Westminster & district · Local news you can trust
Westminster may end 100% Council Tax Support for 9,437 working-age claimants from April 2027, costing band D homes up to £314 a year. Respond by 12 November.
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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.
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.
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.
Local Info
Westminster Roadworks: Great Portland Street Shut to 16 Oct
Great Portland Street is closed at Oxford Street to 16 October for pedestrianisation works. Northumberland Avenue stays shut southbound to 8 October.
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.
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.
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.
Remembrance
Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph: 8 November, 11am
The National Service of Remembrance is at the Cenotaph on Sunday 8 November 2026 at 11am. No ticket needed to watch; Whitehall opened at 8am last year.
Christmas
Trafalgar Square tree lighting: due Thursday 3 December
Westminster lit the Trafalgar Square tree on the first Thursday of December in 2024 and 2025, at 6pm, free. That points to Thursday 3 December 2026.
Pantomime
London Palladium panto 2026: Cinderella, 5 Dec to 10 Jan
The Palladium panto is Cinderella, 5 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Julian Clary. From £25, no under-4s.
Christmas
Leicester Square Christmas market: opens 31 Oct to 3 Jan
Leicester Square's Christmas market and rink run 31 October 2026 to 3 January 2027, closed Christmas Day. Weekdays open at noon until 26 November.
Transport
Route 6 Will Be the First Bus Run by TfL's Own Company
Route 6, Willesden to Victoria via Maida Vale, Marble Arch and Park Lane, will be the first run by Buses for London, the new TfL-owned company, from late 2027.
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.
More in Local Info, News and What’s On.
Every fact is linked to the official source it came from.