When l say the sign along Paddington St, l thought to myself is this the return of “curry and a pint” culture at a local Indian offering a pint for £3 pounds ( Cobra or Kingfisher on draft) ? In the eighties this could have been be read as having as many pints that you can have after 10pm with a quick curry! Have we returned to those times again l wondered to myself. Surely not in posh Marylebone as well. 

Well if you heard Ruhul the owner of the Ruhul Marylebone establishment talk in the local press both in a food review and column piece, you would be forgiven for thinking he’s setting a new trend here altogether where he urges locals drinkers not to be mugged by the price of beer today! Clearly an opening gambit to get the customers into his establishment, as he suggest the price of drinks keeps customers away from eating out more often. He also suggests Marylebone needs something like this but l’m not sure Portman Estate will be keen on this at all, after all the years they have spent promoting this part of Marylebone as a posh village!  For myself its a straight return of the culture of curry and pint, which l thought the majority of the curry industry had moved on and away from some years ago as the focus now is the food that is offered. That is certainly the impression one gets when you attend many of the Curry Awards, where the Indian restaurants very proudly show off their dishes and all round offer. Against a lot more competition as well particularly in Central London with many other cuisines on offer, this is a keenly fought battle with atalian, Chinese, Thai, Vietemese establishments. 

I also understand from local publicans in Marylebone he will still be making money on the beers at about £1-1.50 a pint even before the food arrives on the table.  I makes me wonder if this is at all happening in other parts of the country and London as well. furthermore, beers at these prices, will it encourage heavy drinking like the old days? Or has this sub-culture been dropped altogether for a much better appreciation of the food now on offer. I certainly hope so for the sake of the staff serving them at least. 

So the British culture of a curry and pint, does not seen to be dying in this rather posh part of Marylebone. Will this herald its return in this financially restrained times? Only time will tell whether this entrepreuer, Ruhul’s marketing ploy can pull it off.  In the meantime, best of luck with those bringing back the “curry & pint” culture to Marylebone. 

Now many of my fellow local residents have noticed how we get frequented by sea gulls in the neighbourhood. They often pick away at the rubbish we put out on our streets in the morning and even attack other birds, as the photo shows quite clearly above. 

Some say its because we have plenty of fishmongers along Church St market who throw their fish cuttings out on the street. Which must make for easy catches for sea gulls flying over Paddington and Marylebone.  Whatever the explanation, it’s clear seagulls have adapted around us and become “city gulls” to all intents and purposes. Not unlike our foxes, who we increasingly find in the City. In our case, we have plenty around Marylebone Railway station. 

What clear to us that they have become a menace to all but it’s not clear who’s responsibility is their behaviour. Clearly not the dustman who clear up their mess afterwards along our street but maybe we need to start with our fishmongers along Church St market not throwing their cuttings out on the street. 

Normally in Paddington, in private developments and Mansion blocks we have disputes between leaseholders and their Management Committees over the level of service charges in their blocks for annual services and major repairs but this is the first time l have come across a dispute between the staff and the management agents of the blocks themselves.

On Tuesday morning as l cycled along Praed St, l come across a picket line over a dispute between cleaners and concierge staff and their management company at West End Quay organised by UVW which l hope the residents, leaseholders and neighbourhood take note.

Striking is always a last resort for staff as it involves a financial sacrifice but with a a complete breakdown of negotiations and deterioration of industrial relations, it is not surprising in this instance. The dispute covers a whole range of issues including inflation-linked pay; unconditional harmonisation of leave and sick pay; full withdrawal of performance related pay(PRP); cctv monitoring; disciplinary hearing reform and review of standard operational procedures. 

It makes me realise that even in disputes on Mansion blocks occupants with their management agents as we have plenty of them in W2 & W9, there will undoubtedly be a labour dispute in the background as well. And well done to United Voice of Workers, the new kids on the Union block for representing low paid, migrant and precarious workers. 

Lest we forget – 7th July bombings victims at my local tube station, the Edgware Rd, on the 20th anniversary. I can well remember how the victims who survived walking to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington when l got there on the day. They hit Londoners hard after we had won the Olympic nomination to host the Olympics the following day – illustrating the ups and downs of being Londoners. 

Also as we commemorate the deaths of Londoners on 7/7 bombings, l for one can not forget Ken Livingstone response from Singapore at a critical time for London. It’s probably the most brilliant speech a Mayor of London will have to ever make and let’s hope there is never a need for someone to do so again.

Last week Climate Change Committee advisors tells us ​​​​​​​to make electricity cheaper for consumers, so who has the best solution for this? Well we have two titans of the energy sector in the UK fighting over this one. In one corner, we have Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus arguing for zoning pricing. In the other corner, we have another British green energy industrialist, Dale Vince who is the owner of the electricity company Ecotricity advocating breaking the link between gas prices and renewable energy. 

Dale Vince, argues that high UK energy prices are due to the current market mechanism that links the price of all electricity, including that from renewables, to the global price of fossil gas. He advocates for “breaking the link” between gas prices and renewable energy, believing it would lower energy bills. Vince argues that the current UK electricity market mechanism sets the price of all electricity based on the most expensive source, which is often imported fossil gas. This means even when wind and solar are abundant and cheap, the price is still tied to gas, leading to higher bills. Vince proposes “breaking the link” by ensuring that renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, are priced separately from gas, allowing their cheaper prices to be reflected in consumer bills. By separating the pricing, Vince believes it would lower energy bills for consumers, make green energy more competitive, and help the UK achieve its net-zero targets.

Interestingly the House of Lords backs “zoning pricing” in a power market shake up whilst the CBI urges government to tackle energy costs as firms face £24 billion in extra costs and in particular the removal of policy costs (such as those related to net zero initiatives) from electricity bills, suggesting that these costs be funded through alternative mechanisms, such as general taxation.  So watch this critical battle, being played out over the summer.

While the Spending Review last week giveth with one hand, it taketh away with the other. With no funding for DLR and Bakerloo Line Extensions or the West London Orbital (remember when London’s top priority was Crossrail2 now of course Elizabeth line), that’s up to 150,000 fewer homes all three could have unlocked collectively. Surely any vague prospect of London getting close to the 88,000 new homes annually target died yesterday.

With at least a 4 year capital settlement  for TfL worth £2.2 billion between 2026-2030 will we now get the Bakerloo line carriages replaced? They were introduced in 1972 and now the oldest trains in daily passenger service anywhere in the UK. I went to school on them after “fares fair” initiative by the old GLC. 

There’s less certainty for other lines, though, with TfL saying only that the settlement will allow it to “progress discussions on new Bakerloo line trains”, though its separate announcement to investors does say the settlement will support “rolling stock upgrades” on the Bakerloo and Central lines.

But let’s be honest, this isn’t money for big, new shiny tube lines. It will hopefully finally replace 50-year-old worn out trains and antiquated signalling and prevent critical flyovers from collapsing in West Central. Also if the message is that London won’t be getting much capital monies for transport infrastructure then we need to pursue more devolution for the Mayor of London, to get on with these matters with new powers to raise finance. After all, the successful East Asia cities Mayor’s with world class transport infrastructure, certainly don’t have to go to their Central government for such works,  hand in cap!  Capturing the land value enhancement after transport infrastructure is built is the key to the matter. 

In the meantime, we need TfL to get on with getting rid of the grafitti. No other tube line has it internally, to the same extent!  It makes for an unpleasant tube trips particularly with in the heatwave……

Some of us are able to tell racists to FO (my preferred method) but most are not able to do so! So l think we need to address the issues of hate aimed at council staff and members and developers and local residents particularly after three instances l have come across at and around Westminster City Council (WCC)

At a recent reception held by the Lord Mayor of Westminster at City Hall parlour, we heard the hallowing tale of a local policeman who had converted to Islam off his own accord, suffering sustained abuse on social media. He is now a member of staff in the City of Westminster. 

We also have the planning system having to deal with sustained racial abuse on particular applications. Over the last few years, it has dealt with an applicant in the West End which involved predominately involved a hotel conversion into pods and a small community space which would accommodate Friday prays for Muslims in the West End. Trocadero, 13 Coventry Street, Piccadilly A significant number of objections were fueled by racist and Islamophobic sentiments, with some comments explicitly targeting the Muslim community. Finally we also hear that members of the Council have been insulted over their faith along the Edgware Road.