Changelog

Cheap and free swimming is one of London's real joys. The new guide gathers the Hampstead ponds, the great lidos (Parliament Hill, London Fields, Tooting Bec, Brockwell, Charlton) and the Serpentine in one place — when each is open, roughly what it costs, and how to get there — and is honest that the tidal Thames is not for swimming.

London makes its own heat — the city passed 40°C for the first time in July 2022, and it holds warmth worst of all overnight. The new tool reads the hourly heat and air forecast together, names the easier windows, and says plainly when no hour is a good one — pointing first at the official Heat-Health Alert and NHS advice.

Today's air quality in central London in plain language, updated hourly, with pollen in season — the pollution the ULEZ is meant to cut, and who should take more care on a bad day.

Type your postcode to find which borough you're in and this year's council tax for your band — then see how it compares across every London council, from Wandsworth (the cheapest) to Kingston (the dearest). Your postcode is used once to find your council and never stored.

London's first tools are up: a live Tube, DLR, Elizabeth line, Overground and Tram status board, a calculator for what it costs to drive into the city (ULEZ plus the Congestion Charge), and Environment Agency flood warnings for the Thames. London runs across 33 councils, so these all-London tools come first; borough-level tools (bins, council tax, schools) come next.