London

London landlords are selling up their buy-to-let properties at record rates as anticipated tax hikes from the U.K. Labour government add further pressure to the once lucrative investment sector.

Almost one-third (29%) of homes currently for sale in the capital were previously rented out, data published on Thursday by property portal Rightmove showed.

The spike mirrors a wider uptick in rental property sales across the U.K., where 18% of all nationwide listings were previously tenanted, according to Rightmove.

Rightmove said it was not yet clear that the figures pointed to a "mass exodus" by landlords, but rather to a gradual decline in the appeal of the buy-to-let sector. The previous five-year average of former rental listings for sale was 14%, while the proportion of ex-rental properties on the market in 2010 was 8%, Rightmove said.

It highlighted that it expected tax hikes in Finance Minister Rachel Reeve's forthcoming Oct. 30 Autumn Statement — including a possible increase in Capital Gains Tax (CGT) — to become a "potential driver" of the increased sales.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17062102

An explosion near the O2 Arena which sparked bomb fears was staged by a convicted child abuser for a bizarre film stunt, it has been claimed.

Dozens of calls to 999 were made after a fireball blast at a construction yard across the river from the East London venue sent smoke billowing into the sky and was heard from miles away on Saturday.

People nearby said it sounded like a ‘bomb going off’ or an ‘earthquake’, and those looking from a distance could see vehicles and a shipping container on fire.

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A video shared on social media suggests sex offender Jacky Jhaj, 38, was heavily involved in the shoot.

He was jailed for four years for sexual activity with two 15-year-old girls he groomed while posing as a film producer.

The footage appears to show him completely naked walking in front of a lorry trailer bearing BBC branding and a prop police van, which suddenly explodes.

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It’s thought the fire got out of control, forcing the crew to call emergency services.

Jhaj had hired the crew under the name ‘Toby’, wearing a prosthetic ‘villain mask’ on set which concealed his identity, according to a MailOnline report.

One of the cast was said to have recognised him when he removed his mask, prompting the crew to pull out.

In addition to being pictured in media reports of his conviction, Jhaj has repeatedly made headlines since his release for staging bizarre scenes which put him in close contact with children.

In November last year, some 200 children and young women were reportedly hired to play fans at a fake film premiere in London’s Leicester Square where Jhaj appeared on a red carpet to greet them.

In April it emerged he was behind a £10,000 fake funeral at a west London church and used a well-known casting website to hire child actors to play some of the mourners.

Although the funeral was staged, it was held in the name of a real drowning victim and the presiding priest was led to believe it was real – only halting proceedings after realising it was being filmed mid-way through.

This is a really disturbing story. Baby Elsa is one of three full siblings who were all abandoned shortly after birth in a time span from 2017 to 2023.

So I finally got to ride one and wow they can really go. My favourite feature is probably the worst feature and that's that you can leave them anywhere. However what I didn't realise until actually riding one, is that the app asks you to take a picture of where and how you parked the bike when you're finished and then potentially punishes people who don't park the bikes properly. They can clearly enforce that more. But now I'm of the opinion that the local councils need to provide more bike parking. One or two parking spots at the end of every road would be enough. Being someone that lives in a hilly area, I don't really bother with bikes, but with the electric motors on the Lime bikes, I would ride everywhere and happily switch from Ubers if they were officially operating in my borough. Anyway, they're really really fun and I'm really looking forward to them redressing the balance of cars in London. For short journeys, they're perfect and the more people that access them, the fitter the city will be.

A treasure trove of prints signed by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali which had been "tucked away and forgotten" for 50 years have been found in a garage.

The lithographs cost £500 when they were bought in the 1970s and could now fetch around £5,000 when they are put up for auction.

The haul, which also includes five lithographs by French painter, engraver, illustrator and sculptor Theo Tobiasse, was discovered at a home in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, during a clear out.

Antiques expert Chris Kirkham, who is associate director of London's Hansons Richmond auction house, called the find "amazing" and "surreal".

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16650231

Ahead of AEW All In in London, several fans noticed that local advertisements had also circled the city of London as the destination for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025. This was later confirmed to be the case on the All In pre-show, with a commercial outlining August 24 as the date for the next year's Forbidden Door pay-per-view, and London as the host location.

The specific venue from which Forbidden Door 2025 will emanate was not disclosed, although a few possibilities have emerged. Such possibilities include the O2 Arena, Wembley Arena, and Craven Cottage, home to the Fulham Football Club. The latter building is notably owned by Shahid Khan, the father of AEW President Tony Khan. Ahead of All In, several AEW representatives, including Tony Khan, made a visit to Craven Cottage for Fulham's game against Leicester City.

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With London hosting Forbidden Door next year, the All In pay-per-view series will be momentarily moving away from the United Kingdom and to the city of Arlington, Texas on July 12, 2025. AEW All In 2026 will then return to London.

Londoners have been told to not scan QR codes on the growing number of stickers advertising illicit cannabis websites.

Police are wary of the growing number of ads springing up on lamp posts, bus stops and in toilets around the capital which advertise the drug and its delivery.

Inspector Kerry Goodwin, of City of London Police, said that the ads had been found in Soho and around the Leicester Square area, reports My London.

"Investigations are on-going and we’re working with the City of London Corporation to get the stickers removed as soon as we become aware of them,” he said.

“We'd urge members of the public to alert police if they see any of these stickers and to not scan the QR code."

Scanning the codes is said to send the user onto a website where it appears that cannabis can be bought and delivered.

The sites are also said to advertise CBD and other associated products, such as oils and edibles, with a number of made-up reviews attached to give the essence of authenticity.

A spokesperson for the Met said: "We do not believe cannabis, in any form, is benign."

A World War Two wreck in the Thames estuary is a ticking time bomb, an expert has warned, as it has not been dealt with 80 years after the vessel first sunk.

The SS Richard Montgomery was carrying 7,000 tonnes of explosives and weapons when it grounded on the sandbank close to the Isle of Grain in August 1944.

A rescue effort took place to try and unload the ship’s cargo but a crack appeared in its hull and only half of the explosives were salvaged.

Professor David Alexander of University College London told the Standard the ship remains a “serious threat” and in a worse case scenario it could explode creating a five-metre tsunami up the Thames.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16468336

Londoners spotted this ship on the Thames near Tower Bridge, playing the iconic Imperial March theme from the Star Wars trilogies, otherwise recognisable as the Darth Vader music.

But it wasn’t coming from a galaxy far, far away - it was a German Navy ship, in London for training and a supply stop.

A spokesperson from the German Navy told the BBC the music had "no deeper message" and "the commander can choose the music freely".

World-famous graffiti artist Banksy has concluded his animal trail, after nine days of pop-up artworks dotted around the capital ended with a piece on the shutters of London Zoo.

Although all the surprise pieces have now been unveiled, speculation over the inspiration behind them persists. What do they mean, and how have they been received by the art and graffiti worlds?

Banksy's final piece, outside London Zoo in Camden, north London, shows a gorilla lifting the shutter to release a sea lion and birds, while other animals appear to look on from the inside.

Baby beavers have been born in urban London for the first time in more than 400 years, a conservation project said.

A big cat by Banksy appeared briefly, -stretching in the morning sun, on a bare advertising hoarding on Edgware Road in Cricklewood, north-west London, on Saturday. A few hours later it had gone, removed by contractors who feared it would be ripped down.

The anonymous artist known as Banksy, who confirmed the image was his at lunchtime on Saturday, also promised a little more summer fun to come.

A seventh image may shortly materialise in another surprising location, the Observer has learned. London residents should then keep their eyes peeled, a spokesperson suggested, for a few days longer.

For a week now, the streets of the capital have been ­populated by a string of unusual animal ­sightings, courtesy of Banksy, ­including ­pelicans, a goat and a trio of monkeys.

The artist’s vision is ­simple: the latest street art has been designed to cheer up the public ­during a period when the news headlines have been bleak, and light has often been harder to spot than shade.

Banksy’s hope, it is understood, is that the uplifting works cheer ­people with a moment of unexpected ­amusement, as well as to ­gently underline the human capacity for ­creative play, rather than for destruction and negativity.

Some recent theorising about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved, Banksy’s support organisation, Pest Control Office, has indicated.