta as protestors hoiked up a banner outside the E14 restaurant about their dubious wage terms. As the Independent reports: The company claims that, as a result, waiters are......

SS Robin, with the Canary Wharf skyline in the background (photo by Dean Nicholas) While the Cutty Sark and HMS Belfast are well-known icons of Britain's marine history, London's only other National Historic Ships Register Grade I-listed vessel was, until recently, in serious danger of being scrapped. The SS Robin, built at Bow Creek in 1890, is the world's oldest working steamer, and hauled raw materials all over Europe during the Industrial Revolution. Bought......

Once a year, Canary Wharf is transformed by Dancing City. There's nothing quite like seeing aerialistes descending from the glass and steel powerhouses of corporate finance or parkour artists dashing effortlessly through the artificial garden of Cabot Square to make you look at this blue chip island quite differently. Turn up from 1pm on Sunday and be ambushed by all sorts of dance forms around Canary Wharf. See Bharata Natyam does football, a tango......

Photography courtesy of only because mushroom asked me to via the Londonist pool on Flickr. Interested in your drink-related photos appearing on Londonist? Click here.......

Doesn't sunshine make everything seem better? Alright, it's been brass monkeys but nothing lifts the winter blues like bright skies, crisp air and early daffodils. It's half term for most kids this week so your commute might even be more pleasant. In which case, perhaps you'll be more inclined to get out after work and try something different that's light on your wallet and heavy on aceness. After all, we really can't afford good......

Defying Doctor Johnson's epithet that a man tired of London is tired of life, Rupert Murdoch recently decamped to America and his latest plaything, the Wall Street Journal, declaring himself finished with our city. So what then of the building that encapsulates all he wrought on Britain's newspaper industry in the Eighties? "Fortress Wapping", the monolithic News International HQ in E1W so soubriqueted because of the heavy police guard it fielded against striking workers......

Two weeks into the New Year and it's important to find things to distract yourself from the grey weather, gym timetables, failing diets and attempts to avoid alcohol. If you're still feeling the pinch post festive season then we've got some excellently cheap things for you to do this week to cheer, edify, inspire and amuse you. Monday: Happy days! The Fonz will be at Forbidden Planet for a book signing between 5-6pm. It's......

Last full week before Christmas, we expect your bank account's feeling the strain. All that Christmas shopping and partying taking its toll? If you want to make the most of being out and about before Christmas cabin fever and complete exhaustion set in then we're here to help. Monday: Keep the braincells going through silly season. Go to the free lecture at Gresham College about why our society rewards celebrities, fads and fashions and......

Langdon Park DLR station opened yesterday, to initially no fanfare, until Ken turned up with some free Oyster cards. Diamond Geezer has blogged in heartfelt detail about the "shiny alien mothership" lighting up a neglected, marginalised area. Langdon Park now easily links up with Canary Wharf and Stratford, where a second platform was also officially opened yesterday, possibly anticipating the immediate influx of people escaping Tower Hamlets for a day. TFL are consulting about......

Ahoy hoy, book grocery shoppers! The metaphorical book grocer aisles are stocked high with choice meats and sweet confections this December, so whatever your tastes, fill up your shopping cart and gorge yourself on this week’s selection of literary events – they’ll give you much less of a stomach-ache than mince pies. Monday: Revisit Sylvia Plath by attending the aptly named Sylvia Plath Revisited, at the ICA (7pm in the Nash Room £10 nonmembers/£9......

For many of us ice-skating is a terrifying experience, bringing back memories of clinging to the edge of the rink, cold feet and humiliating wipeouts. We all know it's never as serene an experience as the Christmas cards make out, but there’s a veritable plethora of skating experiences to be had across London this snowy (hopefully) season. There are rinks with a touch of class at Somerset House (21 Nov - 17 Jan) or......

After smoke billowed across London for most of the afternoon, tonight we can at least be thankful that it was 'only' a fire, and that no-one was injured. As upon seeing the dark clouds spreading across Canary Wharf this lunchtime, many people thought it may be something else. The scene at Waterden Road in Hackney has now been contained and the building that was destroyed was oddly due to be demolished on Monday in any......

Huge clouds of smoke can be seen over Bow, east London, visible from as far as Queen's Park. A disused warehouse on Waterden Road has caught fire and according to the news emerging right now, there are 15 fire engines and between 40 and 75 firefighters attending it. Waterden Road passes through the Olympic site and as you can imagine, people are anxious but remaining calm. The smoke cloud is drifting southwards towards Canary......

London is one big stage for endless, tiny bits of theatre. Dashing through rush hour crowds at the train station has its own particular brand of dramatic tension and a company visiting from Australia is presenting this part of everyday London life in a very different light. Back to Back Theatre is bringing their performance ">Small Metal Objects to London as part of the Barbican's Ozmosis season of contemporary Australian performance. The company of......

Hot on the heels of basketball and ice hockey, the third of America's big four sports has begun its landing on our shores. The advance guard for Sunday's NFL encounter between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants consists of just one man. Albeit a very big one. Pictured above is the specially commissioned twenty-six foot high animatronic statue of Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor which is touring London and the South East......

Face it, with the RMT tube strike, you're not getting anywhere on the underground this week. Unless you're going from somewhere like Camden to Canary Wharf and all of your lines are fine. In which case we're all a bit annoyed with you anyway so it's best to keep quiet about that. So what are you going to do? Well, there are loads of other ways to get across London. Hundreds. We know that......

That's right, the DLR has been going for, if you can believe it, 20 years today. This seems like forever for this Londonista's favourite mode of transport around London. So where did it all start? Well Londonist took a little light rail trip down memory lane. Way back in the 80s, it's hard to imagine but the Docklands were a no man's land in London. (No one came in, no one went out.) This......

It's the final installment of our week-long competition in association with SkyscraperCity forums. After yesterday's demolition of Canary Wharf, 'Gherkin007' shows us a potential rebuild. According to him/her "the idea behind it being that 1CS looks so dominant when viewed from the City of London that a clock tower would suit it. And what better clock tower than London's favourite clock?" Indeed. We'll be giving a prize to the best image, as voted by......

It's day 4 of our week-long competition in conjunction with SkyscraperCity forums. Today's entry comes from 'Sy', who pictures a vengeful Manchester steamrollering Canary Wharf. It would never happen. We hope. We'll be giving a prize to the image with most votes, so if you like what you see, click 'recommended' below. Note that, for some reason, the archive isn't registering the recommends properly. So to vote, you should scroll down and click recommend......

This is not another article about the high cost of living in London, though it has great relevance to the silly prices of houses inside the M25. All of that is well documented elsewhere - we're far more eager to devote screenspace to sensible, affordable and frankly brilliant ways to get by in this city without compromising your cool. Camelot Property Protection have been featured in today's Telegraph for their clever way of pleasing......

Huge hangover? Spent all of your money? Yep, us too. So we can't go and watch Barbara Streisand (though we don't think we'll ever be that rich) and we can't go and see Elling. But, here's a few things you can do this week to make things a little easier on your pocket. Monday: Been a while since you've seen a good film? Then the Canary Wharf Summer Series at Canada Square park should......

We don't talk about opera enough on Londonist so here's a double-whammy of high notes and hollering... For the full Royal Opera House effect without going to the Royal Opera House, the BP Summer Screen brings Tosca to the masses tonight. Puccini's tale of love, murder, deception, jealousy and all the other standard opera elements is being broadcast live from the Royal Opera House on big screens in Canada Square (Canary Wharf), Victoria Park......

It's not a bad photo by a hasty tourist - it's a key London landmark in darkness. Finally, someone remembered to turn the lights off before they locked up for the night. Courtesy of the Lights Out London campaign organised by Capital 95.8, Londoners turned off all non-essential lights between 9pm and 10pm in order to show how much energy can be saved and how well we can function without a dozen different lamps......

We, at Londonist, love all things artsy that try different things in unusual places. We also really love free things hence we’re collectively hopping up and down with excitement at the prospect of this year’s Greenwich & Docklands International Festival which kicks off four amazing days of free arts festivalness this week. We went last year. It was great. "Festival Fanfare" promises to open proceedings on Thursday evening with riotous street arts, music and......

Capital 95.8 have launched its Lights Out London campaign. Blatantly plagiarising Sydney's 'Earth Hour', the radio station is busily garnering support from celebrities like Kim Wilde for the campaign, which encourages the whole of London to turn off all lights and non-essential appliances between 9 and 10pm on 21 June – the longest day of the year – as a way of promoting awareness of green issues. Al Gore apparently called for a similar......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 11th June 1988: The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (a.k.a. Mandela Day Concert) takes place at Wembley Stadium. On a scale approaching the Live Aid concert that took place some three years earlier, more than 600 million people worldwide tune in to watch the epic day-long concert featuring dozens of high profile bands protesting against the apartheid regime in South Africa and the ongoing incarceration of Nelson......