FN Newsletter 05-08-2026

Early August 2026 round up of news, features, public consultations, and local democracy reports from The Fitzrovia News

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Long-running office furniture showroom leaves Fitzrovia for Clerkenwell

Margolis has left its Euston Road showroom to move to Rosebery Avenue. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Margolis, the office furniture and equipment suppliers, on the corner of Euston Road and Fitzroy Street has left Fitzrovia after being at the premises since what is believed to be the early 1960s. "We are London’s oldest established complete office furnishers, founded in 1911 by the Great Grandfather of the current Managing Director Paul Margolis," says the companies website.

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Youth charity to leave Warren Street and take on running of larger premises

FYA is to leave Fitzrovia to take on the running of the Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Fitzrovia Youth in Action (FYA) is to leave its offices in Warren Street, moving out of Fitzrovia to new premises in Stanhope Street in the Regent's Park Estate, to take over the running of another youth centre. In a letter sent to residents in Warren Street, Andre Schott chief executive of the charity, wrote saying: "FYA has taken over the management of one of Camden's largest youth centres: the Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre."

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Licensing application: All Saints Chapel, 6 Marylebone Passage

Entrance to All Saints Chapel (centre) at 6 Marylebone Passage. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Tassen Limited has applied to Westminster Council for a new premises licence for All Saints Chapel, 6 Marylebone Passage, off Margaret Street, in Fitzrovia West. Permission is sought for a number of licensable activities to cover events, and the sale of alcohol to drink both on and off the premises: 10am to 11.30pm, Monday to Thursday; 10am to midnight on Friday and Saturday; and from 12 noon to 10.30pm on Sunday.

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Camden’s planners give go ahead for developer to blitz former 1980s music venue along with late 18th century buildings

The former Blitz Club building (centre) at 4 Great Queen Street will be demolished. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. The former home of an iconic 1980s club that helped launch the careers of Spandau Ballet and Boy George is set to become a new apartment hotel complex. Camden Council has approved plans to demolish a modified late 18th century building in Covent Garden that hosted…

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Fitzrovia Futures short story competition winner announced and further events scheduled

Competition winner Sumayyah Janan Rahman accepting her prize from Luisa Pereira Pires, founder of the Neurodiversity Architecture Network. Photo: Fitzrovia Futures. Sumayyah Janan Rahman has won the Fitzrovia Futures short story competition for young people, held as part of London Festival of Architecture 2026. Rahman, 22, is an aspiring writer and creative who lives in London and took part in…

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A new look at the ideas of Jane Jacobs for planning better neighbourhoods

Fitzrovia features in Better Neighbourhoods for All, by Andrew Rowson. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. In 1961 Jane Jacobs, in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, criticised the way modern urban areas were being redeveloped with a car-first attitude, and destroying the historic neighbourhoods that made city living attractive. Andrew Rowson, in his new book…

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Camden Council compensates woman with autism after failing to properly assess her care needs

Camden Council has agreed to pay an autistic woman £2,600 for causing distress after it only offered her half of her mandated care support for over a year. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) investigated a two-year period from when the resident, referred to as Ms X, first requested emergency care support from the council, and judged that Camden had dragged its heels and caused a series of delays, false starts and failure to fulfil the terms of her support plan.

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Westminster Council seeks residents’ views on ‘difficult choices’ on council tax and cuts to services

City of Westminster is set for a gruelling period of council tax rises and cuts to services in order to make up for £100mn less in national government funding. Westminster Council is asking residents which services they value the most to decide what should be axed. One of the first things to go has been universal free school meals…

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Community bid to turn Soho primary school into a leading creative learning centre

Soho Parish Primary School in Great Windmill Street. Photo: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon/LDRS. Plans are underway to turn Soho’s last primary school into London’s “most creative” as the local community bids to take over the provision. Soho Parish, which has taught children from its Great Windmill Street base since the late 19th century, faced potential closure under a proposal to merge it with All Souls primary in Fitzrovia…

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The Women artists of Fitzrovia – lunchtime talk at Fitzrovia Chapel

Women flocked to The Slade School of Fine Art on Gower Street when it opened in 1871 because unlike the Royal Academy it admitted female students on an almost equal footing with men. It also allowed women to attend the life drawing classes providing the male models sported some strategically positioned drapery. By the 1890s women students outnumbered the men.

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Ofcom and BBC, correct the record: Thames Water CEO misled the public about public ownership

Thames Water CEO lied about public ownership on the BBC. It is time Ofcom and the BBC corrected the record

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Fitzrovia Street Party 2026

The annual Fitzrovia Street Party, organised by Fitzrovia Youth in Action, will take place at 2pm on Saturday 15 August 2026 at The Warren open space at the northern end of Whitfield Street. Ahead of the Street Party is the Warren Football Cup which will take place from 10am on Tuesday 4 August. For more information see the Fitzrovia Youth in Action website.

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Westminster Council welcomes scheme to crack down on illegal Airbnb lets in social housing

A key safe locked to street furniture in Fitzrovia. Often used to disguise the location of a short-term let property. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Conservative-led Westminster Council has welcomed the Labour government's scheme to stamp out illegal short-term lets in social housing. An agreement between letting platform Airbnb and the Cabinet Office, announced earlier this month, will allow local councils to check social housing records against holiday-let listings to identify properties being exploited by fraudsters.

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Two cities MP Rachel Blake exits government in Burnham reshuffle

Rachel Blake MP for Cities of London and Westminster. Photo: Parliament. Rachel Blake, MP for Cities of London and Westminster, has lost her job as a government minister as part of a major reshuffle by the new prime minister Andy Burnham. Blake had been appointed as a government minister as part of a small reshuffle triggered by the resignation of health secretary Wes Streeting in May this year.

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Public realm changes to Tottenham Street, Charlotte Street, Chitty Street, and Whitfield Street approved

Proposals to create a pedestrian and cycle zone on Tottenham Street have been approved. Image: Camden Council. Camden Council has approved plans for changes to the public realm to improve walking, wheeling and cycling in four Fitzrovia streets, despite concerns raised about loss of vehicle access to premises and loading. Fitzrovia Area Safe and Healthy Streets Phase 2 was approved by Councillor James Slater, cabinet member for planning and a sustainable Camden, after a…

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Draft London Plan 2026: What’s in the Mayor’s new 10-year development goals

A public consultation on the draft London Plan is open until 15 October 2026. Image: GLA. London will aim far lower than the Government’s housing targets for the capital over the next decade, the Mayor’s new spatial development strategy has indicated. The Draft London Plan -- published on 16 July -- suggests City Hall is hoping for 558,000 homes to be built between 2028 -- when the strategy is set to be adopted -- and 2037.

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Licensing application: basement, 156 New Cavendish Street

Application for sale of alcohol at the basement of 156 New Cavendish Street. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. London Auction Xchange Ltd has applied to Westminster Council for a new premises licence for the basement at 156 New Cavendish Street in Fitzrovia West. Permission is sought for the sale of alcohol to drink both on and off the premises from 9am to 11pm every day of the week.

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Coroner calls for national guidance on hepatitis B after 41-year-old man’s death at Royal Free hospital

Medication was stopped after confusion over which hospital department was supposed to issue prescription for home delivery. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. A coroner has warned there is a dangerous lack of guidance around monitoring people with past hepatitis B infections, following the death of a North London man from liver failure. Tung Tran, 41, died in September 2025 at London’s…

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Fitzrovia Fete 2026

Fitzrovia Fete is back for 2026, taking place on Sunday 9 August, from 1pm to 5pm in Foley Street. Now in its sixth year, the highly successful community event will explore the theme “Learn Something New.” Through performances, workshops, and activities, the event celebrates how learning can boost confidence, emotional intelligence, and overall wellbeing. "This year is particularly special as we’re partnering with University College London (UCL) as part of their bicentenary celebrations who will offer extra informative, fun taster workshops to the community," says Lucia Jaffer who is organising the event for Fitzrovia Community Centre (FCC).

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Planning applications in Fitzrovia West, July 2026

Westminster Council has validated more than a dozen planning applications in Fitzrovia West so far during July 2026. (This report will be updated until the monthly list is complete.) Among the applications are: Updated application for use of premises as a overnight boarding facility for dogs at 87 Great Portland Street (located within the Marylebone amenity society area); A community garden parklet for a temporary period of two years outside…

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Working women in Fitzrovia, 1850 to 1950 – lunchtime talk at Fitzrovia Chapel

In the second half of the nineteenth century technological and social changes were responsible for bringing a huge number of women into the labour market. Fitzrovia and its environs provided employment for both working class and middle class women as telephonists, typists, seamstresses, shop assistants, waitresses, and health care workers, including Britain’s most famous campaigner for birth control, Marie Stopes.

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Westminster Council Tories to cut free school meals introduced by Labour

Westminster City Council has announced plans to cut universal free school meals for kids in years 7 to 9 after the Conservatives retook control in May. Hundreds of families in Westminster will have to start paying for their children’s school meals, estimated to cost around £550 per child per year. Westminster Labour Group, who introduced free school meals for Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9) children, have started…

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Children’s activities at Fitzrovia community Centre for summer holiday 2026

Fitzrovia Community Centre (FCC) in Foley Street is putting on a range of activities during summer 2026 for children aged six to 13 years old. "This action-packed summer holiday sports programme from Pro Touch includes a variety of activities, from football and dodgeball to mini tennis, skipping, fitness challenges and speed and agility games. Every day is packed with fun, games and new friendships.

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Police investigate serious incident at Candover Street

Police investigate at Candover Street. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. The Met Police closed Riding House Street at the junction with Candover and Nassau Street in Fitzrovia West this morning to investigate a serious incident that happened around 10.30am on Sunday 12 July. Blue tape was put up to cordon off the area and shortly afterwards red tape was put up as an inner cordon.

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Labour take back Regent’s Park ward seat in by-election triggered by Green teacher quitting

Councillor Nanouche Umeadi. Photo: Camden Council. Labour has reclaimed a Camden Council seat it lost to the Green Party in May after a candidate quit due to his being ineligible to become a councillor, triggering a by-election. Nanouche Umeadi, who was defeated in her former Kilburn ward seat, won the Regent’s Park by-election held on Thursday 9 July, with 576 votes (32%).

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Ultra-wealthy foreign investors are hollowing out London by leaving homes empty

Dr Jonathan Bourne from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London. Photo: GLA webcast. Ultra-wealthy foreign investors are artificially inflating London’s housing market by leaving homes empty and pushing residents to the outskirts of the city, the London Assembly has been told. There were 105,138 empty homes in London in 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

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Mayor failed to hit revised affordable housing targets in London, new report reveals

The Mayor of London has fallen short of the revised affordable housing target set by the Government by thousands of homes, it has emerged. Sir Sadiq Khan was allocated £4bn from ministers for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) running between 2021 and 2026. His original target of starting between 23,900 and 27,200 affordable homes was reduced last year by 22 per cent to a range between 17,800 and 19,000 after interim reports showed progress was slow.

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