...make sure you chose somewhere that looks as though they take pride in cleanliness. After a campaign against dodgy establishments deemed a risk to public health, Moon Pizza - a Walthamstow restaurant popular with local schoolkids - was just closed down by Environmental Health after people working nearby saw "rats jumping from a window". Inspections revealed poor hygiene with grime and rodent droppings all over the shop, and covering containers intended for takeaway food.......

As a patient admitted to hospital, the last thing you want to hear is the rat-a-tat-tat of the pest controllers at the door. According to the Conservative Party, 70% of health trusts were visited by the insect-busters at least 50 times over a twenty six month period. However, an indignant health Trust has accused the Tories of twisting their figures to suggest that their hospital is high up on the list of pest-infested offenders.......

The Chinese New Year Celebrations in Soho are undoubtedly one of the highspots of London’s cultural calendar, and this year there’s a load of extra stuff (some would say hype) going on ‘cos of the Beijing/London Olympic connection. Last year’s ceremonies were the biggest outside China, and this year’s look set to be even more impressive. So here’s a special Londonist round up of where to see and what to do…. 6th February: kick......

Paul McCartney's ex was in London yesterday for a photo shoot for the charity Viva!. Along with Heather Mills, Viva! would like us all to please eat less meat, dairy and other animal products in order to reduce global warming. We fully applaud Viva!'s commitment to the environment, and thoroughly enjoy names that feature punctuation, but we wonder how effective this campaign really is going to be. While we can't personally see switching to......

Maybe it’s because we are Londoners, but Londonist is mightily proud of London in nearly every sense. Even when things get muxed up, or bad stuff happens, the capital shoulders the problem and just gets on with its largely tickety-boo urban grind. Take bugs and rodents for example. They are pretty much part of life in any old-ish city, and it is a well known urban-not-so-mythical-myth that we are never more than a few feet......

The fourth in our series of interviews with potential candidates for next year's Mayoral election. Previously: Victoria Borwick (Tory), Andrew Boff (Tory) and Warwick Lightfoot (Tory). Sian Berry is the Green's candidate for next year's elections. Unlike the Tory rivals we've previously interviewed, she is a strong supporter of the congestion charge. She's the only person we've ever known to use the words 'The North London Line is good'. And she's also got a......

Having a wardrobe chuck out is both liberating and therapeutic. Getting rid of the too small, tatty, smelly or simply rubbish garments you’ve been haplessly hoarding is a ritual of cleansing and renewal. It’s even better if a plastic sack is delivered promising a doorstep collection this Friday that will ship off your rejects, with no effort on your part, to be recycled into magic money and sparkles for various charities. You get to......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

Previous tales of the Mouse family can be found here, here , here and here. Continuing from previous episode... the Mouse family moved out of Newham Hospital, then to Asda, then moved into the Cheesegrater skyscraper, where Papa Mouse discovered that his son Tim-Tim and his wife Mama Mouse were lovers. In despair, Papa Mouse leapt to his death, then returned from the dead to win back the heart of Mama Mouse with an......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyways, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In......

We love BBC America's anglophenia because it's always interesting to see what the other side of the pond thinks about the happenings in our own little goldfish bowl. This post, however, tackled a more serious subject than the usual pop culture geography when anglophenia popped over here for a visit: The next 20 minutes or so I spent were both familiar and frustrating. I stood alongside Shaftesbury Avenue with my arm extended nearly vertically,......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways 25. Meard Street Where? Part-pedestrianised route in the heart of Soho, linking Wardour and Dean Streets. Sounds like a sack of French excrement. Isn't. What? Meard Street is a street of two halves, with a western end closed to traffic and an eastern cul-de-sac. This reflects the origins of the street, which started life as a pair of courtyards. The unified route was built in the......

Chris Roberts (not pictured) is a man of many talents. He's traced the origins of nursery rhymes, surveyed London's bridges and even written a musical about Margaret Thatcher. And then there's the Evening Standard random headline generator. Most recently of all, he took us on a walk around the Pool of London. His latest project, One Eye Grey (available at not enough good bookshops), is the first penny dreadful for over a hundred years......

oh dear. Tony Blair has been interviewed for a second time by police investigating cash-for-honours allegations. Downing Street disclosed that the 45 minute questioning took place in Number 10 last Friday, but was kept secret at the request of the Metropolitan Police. What happens if Levy turns rat? Will the whole thing end badly in an Infernal Affairs / The Departed inspired series of head wounds and elevator doors? Could it be that Blair......

Well, the elements gave us a bit of a battering last week, with plenty of damage and several people killed. But lest we get all worked up about global warming and freaky weather, it's worth remembering that the capital is no stranger to the Force 10 fart of Mother Nature. Here's a roundup of, erm, past wind. 1091: Strong winds make their debut on the recorded history of London. On October 23rd that year,......

In other words, it's the first ever Londonist guided walk. We're putting on a tour of the upper Pool of London (London Bridge and the Tower precincts) on Sat 10 February, from 2pm. There are soooo many reasons you should come: 1. It's free! 2. You'll meet the authors of at least three nerdy books about London. 3. The tour is conducted by Chris Roberts, the chap who brought you such delights as the......

A London hamster narrowly escaped being crushed to death this week. The Roborovski dwarf hamster was hidden away in a recycling bin. Council workers found him gnawing his way out of a bag of sawdust whilst emptying the container in DuCane Road, in Hammersmith. Heh, heh ... Hammersmith ... Hammersmith Hamster. The Hammersmith council is not suspecting foul play – e.g., a deranged parent punishing a child by chucking his pet into the bin.......

Forbes Magazine have just published their list of the world’s richest, including a break-down of the most lined pockets in London. The full article’s worth a read. Did you know London is something of a tax haven for the super-rich? Makes you feel proud, doesn’t it? Here’s a run-down of the top five: 1. Laksmi Mittal Who he? The world’s fifth richest chap. Made a few bob from trading in steel. A magnetic magnate?......

Bryony Gordon's opinion piece in The Telegraph gets off to an odd start by talking about whether or not to sit next to a tramp on the tube: What do you do in such a situation? Stay standing and risk fainting, or sit down and risk vomiting? I was weighing up this conundrum when I noticed that the tramp was reading the New Statesman. How peculiar, I thought. And then I realised that it......

This week's 'urban decorater' is Blek Le Rat, one of the pioneers of stencil graffiti, from the romantic end of the Eurostar. He recently held an exhibition on Leonard Street (near Old Street) and the two images on the right were located close by, presumably to attract interest. The armed David, meanwhile, can be found a few blocks away on King John Court. Documentary here.......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways...Back, after a short rest. 11. St Bride's Avenue Where? Part of a warren of similarly ancient thoroughfares in the Fleet Street area. As its name suggests, this one runs alongside St Bride's church, south of Fleet Street, and turns 90 degrees at the north-west to lead into the church. What? Looking something like an open sewer in our photo, this is actually quite a pleasant......

Frightfest have teamed up with the ICA to put on a bit of a Halloween bash: It’s time to put on make-up, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to get things started on The Feebles show tonight! Yes, Peter Jackson’s grotesque Muppet-style marvel Meet The Feebles returns to shock and offend again. Before Team America and Avenue Q, and in a gore guffaw galaxy far, far before The Lord of the Rings,......

BBC: A groundwater cooling system is to be tested at Victoria station in an effort to combat soaring temperatures on the Tube over the summer months... The first thing that springs to mind is why wait until June to test the damn thing? It's not like we're shivering down there at anytime. Maybe they'll get it working properly in time for Christmas. But forget that because this is the GOOD bit: Victoria Tube station,......

Some Scottish M.P.s are finding a bitter taste in their mouths after pledging their support to England in the imminent World Cup. Widely believed to be the Prime Minister-in-waiting, Gordon Brown is undoubtedly a Scot through and through. Whilst Tony Blair hides his Scottishness well, Brown is proud of his heritage. He is a keen supporter of Raith Rovers FC in his constituency. But Brown, along with Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell, have......

Workers on the DLR are to be balloted for strikes after a row over pay. Despite the recent rain it looks like we're still in a bit of a drought. A collection of Albert Einstein's papers will go on sale next month for around £800,000. A new Damien Hirst staue, the Virgin Mother, has been unveiled at the Royal Academy of Arts. It's 35ft tall. Kate Moss has beaten up Doherty at his London......

If AC/DC's manager, George Young, walked up to you in a pub and asked if you wanted to get a job in rock'n'roll, what would your first thoughts be? Would you wonder what he was doing in the UK? Would you wonder why such a successful band producer was touting for business in the pubs of North London? Would you smell a rat? Would you even know what the hell George Young looks like?......

If you had to be infested which would you choose, rats or mice? Your first instinct may be towards mice, they're just not as nasty as rats are they, they're just somehow...cuter. Well you better forget that namby pamby attitude right away because an infestation is a nuisance not a 'big happy rodent party' and sooner or later the killing will have to begin. And when that happens the only thing you'll be interested......

…from Westminster Council, who were less than impressed at his latest bout of street art. The notorious rat-fancier vexed the local authority by depositing an unorthodox red phone box in the Soho Square area a couple of days ago. Dead, or grievously maimed, the K6 was left in the street, bent double and bleeding; a pickaxe wound seemingly the cause of its anguish. But the undignified scene lasted only a few hours before Westminster......

Breaking up is so very hard to do, especially in the romcom land of Notting Hill. This plaintive message was spotted high above street level on Pembridge Road. But who loved whom, what went wrong, and why did they feel the need to daub their rooftop with emotive graffiti? Our leading theory is Burt the chimney sweep, still holding out hopes that Mary Poppins will one day return. Or perhaps the declaration is aimed......

Did we dream this, or was there a news item on the radio this morning about a flat in the middle of Hyde Park roundabout which would be available as some sort of 'holiday home' in the near future? We've been scanning Google News all day to make sure we're not going crazy but we can't find a thing. Not even our favourite London property blog Rat and Mouse has covered the story. Has......