Hot on the heels of Heygate, the infamous Aylesbury Estate flanking the Walworth Road is due for redevelopment. "A byword for all that is worst about the concrete jungles built in haste during the 1960s housing boom" and favoured film set for The Bill it's hoped a billion pound new build will banish the addicts, guns and crack houses and lure a new kind of householder to SE17, who'll snap up swish private parts......

There's a storm brewing over the future of Sobell Leisure Centre in Hornsey Road, Holloway. Passionate local residents and users of the 1973, concrete block of a diverse, multi-purpose sports facility are accusing Islington Council of steamrolling ahead with plans to demolish and rebuild the centre in spite of strong local feeling in favour of refurbishment. The current plan would mean the closure of any facility at Sobell for 2 years whilst it was......

Developers say they are unlikely to accept a consortium's offer to safeguard greyhound racing at Walthamstow Stadium. The site's owners, London and Quadrant Housing Trust, reckon the bid is "not genuinely viable", and will continue with their selfless plan to "ease homelessness" through a housing development, which will (by sheer coincidence) also turn a tidy profit. Despite a "show of strength" outside the stadium on Thursday night, time for the 'Stow is running out. Racing......

40. Regent Quarter, King's Cross Where? Converted factories and warehouses east of King's Cross station, tucked inside the Islington boundary on yonder side of York Way. What? Regent Quarter is a quaint huddle of 19th century industrial buildings, sandblasted and renewed into a community of small businesses and restaurants. Gone are the prostitution and drug dealing of the 1980s in favour of cosy courtyards where office workers catch the lunchtime rays. Names such as Laundry......

Harry Potter may have completed his seven years at school, but younger wizardlings are in for several years of service disruption on the Hogwart's Express. Platform 9 and 3/4 will be shifted later this year to allow construction work on the West side of King's Cross, according to Jon Burden the former Duty Station Manager at King's Cross, who led a tour of the area yesterday. The enchanted platform will be relocated to the......

Last time we heard from Lords they were taking baby steps towards the 21st century. Today, post membership consultation, they're giving a tantalising glimpse of the future of the hallowed turf, revealing a £200m masterplan in the making to transform the revered ground. Following the club's biggest ever member survey a redevelopment brief has been sent out to a number of architects but don't panic, traditionalists! The sacred pavilion and its exterior will remain......

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......

If you're free on Thursday night (13th Dec), then Mercury nominees The Young Knives are playing a pretty cool headlining gig at Canvas, Kings Cross. The Rage Out In Winter is an all evening event (7.30pm - 2am) aiming itself an a more discerning gig goer, hoping to provide cool bands in luxurious settings. They've even got proper caterers on the case to provide food to gig goers which we think is a great......

Queen Liz officially re-opens St Pancras station Having nabbed a flash foreign manager, Spurs continue to ape Arsenal with new stadium plans Meanwhile, Gunners fans are accused of abusing shrinking violet Sir Alex Ferguson Smithfields Market to be butchered in redevelopment? Londonist hopes it can be saved Image courtesy of buckaroo kid via the Londonist flickr group.......

Revolting peasants and Scottish heroes, a buried river, and a 1000 years of death, slaughter and destruction. Smithfield surely deserves some kind of cultural centre. And there just happens to be the perfect place to put it, if we act fast… As many readers will know, several buildings of the famous meat-market complex are under threat. The General market, Fish market and Red House are in a dilapidated state and the targets for demolition......

Some new research has been published claiming that Elephant and Castle will become a top retail destination in the next 10 years. Now, we're as optimistic as the next blog, as demonstrated by our views on the 2012 Olympic logo. But, even for us, this seems quite a stretch. While the odd stall outside the shopping centre adds a bit of character to the place, the centre itself is a bit of a dive......

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......

Spitalfields Market, in case you hadn't noticed, has been undergoing a major facelift. Last year, the revamped western end reopened with trendy boutiques and eateries, amid grumbles from some quarters that the area would lose its character (it hasn't). Now it's the turn of the central market. This has now closed for around 3 months while the floor is refurbished. The usual Thursday, Friday and Sunday markets will be moved to a spot on......

Allies and Morrison Architects have designed this trio of towers to sit on the Southbank behind the Shell Centre for P&O Estates and Morgan Stanley Real Estate. The site next to York Road is currently occupied by the sixties slab, Elizabeth House, and for an area directly outside one of London’s busiest stations is shockingly bad. Much is made of the ground level improvements that the redevelopment will offer including new pedestrianised areas that......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways. 31. Platform 1, King's Cross Where? Erm, King's Cross. But it's more than just a platform. It's a sneaky back passage. What? Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4 isn't the only secret portal on the station. Platform 1 runs along the east side of the main building - it's the one with the pirate-themed pasty stall and the AMT coffee kiosk. The powers that be allow pedestrians......

Colindale shopping centre, "Oriental City", has become the nexus of an international dispute. The beloved Edgeware Road mall, which has been called London's "real Chinatown", may be knocked down later this year and replaced with a B&Q home improvement superstore, some flats, a school, and a bunch of other crap. The Chinese consul general, Jiang Yuansong, has written to Mayor of London Ken Livingstone to express his "deep concern" about the project. If the......

York Way, that dusty street alongside King's Cross, is abuzz with construction and redevelopment. Nowhere more so than Kings Place (they're not big on apostrophes in these parts), next to the Regent's Canal. Come 2008, and a new arts and music venue will be open for business. And the fortunate staff of The Guardian and Observer will have a new base. It has already hit the headlines, when part of the site caught fire......

Saturday 2nd of December has been declared Very Important Pedestrian Day: Two of the most famous shopping streets in the UK will be traffic-free for the first time to help Christmas shoppers. Both Oxford Street and Regent Street in London's West End will be free of vehicles on Saturday 2 December. Ohhhhh that sounds like a good idea. Londonist of course does all its Christmas shopping online, but we'll happily wander the car free......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways. 12. St Chad's Place Where? Dingy little dogleg behind King's Cross Thameslink. What? Ah, St Chad. You know, the brother of St Cedd and St Cynibild? Founder of the moanstery at Barrow-upon-Humber? Patron saint of rigged elections? No? Since ancient times, this spot contained a small, health-giving spring dedicated to the saint. St Chad's Well, was one of several ancient and important water supplies associated......

The London Transport Museum has gone eBay crazy this month: This fundraising auction is being held by the Friends of London’s Transport Museum to raise money for the redevelopment of the popular central London museum. All proceeds will go towards new exhibitions and education facilities which will be enjoyed by hundreds of thousands people and schools in the years to come. Please help us to realise this important project. So what are they are......

Some of you might recall that a few years ago the Central Line was suspended for almost three months, following a derailment at Chancery Lane. At that time, this meant that this Londonista’s daily commute often involved walking from Bank to Holborn, past St Paul’s and across Holborn Viaduct – a part of our journey that soon got annoying, but was still quicker than taking the overwhelmed bus services. (London Underground never did cough......

Celebrate Ben Franklin's 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly. You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. LAist's sex advice column on......

This day in London’s History 1821: Caroline of Brunswick, the god-awful consort of George IV, died in Hammersmith after 25 years of farcical wedlock. It was always going to be an ill-starred pairing. Though, by all accounts, any union featuring either of these two would have been strained. The Prince Regent, as any Blackadder fan will know, was boisterous, oafish and careless with money. Caroline, for her part, has been described as coarse of......

With the polls opening at 7am tomorrow (they are open til 10pm, so there is no excuse not to vote!), Londonist provides you with the third entry for our local elections competition. This time courtesy of Hans Sloane: The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea With Sloane Square, Harrods and a palace or two within its boundaries, it's no surprise that Kensington and Chelsea is dominated by Tory councillors - 42 out of 54......

Ken continues his Chinese tour, opening something called 'The London Experience'. He also tried to backpeddle on his recent comparison of the Tiananmen Square massacre to London disturbances. 'I said that great squares in town centres have tremendous and interesting histories,' he explained. What do you reckon? Should we let him off? Also, caption competition. What's Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan saying to his opposite number in this photo? The developers of the Millennium Dome......

London before and after seems to be on our minds at the moment. Ever since that week in July that seemed to give with one hand and then took it all away with the other, the people who live and work here have been forced to think about this place with a certain amount of trepidation. What has changed? What will change? What can we change back and what will change forever? Tate Modern......

A driver crashed into a group of schoolchildren yesterday as they mourned the death of the two pupils who had been killed by the Stansted Express at the weekend: "A female driver was chasing the male motorist after an alleged row at a set of traffic lights when he lost control and seriously injured six people at the gates of the school. The woman, in a black VW Polo, fled the scene, leaving the driver......

Several million pounds are thought to have been stolen in a raid on a Securitas van last night in Woolston, Warrington. After delays reckoned to have cost £35m, the Government has finally approved the £1.1bn redevelopment of St Bartholomew's hospital and the Royal London. Queen's Club want to sell the Lawn Tennis Association to its members for £45 million, but first they have to work out if they legally own the place or not. The......

It’s an unwritten rule of the town that anything over 100m tall must be referred to by something other than its correct name. Viz, the Gherkin, the wheel, NatWest Tower, Canary Wharf, the Cheesegrater, the Post Office Tower, the Shard of Glass, etc. etc. The latest proposed tower block is, frankly, asking for it. If this thing ever gets built, The Electric Razor it will certainly be called. What you’re looking at is a......

Ken Livingstone has been given a breezeblock for winning the Green Party's 'Dodgy Planning' awards This isn't awarded for just any dodgy planning (putting your trousers on before your pants for instance, would not get you the prize), it's only urban planning and development that counts and Ken has won the award this year for allowing the redevelopment of the former Arsenal stadium. As well as being one of the most crass property development......