Local news, what's on and the information you need for Marylebone, Pimlico and the rest of Westminster.
The Westminster Post

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Westminster news, what's on and local information

Health St Mary's Hospital Rebuild: 30-Storey, 800-Bed Tower Plans Charity Caxton Youth Art Auction: Free Tickets for 19 November Halloween Westminster Halloween: free Hyde Park trail 27 to 29 Oct

Coming up

All The events
  1. On now to 1 Nov Frieze Sculpture 2026 English Gardens, The Regent's Park · Free
  2. Tue 13 Oct Feast of the Translation of Saint Edward the Confessor 5pm · Westminster Abbey · Free
  3. Wed 14 Oct An evening with Kate Williams: Women and power 7pm · Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey · From £15
  4. 15 to 17 Oct Flowers in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields · Free
  5. 15 to 18 Oct Frieze London and Frieze Masters Frieze London, The Regent's Park · From £48

Latest Westminster news

Ice skating Westminster ice rinks: three open from 31 October Westminster's three outdoor rinks open on 31 October, 11 November and 19 November. Winter Wonderland skating from £12.65, Somerset House from £13. · 5 min read Christmas Hamleys Santa's grotto 2026: 14 Nov to 24 Dec, from £75 Hamleys' Regent Street grotto opens 14 November at £75 for three, rising to £120 in the last 11 days. Its Langham grotto is £275, from 12 December. · 4 min read Hyde Park Veteran Car Run 2026: Hyde Park start 1 Nov, from 6.56am Over 400 veteran cars leave Serpentine Road in Hyde Park from sunrise on Sunday 1 November. The free Pall Mall car show is the day before, 10am to 3pm. · 5 min read Christmas Covent Garden Christmas lights: switch-on Thursday 12 Nov Covent Garden switches on its Christmas lights on Thursday 12 November, with 300,000 lights and the West Piazza tree. Free; the start time is not out yet. · 3 min read Christmas Somerset House ice rink: opens 11 Nov, skating from £13 Skate at Somerset House runs 11 November 2026 to 10 January 2027. Adults £13 to £28.50, children from £11, plus a £1.50 fee. Closed Christmas Day. · 4 min read Libraries Westminster Libraries Survey: Closes 16 Nov, 13 Forums Westminster's first libraries and archives survey closes 16 November, with free forums at 13 venues. The council cites financial pressures. Dates and times. · 3 min read Transport Oxford Street Goes Traffic Free on 26 October: What Changes Oxford Street shuts to all traffic from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street on Monday 26 October. Buses go from 25 October, and roads are already closing. · 6 min read Housing Westminster Homeless Service: 58 Beds, New Charity Provider Changing Lives now runs Westminster's Next Steps service: 58 beds for homeless single adults in six Marylebone and Maida Vale properties, three staffed 24/7. · 4 min read Local Info Westminster Roadworks: Oxford St Closes to Traffic 26 Oct Oxford Street goes traffic free from Monday 26 October, with bus changes from the 24th. Northumberland Avenue is shut northbound to 30 October. · 17 min read Events What's On in Westminster: Frieze London, Then Diwali on the Square Frieze opens to the public in Regent's Park on 15 October, Diwali fills Trafalgar Square free on the 25th, and veteran cars leave Hyde Park on 1 November. · 8 min read Local Info Westminster Primary School Admissions: Apply by 15 Jan Westminster primary school admissions close on 15 January 2027. 22 of 30 schools took every applicant in 2026; the tightest cut-off was 0.202 miles. · 8 min read Covent Garden Blue Note London Opens on St Martin's Lane After a Two-Hearing Licence Fight Blue Note London is open at 42-49 St Martin's Lane, licensed to 1am and bound to stay a jazz venue. Its first licence was cut to earlier hours; a second bid won the later close. · 4 min read
See all Westminster news

Almost nobody says they live in Westminster. They say Marylebone, Pimlico, Bayswater, Paddington, St John’s Wood, Belgravia, Soho or Queen’s Park. The word means Parliament and the Abbey to the rest of the country, and a council to the people who live under it.

That council is worth paying attention to. It runs controlled parking zones and permits across nearly the whole borough, licenses the West End, and works through a planning caseload in which most buildings are listed or in a conservation area. All of it is published. We read it and write down what it says, with a link to the document on every fact.

The pages people use most

  • Westminster planning: from 10 August the Oxford Street Development Corporation, not the council, decides planning applications on Oxford Street, and the new City Plan consultation is open until 11 December.
  • Westminster house prices: the borough average fell 22.8% in a year, but the typical sale was £805,000 and 86% of them were flats. Postcode by postcode.
  • Roadworks and travel: what is dug up now, the carnival closures, the £18 congestion charge and what an hour of parking costs in each of the seven zones.
  • Tube and train times: £3.10 a trip in Zone 1, £8.90 a day, and journey times from Maida Vale, Pimlico and Paddington.
  • Things to do in Westminster: verified prices, including the Abbey at £27.13 until 1 September and three of the best things here for nothing.

More in Local Info, News and What’s On.

Every fact is linked to the official source it came from.