This weekend we went to check out Kew's much talked about Treetop Walkway. Being hardened London weekenders we were braced for queues, bustle and general tourist overload. It was a wonderful surprise then, to find Kew's 300 acre site a lush, garden paradise with plenty of room for all comers to amuse themselves. Even the much vaunted walkway - open just a week - was people jam free, a constant ambling stream of impressed......

Many thanks to our friends at Torontoist who have sent us this link to a fantastic panorama plaything of the 02 centre. Created by Torontoist's panoramaist Tony Makepeace, this wonderful thing was part of his trip to see Led Zeppelin play in our fair city and it's quite a joy to zoom in, swoop about and fly around the venue. Check it out here. It's a pleasure and a very nice Christmas gift from......

Paddington Bear is to face depawtation in an all-new book from octogenarian Michael Bond. London’s favourite bear has been hibearnating for 30 years, but has been prodded awake to celebrate his 50th birthday. Harper Collins have even persuaded the original illustrator, 85 year old Peggy Fortnum, to do the front cover For Paddington Here and Now, Mr. Bond decided he wanted his ursine pal to engage in some upbeat adventures…and Londonist supposes that it......

It's very easy to get caught up in this city for all of it's music, clubs and big shiny loud stuff. Well, as much as we remain a fan of all that is big and shiny, Londonist occasionally needs some down time. Preferably with trees and tweety birds. And there's nothing more relaxing than a walk through the countryside. This is why The Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre is perfect. It's a short skip and......

It happens at the worst of times, always. You'll be in that changing room of Topshop, jeans straddled around your hips, or on that tube platform, waiting for a train with a requisite five minute delay and then it strikes you - the urge to pee. Out of your comfort zone (the zone of knowing where the nearest cubicle is), the fear magnifies tenfold. You could surreptitiously enter that local restaurant, and negotiate the humiliation......

Whenever Londonist is feeling a tad glum, we have but to turn to Matt Harding and his amazingly silly website to get all cheered up again. Matt Harding is one big internet sensation, albeit a very unlikely one. The former games programmer has made a new career out of dancing badly in front of some of the world’s most recognisable and iconic buildings, and in some of the planet’s remotest terrains. But Londonist has been......

Londonist was tickled by an article about a Kingston University chappie who reckons he has found the perfect way to motivate the slothful into taking more exercise. This on a day when this particular Londonista chose to stay in blogging instead of pounding the treadmill. Lecturer Oliver Webb plastered brightly coloured (we’d like to think they were post-it) notes bearing the words:“Seven minutes of stair climbing daily protects your heart" all over the stairwell of......

Almost time for the London Film Festival again! This year the event is opened by David Cronenberg's London-set Eastern Promises - Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen following up A History of Violence with this violent tale of Russian organised crime, penned by Steve Dirty Pretty Things Knight. One to watch for sure. Closing the festival is the new Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited. In between there are some 180+ feature films and 133 shorts,......

Londonist has heard that Carshalton resident Garry Pugsley has been nabbed for carrying an eight inch knife in public. Not very clever, one would think – potentially dangerous and a tad illegal. Except that Garry is a real, modern, proactive wizard. We quote: “I am not an illusionist, I don't do tricks, and I am not a Paul Daniels." Although he does not actually claim that his knife is for ceremonial purposes, Londonist is sure......

London Lights, by James Hamilton Londonist, as you know, can be as erudite as the next person when it suits, and so it has given us great pleasure in the last week to wade through James Hamilton’s splendid new oeuvre, LONDON LIGHTS. This book is a great little number for anyone who is suffering from urban angst, or who has forgotten why they love London so. It perfectly encapsulates one of the most industrious and......

Seeking somewhere new to have a picnic lunch? Perhaps you're an MP in need of an oasis of calm? Or a Vauxhall clubber who's lost their way on the north bank? St John's Gardens provides the perfect place. A small but perfectly-formed garden in Millbank, its high trees, huge flowerbeds, formidable fountain and generous smattering of benches make it a lovely summer spot and only a hop and skip from Parliament or the river.......

Europe's biggest gay and lesbian festival, Pride London, is back this Saturday. Expect a hefty downpour, if the current forecast is accurate. There's heaps on this year, though, if you make it out to support your brothers and sisters. It all kicks off when the ever-eclectic Parade heads through the centre of town from 1pm, along a route taking in the West End's Oxford and Regent Streets before heading over to Tafalgar Square and......

Ahhhh, Greenwich Indoor Market. How do we love thee... let us count the ways. 1. The Arts Collective. A whole little street of wonderful artists covering everything from the abstract to modern art to photography. Check out Anna Hillmans 'amazingness' stand. 2. Essential Music. Selling the best music at extra cheap prices. Don't be deterred by the closing down sign: it always says that to trick the tourists into going in. Hehehe! 3. The......

Kirsty MacColl's final album was the rather wonderfully Cuban-influenced Tropical Brainstorm which included the 2000 hit 'In these Shoes'. Her career had always had its fair share of ups and downs, but a disproportionate amount of her seminal work (either her own songs or cover versions) seems to tap directly into our own feelings and memories at the time - Walking Down Madison, collaboration with the Pogues, A New England, Days. After the success......

Chances are if you see a movie in London it'll end up being at one of the mega-chain's such as Vue or Odeon. Fortunately, a few boutique cinema houses still exist. One such is The Electric Cinema on trendy Portobello Road, a place everyone should experience at least once in their life. It's easy to miss on market days, but shines like a beacon at night, with the blue neon 'Electric' sign hanging over......

You've probably already found FridayCities. It's been around a few months now, but is emerging from it beta chrysalis this week as a glorious butterfly of a site. Maybe a metamorphosis from pupae to ant colony is a better analogy, for Friday Cities is all about social interaction. At its heart is a simple idea. You ask a question about life in London and other members answer it. Usually very quickly. Questions such as:......

It was 9.30pm on Saturday night. It was dark, cold and there was rain and wind. One lonely Londonist contributor stood outside Covent Garden tube station, waiting for a delayed friend. Thank you Piccadilly line for not stopping at Kings Cross this weekend. No, really, thank you. If it wasn't for the engineering work that caused the line not to stop there, we wouldn't have been subjected to half an hour of the best......

Actually we don't. Well M@ probably does. The rest of us love the WORDS because the NUMBERS just make our heads hurt. Anyway - we love tourists that's for sure. We love landmarks too. We also love tourists at various landmarks so we have room in our heart for tourists (and Londoners) holding up baffling signs while they're there: The sum of the reciprocals of the squares of the positive integers is pi squared......

The first of an occasional browse through The LRB's personals: Bright man, Jew, London, seeks compatible woman; childbearing inclinations The harlequin of doubt has visited me more than once. Often he his accompanied by the jester of shame. Either of these, however, is preferable to the skomorokh of gender confusion, who visits whenever mother leaves me alone in the house. Divorced pharmacist, M, 53. My favourite Thundercat was Cheetara, and that’s the way I......

If you ever wondered what happens when a group of Londonists get together in the evening we can reveal it generally revolves around pizza, alcohol and looking for Londony eye candy on the Internet. In between belching and dipping our crusts into each others garlic sauce we stumbled across Yutaka Loves London. If you're still using Windows 98 and IE then give up now. This is one Flashy website. We're still learning things about......

Nothing too weird about this pic of Trafalgar Square we thought, but we did wonder about the caption that read "keep an eye on the mad Scandinavian woman carrying the box on the left". Holy crap. This is better than that bit in The Core when the flying rats go nuts. Ahh... a rotting human head. That'll do it every time. Go check out Lewisham Dreamer's photos for the full story. All photos used......

YouTube is great for many reasons, but we really like the time travel possibilities. Check out this interview with Robert Plant & John Bonham from 1970 as it a) begins like a Monty Python sketch and b) gives those idiots The Beatles a good kicking: Anyone know anything about "the final and tragic conclusion to the case of the missing Enfield children"?......

April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. - T S Eliot, The Wasteland Well, sort of. It's more of a busy month, especially for all the faiths, cultures and religions that live side by side in London. For the next week, the multifaith calendar of multicultural London looks like this: Yesterday: Ching Ming Festival - the Chinese Remembrance of......

Londonist spotted this poster outside the Stockwell Baptist Church on South Lambeth Road the other day and felt compelled to take a quick snap. It's good to see that the Church aren't relying on those tired old images of Jesus and angels etc and have decided instead to embrace the likes of Matthew Fox, Dominic Monaghan and...er, that big bloke who plays Hurley. It's not about to make us foresake our Sunday morning 'fry......

We took the time out yesterday to wander up to the Tate Britain for the opening of a new exhibition: Gothic Nightmares - Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination. It's one of the most interesting exhibits that the Tate has put together in ages and is well worth a look, but the powers that be have gone one better by organising a series of killer lectures, tours and event around the exhibition that should......

We've been giving London another swoop from above this morning as it seems that Google has recently improved the satellite imagery currently used to help us find our way around the capital. Even if you're reading this overseas or are stuck in a less interesting bit of the UK you'll probably find the ZOOM IN button kind of neat. Check out for example Buckingham Palace. Not much to see from a few miles up......

No, really. And here’s why. They’re everywhere, and yet have you ever noticed them? They’re seemingly mundane, yet they come in a huge variety of styles. They’re still around, even though they’ve been pointless for decades. (see also, here). So we hope you agree that a small tribute is in order. You can find them lurking in the pavements outside most Georgian or Victorian houses. Until as late as the 1960s, these tiny portals......

(To the tune of Love and Marriage.) Whips and beer. Whips and beer. Go together like a slap and Germaine Greer. OK, it doesn’t quite scan, but nobody’s perfect. Least of all our medieval ancestors, who sported huge beer guts and enjoyed whipping one another. Or at least that’s the ancestral picture we’re painting after reading about a couple of recent archaeological finds in the capital. It’s all well-timed PR by the Museum of......

Well, we had to, didn’t we? Seeing as how we mention zombies nearly every day, we could hardly let Halloween pass by without some kind of tribute. (And, yes, we know it’s more properly written as Hallowe’en, but apostrophes and search engines mix about as well as the ingredients to the woeful Halloween punch we attempted to brew in Londonist’s coffee machine.) We’re not the only ones on the All Hallows bandwagon, of course.......

Plate-faced actress Gwyneth Paltrow has reacted angrily to reports that she "slammed London". Er, what? It's right there in black and white, blondie - unless you'd like to sue Marie Claire US for misquoting you. In a classic display of doublethink, Gwyneth hopes to deflect the criticism she has attracted for her objectionable comments by insisting that her words have been misinterpreted - when it's actually pretty clear exactly what she thinks. War is......