Playing it cool at 37°C: our quest for air con

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The summer dresses are on, the men are ditching their T-shirts to show off sunburnt backs, and suddenly everyone is crossing roads like mad to make sure they’re walking on the shady side. London is in the blazing clutches of heatwave, this time with a potentially record-breaking Met Office Red Extreme Heat Warning. But fear not! There are ways to fight this 39°C monster. Armed with a thermometer, sun hat and water bottle, on Tuesday I went forth across scorching pavements to find cool spots in the capital — and discovered salvation in unlikely places.

My quest begins in the attic-office of my house in north London, where by 9.50am it’s already a near-unbearable 25.6°C. Like all good heroes, I have a map: the mayor’s Cool Spaces 2026. Many of the places are central (and slightly north of it), and a concentration of large red blobs around King’s Cross suggest I should start there. But first, I need to get there. I jump on the Victoria line, where paper and electric fans abound as announcements bellow multiple heat-related service disruptions. 

“We need air con on these trains!” says flustered passenger Charlotte Paley, 44, whose cheeks have reddened in the heat. I spoke to her on the escalator after I noticed her flapping her hand at her face to try and keep cool. Only 192 underground trains are currently air conditioned, 40% of the stock.

And air con only exists on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines — leaving all others increasingly toasty. Last month, the Central line reached 34°C, while the Victoria averages temperatures of 26°C even in the winter. “I’m worried about how I’m going to get home again — it doesn’t feel safe,” Paley added.

When I’m finally able to disembark, I see travellers with large suitcases on King’s Cross Square huddling under a black rain umbrella to repel the rays. I head across the bridge to Coal Drops Yard, where the mercury is pushing 29.6°C. Dozens of children are splashing in the Granary Square fountains, while flushed parents nervously replace fallen sun hats.

“We’ll only stay here an hour, max,” says one mother, Ashley Langley, wearing a green Minecraft cap low on her head (“This is the only hat I could find in my house — my son’s!” she laughs). As her daughter runs delightedly between the spurts, she tells me how she pushed her two year old here by pram all the way from Camden.