How to make London great again, according to 10 of our writers

Telegraph

16-07-2025

London has lost its mojo. This is evident in the sorry state of its streets, the creaking infrastructure, the shuttered nightclubs, the dodgy candy shops, and the rise of phone-snatching moped gangs. And the world has started to take notice, with the city struggling to attract tourists since the pandemic compared with its European rivals.
So how can the city plot a path back to prosperity? What might boost visitor numbers? Which way lie the sunlit uplands? Here are 10 suggestions that could help shatter the malaise.
1. Pedestrianise the West End
Isn't the answer staring us in the face? It's time London stopped dilly-dallying and fully pedestrianised not just Oxford Street, but the whole of the West End.
From a visitor point of view, pedestrianisation makes for a safer, more relaxed environment in otherwise hectic city centres. From an economic point of view, it would boost footfall and reduce store vacancies at a time when high-street shops are in combat with online retailers.
We wouldn't be alone. Parisians have recently voted to pedestrianise 500 streets in the capital, while campaigners in Berlin are planning to ban cars in an area equal to 34 square miles. Bruges, Prague, Madrid, Copenhagen and Vienna have already pedestrianised their city centres to excellent effect.
It's a complex subject. Traffic flow would have to be thought through carefully, as would accessibility for specific groups. And then there's the cost. But in the long term, for public health, for liveability, for the economic resilience of our capital, this is imperative.
And look! The precedent has already been set. In December 2022, the pedestrianisation of Aldwych, on the Strand, was completed. Noise and air particulate matter are down, and businesses have reported a boost in trade. And, guess what? The city continues to operate just fine.
Greg Dickinson
2. Improve the phone signal
If you've tried to use your phone in central London recently only to end up staring at the 'wheel of death', you're not alone: London's mobile signal is abysmal, even by the UK's already poor standards. A lack of phone masts across the city and Glastonbury-level concentration of revellers in the West End mean that mobile data ends up being rationed like bread in a workhouse lunch hall.
Having to wait for messages to load isn't just annoying; it also causes real-life problems: West End theatres struggle to get the audiences seated on time as it takes so long to check tickets (which, of course, have been digital-only since the pandemic). Meanwhile, all those unfortunate tourists who resort to waving their phone like a divining rod in an attempt to connect become sitting ducks for the phone thieves who plague much of Zone 1. Do us all a favour and fix it pronto.
Robert Jackman
3. Learn to deal with any type of weather
I'm not talking about just installing air conditioning in every building (though that would be nice too); rather, I am advocating for a city in which everything – the trains, the roads, the sewers – does not break, stop or disintegrate as soon as we get some heavy rain or a reasonably warm day.
During heatwaves, the bending (and sometimes buckling) of tracks makes for Tube chaos – and when the trains do run, commuters find themselves wilting in the sort of temperatures in which it is illegal to transport cattle. Likewise, when the heavens open, floods abound (often due to blocked road drains), shoddily mended potholes shrug off their inferior fillings, and emergency sandbags appear at every subterranean station.
London's infrastructure is ancient, I understand. Nevertheless, far larger cities – Shanghai, Tokyo, Los Angeles – deal with weather equally (and, in some cases, far more) extreme, but manage not to grind to a halt (they also have ice-cold, air-conditioned metros, storm drains and, evidently, higher pothole-fixing standards). It's possible; we, clearly, just haven't mastered it yet.
Gemma Knight-Gilani
4. Make visitors sign a pledge to follow the rules
The answer to London's woes lies in the tiny nation of Palau, a clutch of islands in the Pacific Ocean's remote Micronesia archipelago. On arrival, Palau asks – nay, demands – that all tourists sign a pledge in their passports, promising to 'tread lightly' and 'act kindly' during their visit.
That's what we need for London, to ensure that everyone sticks to our own fundamental rules – such as escalator etiquette, no dawdling, and respect the holy sanctity of the queue. Talk quietly (or on the Tube, not at all), avoid eye contact, and for heaven's sake use headphones. Tip, but not too much (it makes the rest of us look bad); never complain (unless weather-related); and always apologise (even if it's not your fault). How nice it would be if we all knew the commandments – and stuck to them.
Of course, if you didn't, there would be consequences. 'Capital punishment', if you will. If caught transgressing, the penalty would be suitably harsh: a trip to Madame Tussauds at peak time, or a ride on the Central Line at rush hour. For repeat offenders: jellied eels.
5. Plant more trees
London in the summertime feels more like downtown Dubai these days. And if you're feeling hot under the collar in this latest heatwave, don't expect things to improve soon.
Report after report has warned that London – along with most of the UK – is woefully unprepared for rising temperatures. It's time we took a literal leaf out of Medellín's book.
Planners in the Colombian city have gone on a tree-planting frenzy in recent years, criss-crossing the concrete jungle with dozens of 'green corridors'. This urban tree canopy has been attributed with cooling neighbourhoods by an average of 2C. It looks pretty, too.
The good news for the English capital is that the eponymous London plane – which already lines many of the city's streets – showed remarkable resilience to extreme heat in a recent study. Planting more of them is an idea that should land on fertile ground, given London is one of only four national park cities globally.
Gavin Haines
6. Stay open past 11pm
I've had some magical evenings on holiday – clattering over the cobbles of Rome in high heels for a midnight gelato in the summer heat; post-theatre chats in Edinburgh coffee shops; lingering meals in Málaga restaurants that come alive only after 11pm. At home in London? Not so much. There are clubs, of course, but those require youth and commitment, of which I have neither. Beyond those, it seems we are a city of Cinderellas. 'Why Did London Start Going to Bed so Early?' bemoans one Reddit thread.
Last week, having tried in vain to find a bite to eat after a concert in Hyde Park, I was forced to admit defeat and get the train home for a slice of toast. Obviously that was before midnight, when most rail and underground services shut (the night Tube operates on certain lines on Fridays and Saturdays). Otherwise, I would have been on the night bus, an experience tourists would do well to avoid. But with so many people now working from home combined with pricier utility bills, the snoozefest seems set to continue. It's a real shame for tourists hoping to make the most of those long – and latterly sizzling – summer evenings.
Amanda Hyde
7. Charge foreign tourists to visit our museums
This summer, the British Museum is teeming with large tour groups, and even on a cloudy day, the place feels like a sauna. Time your visit poorly, and you'll find a crowd 10-deep trying to glimpse the Rosetta Stone. Would it really be so unreasonable to charge non-Britons during peak season to distribute the spread of visits more evenly throughout the year and ease the strain caused by oversized groups? (Technically, there's no cap on tour sizes, although some rooms in the museum are off-limits to groups to avoid clogging passageways.)
In Cairo, an Egyptian pays the equivalent of just 45 pence to enter the Egyptian Museum, while I'd be charged £8.25. The Met in New York charges £22, but nothing if you live in New York state. Imagine if the British Museum charged non-British residents £20 per visit between, say, June and September. It could fund much-needed ventilation for a start, and support other projects across London. A modest seasonal fee could make a real difference, while keeping the museum experience more enjoyable for everyone.
Will Hide
8. Banish surly service
I get it. I really do. Long days, low pay and hot, cross guests who can, no doubt, sometimes be rude. But I've lost count of the times I've walked into pubs/cafés/restaurants with a cheery 'hello!' to be met by a dead fish stare, or a head bowed over a screen, studiously refusing to acknowledge my arrival.
It's easy to remedy, with some very simple training and a few simple rules: 1) Make eye contact. 2) Smile. 3) Say something such as: 'Your table will be ready in five minutes, may I get you a seat/drink/menu?', 'Sorry, we're short-staffed, but here's your table and I'll bring menus/water,' or, 'If you're really rushing, perhaps try elsewhere?' It means happier clients and possible tips.
Sophie Campbell
9. Give us more medium-sized music venues
The Elizabeth Line may have vastly quickened the process of travelling across the city, but it chalked up a notable casualty when the construction work carved a great hole at the point where Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road meet.
The compulsory purchase and demolition of the Astoria – the former cinema which, between 1985 and 2009, was a dingy but much-loved gig venue – erased one of London's most vital spaces for live music. While the opening of the @sohoplace theatre (almost) on the same footprint in 2022 ensured the site is still devoted to the arts, it is no substitute for what was a crucial stepping stone for acts clambering the ladder to the biggest stages.
The Astoria held 1,600-2,000 souls. It was a halfway house en route to Brixton Academy (4,921 people) or Hammersmith Apollo (up to 5,000). Its removal from the live-music ecosystem has been another blow to young bands struggling with the loss of record sales in the streaming era, and the practical difficulties of touring in Europe post-Brexit. A replacement would be a gift to the city, but is unlikely to happen. The closing of adjacent venue the Borderline in 2019 (a victim of soaring Soho rents) only added insult to injury.
Chris Leadbeater
10. Embark on a campaign of beautification
It's certainly not an original observation, but we seem to have collectively – both the governors and the governed – abandoned the notion of civic pride. Living amid wall-to-wall ugliness cannot be good for the soul. Yet Londoners are forced to spend much of their lives staring at garish blue wheelie bins, eyesore shopfronts, a surfeit of largely unnecessary road signs, scruffy and litter-strewn front gardens, and pavements patched up without care for aesthetics.
It shouldn't be too much to expect local councils to force retailers to swap sore-thumb colour schemes (we're looking at you, The Works) for something easier on the eye (like, say, Gail's). Nor to spend some of their ample income via record levels of taxation on things such as public topiary, smart wooden benches and more than one litter collection per fortnight.
But each of us also needs to take personal responsibility – by putting up a geranium-filled window box, by promptly weeding our driveways, and by picking up that selfish person's discarded beer can, rather than simply tutting at the sight of it. Begin your own campaign of beautification, and set an example for others to follow.
Oliver Smith