What a good idea to identify places Londoners can go to cool down, or so you'd think.
But is the map a useful solution on a sweaty day or just a motley collection of venues thinly spread across the capital? I've been out to check.
The big dots on the map are Cool Spaces, "indoor venues open to all where Londoners can take respite on hot days".
For example, if you're around King's Cross the nearby Cool Spaces are the British Library, Pancras Square Library, the St Pancras and Somers Town Living Centre and Somers Town Community Centre. Four decent air-conditioned boltholes with water on tap, indeed I've hidden away in one of them on a hot day and it was a very wise choice.
But they're not very well spread out and it turns out some boroughs are Cool Place deserts.
» Kensington & Chelsea 7 Cool Spaces, Hammersmith & Fulham 0.
» Richmond 13 Cool Spaces, Hounslow 1.
» Greenwich 16 Cool Spaces, Bexley 2.
» Lewisham 11 Cool Spaces, Bromley 2.
Six boroughs have only 2 Cool Spaces - Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon
Five boroughs have only 1 Cool Space - Ealing, Enfield, Hounslow, Newham, Sutton
And five boroughs have no Cool Spaces at all - Barking & Dagenham, Croydon, Kingston, Lambeth, Redbridge
Half the boroughs in London appear in that list, including astonishing omissions like Lambeth and Croydon. It turns out this is because of the way the map was compiled, not by proper research but by asking for submissions.
Wandsworth for example put forward 11 libraries helping the borough to a total of 14 Cool Spaces. Haringey put forward 1 library helping the borough to a total of 5 Cool Spaces. And Redbridge have 11 libraries but didn't put forward any of them, which is one reason for their grand score of zero Cool Spaces. It's all very inconsistent.
Tier 1 Cool Spaces have all the key amenities to cope in hot weather: lower temperatures than outdoors, free seating space for rest and recovery, free drinking water and toilets. They are accessible to disabled people, open at least five days a week and at least from 10am to 5pm. Tier 2 Cool Spaces may not be accessible to disabled people, may not have toilets and be open less frequently, but at least two days a week.
For example the borough of Havering has just two Cool Spaces, one from each tier.
Tier 1:Rainham Foodbank (on the 1st floor of Mick Fury House, South Hornchurch). Well done to them for being willing to take in sweaty folk five days a week, but they don't have air conditioning just a room with fans. Tier 2:St George's Church (near the main shops in Harold Hill). They don't have aircon or fans, just natural ventilation, and are only open 10am-2pm Mondays and Thursday so are no use whatsoever if there's a heatwave on a Wednesday.
Also those two spaces are in opposite corners of the borough meaning the vast majority of residents live nowhere near either. Indeed today there's only one Cool Space in the whole of Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering and it's near Beam Park, a station that hasn't yet been built. For millions of Londoners the Cool Spaces map is a distant irrelevance.
I wanted to test the map properly so I focused on my local borough. Tower Hamlets has four Cool Spaces and I've been to all of them. I wouldn't necessarily go back.
Cool Space: Museum of the Royal College of Pharmacy (Tier 1) 66 East Smithfield E1W (near St Katharine Docks), Monday-Friday 9am-5pm
Free drinking water, air conditioning, toilets available, max seating 20
I wasn't aware that the museum was open to walk-ins, I'd only ever been on an Open House tour, so that was good. It's open eight hours a day because it's essentially a lot of glass cases in the Royal College's reception, but some very interesting glass cases all the same. One's full of lovely blue and white porcelain jars apothecaries would have used, indeed a lot of the exhibits are old pharmaceutical containers. Nobody would prescribe mercury ointment, arsenic complexion soap or belladonna plasters today, nor claim that "Britons never shall be slaves if they take Beechams Pills', but times change. I loved some of the contrived brand names (Nolvadex, Rynocrom, Snophenicol) and all the ways pharmacists had of counting pills efficiently.
But as a location to sit out a heatwave I'm unconvinced. Yes it's air-conditioned and that was lovely, but once you've spent 15 minutes looking at the cases there's only a handful of sterile white tables more normally used for greeting visitors to the building. The drinks chiller is clearly labelled as not for visitors, and whilst I'm sure the receptionists would offer water if asked this isn't really somewhere to hang around.
In complete contrast this is a "worker-led, cooperatively-run bookshop born of resilience, solidarity and the refusal to be silenced", or more snappily "a space where literature and activism coexist." You can tell it's a place of protest from the posters in the window and the steel shutter behind the door, but inside is a crammed cosy space with old and new books for sale. The second hand stock is labelled 'pay what you can (don't take the piss)'. Zines and on-message greetings cards are available, also leaflets about drugs and a syringe exchange, also resources for the full range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum especially the T. They describe it as a no-pressure space and it did feel like that, right down to the bloke asleep on the comfy sofa.
It's not a naturally cool space but they are giving it a try with a number of fans around the room, one of which was blowing over a tray of ice cubes. You can tell they'd be amiable with glasses of water as required but I'm mystified why they're on the Cool Space list, other than being 110% community-focused and welcoming to everyone. Were you seeking a cool bolthole nearby the obvious place to go would be the Young V&A or perhaps Bethnal Green library but they were never put forward. If you are the kind of reader who'd appreciate a visit to The People's Letters, don't feel you need to wait for a heatwave to do it.
Cool Space: St Paul's Way Centre (Tier 1) 83 St Paul's Way E3, Bow Common, Mon-Sat 9am-5pm
Free drinking water, air conditioning, max seating 30
Here's one of those modern community centres they slot under flats when they regenerate an area, indeed the first of two in my borough's Cool Spaces list. Here they got the developers to pay for an IT suite, meeting rooms and a multi-purpose hall, but what most local residents interact with is the cafe space just inside the entrance. It's had more than one operator since 2013 but the current crew are Bow Brew who offer a really very good value menu including £6 cooked breakfasts and one-quid toast-and-jam. Expect plenty of space to spread out amongst the clientele, a refreshing chill and no insistence that you buy anything.
Cool Space: Feldy Centre (Tier 1) 18 Aberfeldy Square E14, Poplar, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
Free drinking water, air conditioning, max seating 30
This one's much newer, an attempt to recreate a community hub as they replace the Aberfeldy Estate with denser, higher buildings. The former Community Centre is currently mid-demolition, with the gorgeous existing shopping street due to face the wrecker's ball imminently - the riotous decoration will have lasted just six years. The Feldy Centre is somewhat drabber inside with fewer seats than St Paul's Way and a smaller cafe offering, but just as busy. They'd be in trouble if too many local residents hid here from the heatwave, which I guess rests on whether the newbuild flats are appropriately cooled or little ovens.
Of the four Cool Spaces in Tower Hamlets three are air-conditioned, two are community cafes and two are a bit odd. All would offer you a cool glass if you were in need but only two are places you'd choose to hang out for a lengthy unsweaty period. They're plainly not the best cool spaces in the borough - I could suggest any of the five Idea Stores, the London Museum Docklands, Rich Mix, the shopping centre under Canary Wharf, even shuttling back and forth on the Elizabeth line. But at least we have four Cool Spaces which is more than half the boroughs in London do, because the Mayor's Cool Spaces map is not the heatwave alleviation masterstroke it's promoted to be.
