Local News
Man charged after attacks on Muslim venues in East London
A STRING of physical attacks on Muslim organisations and venues in East London has led to a man being charged with five counts of racially and religiously aggravated criminal damage. The man has been named as Illia Bilyk, 21, of Field Road, Newham E7. He is due to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Cou...
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Brick Lane Curry Festival is back!
FOR ONE day only, Brick Lane will host the extravaganza that is the Brick Lane Curry Festival. It will be a day of great food, live music, dancing, costumes… and fun for all the family. The Festival will take place on Sunday, 20th September. Proceedings start at around 12 noon and will go on until...
Good Curry Guide calls on MPs to revive Tiffin Cup
The Parliamentary Tiffin Cup used to be described as an award which celebrated culinary diversity. Now George Shaw, Editor of the Good Curry Guide is calling on MPs to revive the Cup to help South Asian restaurants. The Tiffin Cup was created by a group of MPs chaired by Keith Vaz MP (before his fal...
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Get support during Sexual Health Awareness Week
IT’S SEXUAL HEALTH Awareness Week. Tower Hamlets Council is marking the week by holding an event outside the Town Hall from 10.30am to 4pm on Thursday, 17th September. There will be a testing van outside the Town Hall and you can take a test for HIV or any Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI). The...
It’s official: Trump controls the weather
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump makes some pretty outstanding claims – but this one is surely a contender for “claim of the century”. A man called Chris Martz posted a comment on X on 12th September, commenting on the lack of hurricanes in the North Atlantic this year. Most meteorologists and weathe...
Deputy Mayor takes part in community health fair
DEPUTY MAYOR Cllr Maium Talukdar took time out of his busy schedule last Saturday to visit a health fair in Launch Street on the Isle of Dogs last Thursday, 10th September. And he joined in what was going on – by taking one of the free men’s health checks on offer. The event was organised ... Th...
Fire damages house in East Ham
A FIRE in Newham damaged most of the ground floor and a small part of the first floor on Tuesday. An outbuilding also suffered some damage. Calls came in to Fire Control Officers at 10.10pm. Four fire engines – from East Ham, Plaistow, Barking and Homerton – brought some 25 firefighters to the f...
Know your numbers – and look after yourself all year round
WE ALL fear falling ill – especially with those serious conditions such as a heart attack, a stroke or diabetes. However, there are ways to help yourself avoid the worst problems – by “knowing your numbers”. These serious conditions don’t usually appear just out of the blue. Usually your b...
Sounds on Sunday: 50 years ago – 1976-22
FIFTY YEARS AGO we were humming along to the hits of 1976. Some have magnificently stood the test of time; others have not. Join us on Memory Lane as we review them on their golden anniversaries. We’re back on track (no pun intended). On 31st August 1976 Abba knocked Elton John and Kiki Dee off .....
One fatality in Poplar hi-rise flat fire
A FIRE in a flat on the 17th floor of a 22-storey residential tower block has left a man dead. The alarm was raised in the early morning, with calls reaching the London Fire Brigade Control Centre at 4.35am. Ten fire engines – from Poplar, Whitechapel, Plaistow, Stratford, Shadwell, East Greenwich...
Today: Mayor’s Cricket Cup in Victoria Park
HEAD OVER to Victoria Park (quickly, run!) to enjoy the finals weekend of the Mayor’s Cricket Cup 2026. A quick post on Tower Hamlets Council’s X page reminds us that these finals are taking place today, Saturday, and tomorrow, Sunday. You can read more about the Mayor’s Cricket Cup on the Cou...
Fire in Stepney Green fast food shop
MILE END ROAD was closed between the junctions with Burdett Road and Cambridge Heath road on Friday, 11th September as firefighters tackled a blaze near Stepney Green Tube station. The fire was in a ground floor fast food restaurant and it affected a first floor flat above the shop. A small part of ...
Mayor Lutfur Rahman opens celebration of education grants
IT’S A partnership which has stood the test of time. Tower Hamlets Council and developers the Canary Wharf Group came together as long ago as 1990 to establish the Tower Hamlets and Canary Wharf Further Education Trust. They’ve been working together ever since to support people who are studying ...
Israel claims victory over Hezbollah
WITH THE world’s war-watchers’ eyes on Iran – occasionally switching over to Ukraine – the ongoing Israeli attack on Lebanon is receiving little attention. Recent advances Israel has made have gone largely unreported. Israel has been attacking, invading and occupying Lebanon for years. After...
London Fire Brigade: one of the busiest summers ever
FIREFIGHTERS haven’t stopped all summer. Between May and August 2026, they have attended over 55,000 incidents and Control Officers have taken around 100,000 emergency calls. The number of incidents attended – 55,838 – was the highest summer total in the last five years. It was 20% higher than...
Get ready for the Mayor’s Football Cup
ONE OF the most popular football competitions in Tower Hamlets is taking place over the weekends of 19th/20th and 26th/27th September 2026. It’s an extravaganza of exciting football playing – and a little dose of competition. It’s a little hard to track down the details, but we believe that ma...
Another recycling centre fire – this one in Leyton
YES, IT’S another one. It feels like there’s been a fire in a recycling centre every couple of weeks over the summer. The latest one happened at Argall Metal’s recycling centre in Staffa Road, Leyton, in the early morning of Tuesday, 8th September. This one came to a different kind of recyclin...
How CCTV helps trace dangerous drivers
TOWER HAMLETS Council is overflowing with news about the achievements of its CCTV system. There has been a great deal of investment to improve the hardware (and the operators), and it seems that is now paying dividends. The latest news is that the cameras – sadly – caught a hit and run incident....
Police appeal for help as man absconds from care facility
WHERE IS Balasankar Narayanan? The 46 year old absconded while on escorted leave from a care facility in Ilford, and police are trying to find him. Mr Narayana was last seen at 2pm on Thursday, 3rd September. He was with staff in South Park and ran off. Mr Narayanan is described as having a shaved ....
CCTV tracks mobile theft suspects
IT’S A NIGHTMARE. We have so much on our phones these days and we use them so often. Sadly, we know that mobiles are all too often stolen – often by organised gangs who make a quick getaway. That’s where Tower Hamlets Council’s trusty CCTV service stepped up to the mark again. Two people sna...