It's only five months since glass-bottomed cabins appeared on the Dangleway. Well, the gimmicks come thick and fast in North Greenwich because the latest is aerial singalongs. It's called Cable Car-aoke, and I can't believe nobody's thought of it before.
It's on offer from 13 November to 19 December on Thursday and Fridays (twelve evenings altogether), very much with an eye on the Christmas party market. You get microphones, party lights, a speaker and a playlist of 1000 songs to sing along to. Don't expect built-in facilities, it looks more like someone's been to Argos and bought two portable karaoke machines. Those who pay up get two return trips, i.e. four crossings, i.e. about 40 minutes. Overall prices range from £69 for two people to £109 for six. Drinks cost £5 extra per person (with photo ID required if you go alcoholic). Solo singers aren't permitted.
So far none of the slots have been booked, let alone sold out, but imagine the rush there'll be when London's party animals get wind of this latest upselling wheeze.
2) Europe for less
Eurostar are offering 25% off fares between late November and mid-March in a Flash Sale that ends at 11pm tonight. I was considering a day trip to Rotterdam for my birthday, but I checked and it turns out Monday is the day all the museums are closed.
3) London's next dead bus
TfL have released the results of a consultation they launched in July, and will indeed withdraw route 283 and reroute the 72. This is despite 79% of respondents saying the change would have a negative effect on their journeys. In effect they're withdrawing route 72 and renumbering the 283 because all this is smoke and mirrors. The switcheroo will take place on 13th December. If you want to go for a final journey before then, it's up to you whether to pick the 72 (the next dead route) or 283 (the next dead number).
4) TfL25 Prize Draw
Fancy a raffle prize for zero effort? TfL are running a special anniversary draw for 28 different gift experiences, from Royal Opera House tickets to a trip up the Battersea Power Station chimney. I suspect the Hidden London tours of Green Park will be quite popular, and the Cheeky Elf Cake baking experience in Haggerston rather less so. Don't fret over answering "What do you love about London during the festive period?" because all prizes will be selected purely at random. You have until 7th December to apply and nothing to lose by having a go.
5) Here comes Great British Railways
Yesterday the government published its Railways Bill, the major legislation that ensures "The Secretary of State may by regulations designate a body corporate as Great British Railways." A lot of it is about how to liaise lawfully with the authorities in Wales and Scotland so not intrinsically informative. One thing we do know is that "passengers will ultimately be able to purchase tickets through a new GBR website and app, replacing 14 existing operator ticketing platforms" so prepare for big change there.
6) Hitting the cap
I saw this advert on the Overground. I think it's new.
It's to encourage you to take advantage of daily capping because "once you've reached the daily or weekly cap, every journey will be completely free." The key paragraph is this one.
"If you're travelling in Zones 1-2, you'll unlock free travel for the rest of the day once you've made two peak and one off-peak rail or tube journeys."
And I wondered, is that true? I guessed not, because in the smallprint down below it says "Exceptions may apply".
The z1-2 cap is £8.90.
For z1-2 rail journeys, two peaks and an off-peak costs £3.90 + £3.90 + £3.20 = £11.
For z1-2 tube journeys, two peaks and an off-peak costs £3.50 + £3.50 + £2.90 = £9.90.
So it is true, two peaks and an off-peak do trigger the daily cap, and after that everything's free.
BUT if your journey combines tube and rail (e.g Battersea Park to Green Park) you end up on a much more expensive fare scale.
For z1-2 tube AND rail journeys, two peaks and an off-peak costs £5.90 + £5.90 + £5.10 = £16.90.
That's way over the daily cap, which in fact kicked in after the second journey not the third.
Also you might assume TfL's maths applies to a journey solely in zone 2, but it totally doesn't.
For z2 rail journeys, two peaks and an off-peak costs £3.00 + £3.00 + £2.70 = £8.70.
For z2 tube journeys, two peaks and an off-peak costs £2.10 + £2.10 + £2.00 = £6.20.
Neither of these trigger the daily cap.
For z2 rail journeys you need to make a total of four trips and for z2 tube journeys you need to make five.
This is because TfL's caps always assume you've been to zone 1 even if you haven't.
And I mention all this because I don't think many people understand how capping works. They just tap and go and find out later what they paid, which is just how TfL likes it.
Exceptions do indeed apply.
7) Easter closures
If you're planning on travelling over Easter, it pays to plan ahead.
Bakerloo: closed north of Queen's Park District: closed east of Whitechapel Hammersmith & City: closed DLR: closed west of Poplar Lioness: closed
Also don't expect to get the Metropolitan north of Harrow-on-the-Hill over May Day weekend.
45 Squared 39) KELSEY SQUARE, BR3
Borough of Bromley, 30m×10m
There are a lot of Kelseys in Beckenham. There's Kelsey House, the cocktail hotspot underneath the Travelodge. There's Kelsey Dental, the private clinic which sponsors Thornton's Corner. There's Kelsey Park, the lovely landscaped park that follows the River Beck. And halfway down the High Street there's tiny Kelsey Square, leading to Kelsey Lane which once led to the manor of Kelsey. In medieval times the manorial estate stretched from Penge to Shortlands, the first big house being built later although localhistorians can't agree when. The last owners were a banking family, the Hoares, whose baronial-style mansion was accessed down a long drive. They then sold up to a nunnery, the estate got turned over to parkland and housing, and Kelsey Square survives as a kind of heritage entrance funnel.
There are only sevenhouses, originally workers cottages for staff on the estate. They're not big but they are attractive with polychromatic Victorian brickwork, timber porches and teensy steps up to the front door. At least one resident owns a dog and it looks like no more then four of them can own a car. At the end of the square is Kelsey Lodge, a separate and much larger affair built in 1864 to oversee the start of the long drive. That's now a one-way lane bypassed by a later suburban avenue, all brightened by conservation-area-standard standard lamps. A brass plaque embedded in the pavement explains it all, should you ever fancy following the 24-stop Beckenham TownHeritage Trail.
Sorry, I was trying to get a decent photograph from the one good vantage point but I was multiply thwarted by the environment. I'd unintentionally turned up on a day when the low autumn sun aligned perfectly with the gap between the houses so ended up with full-on dazzle. Then, when the few clouds in the sky did blow over, the residents of Beckenham repeatedly conspired to stand in the way. A delivery rider hogged the foreground for at least ten minutes, then a family of seven blocked the pavement outside the cafe, then a long-haired man stopped to check his phone and failed to move until the precise moment the sun came out again. I decided Mr Moped was the least worst option.
Everyone in Beckenham knows the top of Kelsey Square as the clocktower above the barbers. It used to be the town's fire station, hence the gap alongside for an engine. The clock is by Croydon-based Gillett & Johnston, who also made the monster atop Shell Mex House, and their weight for this particular municipal creation runs all the way down into the barber's basement. That'll be Hak's Barbers, a longstanding Cypriot business that's been here since 1997 (which means they weren't here when David Bowie played at the Three Tuns nextdoor). Don't miss the old water pump on the corner, recently restored, whose water used to gush from a spout in the lion's mouth. Small but perfectly formed, just like Kelsey Square itself.
London is a great city.
Here is the news from London.
FLASH BANG!
It is Fireworks Night.
There are no free displays tonight.
If you voted Tory in 2010 this is your fault.
You can look out of your window instead.
Mad men will set off bangers all night.
The sky will flash a lot.
Keep your dogs safe.
SUPER MOON!
The Moon is bigger tonight.
It will shine brighter than ever.
Take lots of photos on your phone.
They will look great.
(None of this is true. But it is still news)
RACHEL PUTS TAX UP!
The Budget is in three weeks.
Rachel says money is tight.
She did not say taxes would go up.
But taxes will go up.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!
The stars on Oxford Street are now lit.
The angels on Regent Street will be lit soon.
Covent Garden bells are next week.
You have seen them all before so don't rush.
UP THE ARSE!
Well done the Gunners.
They beat a foreign team three nil.
It's one more clean sheet!
But Spurs scored four.
SIR BECKS!
David Beckham is now a knight.
The King dubbed him.
Arise Sir Becks!
STRIKES OVER!
Tube drivers have a pay deal.
There will be no more strikes.
Not that any more were planned.
Have you ever considered how utterly weird sleep is?
We do it daily, willingly abandoning consciousness because that's how we're hardwired, and enter a restful yet restless world we barely remember. If you ever stop and think about it, sleep is utterly weird.
We spend a significant proportion of our lives out cold, maybe a quarter to a third of our time on Earth. Average life expectancy may be 81 but if you factor out the part we spend asleep it's more like 56. That's a lot of potential experience we're missing out on.
All us mammals do it, from koalas who sleep 22 hours a day to elephants who barely do two. It's a critical part of how biology works. And yet even though humans have mastered all kinds of other conditions we've never found a way to avoid sleep, not long term, because the need for sleep ultimately defeats us.
Sleep is essential for restitution, allowing various biological processes to reset our cells and prepare us for tomorrow. We can't fight it, not forever, and get tetchier the longer we try to stave it off. But if we try to sleep too early we can't nod off because we're not really in control of when we sleep, our bodies are.
Over millennia our bodies have adapted to a circadian rhythm, sleeping at night so we can make best use of daylight hours. These cycles also nudge us to be tired at night and, if undisturbed, wake us at a roughly regular time unaided. We can't fight against it, it's evolution.
Of an evening, every evening, we willingly head for a mattress and lie down until we lose consciousness. It's so weird how we all consent to this, tens of thousands of times, with no idea of what we look like, what we're doing and what's going on around us until we wake up.
We have no direct control over falling asleep, not without pharmaceutical assistance. You can't lie there and flip a switch, it either happens or it doesn't, and the best we can do is create conditions that make dropping off most likely. A restful run-up, a pillow, the lights off, soothing sounds or silence, empty thoughts, whatever, or just general exhaustion in the hope it's tired us out.
You never, ever remember the moment of falling asleep, despite the fact you've done it more times than you've had hot dinners. Sleep is a hole you fall into without ever noticing, or get increasingly frustrated about if it doesn't happen.
Waking up, however, is something we have gained control over. The alarm clock rouses us on cue, which is slightly more reliable than expecting someone else to do it for us. Its existence has also enabled society to impose a working day on its citizens, there no longer being any excuse for not being punctual in the morning.
Dreams are weird, relentlessly so, as is the fact we dream at all. Throughout the night we enter manic visual sequences, often dramatic, invariably improbable, but only remember some of the action if we happen to wake in the middle.
While we're dreaming it's like these events are actually happening to us, be that meeting a long-lost relative or falling off a cliff. The adrenalin rush during the wilder episodes must be insane. If anyone ever invents the technology to download our dreams and replay them to us while we're awake, Hollywood is over.
We organise our lives around a working day that matches daylight hours and a quiet period overnight when the vast majority of the population is asleep. Imagine how different everything would be if the majority of our economic and recreational activity wasn't focused into a smaller proportion of the day.
We sleep most when we're young but neither consistently or reliably, which can make parenting absolute hell. Babies are notorious for not sleeping when you'd like them to, also for screaming loudly when awake, all of which contributes to making parents stressed and seriously sleepless themselves. If infant sleep patterns weren't so fractious, maybe we'd have more children.
We organise our homes around sleep. A special room where we can lose consciousness, often several rooms so nobody gets disturbed. If it weren't for sleep we could all live in smaller houses, costing less and occupying less space, maybe even solve the housing crisis altogether. It really does rule our lives.
We have many weaknesses, our species, but one is that we all need to be unconscious for lengthy intervals. It's driven our need for shelter to make nobody attacks us overnight, protecting us not just from predators but from criminals and miscreants. We all need a lock on the door to make sure nobody intrudes while we can't notice.
We spend a lot of money decorating our bedrooms to make them look nice, then only use them for a narrow proportion of the day and spend most of our time unconscious with the light off. Transatlantic flights are an even bigger waste of money, where the more you spend the easier it is to sleep and miss all the luxurious service you've paid so much for.
The hotel business exists mainly because we have to sleep. When away from home it's important to have somewhere to fall unconscious, ideally in comfort, and then be overcharged for breakfast in the morning. If we didn't need to sleep we could mostly make do with left luggage instead.
Our mealtimes all revolve around the fact we need to sleep and that most of us do that simultaneously. Breakfast kickstarts us, lunch is often the light meal midway between sleeps and dinner is the stodgier one we eat later so we can sleep it off. Hospitality wouldn't work so efficiently if we could all drop in any time.
Someone needs to work overnight, and those who accept the challenge have to fight against their bodies' natural desire to sleep. Shift workers have the toughest of battles, notionally adapting but never quite in sync, and all because sleep punishes those unable to fit the norm.
Every night we go to sleep on the understanding there's a tiny tiny probability we won't wake up. It hasn't happened yet or you wouldn't be reading this but it always could. Some say it's the best way to go but who's to say, given that nobody can come back and tell us what it's like. Sleep may one day claim us but we still sleep anyway, we've no choice.
Sleep shapes our lives, forces us to comply, creates the maddest nightmares and makes us ignorant of a third of our existence. Sleep delights some and is feared by others, especially by those who regularly fail to achieve it. Sleep is a horizon we cross daily, a state of mind, a necessity, an escape.
But mainly sleep is utterly weird, and we hardly ever consider how utterly weird it is.
Watford tube station was 100 years old yesterday. There were celebrations.
Not Watford Junction which opened in 1837 (and on its current site in 1858). Not Watford High Street on the Overground which opened in 1862. Not Watford North on the St Albans line which opened in 1910. Not Watford West or Watford Stadium Halt on the Croxley Green branch which last saw a train in 1996. Not Watford Vicarage Road station which was never built. I refer instead to Watford tube station which opened on Monday 2nd November 1925, and is just one of the many stations in the Watford area that never met its full potential.
The Metropolitan Railway's branch line proved expensive to build, not least because of the unavoidable contours hereabouts. A lofty crossing of the Gade valley was required, this despite Croxley station half a mile away being in a cutting. The viaduct runs first above the Grand Union Canal - this span since replaced in metal - and then on brick arches to the River Gade. From a train window there's briefly a great view across the canal basin at Two Bridges before the tracks land on a sturdy embankment, which gradually reduces in height until the platforms at Watford end below street level. This is not how the tube extension was supposed to terminate.
Watfordstation is another from the architectural playbook of Charles Clark, and like Croxley has an Arts and Crafts-influenced vernacular. The roof is tall, broad and tiled, with three gabled dormers and thin brick chimneystacks rising all around. A bold blue canopy protrudes in front of the main entrance to announce the station's name, again just as at Croxley. This time there are two retail units, both tiny, the cafe on the right still with an original shopfront. The shop on the left is externally shabbier, and may still be called News Box but newspapers haven't been part of its main offering for a while. And behind that is a teensy office for A1 Taxis, ideally located because the vast majority of the population of Watford live nowhere near the station so an additional ride is very welcome.
The main problem for railway companies attempting to pass through Watford had been the Earls of Essex whose estate at Cassiobury House covered most of the land northwest of the town. A century earlier they'd complained about the "iron horse" invading their property and forced the London and Birmingham Railway to bend to the east to avoid the estate. Now they were refusing direct access to the Metropolitan Railway in its attempts to reach Watford town centre, a situation which eased slightly in 1909 when the 7th Earl sold off some of his land for housing and a wedge of parkland. But the new line could go no further than a dell round the back of Watford Boys Grammar School, prohibited from continuing on a viaduct across the delights of Cassiobury Park. Generations of schoolboys have benefited from that decision, but objectively things would've been much better if the Met had ever reached the High Street.
Passengers who did make it to the outcast station on Cassiobury Park Avenue found themselves entering a spacious ticket hall, noticeably taller and wider than at Croxley. It was once worthy of two ticket windows, now there are two ticket machines and a cosy back office. It once had a telephone kiosk in a recess, now it has a cash dispenser. It still has a hardwood door to the ladies toilets, these apparently retaining the original cubicles and wood-block floor although obviously I haven't confirmed that. In a bold move the paddles on the gateline are currently sponsored by Harrow College ('only a 19 minute tube ride away'). The door to Station Approach is now firmly locked but the passageway does have an Oyster pad should it ever need to be opened.
The finest feature at Watford station may well be the mauve and sea-green tiling. These were the Metropolitan Railway's corporate colours at the time and they radiate around the ticket hall but more particularly down the stairs. A gorgeous gridded design flanks you on the descent, the tones luxuriously muted with craftsmanship worthy of a stately mansion's wet room. There are a lot of steps, and from what I saw yesterday these are still proving tough for those with walking sticks or pushchairs. Watford isn't even on the long-list for step-free access, it being expensive to force a lift into a split-level Grade II listed building, although I think I can see where you might otherwise shoehorn a shaft.
Watford has a broad islandplatform, generally with only one occupied so it's easy to deduce which side the next train will be leaving. A large W-shaped canopy helps keep the doors to three carriages dry, and could potentially shield four were the buffers not quite so far away from the station building. All the supports are attractively painted in what's now Metropolitan purple. There's no real need to use the far end of the platform, that is unless you've arrived on an incoming train and been careless enough to sit at the rear. The waiting room is similarly superfluous, it generally being much easier to wait on a train, but is delightfully basic with a herringbone floor and two long built-in benches. The gents is just round the back, and this time I can confirm a level of historic originality.
Yesterday's celebrations focused on the waiting room where folk from Watford Museum had set up a small display, mainly because there wasn't room for a big one. They focused on the arrival of Metro-land in the town illustrated with several evocative photographs, then squeezed in a table at the rear where younger visitors could be crafty with relevant postcards. Upstairs the London Transport Museum had pasted several of their archive images down a side corridor like a little gallery, one of which made me go "Oh I remember that sign" and another "oh I've got that timetable". But the main centenary action was a free guided tour led by one of the team's more colourful characters, leading folk round the open parts of a station in a way I entirely predicted back in 2011.
Had all gone to plan Watford station would have closed to passenger traffic a few years ago when the Metropolitanlineextension to Watford Junction opened. But Boris's boondoggle project floundered after he left the Mayoralty, and all that remains today is an landmark block of flats beside an unbuilt tube station at Cassiobridge and an empty corridor across Watford's new Health Campus. The first attempt to extend the line came in 1927 when the Metropolitan Railway purchased the The Empress Winter Gardens and Tea Lounge on Watford High Street with the intention of creating a better-frequented terminus. But tunnelling under Cassiobury Park or the WBGS playing fields proved entirely impractical, plans stalled and a shuttle bus connecting the station to the shops had to suffice instead.
The site of what might have been Watford Central station is now a Wetherspoons where you can buy a pint of Ruddles for less than a single fare to Croxley, and all dreams of extending the line are now practically dead. It's a shame because it took me 20 minutes to walk from where the terminus should have been to where it actually is, but also a joy because it means a brilliant station building has just celebrated its centenary. Happy 100th birthday to Watford and Croxley, on the branch line that was never as useful as originally intended but totally changed my life.
Hurrah, my local tube station is 100 years old today.
Croxley Green station opened to the public on Monday 2nd November 1925, linking my home village to the Metropolitan Railway and kickstarting substantial suburban development. Watford station also opened as the terminus of a short spur line and that's where TfL have chosen to celebrate the big birthday, complete with fully-booked tours and a museum display in the waiting room. My job today is thus to celebrate Croxley station instead, the rustic halt with the heritage lamps, which I was fortunate enough to have at the bottom of my road while I was growing up.
Royal assent for the new line was granted in 1912 but the First World War intervened and it took until 1923 for the go-ahead to be given. The branch line would bear off the existing railway near Croxley Hall Farm and run in a deep cutting through Croxleyhall Woods, with a separate curve dug to provide access from Rickmansworth as well as London. Carving through so much chalk proved difficult and expensive, with the £387,000 costs shared between the Metropolitan Railway and LNER who funded the line as a joint project. The railway despoiled the woods dividing them into several segments, but as a child I never minded because a woodland walk thus offered the opportunity to stand on the blue bridge overlooking the junction and watchtrains rattling round the curve, ideally more than once.
Even more woodland was almost lost in 2004 when evil infraco Metronet applied to insert a large track maintenance depot between the railway and the canal. The land had originally been gravel workings associated with the railway, hence TfL technically had rights over some of the land. Local residents formed a campaign group called Keep Croxley Green and adopted the unusual tactic of attempting to declare Long Valley Wood as a "village green" by dint of it being used for "lawful sports and pastimes, as of right, for not less than 20 years". The subsequent red tape disrupted timelines sufficiently for TfL to withdraw their plans and look elsewhere, and Herts County Council officially approved the application on 11th September 2007 which means they won't be coming back. The woods still look lovely, especially at the height of autumn.
Croxley station was built on a bend in Watford Road, then just a lane, close to the Red House pub at the bottom of New Road. Six cottages had to be demolished to make way, replaced just down the road and built of new-fangled concrete. The station instead got a cosy domestic vibe courtesy of Charles Clark, chief architect of the Metropolitan Railway, who delivered 25 stations in total including Farringdon, Northwood Hills and Kingsbury. Here he designed what could have been a large house - all the better to inspire later residential sales - with a symmetrical multi-gabled roof and four tall chimney stacks. The dormer windows mark an early example of over-station development. The small shop unit on the right no longer sells sweets and newspapers but is used as a cab office.
Stepping inside the building was always exciting because it usually meant a trip up to London. I remember a board to the left of the ticket office window with all the last train times attached as plastic numbers, all arriving long after I'd have gone to bed. The sale of tickets was restricted to a machine in 2007 and since then the office behind has been an over-sized hideaway out of which any members of staff rarely venture. At least the gateline was shut on my latest visit rather than gaping open, suggesting someone really was in there. On the opposite wall is the door to the ladies toilets and also access to the car park, of which more in a minute. What there isn't is a next train departure board, most likely because the signalling's so old hat out here that it couldn't display any useful London-bound information anyway.
The nicest stairs are those down to the 'just Watford' platform, these broad and still with an original handrail down the middle. TfL know it's not worth advertising here so all the poster frames are filled with artworks celebrating the 100th anniversary of the roundel in 2008. Even more neglected is the panel at the top of the stairs remembering 'Steam on the Met '98', its photos faded and mostly unstuck, thus tumbled down skew-whiff behind grubby glass. The other stairs are unpostered and narrower, this because one strip was sectioned off in the 1970s to create an access route from the car park. Those who park here have to troop all the way up to the ticket hall, pass through the gateline and then all the way back down to the platform barely two steps from where they started. TfL could easily add step-free access here simply by removing the screen, but the opposite platform's wedged against an embankment so would be much harder to facilitate.
Only the near end of each platform has a canopy and also a waiting room, one of these still with the remains of a fireplace in the corner. The London-bound hideaway is much better used than the tumbleweed Watford-bound alternative. Best of all there's a gents toilet on each platform, functional but not unpleasant, to balance out the single ladies toilet upstairs in the ticket hall. Croxley is the only station on the Metropolitan line to have two gents toilets, indeed the only other double-gents on the network are at Snaresbrook and Woodford. Supposedly the facilities here are only open 05:30-10:00 and 15:30-19:30 (weekdays only) due to anti-social behaviour and vandalism, though I visited out of hours and they were unlocked. As a reminder of a long-gone era when the Underground designed stations for passengers' benefit rather than budgetary bottom lines, they bring welcome relief.
The far end of each platform has possibly the station's finest feature, the line of heritage lampposts stretching off into the distance. They're illuminated by something a bit more energy-friendly these days but still splendid, especially since being given a fresh paint job earlier in the summer. Intermingled are the cameras and loudspeakers added in the 2000s, thankfully not as intrusively as at many other stations, perhaps because Metronet learned their lesson elsewhere. Autumn is not the season to judge the planters on the down platform so I won't. I will however note that a lot of flats could be built in the adjacent car park, which itself replaced a goods yard, should TfL ever fancy making money at the expense of the 95 commuters who'd be permanently kicked out.
The first train actually pulled into these platforms at 12.18pm on Saturday 31st October 1925, drawn by electric locomotive Sarah Siddons. Aboard the Rothschild Saloon were Lord Aberconway (Chairman of the Metropolitan) and Lord Faringdon (Deputy Chairman of LNER) who were here to perform the official opening. Passenger services began on 2nd November, the centenary we celebrate today, with Met trains to Baker Street interspersed with LNER services to Marylebone. The latter didn't survive past the General Strike in 1926, but you can still get up to town in under 45 minutes on the Met and many's the time I have. As for the name of the station it proved confusing having two Croxley Green stations in the same village so this one became plain Croxley in 1949, and has easily outlived the other.
All the fuss may be at Watford today but don't forget lovely old Croxley, because the entire line is now a centenarian, not just its stunted terminus.
The Index of Multiple Deprivation is a government statistic calculated by the Office of National Statistics every five years or so, and 2025's data has just been released.
The whole of England is divided up into 33755 areas, each containing about 1500 residents. Each area is given a deprivation score based on factors including income, employment, health, education and crime. All 33755 areas are then ranked. Jaywick in Essex comes out top because it's the most deprived area in the country, and Harpenden in Herts comes bottom. That ordered list is then divided into 10 equal groups (or deciles), each containing about 3375 areas. 1 is the most deprived decile and 10 is the least. Not everyone who lives in decile 1 is poor, and not everyone who lives in decile 10 is rich, but that's how their area averages out. You can check the deprivation where you live in this BBC news article, and gov.uk has a drillable map here.
Here's a map of Tower Hamlets with areas coloured according to decile. The dark red areas like Bromley-by-Bow, Poplar and Shadwell are the most deprived (1), and the dark blue area in Wapping is the least deprived (10). The borough is very mixed, with much urban poverty but also some riverside affluence.
Across England there are an equal number of 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s, because that's how deciles work.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
But across London the spread is somewhat different.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
4%
14%
17%
14%
12%
9%
9%
8%
7%
6%
Deciles 6 and 7 occur in proportions very close to the national average. But London has more 2s, 3s and 4s than expected (that's the not-particularly well off). It also has fewer 9s and 10s and a lot fewer 1s (because the extremes aren't as abundant).
I did a full borough breakdown last time such figures were published in 2019 so won't drill down again. This time I thought I'd try something different and identify London's most deprived and least deprived areas, then visit both.
I'm not sure where I was expecting to end up. Maybe Newham or Barking for the most deprived and Kensington or Richmond for the least. Instead I ended up in two seemingly unremarkable neighbourhoods in northwest London, seven miles apart, which you won't be expecting either.
The most deprived area in London: Brent 021B (nationally 238th out of 33755)
Shuffle all of London's 4994 Lower Layer Super Output Areas into order and the most deprived is in Neasden, just off the North Circular. The irregular wedge includes Brent Park Tesco and also IKEA, which may have multiple bedrooms but nobody lives in them so they don't count. Instead the data refers to a chain of disjoint streets beside the Dudding Hill freight line, a true mix of housing styles from Victorian terraces to postwar infill. It doesn't help that one end merges into a scrappy trading estate, nor that London's second largest power station looms over the other.
This is Taylors Lane Power Station, a gas powered hulk with two tall concrete chimneys, built to replace a coal-fired belcher which helps explain the shabby workers terraces opposite. They're by no means the worst London has to offer, just poorly sited, some stoneclad and some pebbledashed with just enough room out front for a couple of bins. At the end of of the road is Energen Close, built on the site of the famous bread roll factory, also the location of a nasty shooting in 2020. Bridge Road has bigger gardens and street trees, also a rebuilt primary school, but also haunted-looking passers-by in shabby anoraks. And beyond that is Woodhayes Road, a wall of scrappy two-up two-downs which backs onto a canal feeder, as shown here complete with rotting discarded mattress.
I've seen worse, I thought, as I squeezed past a Lime bike and weaved through an alleyway between two sets of allotments. On the far side was Yeats Close, a Beckton-ish backwater of 1980s townhouses, all of a decent size and with parking for Audis, Qashqais and BMWs as well as other lesser vehicles. The Hallowe'en decorations, where families had bothered, were well up to standard. Only round the last bend did the white van count suddenly increase to epidemic proportions, all unbranded, also trucks overflowing with trash and a couple of discarded fridges.
And here we find the Lynton Close Traveller site, opened in 1996 with 31 caravan pitches but currently with 74 crammed in, which Brent council recently decreed a fire risk so threatened widespread eviction. They've since withdrawn that threat, having decided that adding fire alarms would help, but far more families live here than was ever intended. I doubt the Travellers consider themselves deprived but the underlying statistics have a different view, and I suspect this is why an otherwise merely-lowly patch of Neasden finds itself London's sole representative on a list of England's 1%-most-deprived.
The least deprived area in London: Harrow 004D (nationally 33700th out of 33755)
Nowhere in the supposedly posh parts of inner London registers in the upper echelon of the 10s. The runners up in the spreadsheet are all in quietly genteel parts of outer London, for example Upminster, Eastcote, Hayes or Coombe. But by this measure the least deprived neighbourhood in the whole of the capital is, unexpectedly, a cluster of streets to the north of the shops in Hatch End. The only reason you'd have been here, unless it's home, is that the walking route from the London Loop to Hatch End station passes down Grimsdyke Avenue.
These are characterful 1930s houses, not Metro-land style because we're on the wrong line but big and bricky with rustic gables. Garages are built in, Volvos are parked outside anyway, and along the avenue pine cones drop abundantly onto broad verges. But these are still technically semis, even if neighbours are a good distance apart, and I didn't see a single Waitrose vehicle only Tesco. Also being un-deprived doesn't mean no problems, as I noted when a man in a white protective suit emerged from building works at a house on Hallam Gardens and entered the back of an asbestos removal trailer. If this is truly London's best-off area, where are all the detacheds?
They were a bit further back on streets not added until the 1960s, where large townhouses have broader frontage and less shrubbery. The sparsest are on Scot Grove, a loopy cul-de-sac with a central lawn I wanted to cut across but was warned off by a snobby sign saying 'Private Green, Please Keep To The Road'. I walked around for almost half an hour impressed by the unbroken niceness of it all but still unconvinced that Harrow 004D deserved its abundant crown. Again it must be down to the arbitrary borders of the statistical unit, also the fact that the Index of Multiple Deprivation isn't all about wealth and status. The least deprived areas aren't necessarily where you'd think they are, they're cosy suburban avenues rather than posh gated boltholes.
Wed 1: I finally saw my first 75 registration plate today on a blue Ford van. I could have seen one a month ago. Thu 2: Back to the opticians for the first time in a while. The "I just need to squirt this air in your eye" gizmo still makes me wince, which only makes the experience longer and worse. Fri 3: I returned to Feltham to see the Freddie Mercury memorial, a respectful star in the paving of a fledgling garden, and can confirm it's nice but not worth making any kind of special effort to see. Sat 4: Bus Stop M was closed this morning for tree-cutting in the churchyard opposite, which enabled me to snap this iconic photo.
Sun 5: It was a joy to watch a new episode of Challenge Anneka tonight, mysteriously left over from three years ago, in which Luton's Sea Scouts gained new lakeside facilities. Channel 5 don't intend to make any more, sadly, but it was a lovely nugget of the early 1990s while it lasted. Mon 6: You can tell it's autumn again when Cup A Soup goes back on special offer. It's been full price since the spring, but now it should stay '3 for £4' until March. Tue 7: In Whitechapel's library I found a (staffed) DLR information table, which felt odd for a Tuesday morning. I turned down the offer of a wordsearch and a pen, but did avail myself of a 32 page full colour station history booklet. Wow this is good for a cash-strapped organisation, I thought, until I spotted the booklet was 16 years old (no Stratford International branch) and they must have printed far too many of them. Wed 8: At World of Glass in St Helens they had a box of poppies on the main desk, five weeks before the big day, and that's the earliest I've ever seen someone buy one. Thu 9: We still haven't heard from a blog reader in Rutland, so I officially declare no, I don't have readers in every ceremonial county in England.
Fri 10: Spotted Fanny the station cat at Gipsy Hill station, padding past the planters, which was fortunate because she's 14½ now and doesn't get out so much. You might like to know that 2026's Fanny The Cat calendar is now available, priced £20 for delivery or £15 if you can pick it up at the local pub. Sat 11: While at Osterley House I had a go at the start of the seasonal Ghost Hunt in the gardens. I spun the wheel to discover my bunny name was 'Twinkle', then failed at Hallowe'en hoopla, but decided to skip the broomstick race and warty toads in favour of more adult pursuits like admiring the flowers in the orchard. Sun 12: To the man on Ilford Lane who walked over and said "I know you don't I?", and when pushed claimed we'd drunk together in Barking Wetherspoons, I can confirm I've never been inside, nor do I intend to (assuming it ever reopens). Mon 13: The Rail Delivery Group has launched its annual World Cup of Stations, again with a specious theme, this time "the most life-changing station of the last 200 years". Options were restricted to a list of 20, each with its own rationale you were supposed to read before you voted. I doubt many did. After a few hours the top two stations had over 50% of the vote, suggesting people weren't scrolling down the list to the other 18 (or hadn't noticed you could). For a while a Welsh station at which two people got married was in the lead, mainly because it began with A. In the end the winner was Ashington, a Northumberland station which reopened last year, so a charming story but by no means "the most life-changing station of the last 200 years". Do something sensible next year guys.
Tue 14: The ramp below the View Tube is being replaced by something less steep but longer, and I am so going to moan about this when they've finished. Wed 15: The most disappointing drink I had in the pub tonight was a fruity cider, this because it swiftly became a diluted fruity cider when the ice melted. Thu 16: My home insurers offered a nice low quote this year, then slapped on a 94% commission charge. As ever, being politely stroppy over the phone got the price down. Fri 17: I know we haven't seen each for ten years but you can't come up to London and suggest lunch if I'm going to be in Norfolk at the time, sorry. Sat 18: It's 60 years today since the first broadcast of The Magic Roundabout, so praise to BBC4 for showing an episode, also a splendid documentary from the archives (which was the length of 12 episodes).
Sun 19: Looking through the family photo albums in the top of the wardrobe I discovered a birthday card my mum received when she was three (just before WW2) and a birthday card my grandmother received when she was 18 (just after WW1). There are far more photos from my mum's side of the family than my dad's. Mon 20: For my dad's birthday lunch we went to the best restaurant in town, which is of course on the first floor of a furniture warehouse on a trading estate. Only one of us ordered chocolate cake but the slice was so huge we all ended up having some. Tue 21: Hurrah, it's the time of year home-grown brussels sprouts return to the supermarket. Shame they'd also sold out of mince pies. Wed 22: On today's BBC 1 o'clock news the regional insert included a two minute item on a lady fined for throwing coffee down a drain in Richmond. Ten minutes later the entire report was repeated within the national news, and it felt desperately unprofessional. Thu 23: Watched Hollyoaks' 30th anniversary week in which (spoilers) a gunshot caused a light plane to crash onto a wedding where Peri got crushed to death by a toppled funnel. The Brookside crossover episode was no less far-fetched (taxi for Mr Redmond!) but still a nostalgic treat.
Fri 24: After an entire month hovering round the 18°C mark, the "temperature in my living room first thing in the morning" has abruptly plummeted below 16°C. Sat 25: If you're the bird who pooed on the handrail at Barnes station, I curse you for the horrific discovery down the road when I suddenly realised what the creamy feeling on my fingers actually was. Sun 26: We'd normally be deep into the annual Brain of Britain tournament on Radio 4 by now but it hasn't materialised in the 'quiz' slot, which is being occupied by obvious filler. I checked, and it seems Paul Bajoria and Stephen Garner (who are responsible for Counterpoint, Brain of Britain and Round Britain Quiz) recently left the BBC and nobody's managed to organise a new series in their absence. Mon 27: The Met Office is rolling out a new design for its online weather forecasts, alas showing considerably less data on screen in favour of empty space and less clarity. Previously you could see a summary of the next 18 hours in one go, now it's seven. It's fundamentally far less useful, potentially forever, and the designers should be harangued until they agree to reverse this digital wreckage.
Tue 28: I was sorry to hear that lovely Prunella Scales had died, and surprised that the episode of Fawlty Towers they chose to show in tribute was one she wasn't in very much. Wed 29: If every politician who'd ever done anything bad, ill-judged or technically illegal was banned from office, we wouldn't have any politicians left. You'd never be able to become one, and neither would anyone else. Thu 30: Places visited in yesterday's post "100 things I saw while out and about yesterday" included Stratford, Woodford, Walthamstow, Meridian Water, Tottenham and Abbey Wood. Fri 31: BT have submitted plans to install a Smart Hub at the end of Bow Road on the pavement by the McDonalds car park. Two sacrificial kiosks would be removed ("a net decrease in street furniture"). It'd be beside a bike rack so wouldn't block the pavement. It is however optimised to show adverts to traffic on the approach to the Bow Roundabout, a complex junction where cyclists have been killed. I thus take issue with BT's claim that "the geometry of the roads are not complicated and the driving conditions are not considered to be demanding or complicated", and hopefully that'll be enough to get plans scrapped.
20 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in October 2025
1) Since the start of April there have only been four days that the Central line hasn't been disrupted by a train defect. 2) Last year mobility bus 969 carried a total of 1935 passengers (an average of nine per journey). On the return journey the driver departs the stop early over 50% of the time. 3) In the last 12 months, TfL staff worked a total of 1.6 million hours of overtime. 4) Of the 63,311 penalty fares TfL issued last year, 24% were successfully appealed against. 5) Train drivers are currently paid a salary of £71,160 for an average of 1759 hours work per year. 6) Last year TfL earned £1,817,653 from gambling adverts across the network, up from £310,671 in 2017/18. 7) Over the last 15 months TfL has spent £235,000 on paid media with social influencers and £107,045 on content for its own social channels. 8) 16 withdrawn DLR vehicles have been sent for scrap since the start of August, and two more are scheduled to go in the first week of November. 9) At St James's Park tube station, there has been no cost to "change signage to add a second ‘S’ to the word ‘James’s’" because these changes date back to the 1950s, you absolute muppet. 10) Of the 22.87km of new bus lanes delivered since April 2021, the longest are the Silvertown Tunnel (3.29km) and St Helier Avenue in Sutton (1.6km), and the shortest is Moor Lane in Chessington (30m). 11) Friday is the busiest day of the week through the Silvertown Tunnel. 4% of vehicles through the tunnel are HGVs. 12) 16 bus routes are based at Northumberland Park, the most for any depot. The next two are Battersea and Orpington, both with 14 routes. 13) Platform height on the Elizabeth line's central core is 1100mm. "Had the trains been built to match the 915 mm platform height used across much of the National Rail network, this would have resulted in a step-up at Heathrow, compromising accessibility and operational consistency." 14) The Bakerloop vehicle, stop and shelter branding costs for service launch were £170,184.47. 15) This year the lifts at Elephant & Castle have broken down more often than the lifts at any other tube station (136 breakdowns), followed by Victoria (104), Stratford (97), Wembley Park (84) and Liverpool Street (70). 16) The boroughs receiving the greatest funding for highway schemes over the last five years are Camden, Enfield and Hackney. The boroughs receiving the least are the City of London, Kensington & Chelsea and Tower Hamlets. 17) The busiest bus stops on route D8 (southbound) are Stratford Bus Station, All Saints Church, Hancock Road (Bow Tesco) and Bow Church. 18) TfL's controversial 60-second social media video about travelling with cats, titled 'Paw-sitive vibes only', cost £2000 (of which 80% went to the creator and 20% to their management company). 19) In a survey about the Highway Code conducted in February, 86% of Londoners knew that 'Drivers must give way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing' but only 56% knew that 'Drivers should give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which they are turning.' 20) If you submit 44 FoI requests over a three year period, and your latest unhinged screed includes a desire to identify the tube map design on a jigsaw, TfL will claim this to be a 'potentially vexatious request' and refuse to answer as "we see no public interest in expending the necessary resource to answer these latest sets of lengthy questions".
Rat traps, a flyer with six vouchers for a McDonalds burger deal (at local drive-thru only), flappy poster, the double decker 'Spirit of London', windowbox with hydrangeas, an old man riding his bike slowly in the wrong direction down a Cycle Superhighway toward an oncoming bus, temporary traffic lights, heavy embankmenting in readiness for full-on residentialisation, digital poster inviting passers by to visit Tennessee, padel courts.
Longstanding barbershop transformed into beauty salon, Superloop consultation poster on bus stop Superloop won't serve, council operative vigorously poking the inside of a litter bin, banner promoting local pantomime (featuring loud sounds, flashing lights and mild peril), posters advertising Non Drop Christmas Tree Sale, police interviewing angry man near ticket barrier, empty Meal Deal tray, dyed moustache, two binbags (one white, one green) both containing an identical selection of mostly unrecyclable litter, advert for Christmas Jumper Day.
Rail Adhesion Train (with poppy, lest we forget), teenager spitting on platform, pensioner who walked to the station just to pick up a Metro, hair salon with a backwards 'S' in its name, hot estate agent, sculpted thistle, man with heavily tattooed knees, upturned Strongbow can on railings, 'Wet Paint' sign on bus shelter whose paint is clearly no longer wet, onset of heavy rainfall.
Sign saying "Access for light ride on mowers only", bin numbered 848, closed Texaco garage (awaiting opportunity to become 40 flats), closed psychiatric hospital (awaiting opportunity to become 845 flats), closed pub (awaiting investment partner), colourful illuminated fountains, special offer on chicken fillets, space invader clutching pint of beer, extra long bamboo skewer, drippy awning.
£10 bag of barbecue charcoal, Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant, goalmouth full of seagulls (a 'gullmouth', perhaps), riverside park at the "embankment of mud" stage of its early evolution, power station belching steam, new power station rising alongside, bifurcated brook, discarded keycard from nearby Premier Inn, three banners outside an enormous Tesco (one of which says it's going to be improved, one of which says it's being improved and one of which says the improvements have finished), puddles.
Honky truck, poster for Europe's Craziest Soca Holiday (Zante, May 2026), Mark's plaque, Tesco tuna and cucumber sandwich disappearing inside a hoodie, hurried teenager pushing past me, same teenager hovering behind wide gate so he can walk through the barriers without paying, same teenager waiting for bus, increasingly damp leopardskin blanket covering homeless person's worldly belongings, adidas Gazelles in fluorescent orange and green, querulous dog.
Coffee cup abandoned on stairs, annoyingly wet gap between end of stairs and start of canopy, woman applying lipstick before cuddling up for a selfie, man simultaneously vaping and drinking lager and wearing a purple shirt, spattered canal, entire passenger contingent turfed off onto platform due to train fault, bedraggled member of Greek cabin crew (called Mark), poppy-branded Overground train, pad of sudokus (the top one with six numbers scribbled out), paisley headscarf.
Dirty bucket hat, woman trying to work out where to discard her banana skin, flashing purple scooter, baby in pouch intently watching mother's phone screen, family of five all wearing fashionable neutrals with not a splash of colour, soggy Ugg boots, 140th anniversary sign erected seven years ago, rain dripping down the window, bin confirming station is indeed in this borough, One Stop shop.
Chicken shop with a 'Generally Satisfactory' rating, overhead electric heater, Star Bar emerging from woolly handbag, office worker failing to grab the seat beside me and in the process shaking raindrops off his umbrella all over the notes I've been scribbling down, conference escapees, over-hopeful escalator, nice weather for ducks, actual ducks, rubber duck, also two swans.
Tray of pesto pasta being wolfed down, red polka dot umbrella, 38 year-old telephone, determined but rainswept jogger, electric bus whose destination is shown as 'Electric Bus', scaffolders wishing the weather was better, reopened launderette, shop window display entirely comprised of kitchen roll and toilet rolls, window I've been meaning to clean for weeks, brown package leaning against my neighbour's front door.
» Only three London boroughs have fewer than 10 stations - Barking and Dagenham (7), Havering (9) and Sutton (9).
» Only two boroughs have no TfL stations - Kingston and Sutton.
» And only one borough has fewer than 25 bus routes - poor old Sutton again.
He is wrong there, Sutton's had two tram stops since 2000, but maybe the leader of the council doesn't go to the Beddington Lane Industrial Estate very often.
It's not true that most Sutton stations only see a half-hourly frequency. Carshalton and Hackbridge get four trains an hour (although annoyingly four minutes apart followed by a 26 minute gap). Carshalton Beeches and Wallington get four an hour (although annoyingly five minutes apart followed by a 25 minute gap). Cheam gets four an hour (appropriately spaced). But Belmont, West Sutton and Sutton Common do only see two trains an hour, the latter on the dawdly Thameslink Loop. As for Sutton station it gets ten services an hour to central London, heading in five different directions, so it matters whether you want to end up at Victoria, Blackfriars or London Bridge.
But is ten trains an hour the worst of any London borough? I thought I'd check.
I made a list of all the outer London boroughs and counted up all the trains that go there from central London. I checked for a single hour, off-peak. I assumed a starting point at a central London terminus and accepted any direct train to any station within the borough boundary.
In Newham's case that includes Greater Anglia, Crossrail, c2c, DLR and three tube lines. In Sutton's case there's only Thameslink and Southern. I hope my spreadsheet was correct but I might have missed a few.
Trains per hour from central London
Newham
104
Redbridge
32
Haringey
84
Enfield
31
Brent
65
Hounslow
30
Ealing
63
Havering
29
W Forest
54
Croydon
28
Merton
52
Bromley
24
Barnet
48
Bexley
21
Harrow
48
Kingston
20
Hillingdon
45
Richmond
18
Bark & Dag
33
Sutton
10
Unsurprisingly the boroughs closest to central London have the most trains. Newham and Haringey thrive by being served by three frequent tube lines. Waltham Forest is the best served borough on the edge of London, mainly thanks to the Victoria line. Northwest and northeast London are best connected by train. Merton is the only borough south of the river in the first column, courtesy of the Northern line.
Havering would be struggling without the Elizabeth line. Havering is the least-connected borough north of the river. Bexley would be second from bottom were it not for Crossrail. Southwest London comes out worst of all, so is the least well connected part of the capital. And oh look, Sutton is bottom by miles, so the leader of the council is right to complain.
I also wondered how long it takes to get to all the outer London boroughs from central London. Starting from any central London terminus, what's the quickest you can get from there to any station in the borough?
I had a go at getting to Sutton as quickly as possible. Thameslink is a disaster area because the loop via Wimbledon or Streatham takes ages. The Epsom Downs train from Victoria is hopeless because it goes via Croydon and stops everywhere. The fast train from London Bridge reaches Wallington in 27 minutes, so that's better. But the fastest is a Dorking train from Victoria which reaches Hackbridge in 24 minutes. Look I actually gave it a try.
The borough of Sutton is thus at least 24 minutes from central London by train. But how about the rest?
Quickest train from central London
Brent
5 minutes to Kilburn Park [Bakerloo]
Ealing
6 minutes to Acton Main Line [Crossrail]
Newham
7 minutes to Stratford [Greater Anglia]
Haringey
9 minutes to Seven Sisters [Victoria]
Hounslow
9 minutes to Stamford Brook [District]
W Forest
11 minutes to Leyton [Central]
Croydon
11 minutes to Norwood Junction [Thameslink]
Harrow
12 minutes to Harrow-on-the-Hill [Chiltern]
Barnet
13 minutes to Cricklewood [Thameslink]
Bark & Dag
14 minutes to Barking [c2c]
Brent is the closest outer London borough to central London, with Ealing second thanks to Crossrail. Newham is third closest, being barely outer London at all. For Hounslow I started at Earl's Court (it's twice as long from Victoria, indeed the majority of the borough's quite poorly connected). Croydon is the only south London borough in the Top 10, courtesy of fast trains between London Bridge and East Croydon. All of the above can be reached in under 15 minutes.
And now the slowest 10 boroughs.
Quickest train from central London (contd)
Havering
15 minutes to Romford [Greater Anglia]
Bromley
15 minutes to Orpington [Southeastern]
Merton
16 minutes to Wimbledon [SWR]
Richmond
16 minutes to Richmond [SWR]
Redbridge
17 minutes to Ilford/Wanstead/Snaresbrook
Hillingdon
18 minutes to Hayes & Harlington [Crossrail]
Enfield
18 minutes to Ponders End [Greater Anglia]
Kingston
18 minutes to Surbiton [SWR]
Bexley
20 minutes to Abbey Wood [Crossrail]
Sutton
24 minutes to Hackbridge [Southern]
Havering can be reached in 15 minutes only once an hour on the fast train to Southend. If you miss that the fastest way to Havering is 22 minutes on c2c, Crossrail being even slower. It's quicker to get to Orpington than much closer pasrts of Bromley. Richmond gets just two fast trains an hour. No fast trains go to Redbridge, only stoppers. Technically the fastest way to Hillingdon is the Heathrow Express, but Hayes and Harlington is only 1 minute slower. Enfield is the slowest north London borough to get to. Fast trains make Surbiton quicker to reach than closer parts of Kingston. Bexley is second from bottom even with the benefit of Crossrail. But oh look, Sutton is the slowest borough to get to by a wide margin.
Bad luck Sutton. No tube, not many stations, no cheap TfL fares, the fewest number of bus routes, the fewest number of direct trains and the slowest journeys from central London. The leader of the council is not wrong to think the borough's getting a very bad deal.
There's not much can be done, not that would be transformational. Crossrail 2 was never coming this way, the Sutton tram proposal has been permanently shunted to the backburner and there are no other rail extensions on the table.
The best that could be hoped for is an increase in frequency on some of the Sutton rail routes, for example restoring the two fast trains from Sutton to Victoria withdrawn in 2022, ditto extra trains to Croydon. But local politicians squashed the best long-term option when the Thameslink upgrade was launched. The Sutton Loop could have had four trains an hour rather than two if they'd terminated at Blackfriars (where a spare platform lies waiting), but local interests campaigned for fewer through trains instead. Even reversing that decision wouldn't lift Sutton off the bottom of the London borough league table, but it might be a decent start.
