Farewell to wet-wipe island

Dear Londoners — ignore the 8.30pm sunset and vague smell of wood smoke in the air: summer's officially back. And if there's one thing this city does well, it's the slightly melancholic joy of a late-season heatwave. But before you all rush to a beer garden on the Thames, you might want to think about what could be floating near you... In Hammersmith, that happens to be a 180-tonne island of wet wipes, grease and human filth. Bellissimo! Hopefully it won't be spoiling your pint of Madri for much longer though — the Port of London Authority has a plan. Find all of this and more in your Monday briefing...

But, before you do, we just wanted to thank you for getting us over the line of 700 paying supporters. We couldn't publish any of our investigations, deep-dives and reports — in short, anything — without you. Thanks for continuing to bring high-quality journalism back to the city.

Big story: A stretch of the Thames by one of London’s most elite private schools is home to a 180-tonne island of wet wipes. Now it's getting cleared. 

Top line: A 180-tonne, 250-metre long island of congealed wet wipes in the Thames at Hammersmith is finally set to be cleared by the Port of London Authority.

The inside story: The blob of undegraded rubbish is sat next to the elite St Paul’s private school (which Londoner readers may remember almost set on fire last week) and has slowly grown over the last decade. But it’s now become so big — equivalent to the size of two tennis courts, and 3ft high in some places — that it’s actually changed the course of the river and likely harmed the aquatic wildlife and ecology of the area. 

In the past, volunteers have tried to keep the island in check, mostly by removing as much of the refuse as they can by hand while wading the Thames. Inspired by this work, the Port of London Authority (PLA) has agreed to take the lead on a planned mass clean-up of the island — the first of its kind. But it’s no small job: the work will take around a month.

How did this happen?: Masses of wet wipes, fat and oil frequently block sewage pipes when they get flushed down people’s toilets. But the ongoing release of untreated sewage into the river by Thames Water has meant that the same artificial plastic waste that clogs up our sewage pipes has started to build up in our river. 

Could we ever have nice things?: As users on social media have been quick to point out, the development comes as similar European cities like Paris and Rotterdam have started opening up their rivers to swimmers. But between islands of wet wipes and the 300,000 hours of untreated sewage released into the river by Thames Water in 2024 alone, it seems unlikely anyone is desperate to swim in the Thames any time soon. And although the privatised water company recently announced that it would be spending £1.8bn to clean up the river, that's barely a quarter of the amount it has paid out in dividends to its owners in the last three decades.

Your news briefing 

🛕 On Friday, we were in Southwark Crown Court. The case we were looking into ended up with a slight delay — rescheduled until 2027 — but, while there, we sat in on the trial of a Sadhu (a type of Hindu religious holy man or saint) for an alleged sexual assault of a man at the Hindu temple in Kenton. It’s a case that, judging by the presence of a crowd so big it couldn't fit in the courtroom, has scandalised the Hindu community in Northwest London. The trial is still ongoing.

🇵🇸 532 people were mass arrested at a protest in Central London on Saturday held in support of Palestine Action, with half aged 60 or above. The campaign group was proscribed as a terror group after members broke into RAF Brize Norton and spray painted two planes in protest at the UK government’s reconnaissance flights over Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in what has been described by the UN, Amnesty and HRW as a genocide. The arrests at the Palestine Action rally is thought to be the single biggest mass arrest by the Met Police in modern British History, beating the previous record of 339 during the poll tax riots in 1990.

🎥 The iconic Prince Charles Cinema — which is currently locked in a dispute with its landlord Asif Aziz over the future of its Leicester Square site — has announced that it is looking to take on a second location, with Stratford its main target. “Given what’s happened this year, I understand how it could look like we’re trying to shift operations, but that’s not what’s happening,” Paul Vickery, the cinema’s head of programming, told The Guardian. “Stratford has always been a hub. There are plenty of students and loads of new-build properties that have sprung up recently. But it also feels like it’s still trying to find its feet and figure out what it is.”

🏠 A largely ignored clause in the upcoming government devolution bill will allow the construction of a swathe of new housing on the land owned by TfL, usually empty lots and car parks situated around train and Tube stations, according to IanVisits.

🌴 After efforts from campaigners, a pair of grapefruit trees in Battersea planted by late local resident Marline Anderson have been given protection by the council. Thought to be some of the only examples in the UK growing outside of Kew, the trees were brought by Anderson from her native Grenada, and now serve as a memorial to the community icon.

If you missed it

Last week’s stories:

• On Saturday, we went inside the Bus Drivers Link Up, once a small party for British-Carribbean bus drivers in London that has blossomed into a mini festival. 
• Our Thursday read chronicled the saga Haggerston Baths. Once one of the most beautiful pools in London. It suddenly closed in 2000. The ensuing years have been a mess of millions in wasted council money, failed developments and a community wondering why it's been so impossible to reopen a swimming pool. 
• We asked James Greig to delve into one of the city’s most contentious topics: its growing obsession with automatic tipping, and whether it marks the Americanisation of London. 

Wining and dining

With endless offerings and non-stop openings, we all know that deciding where to eat and drink in the capital can be fraught. We want to make it easy — so every week we’ll give you our insider guide to the city’s best spots. 

One perfect meal: 

“These are the best pierogies in London,” a diner said to her companion as I made my way into Crystal Palace’s Retro Kitchen & Bar, and a sentiment I’d been hearing from numerous Polish friends for the past few months. After a plate of mushroom and sauerkraut — golden and slightly crisp, topped with piles of soft, sticky onions — I was inclined to agree. Don’t be fooled by the interior, which still looks like the Portuguese restaurant that used to exist on the site, and instead sit in the back garden, grab a Perła and enjoy some of the capital’s finest Polish food from host Kasia and her husband (top tip: get the goulash and potato pancake and the off-menu pierogies).  

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 One perfect drink:

Many of Chelsea’s pubs conform to the exact stereotypes you may have of the notoriously wealthy area: £8 pints, braying men in gilets hogging the smoking area and women with highlights that cost more than your rent giving you the evil eye if you nudge them on the way to the bar. But the Fox and Hounds, which sits snug at the intersection of Passmore Street and Graham Terrace, is a tonic to all that. Despite being a stone’s throw away from Sloane Square, it’s got a varied clientele (old-school locals and Gen Z poshos can exist in peace, it turns out), a good selection of Taytos and cosy, antique wood charm. 

Our favourite reads (and watches)

‘A relentless, destructive energy’: inside the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon — Sophie Elmhirst, Guardian

The workings of the Old Bailey can seem arcane and labyrinthine. In a virtuoso piece of court reporting, Elmhirst goes inside the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, who were charged with causing their two-week-old baby’s death — and the media frenzy surrounding it. What emerges is not just a portrait of one of the decade’s most high-profile criminal proceedings, but of the storied court itself. 

‘The Time Is Right’: For London’s Blockbuster Indian Restaurants, New York Is Next — Priya Krishna, New York Times (£)

Of all the West’s capital cities, it’s a given that London lays claim to the best Indian food. But that might not be the case for much longer, with runaway successes like Dishoom, Kricket, Darjeeling Express and Gymkhana all eyeing transatlantic expansion. In this piece, Krishna goes deep on why — and what that means for London’s status as an Indian food epicentre.

To Do List

1. You have until 19 October to visit the National Gallery’s must-see Millet exhibition. Contained in one small room, the 19th century artist’s depictions of rural French workers are astonishing, his figures glowing as if illuminated by holy light. 

2. The BBC Proms are well underway — and this year, there’s some standout non-classical picks. At the top of our list is The Cavemen, a Lagos-based sibling duo who play an updated, fusion take on “highlife”, which combines traditional Igbo melodies with Western instruments and jazz beats. The brothers have become known for their incredible live performances, so it’s sure to be a festival highlight. 

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From the archive 

Having become a stalwart of social media videos and blogs, the idea of “hidden London” may seem like a contemporary fascination. But this series from BBC reporter Bernard Falk shows that the obsession stretches back far longer — although few since have done it quite so well. Join Falk on a trip through a capital shielded from view, and by now long since vanished.