It's a bunfight: City of London Corporation hands over beloved community cafes to a chain

Dear Londoners — Can you smell that? Wood smoke, chestnuts, mince pi— wait, is that burning? Oh god, the turkey! Well, I guess there's nothing for it but to pop the champagne, whack on The Muppet Christmas Carol and order a curry. I'm joking (although now I've said it, that does sound kind of like the perfect day and besides, I'm actually pescatarian), but The Londoner HQ does have a little bit of that vibe right now. Andrew has escaped back up north, leaving me, Bob Cratchit like, to work right up to the holiday itself. Or maybe I'm Scrooge in this situation? (Personally, I like to think I'm a Miss-Piggy-as-Emily Cratchit type of gal). Either way, it's a one woman band right now, so the schedule will be a little lighter than usual, and this will be the last Monday briefing until the new year. Don't worry though: fresh features will be dropping weekly until normal proceedings resume from the 5 January. But let's see the year out in style with a typical Londoner mix: numerous political beefs and a place to get a really nice negroni. Over and out.

Your news briefing

☕ There’s outrage in NW3 as the City of London Corporation (CLC) has handed over four beloved, independently run cafes in Queen's Park, Golders Hill Park, Parliament Hill Lido and Parliament Hill Fields to Australian-inspired cafe chain Daisy Green — despite a 20,000-strong petition supported by Benedict Cumberbatch. All current operators will be forced to give up their leases by 31 January, with the CLC saying they have been "trading under tenancies at will, which are unsustainable short-term arrangements". The cafes under their current ownership act as community hubs, and one — the Italian cafe at Parliament Hill Fields — has been run by the D’Auria family for 45 years.

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🍴 New details have emerged about the reopening of Simpson’s in the Strand, one of London’s oldest restaurants that closed due to a dispute with its landlord at the onset of Covid. Celebrated restaurateur Jeremy King, who is helming the relaunch of the 1828 venue, has said it will open in February 2026 (and, excitingly for London, feature a bar with a 3am license…). 

🗣️ Sadiq Khan has denied rumours that he was told to “get out” of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ office after a heated row about securing increased funding for the capital, reports Haringey Community Press. The mayor said he had never been “thrown out of anyone’s office” and described the meeting as “very fraternal, as it always is when I see the chancellor.” Last month Reeves said she did not “recognise” the language reported and said the two had a “great relationship”.

📄 Camden council is to roll out “passports” to rough sleepers in the borough, so that people can more efficiently access NHS and local housing providers. It’s hoped that this will allow individuals to avoid having to repeatedly disclose information that could be sensitive or traumatic when navigating these services. The number of rough sleepers in Camden has climbed at an extraordinary rate this year (26%). 

Quick hits: St Mary-le-Strand (situated on, you guessed it, the Strand) is to receive £46m in lottery funding; dozens of skeletons have been unearthed during an excavation at the Tower of London; London property prices stagnated in 2025 (take a nosy at your area on this map); more driverless taxis are heading to the capital’s streets; police are appealing for witnesses after a 55-year-old man was shot dead in Brent on Friday evening 

In case you missed it…

• Last Wednesday saw Peter Carlyon meet Steve Russell, one of Westminster council’s most long-standing graffiti cleaners, who’s engaged in a cat-and-mouse battle with the borough’s taggers. Still, his view is perhaps slightly surprising: “I think London these days, people try and make it too nice and clean.”

• On Thursday, Andrew undertook a selfless piece of public service journalism: polling every leader of a major political party to ask them what their favourite pub is, and then embarking on a pub crawl all the way from KT6 to NW5 with the results. Let us know your favourites in the comments.
• For our weekend read, Katharine Swindells goes inside the world of Royal Mail posties working the pre-Christmas peak. The fancier parts of west London have their own downsides, namely glossy catalogues: “Bloody Harrods, those ones are heavy,” a post woman tells her. “And I’ve got one for every door.”

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One perfect drink

Finding a spot for a drink in central pre-Christmas can be a fool’s errand, with work parties, festive shoppers and tourists keen to see the lights as far as the eye can see. That’s why one of my favourite periods in London has always been the time in between Christmas and new year, when, stuffed on Turkey and eggnog, the capital feels a little more chilled out. It’s then that I’d recommend you go to Bar Termini, a place that’s nigh impossible to get in the rest of the year, though you’ll still want to book, nevertheless (as a side note, I wish they’d make booking phone only — so much more glam! So much less faff than navigating a booking portal!). Still, it’s worth the hassle. Decked out in dark wood and white marble, it feels like you’re in a Fellini film, a delusion only helped by sampling all four of their signature negronis (classico, superiore, rosato and robusto). Go on; you deserve a treat. 

Our favourite read

London’s best new restaurants of 2025 — Niki Blasina, Financial Times 
Sometimes, there are so many restaurant openings and closings that it can be difficult to keep track — it’s easier to default to the old favourites. But where’s the fun in that? In this handy guide, Blasina has done all the hard work for you, and collated a list of the top dining spots that opened their doors this year in the capital. Plus, where else but the FT are you going to get a sentence that starts: “In a big year for Wagyu-heavy Mayfair openings”?

‘Bills keep going higher’: community ‘warm spaces’ on the rise in the UK — Jem Bartholomew, Guardian
With the cost of living continually rising, people are finding it more difficult than ever to afford basic utilities. In this piece, Bartholomew traces the rise of “warm spaces” like Walworth Living Room in south London, which are designed as homely places for people struggling to heat their homes.

To do list

1. If you’re spending Christmas on your own in the capital, head to the Alexandria in Wimbledon for a free three-course dinner, check out Dalston’s Dusty Knuckle cafe, or, for Caribbean food, head to Cummin Up or Uptown Eats. 

2. Fancy a cold plunge to ready yourself for the turkey induced lethargy? Brockwell Lido is holding one at 9am (booking essential), as are Parliament Hill Lido and the Ponds. Alternatively, if you’re not one for freezing water, go and watch from the sidelines at the Serpentine, which holds its annual Peter Pan cup race at 9am. 

From the archive

Bailey’s loosen your tongue at the work Christmas do? Well, at least a BBC camera crew weren’t there to witness it… In this charming feature-length documentary from 1970, Gillian Strickland and the Man Alive team dropped in on the festive bash of a London advertising agency. Expect drunken snogs, glass bowls of cigarettes and a lone cleaner having to brush up the mess after the rest have gone home.