Fire broke out in mansion flats on Edgware Road this morning just before 6am. Residents were evacuated and the road closed while 40 firefighters rescued people from the 8th floor and the roof and got the blaze under control. Thankfully, no one else was involved and fire crews and ensuring the block is safe before allowing residents to return.......

It was a delightfully dry and bright, crisp and chilly weekend in London... except for a sudden bit of flooding along Edgware Road on Sunday morning. Not from the heavens opening in a repeat of the 2007 deluges but from what has been reported as a mechanical digger failure at the crucial junction of Sussex Gardens and Edgware Road not far from Marble Arch. This is the junction where traffic from Paddington Station comes......

Fake holy water seized! By God! Fake fags seized! By dog! Calls for Edgware Road station to change its name to Chapel Street Market. Which has the surreal advantage of being an anagram of The Spectral Meerkat. UPDATE: Seems it's actually Church Street Market. Whoever can come up with the best anagram for that wins a goat. Do you really, really enjoy plastic carrier bags? Is their acquisition at the expense of the environment......

It looks like summer might actually have arrived in London this week, but if you're determined to stay inside, here are a few things to help you bide the time. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 3 September – Wednesday, 5 September Dumped (Channel 4, 21:00-22:00) We’ve already told you about this interesting concept involving contestants living on a rubbish dump, and since you’re no doubt looking to fill the Big Brother void in your......

Due to the crazy rain today, there have been mass closures around throughout London Underground. As of 14:15, the following stations have been closed due to flooding: Shepherd's Bush (Central Line) Turnpike Lane Victoria (Circle & District Lines only) Paddington (Circle Line only) Gants Hill South Kensington Kilburn Tooting Broadway Vauxhall Turnham Green Tooting Bec Clapham Common Colliers Wood North Ealing (Westbound services only) Hammersmith - Dist & Pic lines (Eastbound services only) The following......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways. 36. Marble Arch Underpass Where? It's an underpass. It passes under Marble Arch. Like, dur. What? This haphazard collection of tunnels was constructed in the early 1960s, to improve pedestrian access to Hyde Park. Ha! It’s a choice of two evils – brave the heavy traffic or plunge into the depths. We asked an aged and wise hermit on the corner of Edgware Road for advice.......

Edgware Road shisha cafe's and the ban on smoking. Something's gotta give. Boxing postman and the campaign against binge drinking. We love local news. London Marathon and a solution to its litter problem. Lorry drivers and the campaign to kill fewer cyclists. And UK immigration crack down on dangerous Doggs. Image courtesy of buckaroo kid via the Londonist flickr group.......

If you were wondering what was going on with the closure of the Circle and District lines this morning, the answer isn't pretty: A woman has been found dead near Paddington Tube station. The body was discovered just before 0800 GMT and has caused the closure of two lines. British Transport Police (BTP) are investigating the incident and have appealed for anyone with information to come forward. Supt Ellie Bird from the BTP said......

Artist and curator Robert Gordon McHarg III founded the Subway Gallery last year and on 6th of June 2006, the gallery joined the rest of London's art scene. While some galleries like to say they are underground, this one is undeniably so. It's in a pedestrian subway, still open to the public, still used by many people trying to get from one side of Edgware Road to the other. It's, like, totally underground. The......

A nationwide two-minute silence will begin at noon today. Announcements will be made on all Underground trains and platforms reminding people when it is about to start. There will also be an evening ceremony at Regent's Park for the more than 1,000 family members and known survivors of the bombings at which the names of all 52 people killed by the suicide bombers will be read out. Plaques commemorating the victims of 7 July......

London is, of course, home to people from every country on earth and even people from nations that are not widely recognised. One moment when this comes into sharper focus than usual is every four years during the world cup when corners of the capital resound to the rejoicing and dismay of those who love London, but still retain deep ties with their homeland that come to the fore when national pride is on......

The US is topping the list of 'rogue states' who have refused to pay the congestion charge over the past six months. London is apparently behind the fact that house prices just rose by 0.6 per cent, the highest monthly increase since May 2004. Summer drought update: although chances of rota cuts in water or tankers in the streets are 'remote', the chances of rationing in London are growing especially (surprise surprise) if this......

Claridge's hotel has, rather predictably, been awarded the Top London Afternoon Tea 2006 award (yes, it really exists). The hotel beat the Dorchester, the Four Seasons and the Wolseley to the prize which was awarded by the Tea Guild, "a prestigious and unique organisation that represents and encourages those outlets who are dedicated to both brewing and serving tea to the high standards desired by The Tea Council" (nice website by the way Tea......

- What are you going to do today, Brain? - The same thing I do every day, Pinky. Complain to London Underground. Get to tube station on time, in fact, early, meaning to get to work and knock off early. Discover that there are 'minor delays on the Hammersmith and City Line'. Wait. Train comes, packed to the gills (if trains had gills - do any land animals have gills? I believe grasshoppers and......

Yes, this is hopefully the last of these posts we'll have to write, as the Piccadilly Line resumes service (albeit a rather limited one) today (four weeks exactly after the bombings at Edgware Road, Russell Square and Aldgate). According to the Beeb "The Piccadilly Line has reopened fully meaning all stations on the Tube network are now being served." Well, whatever reasons Transport for London may have given us to grumble in the past,......

Rejoice! As of today there will be a full service on the Hammersmith & City line. This is the the first time since the bombings of 7 July that the whole line between Hammersmith and Barking has been running. A full service is also up and running on the District line between Wimbledon and Edgware Road. Hopefully later this week there will be some concrete information on when the Circle line (suspended for three......

At 5:05am this morning Edgware Road station opened for the first time since July 7. Although there were apparently just two commuters on the 7.05 District line train from Edgware Road to Wimbledon this morning. As for the other effected lines, the Piccadilly Line still has no service between Hyde Park Corner Station and Arnos Grove Station in both directions and the Circle Line is still suspended.......

London is once again leading the way when it comes to advances in science with boffins at Imperial College making a breakthrough in the field of making people want to eat less. A small study had 26 people injected with the hormone oxyntomodulin, which is the stuff that's released in the body to tell you that your stomach is full and now would be a good time to stop eating, fatty. "Well, this is......

For those who haven't left work yet, here's the latest from TFL: 4.55pm Services are currently operating as follows and include service suspensions that were already in effect following incidents on 7 July 2005. Bakerloo - suspended between Paddington to Piccadilly Circus Central - normal service Circle - suspended District - suspended between Edgware Road and High Street Kensington East London - normal service Hammersmith & City - suspended Jubilee - normal service Metropolitan -......

A quick rundown of all the latest news stories connected to the London bombings: As you've probably read by now Pakistan security forces have arrested a British Muslim in connection with the bombings. This was part of a sweep of arrests across the country during which at least 25 people were detained. In connection with this the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will make an address on Thursday explaining the government's "crackdown on Islamic militants".......

Nothing major seems to have broken in the last few hours, but let's take a moment to go over what we do know. The body count is fifty, but is expected to rise according to Sir Ian Blair, the Met's Police commissioner, who also made mention of the work going on at the four crime scenes (not six as previously reported). We like the fact that they are now 'crime scenes' because the everydayness of......

The Underground: Services should be running on most lines, but there are no services on the Hammersmith and City and Circle lines. District line will not run between High St Kensington and Edgware Road or to Olympia and its Wimbledon to High St Kensington service will be reduced. Metropolitan line has no service from Baker Street to Aldgate but trains will be running north of Baker Street. Piccadilly line services will run from Heathrow to......

EMERGENCY HOTLINE: 0870 1566 344 Some useful links: Guardian News Blog. Very useful Wikipedia page. Transport for London. Breaking News: the entire tube network is down and all stations are being evacuated because of reported 'power surges' at various places on the system. Explosions have been reported at Edgware Road and Aldgate and there are reports of 'walking wounded' and commuters smashing windows of trains with 'their umbrellas' to get out. There is at least......

So they're thinking about moving Marble Arch again. The idea is to shift the arch to Hyde Park, near Speakers' Corner in order to make it more accessible to tourists as part of the 100 Open Spaces project. As the BBC notes, at the moment the Arch can only be reached by subway (or, as The Times puts it, "a warren of dingy subways often inhabited by beggars"), and Londonist has often witnessed tourists......