Plus: Kid's Meal Summer is coming to London • Petition to save a restaurant that doesn't want saving • A Wicked strike • The £5.5m London home for people who want to slide into their private cinema
What's always baffled me - as a Southern European in London - is the completely lack of investment in OUTDOOR shutters. Indoor shutters will do some work to keep a flat/house cool, but not nearly as much as an outdoor shutter or awning will, as those will block the sun's heat from even hitting the glass, hence preventing the flat from turning into a greenhouse. It genuinely drives me mad. Go to any small town in Italy or France or Spain or Portugal and you'll see outdoor shutters (or at least awnings) everywhere, because they're effective!
Of course - but I'm talking about recent years. I haven't seen any new builds in London that have incorporated outdoor shutters. And as the article states, people are rushing to install A/C units when they could start with this simpler, more energy efficient option. (This won't be a fit for every building of course, depending on window structure etc - but it will be for many of them!)
You're also very unlikely to be able to get an air-to-air heat pump installed in a flat, where the freeholder will probably tell everyone to pound sand. I've seen people looking at water-to-air heat pumps, where you connect it to mains water (generally ~12C in summer) and use that to cool the flat (not like a swamp cooler). An incredible waste of fresh water.
Most London buses are air conditioned but when it's hot, everyone opens all the windows which completely negates any advantage. Unfortunately people don't understand how air con works!
We are leaseholders and have applied to our council to install a heat pump of any type and they have told us that we can't because the rules prohibit installation of such a device 'within 1m of the property line' - which is of course in the middle of our wall. This effectively means we can't actually make any permanent changes within 1m of our wall INSIDE our flat, which is clearly ridiculous. The rule has now changed to 'outside our property line' but that still means we can't make any changes outside of the middle of the wall. Of course all these satellite dishes (now disappearing) and gas boiler vents have always completely violated both of these rules but council has consistently ignored the situation and turned a blind eye. When will things improve??
Had the pleasure of using a 343 bus with a panoramic roof this weekend, really great these days.
More seriously, anyone who rents is also automatically prevented from having any kind of AC installed, so at best you get a mobile AC unit. Combined with the landlord's special insulation tier.
Imagine my surprise when I jumped on one of the new buses serving the 22 route yesterday to find that - quite incredibly - no aircon had been installed in it. This city is run by imbeciles.
The bit about Madeira reminds me of the recent closure of Cardinals, a well regarded British italian café with excellent breakfasts and large sandwiches. The owners simply wanted to retire, especially considering the challenges of increasing running costs.
So the bit people don't see with this newsletter or any news outlet done well is the number of stories that we've looked into and found it doesn't stack up. That takes up half the time! So many dead ends. This one just amused me when Polly put the call in.
It’s just SO CRINGE when the government intervene with hospitality discount schemes. KIDS MEAL SUMMER reeks of eat out to help out which was (by all accounts) a complete fucking joke.
Also begs the question why it is seemly impossible to have an adequately air conditioned bus in London. Would be interesting to know any intention regarding the utterly inadequate aircon on the Thomas Heatherwick buses, which are currently hot as hades, a health hazard and a scandal!
What's always baffled me - as a Southern European in London - is the completely lack of investment in OUTDOOR shutters. Indoor shutters will do some work to keep a flat/house cool, but not nearly as much as an outdoor shutter or awning will, as those will block the sun's heat from even hitting the glass, hence preventing the flat from turning into a greenhouse. It genuinely drives me mad. Go to any small town in Italy or France or Spain or Portugal and you'll see outdoor shutters (or at least awnings) everywhere, because they're effective!
Because historically the UK hasn't been that hot that often.
Of course - but I'm talking about recent years. I haven't seen any new builds in London that have incorporated outdoor shutters. And as the article states, people are rushing to install A/C units when they could start with this simpler, more energy efficient option. (This won't be a fit for every building of course, depending on window structure etc - but it will be for many of them!)
I genuinely don’t think Brits know what to do and some basic government public information campaign stuff could help here.
I so agree! .We need them here desperately.
You're also very unlikely to be able to get an air-to-air heat pump installed in a flat, where the freeholder will probably tell everyone to pound sand. I've seen people looking at water-to-air heat pumps, where you connect it to mains water (generally ~12C in summer) and use that to cool the flat (not like a swamp cooler). An incredible waste of fresh water.
Leasehold is not just a feudal system! It's a feudal system that keeps you hot!
Most London buses are air conditioned but when it's hot, everyone opens all the windows which completely negates any advantage. Unfortunately people don't understand how air con works!
We are leaseholders and have applied to our council to install a heat pump of any type and they have told us that we can't because the rules prohibit installation of such a device 'within 1m of the property line' - which is of course in the middle of our wall. This effectively means we can't actually make any permanent changes within 1m of our wall INSIDE our flat, which is clearly ridiculous. The rule has now changed to 'outside our property line' but that still means we can't make any changes outside of the middle of the wall. Of course all these satellite dishes (now disappearing) and gas boiler vents have always completely violated both of these rules but council has consistently ignored the situation and turned a blind eye. When will things improve??
Had the pleasure of using a 343 bus with a panoramic roof this weekend, really great these days.
More seriously, anyone who rents is also automatically prevented from having any kind of AC installed, so at best you get a mobile AC unit. Combined with the landlord's special insulation tier.
Imagine my surprise when I jumped on one of the new buses serving the 22 route yesterday to find that - quite incredibly - no aircon had been installed in it. This city is run by imbeciles.
The bit about Madeira reminds me of the recent closure of Cardinals, a well regarded British italian café with excellent breakfasts and large sandwiches. The owners simply wanted to retire, especially considering the challenges of increasing running costs.
So the bit people don't see with this newsletter or any news outlet done well is the number of stories that we've looked into and found it doesn't stack up. That takes up half the time! So many dead ends. This one just amused me when Polly put the call in.
It’s just SO CRINGE when the government intervene with hospitality discount schemes. KIDS MEAL SUMMER reeks of eat out to help out which was (by all accounts) a complete fucking joke.
Publicity gain from taking the piss vs Risk of HMRC prosecution for taking piss = the kids meal opportunity delta
Also begs the question why it is seemly impossible to have an adequately air conditioned bus in London. Would be interesting to know any intention regarding the utterly inadequate aircon on the Thomas Heatherwick buses, which are currently hot as hades, a health hazard and a scandal!
Also despite reports of their demise, the cursed Routemasters are currently in the middle of a renewal programme!
A plague on Heatherwick Studio for ever and ever