Today’s London news round-up:

A huge fire ripped through a department store in Peckham with 100 firefighters needed to tackle the blaze. Metro

Outrage as woman, 80, blocked from going up stairs at London tube station – ‘you’ve got legs’ Mirror

Why is the City charging dockless bike operators only £31,860 a year? EC1 Echo

The Green Party has held the Hackney Central ward seat in a by-election triggered by one of the party’s councillors resigning shortly after the May elections. Hackney Citizen

Berkeley launches legal challenge against ‘flawed’ rejection of south London scheme Housing Today

Residents on the Woolwich Dockyard Estate want clarity over the future of their homes after Greenwich Council named it as a site suitable for over 1,000 new homes – without warning them first. Greenwich Wire

Hackney man admits threatening to ‘decapitate’ Jewish schoolchildren Standard

More than £6,000 worth of illegal cigarettes, tobacco, and vapes have been seized in Hornchurch. Romford Recorder

The sentencing hearing for a gang of underworld gun suppliers had to be abandoned after a newly rebuilt court building was unable to cope with the hot temperatures. Sky News

Jeffrey Donaldson visited a gay sauna in London at the time when he described homosexuality as “sinful”, it has emerged. Belfast Telegraph

And from ianVisits:

Tickets Alert: Tours of the Old Bailey

Roof top bar opening overlooking Russell Square

Battle of Britain flypast over central London on Sunday

Smithfield and Billingsgate markets set for Royal Docks move by end of 2029

London’s weekly railway news

Things to do in London tomorrow

Monthly guided tours of the Van Gogh house museum
Stockwell
The Van Gogh house guided tours offer visitors an opportunity to learn about their most famous tenant, as well as the architecture, history, and future of the house.

Earthfest Community Day
Kings Cross
A day long event of talks and workshops on environmental issues.

Open Days at the Hermitage Community Moorings
Wapping
Hermitage Community Moorings is a cluster of boats next to Tower Bridge that hosts an occasional open weekend to let the public onboard for a look around.

Monthly art and poster store tour
Acton
Immerse yourself in the rich design heritage of London’s transport while exploring a selection of posters from our world-class collection, and rarely seen original artworks.

Cabinet of Curiosities
Poplar
A Cabinet of Curiosities depicting everyday life on the Lansbury Estate, Poplar. Designed and built by Delvendahl Martin Architects.

Limmo Pensinula: a new neighbourhood for Canning Town
Victoria Dock
An exhibition of emerging plans – and an opportunity to have your say

The Festival of Stuff 2026
Olympic Park
Annual event filled to the brim with making madness, hands-on activities and interactive demonstrations at the Institute of Making Stratford.

Ruskin Park Summer Fete
Camberwell
Annual local fete with all the usual things – food, drink, stalls, live music etc.

Meet the Author: Emily Garside – Rainbow Wales
Kings Cross
Lisa Power interviews Emily Garside to explore who are the Queer figures, past and present, who have made, and continue to make, Welsh history?

Who if Not Us: Film Screening + Director Q&A
Kings Cross
A film, from the ‘Voices from the Roof of the World’ series, which captures the emotional impact of climate change on local communities.

Henry Moore after hours
Richmond
Celebrate the arrival of summer with a night of art, music and performance, inspired by the landmark Henry Moore exhibition at Kew.

Things to do on Sunday

Monthly guided tours of the Van Gogh house museum
Stockwell
The Van Gogh house guided tours offer visitors an opportunity to learn about their most famous tenant, as well as the architecture, history, and future of the house.

Open Days at the Hermitage Community Moorings
Wapping
Hermitage Community Moorings is a cluster of boats next to Tower Bridge that hosts an occasional open weekend to let the public onboard for a look around.

Visit a garden: Church Gardens
Denham
C17 Renaissance walled gardens on the outskirts of Harefield, featuring a geometrically designed organic kitchen garden

Kite festival on Hampstead Heath
Kentish Town
Lots of people will be gathering on Parliament Hill to fly kites.

Tall sailing ship passing through Tower Bridge
Southwark
A note that the TS Royalist, the Sea Cadets flagship training brig, will pass through Tower Bridge today.

Monthly opening of St Augustine’s Tower
Hackney
Once a month, the oldest building in Hackney, St Augustine’s Tower is open, so you can climb up to the top.

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In fact, anyone can already go into the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, which is the official name for the Old Bailey, if they want to watch a court case, as most courtrooms are open to the public. Justice must be seen to be done, so they are public spaces, but you can only go in at the moment to watch a court case, not to wander around for a look.

The tours also take place on a Saturday when the courts are usually closed, so you get to see the building minus the crowds of lawyers and penitents.

Apart from the courtrooms themselves, there are also the magnificent central corridors, which are sumptuously decorated and look not unlike some of the grander rooms in the V&A Museum.

As a courthouse, even one that is unlikely to be sitting on a Saturday, there’s rather more than the usual number of restrictions.

• Everyone has to go through the security check on arrival.
• You will need to bring photo ID with you.
• There is no admission for children aged under 14 and proof of age may be requested by security.
• No large bags or rucksacks are allowed in the building, though handbags are acceptable.
• No photography is allowed in any courtroom or in the cells — but should be allowed in the main corridors, so long as no one else in the photos (in case you photograph a court witness etc).

The tours cost £30.50 per person, take place on Saturdays and can be booked from here.

It’s based on the top floor of the Imperial Hotel overlooking Russell Square, which has been undergoing renovations over the past few years. The hotel is famous for its 1970s regimented modern frontage, which has been restored and a new floor added on top.

Along the entire width of the top of the building, they’ve created a roof terrace that they say can seat 330 people. Described as Bloomsbury’s first rooftop bar and restaurant, the venue will be open to the public and will offer views of St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye, the British Museum’s domes, and the gardens of Russell Square below.

The rooftop bar will open this summer as Arcus, and more details are available here.

Arcus is operated by Imperial London Hotels, the family-run hospitality company that has been based in Bloomsbury since 1837 and is now managed by its seventh generation. The group operates eight hotels in the area and also manages the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury through a partnership with IHG Hotels & Resorts.

Reasons are never given in the air traffic notice, but the location is Green Park, and the flypast is by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF), so it’s likely to be for the Bomber Command memorial next to Hyde Park Corner.

They’ve done similar flypasts on the same last Sunday in June before, so it’s a good reason to expect the same this year. It’s unclear which plane will fly past, and although in past years flypasts over the memorial have been by the BBMF’s Lancaster Bomber, which is always a heck of an impressive sight.

I will note that the BBMF’s Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane are also in the air on Sunday for some airshows, so they might be doing the London flypast.

Whatever it is flying over London, the flypast is targeting Green Park between 11:45am and 12:15pm.

It’s not yet possible to know what the flight path will be – but you can track the plane’s approach route on FlightRadar, although I find ADBS Exchange tends to be better for military planes.

The City of London, which runs the two markets, had planned to move them to a site in Dagenham Docks before soaring costs made the plan unviable (and a 775-year-old charter made it difficult). The City still wanted to close the markets but offered support to the traders in finding an alternative site, and one was identified last year in the Royal Docks.

The new market at Albert Island, next to the City Airport, would be run by the market traders rather than the City of London – but the City has a legal obligation to run the markets, so it’s seeking to have that removed.

However, that requires an Act of Parliament, so a Private Bill is currently working its way through Parliament. It was at a committee meeting on opposed bills that the 2029 date was suggested for the markets to move to their new site.

The bill is largely supported by most of the Smithfield market traders, but there was one petition filed from a Billingsgate fish market trader, which triggered the full opposed bill committee hearing in Parliament earlier this week.

The City of London’s representative, Richard Turney KC, explained that the two markets are no longer fit for purpose, as their locations are no longer suitable for the large lorries that deliver to them.

He was supported by Greg Lawrence, chairman of the Smithfield Market Tenants’ Association and the headline star of their annual Christmas Eve auction, who explained that the current sites are physically constrained and cannot be expanded to accommodate more traders.

He also raised the long-standing issue of access to central London due to the congestion charge, as well as road closures that affect deliveries.

Opposition came from Zahaab Amjad of PM Prime Fish, who raised concerns that Billingsgate fish market could be closed down before its replacement on Albert Island was ready. Committee Chair Matt Turmaine MP secured an agreement from the City’s representative that the fish traders would be supported if there was a delay in opening the replacement site.

The bill is now moving onto the report stage, and if unopposed, the City of London will legally sever its centuries-old obligation to operate food markets in London. If the bill is passed by both the House of Lords and the House of Commons, it will receive Royal Assent in the House of Lords when a clerk, while bowing, announces to the house, “soit fait comme il est desire“, which is to say “let it be as it is desired”, and that is the formal announcement that the King has enacted the bill.

The Private Act will be printed and stored in Parliament. Until 1956, it was printed on vellum, but today, they use archival paper, so at least they won’t need a dead sheep to close the Smithfield market.

But the markets will continue, in the Royal Docks, as is likely the annual Christmas Eve auction.

Once the markets move, the Smithfield site is earmarked for a cultural centre, while the Billingsgate site is expected to be redeveloped for housing.

You can watch the debate here.

London Underground

The London Underground line that is nearly 40C during the heatwave Independent

Andy Burnham warned: Slash funding for Tube upgrades and risk losing Labour MPs in London Standard

Next month, a restored 1930s Art Deco tube train and the Sarah Siddons locomotive will return to the London Underground, offering rides along the Metropolitan line. ianVisits

Mainline / Overground

Eurostar trains cancelled amid UK and France heatwaves Standard

HS2 reset delayed further as costs mount and questions grow  Christian Wolmar

The railways around Romford are going to see a trial of drones to monitor the railway for trespass incidents and to identify infrastructure issues early. ianVisits

A Hornsey passenger has accused a train operator of putting rules before welfare after more than 200 people were stranded on a broken-down train in soaring temperatures. Ham and High

HS2 was doomed because of one crucial thing The i Paper

Surveying the HS2 tunnels in London GIM International

Work has begun to upgrade a signalling system on the Thameslink line as part of measures to improve reliability on one of the busiest parts of the rail network. ianVisits

DLR

The DLR extension to Thamesmead is the wrong railway, at the wrong price, for the wrong reasons. Conservative Home

Miscellaneous

A passionate 84-year-old train manager who was “born into the sound of trains” has said his job gives him “a reason to get up in the morning”. BBC News

Football groups, political parties and business leaders have joined forces to demand that London’s Night Tube runs on week nights when England and Scotland have World Cup matches. Metro

This is the moment an alleged fare dodger was stopped in his tracks by a TfL revenue inspector at a north London train station. Standard

London’s Victoria Station is to welcome a 5,000 sq ft food hall from Market Place this autumn  The Caterer

TfL signs with misleading times displayed for trains and walking distances Diamond Geezer

Transport for London (TfL) has appointed Amey and Egis to separate infrastructure frameworks that will support the delivery of major transport improvement projects across the capital. NCE (£)

A woman was reportedly sexually assaulted on the London Underground as police release a photo of a man they wish to speak to. The Sun

The nuisance of people playing music on trains could face increased enforcement, as the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, agreed to look at what could be done. ianVisits

“Heat Refugees”: When People Piled Into The Tube To Escape London Heatwaves Londonist

And finally: Herne Hill forum installs retro-style fun train benches outside Herne Hill station Brixton Buzz

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The image is from a June 2021 article: Crossrail hands Woolwich station over to TfL

That comes from a National Audit Office report into the ongoing issue of what to do with the crumbling edifice of the UK Parliament estate. It’s an issue that’s been kicked down the grass for so long that the scaffolding poles that prop up parts of the building are in danger of becoming heritage items themselves.

Parliament currently spends around £1.5 million a week on maintenance of the Palace, including major refurbishment projects. This is forecast to increase to around £2 million a week between 2026 and 2030.

Although Parliament passed an act that will allow funding for the restoration works, there’s still a lot of debate about how they will be carried out.

The most cost-effective and least risky option for the project would be to empty the building entirely and relocate politicians elsewhere during the works.

Politicians are unhappy with the idea and are considering alternatives, such as partially emptying the building and relocating offices during the restoration works. That pushes costs up considerably and adds a decade or more to the delivery time.

Some of the options would take so long that a stonecarver could start work on the project as an apprentice, and still be working on it the day they retire.

The costs range from £11 billion to an eye-watering £56 billion.

However, each year of delay is estimated to add £320 million to £420 million to the overall cost of delivering the Programme. That’s mainly due to inflation, but also the longer the damage is left unrepaired, the more damage is caused, and repairs end up costing more to carry out.

While politicians dither and delay, the independent Restoration and Renewal Programme is seeking an initial £3 billion for a seven-year set of repairs, and also the work to develop and acquire temporary accommodation for the Houses – if they agree to move out.

In the meantime, look for mice running around behind politicians when they give interviews on the telly.

The full report is here.

It’s also open for tours.

While it looks like a conventional office block from the outside, it’s inside that the real action takes place. A central floor-to-ceiling courtyard space dominates, but what really marks the building out at the many gardens dotted around the outside and on the roof.

What’s also delightful about the building is the attention to detail, from the careful use of patterns in the decoration to both shade rooms while reminding people of the building’s origins to the furniture dotted around the library spaces, and even the signs for the toilets seem to have been custom-designed when an off-the-shelf sign would have been adequate.

Tours of the Aga Khan Centre are available most Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

The tours are free, and you can book one here.

The Aga Khan Centre is on the junction of Stable Street and Handyside Street, just north of Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross.

Featuring original designs by architect George Aitchison, ceramicist William De Morgan and illustrator Walter Crane, alongside works by Leighton and ceramics from his collection, the exhibition offers visitors a window into the collaborative process that brought the Arab Hall to life.

Made up mostly of drawings and sketches, the exhibition shows some of the thinking behind the design of the famous pop-song filming location and how he secured the tiles from Middle Eastern sellers, often taken from buildings that had fallen into ruins.

It also shows off some of the changes to the original design which were never fully realised.

The exhibition is based on new research by Dr Melanie Gibson, which has uncovered how some of Leighton’s trips across southern Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, and Sicily inspired the design of his London hall.

One of the rarer paintings on display is one from inside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, which he was allowed to paint after applying to the British consulate for permission and paying a fee. The exhibition also includes the only painting of the hall that Leighton made, of a child sitting on the floor reading a book.

As someone who uses his phone to capture exhibition captions and things that catch my attention, it was wryly amusing to see Leighton’s smartphone-sized pocket notebooks, where he did essentially the same thing, with a pencil.

The exhibition is in Leighton House’s basement gallery. Although the main house charges an entry fee, the basement gallery is free to visit.

It’s open until 4th October 2026, and you can visit on Wednesdays to Sunday between 10am and 5:30pm.

Although the exhibition is free, if you want to visit the rest of the house, entry is paid, and, very annoyingly, adults now have to buy a joint ticket for both Leighton House and Sambourne House.

It’s cheaper to visit both at the same time, but removing the option to visit just one is a tad irksome.

• Adults: £23
• Concessions: £16
• Children (6-19): £8
• Children (under 6): Free
• National Art Pass: £13

Details here.

Regular visitors will know that in a corner of the museum, there’s a large graphic on the fire escape showing a futuristic image of London in the year 2026. As part of the refurbishment, that image is to be taken down. Not because it’s out of date, but because that’s where the museum’s new entrance is going.

In fact, the plans will restore the entrance to its original location.

The museum’s current entrance was relocated during the 2007 refurbishment, routing visitors through the shop before they enter the galleries. While commercially successful, the arrangement leaves visitors facing a long, largely featureless corridor as they enter the museum.

That corridor is largely a consequence of accessibility works carried out in 2005. Because the museum could not excavate into the historic floor, the lifts were installed around a metre above floor level to accommodate their lift pits. This required extensive ramps throughout the building, with much of the ground floor raised on a platform and additional ramps connecting different areas.

Modern lift technology no longer requires such deep pits, allowing most of those ramps to be removed. The resulting redesign will free up valuable gallery space and create a more intuitive layout for visitors.

The long blank corridor will itself be turned into an event space.

No longer needing the long entrance slope means they can flip the museum entrance back to its original location. From here, people will be able to walk straight into the museum, and the intention is to maximise the double-height space to create a bit of a wow factor when you walk in by moving the buses out to the sides rather than the barrier-like block they are in at the moment.

There will be more spaces created around the rest of the museum, mainly by rationalising back-of-house staff areas. There’s already been some changes, such as a new video room next to the toilets, and a new gallery is being built at the moment.

Overall, they expect to add about 500 square metres of public space to the museum, allowing for about 90,000 additional visitors per year on top of the 450,000 they’ve reached in recent years.

One of the most visible changes, aside from the collection layouts, will be the removal of the bridge across the main gallery. People will instead be able to walk around all three other sides of the main gallery, through a new space at the far end of the building.

Moving the museum’s entrance could also benefit one of the museum’s most successful attractions: the shop. It attracts more than twice as many visitors as the museum itself. To borrow from the V&A’s famous 1980s advertising slogan, the London Transport Museum is an ace shop with quite a nice museum attached.

The money-spinning cafe and shop will also be refurbished as part of the plans.

Alongside the revamping of the museum interior, the project will address several hidden issues, primarily related to drainage, the removal of the gas boilers, and the upgrade of the rooftop solar panels.

The museum expects to remain open throughout the redevelopment works, and everything should be completed in time for its 50th anniversary in 2030.

The whole project is set to cost around £26 million, and they’re raised £1 million from the Arts Council, £300,000 from the LT Museum Friends and a £12 million grant from Transport for London (TfL).

That leaves just under £13 million still to be raised. However, work can begin before all the funding is secured, with the museum drawing on its reserves to finance the early stages of the redevelopment.

Elizabeth McKay, Director and CEO of London Transport Museum comments: “London’s transport story is one of the greatest innovation stories in the world, and this transformation is about sharing that story in a bigger, bolder and more inspiring way than ever before.”

“For generations, Londoners and visitors have come to the Museum to explore the city and its stories through its transport system. As we approach our 50th anniversary, we’re creating an experience that captures the energy, creativity and optimism of London itself – while opening the doors to even more people.”

During a briefing for museum supporters, an update was also provided on the museum’s Acton Depot, where the majority of the collection is stored.

Although there has long been an expectation that the site could eventually be redeveloped for housing, the museum confirmed that the depot will remain in Acton as part of any future plans. Options under consideration include redevelopment around the depot, and it could even emerge with slightly more space than it has today — a useful prospect given the size of the museum’s collection of trains and buses.

The museum also confirmed that it expects to acquire one of the older DLR trains when they are withdrawn from service.

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Updated to correct a typo in the first sentence about the cost of the project.