Pubs are the lifeblood of the UK with many of the drinking holes being older than entire nation states. You now have several chances to become part of the huge pub culture in London.
That is because there are a load of boozers up for sale in the capital and we've picked out some of the best. Each place is unique and brings its own charm to the streets of the Big Smoke. Because they are so different there is also a huge difference in asking price for the places.
The cheapest one is selling for just £100,000 while the most expensive is selling for £4.75 million. That's over 47 times more than the cheapest, though you'll understand why when you see the place and where it's located.
There are over 3,500 pubs in London, meaning it would take almost an entire decade for you to visit them all if you went to one every single day of the year without fail. Let's take a look at a few that make up that incredible boozy community.
A mum who's baby boy had to undergo immediate surgery to stop his heart potentially failing has flagged the concerning symptoms she spotted. Katie George is the full-time carer for her two children, six-year-old Jordan and two-year-old Cole, who both have complex medical needs.
The Canning Town single mum helps Jordan with “all his self-care needs”, including toileting and feeding, after he was born with the umbilical cord around his neck, depriving him of oxygen and resulting in developmental delays, and he now needs help with “all his self-care needs”, including toileting and feeding.
When Cole was born Katie, 26, thought it had been a "textbook" birth but she soon noticed he had several concerning symptoms, including a rash, cough, and “blue tinge to his lips”. Given Katie’s father had several heart conditions – ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, and cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart – and he died aged 64, when she was just 14, these symptoms raised alarm bells for her.
Katie says she wishes she could have 'switched places' with Cole when he underwent balloon angioplasty surgery (Image: Collect/PA Real Life)
After pushing for a diagnosis, Katie was told by a GP that Cole had a heart murmur at four months old – and he was then diagnosed with pulmonary valve stenosis, a type of congenital heart disease, at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). “I just felt so deceived, I hadn’t even known that my child had this,” Katie told PA Real Life.
“Can you imagine that doctor hadn’t found Cole’s heart murmur? He could be dead. No other doctor picked up on it, and she said that murmur would have been there from birth.”
Katie was then told Cole would need immediate surgery, otherwise he could go into heart failure, and two options were given – either open heart surgery to have a valve replacement or a balloon angioplasty. Cole had a balloon angioplasty in July 2023, which stretches open a narrowed or blocked artery, and Katie later discovered this safer and less invasive form of surgery was pioneered by a British Heart Foundation (BHF) researcher.
While Cole will need “life-long cardiac care”, his surgery was a success – and Katie has now challenged herself to run the 2024 TCS London Marathon in memory of her dad and to raise money for the BHF. “I thought I went home with a healthy baby and he had a heart condition. Can you imagine that wasn’t detected and he actually died?” Katie said.
Katie will soon be taking on the 2024 TCS London Marathon to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (Image: Collect/PA Real Life)
“I just feel like more needs to be done in relation to how can we stop this or minimise it even from happening – of children being sent home with a heart condition that could either be fatal or become fatal. I can’t even describe the feeling of thinking you’ve got a healthy child to (being told), ‘No, they’re going to need life-long cardiac care’.”
She added: “The doctors kept saying he looks healthy and he’s a healthy boy, he’s a very good weight, but had I not kept pushing for them to listen to his chest, he would have ended up dying because I would have had no idea.”
After falling pregnant with Jordan at 19, Katie experienced nausea, “spikes” in her blood pressure, and dizziness – but she said these symptoms were dismissed as being normal for her first pregnancy. At 39 weeks, however, Katie was induced and said she had a “traumatic” birth on November 10 2017, as Jordan’s heart stopped beating after being delivered.
“When he was born, Jordan had the (umbilical) cord around his neck three times and he wasn’t breathing,” Katie said. “My mum hit the alarm, the crash team came in, and Jordan was purple and blue – he was basically stillborn. When you push a baby out, you wait to hear the cry. I was waiting to hear it and instead it was alarms and people running in.”
Katie said doctors had to resuscitate Jordan several times before they “stabilised his heartbeat” and incubated him – and just hours after his birth, she was told he might not make it. While Jordan did survive, Katie said he is now “severely disabled”, non-verbal and incontinent, and he has been diagnosed with severe autism and global development delay (GDD).
“If I was to ask him a question, he can’t speak to me, or if he’s in pain, he can’t tell me what’s wrong,” Katie said. “It’s a major guessing game with him to be honest. If something’s wrong, it’s really difficult, and you have to be relentless, especially with doctors.”
Katie is the full-time carer for her two children, Cole (left) and Jordan (right) (Image: Collect/PA Real Life))
When Katie gave birth to her second son Cole on March 13 2022, she said everything was “textbook” and she was told by doctors he was healthy. It was only when Katie took Cole home and spotted specific symptoms – a rash, a blue tinge to his lips, coughing, and Cole sweating during breastfeeding – that she knew something was wrong.
Although Katie said she was told his heart and chest were “all clear” during various check-ups pre and post birth, she continued to seek answers from healthcare professionals. When Cole was four months old, a GP informed Katie that he had a heart murmur – and after being referred to GOSH for further care and treatment, he was diagnosed with pulmonary valve stenosis.
“I just couldn’t believe it, but then on top of that, I just thought, what are the odds? I named Cole after my dad who had a heart condition and my baby has a heart condition,” Katie said. At the third hospital appointment at GOSH, Katie was told Cole would need surgery to correct his heart valve – because without immediate action, he could go into heart failure.
'Bawling eyes out throughout the surgery'
Cole, who was just one at the time, then underwent the balloon angioplasty on July 3, 2023, and Katie said she was “bawling (her) eyes out” throughout the surgery. “I just I wanted to switch places with him, but I couldn’t,” Katie said.
“I just kept thinking, ‘I don’t want him to die’. That’s all I kept thinking because in my head, I’ve only ever had my dad’s experience of a heart condition – and his was traumatising, I’ll never get over it.”
According to the BHF, a congenital heart condition is an abnormality of the heart that develops in the womb, and around 13 babies are diagnosed with a congenital heart defect each day in the UK. Thankfully, Cole’s surgery was a success – and after being told the procedure was down to the BHF, Katie said she wanted to run the 2024 TCS London Marathon and raise funds to “give back”.
Cole at four months old when the worrying symptoms were spotted (Image: Collect/PA Real Life)
“I just thought, I’m going to say thank you to the hospital and I’m going to raise money for (the charity) because they saved my little boy’s life,” she said. “Growing up, I had my dad with heart issues and now I’ve got my son. My whole life has been cardiac conditions… and that’s why it felt right to want to do this.”
Katie is now juggling training while caring for her two sons, but she has managed to run 20 miles – just 6.2 miles short of the total distance she will run on April 21 2024. While she is nervous about the upcoming challenge, she hopes she can help other parents spot the signs of congenital heart defects and raise as much money as possible for the BHF as “all the work they do saves lives”.
“An innocent cough turned out to be a heart condition, and then the heart condition turned out to be pulmonary valve stenosis,” she said. “I feel like more awareness needs to be raised around congenital heart defects and how to spot them, but also, I want hospitals to do more to prevent children like my son being sent home with a cardiac condition.”
To support Katie, donate to her fundraising page here or to take on your own challenge for the BHF, visit here.
A man exposed himself in front of a woman while on a Thameslink train near Tooting in February. The British Transport Police (BTP) have now released an image of a man they want to speak to in connection with the incident.
At around 11.15pm on Tuesday, February 6, a woman was sitting on a Thameslink train travelling between Tooting and Herne Hill when a man came and sat opposite her. He then exposed himself and started masturbating, the BTP have said.
The woman was extremely distressed by what she saw, and left her seat to report what had happened. Now, the police are appealing for help to find a man in a photograph they are now releasing.
The man can be seen on a train, wearing a flat cap, a black T-shirt, and a thick coat with a hood. He was also wearing dark trousers and trainers.
The British Transport Police say: "If you recognise the man in the image or have any information about the incident please contact officers by texting 61016, or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 808 of 6 February. Information can also be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."
Royal Mail has warned up to 1,000 jobs could be axed under plans put forward to the industry watchdog to scrap second-class letter deliveries on Saturdays and cut the service to every other week day. In its submission to Ofcom's consultation on the future of the universal postal service, Royal Mail said its proposals would see all non first-class letter deliveries including second class and bulk business mail reduced to save it up to £300 million a year.
This would mean that second-class deliveries on Saturdays would be scrapped. Under the plans, Royal Mail would deliver second-class mail in some streets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with others receiving letters on Tuesday and Thursday. The delivery schedule would be alternated every week.
First-class letter deliveries would remain six days a week, in a climbdown on previous calls for all Saturday letter deliveries to be scrapped, while Royal Mail said parcels would continue to be delivered up to seven days a week. Royal Mail revealed the proposals, if given the go ahead, would lead to "fewer than 1,000" voluntary redundancies as the plans would mean daily delivery routes cut by between 7,000 to 9,000 within two years.
Ofcom says it will provide an update on what will happen in the summer (Photo credit: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Image: Bloomberg Finance LP)
The group insisted it would not expect to make any compulsory redundancies and hopes the roles can be reduced through natural staff turnover among its 130,000 workforce. It claimed the proposals would not need a change in legislation, given it would still be delivering first-class post six days a week and called for Ofcom to put the changes in place by April next year.
Royal Mail said: "The proposal is designed to create a more financially stable future for the business and its shareholders, protecting tens of thousands of jobs and the best terms and conditions in the industry. It closely aligns to changes successfully made in comparable countries in Europe and around the world over recent years, with limited changes for customers."
Liberal Democrat business spokeswoman Sarah Olney branded the plans a "slap in the face for families being asked to pay more for less". "It risks creating a cost-of-postage crisis, as people feel forced to pay for first class stamps because second class delivery days are being slashed," she added.
'If we want to save the universal service, we have to change it'
Martin Seidenberg, group chief executive of Royal Mail owner International Distributions Services (IDS), insisted the group had "worked hard to come up with a proposal that is good for our customers, good for our people and would allow Royal Mail to invest in products and services".
He said: "If we want to save the universal service, we have to change the universal service. Reform gives us a fighting chance and will help us on the path to sustainability."
Ofcom has been consulting on the postal service reforms since January, with a deadline of April 3 set for responses. A spokesman for the regulator said: "We'll carefully consider all the feedback received, and provide an update in the summer."
Under its universal service obligation (USO), Royal Mail must deliver letters six days a week to all 32 million addresses in the UK for the price of a stamp. Royal Mail has long been urging the Government and Ofcom to review its obligations, arguing that it is no longer workable or cost effective, given the decline in addressed letter post.
In a long-awaited report in January, Ofcom revealed options for an overhaul of the universal postal service that could see Royal Mail's letter delivery service slashed from six days to five, or even three, a week. Another option mooted was to extend letter delivery times, with a more expensive next-day delivery service available when required.
The proposals sparked an outcry, with ministers quick to dismiss any suggestion that the Government would sanction the scrapping of Saturday deliveries. The six-day-a-week service is part of the universal service requirement stipulated by law under the Postal Services Act 2011.
Royal Mail also said in its submission that it would change all standard bulk mail such as bills and statements to a second class service, meaning they arrive within three weekdays instead of two. It added that it would like to add new reliability targets, as well as "revised, realistic" speed goals, and add tracking to universal service parcels.
Chris Packham has said he "loathed himself" and thought he was "broken" as a teenager before he understood he had autism. The Springwatch presenter, 62, was only diagnosed at the age of 44 after he dated a healthcare professional, and said he struggled in his teens to understand why he was different.
He told ITV's Good Morning Britain : "I grew up in the Sixties and Seventies when the condition wasn't widely known, certainly by my parents and teachers. So by the time I'd got to the beginning of my teens, and certainly into the early part of my 20s, my mental health issues were quite considerable."
"I loathed myself, I thought that I was broken. Clearly, I was in a lesser cohort than most other people, so I blamed myself for everything that was going wrong."
Speaking about the currently lengthy waiting times young people are facing to get an autism diagnosis, he said: "Young people can't be in that position, if they're going to work through education and find a fulfilling life, we need to put them on a firm foundation of confidence and support, and the diagnosis should be an access to that type of support."
"So it's not just about getting the diagnosis, it is about what follows from that."
Packham said that even though he was an adult when he got diagnosed, with Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder which can have an impact on social interaction, it still had a positive effect on his life.
He said: "I know a few people now that I knew when I was diagnosed, and they say that it's quite considerably changed me, I'm much more confident to talk about my needs, my incapacities, and the things that I can do better."
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"I will put myself forward if there's something which I am enabled to do by the condition. And I will be far more frank and honest about the disabling aspects of it, from my point of view."
"So there are certain things where they will be so challenging that I would rather not confront them."
"And if that's in a professional context, I would say 'You know what, I'd rather not do that, because it won't be good for me, it won't be good for you, it won't be good for us'."
He continued: "This week is World Autism Acceptance Week, and what we're trying to do is say that we wanted to develop a society where all autistic people can prosper. And that will only come if society understands what autism is about. And that's why we have these sorts of conversations."
"I was given my diagnosis when I was 44 years old. So I was a functional adult by that stage, I'd come to terms with some of the conditions I'd learned to manage myself, I was working, not everything was bad."
"For young people at the most vulnerable and formative parts of their lives, the difference between a diagnosis age nine and a diagnosis at age 12, 13, 14 is significant, because in that interim period they will not be getting a fulfilled education, they will not be getting the social support that they need."
Packham has previously presented documentaries about autism, including Asperger's And Me, about his own experiences, and Inside Our Autistic Minds, in which he worked with autistic people at key points in their lives, observing and learning about the ways they sense and interact with the world.
As Tinie Tempah rapped in his 2010 number one hit Pass Out 'Disturbing London, baby, we about to branch out', his cousin - and former manager - Dumi Obruta is truly branching out as by creating the first Black British-owned and Black British-funded sparkling wine brand named Severun.
While still being in its infancy, having been set up in 2023, it is already featured on the wine lists of leading bars and restaurants across the capital including The Conduit, The Standard and 67 Pall Mall. The company is Dumi's vision to make luxury accessible to those who are underrepresented in the culture and with him on the way is CEO of Severun, Dan Perry.
They see themselves as industry changemakers, coming to disturb the status quo of British Sparkling Wine all doing it while championing diversity. Dan said: "We wanted to create an all-black-owned sparkling wine business in the UK that really represents the dynamism and excitement around cities like London.
Dumi and Dan are looking to have a big year with Severun as they project making ten times the sales they did last year in 2024 (Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
"Dumi's plugged into the culture in the UK and worldwide....and what we noticed was that English sparkling wine, whilst its booming and been doing really well, the imagery of it and what we think of as the typical English sparkling wine drinker because of imagery, is linen, picnic baskets, green rolling country hills, Labradors, it's not London."
This is part of Severun's aim, to bring this brand and culture of luxury into London and change the narrative and imagery around it. Dumi said: "It's always been about opening the doors for people that look like us from cosmopolitan places where we come from. And it's aspirational, it's always been about inspiring and doing things that people feel we can't do.
"Understanding that brands and luxury goods change the perception of how we're seen and what people aspire to be. I realise the power of brands and that was what made me want to do Severun because over the years I've been working with these luxury brands and they've always used the culture as a catalyst to get into things or launch things.
"A majority of the time we don't have any real equity stake in the business in that sense. We're not actually behind the lens and we're not in front of the lens in an authentic way."
Severun has diversity throughout all levels of the business and management (Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
Severun has a sustainable supply chain with Chardonnay grapes grown in Franschhoek, South Africa and the wine being produced in Hampshire. It has proved a hit so far. The black and gold bottle - sold at £46 - stands out on a shelf and oozes luxury. Severun are also adding new sizes to the brand plus a Rosé to come out later in the year.
Dan explains that this year they have a soft launch in Ghana before spreading to Nigeria, the UAE and other places. The bottle will also be sold on Amazon and they are set to make ten times the sales in 2024 than they did in 2023. The outlook looks bright for the fresh business.
'We don't want to be pigeonholed as the black-owned wine company forever'
The business not only has a majority of black funders but also many of the staff are from a diverse range of cultures and ethnicities. This was part of their hiring strategy, to make sure that they have a more diverse range of people in roles in the company. Dan said: "A key consideration is going out and making sure we are giving young people the opportunities to come in and do something that perhaps wouldn't be accessible to them before."
But Dumi and Dan don't want themselves to be pigeonholed as the black-owned wine company forever. Dumi said: "The black-owned thing is very important and it's the foundation of the business. But that's because the majority of businesses in the world are white-owned.
"Having to say it's a black-owned business, it's just, you know, putting out his statement because this statement is very rare. But we would like to get to a point where you don't have to say something about being a black-owned business because it should be normal that other people of different races should be able to own businesses and sell their products to the mass market just the same way."
Dumi hopes to make luxury more accessible to all people (Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
The drink is there to represent inspiration and a big disruptor to the market. Dumi points out that currently, non-English diasporas are really succeeding a really succeeding at the moment in culinary circles and pop culture to name a few. The popularisation of non-white culture in new ventures has seen the growth of more people of colour exploring the vast array of options that they did not know were accessible to them.
Dumi wants to inspire the same through luxury brands. "Let's make our kids or the people around us feel more accepted in certain environments, luxury doesn't have to be white-washed," he said.
You can purchase a bottle and read more about Severun on their website HERE.
A man in his 50s is fighting for his life in hospital after sustaining head injuries during a 'serious assault' in West London. A resident contacted MyLondon to report there were 'police and forensics everywhere' in Saxon Avenue, in Hanworth, at the junction of Watermill Way and Basson Grove. They added that roads were cordoned off with tape, and that they were told there was a 'serious assault'.
Now, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Service said: "Police were called shortly after 8am on Saturday, March 30, to a man in his 50s who had been taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service suffering head injuries. Officers established that the man had sustained the injuries at an address in the Hanworth area of Feltham.
Forensics investigators were seen at the scene (Image: User submission)
"He remains in hospital in a critical condition. His family have been informed. Detectives from West Area CID are investigating. There has been no arrest at this early stage. Anyone with information that may assist police can call 101 and quote CAD 1641/30mar."
It comes after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in a different incident elsewhere in West London. The Met was called to Great Chertsey Road in Chiswick on Friday evening (March 29).
The boy was taken to hospital after officers found him injured. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening nor life-changing.
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