Introducing Street Talks

In 18th century London men of distinction had a favourite coffee house which the leaders of their industry would frequent to take refreshment, get the latest news, share gossip, make contacts and formulate the sort of policy that went on to give birth to behemoths of business like Lloyds of London.


Not much has changed, and indeed London still has it's favourite haunts where the great and good of certain schools of thought gather.  Those of us who care about the state of our city, the way in which we move around it, how sustainable and liveable (or not) it is becoming, conditions for cyclists, or maybe just a passing interest in why the Central Line is always so god damn busy are about to be blessed with a 'coffee house' of our very own.

Street Talks has been set up by a group of people who keep a keen eye on transport and the built environment (with a fairly heavy emphasis on walking, cycling and liveability) and aims to provide a forum for people to come together, hear an expert speaker, have a bit of a debate, meet like-minded thinkers and industry professionals and to share a beer or two.  A drink tank, if you'll excuse the pun, or a 'literary salon' for liveability buffs.

There's a spring season of monthly speakers lined up, with the first event on Tuesday the 8th of March upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey pub. 

Tom Barry, all-seeing Mayoral eye and editor of Boriswatch is the first speaker; Tom not only “reads through TfL Board minutes so you don’t have to,” he lives under the flight path at Heathrow and is first to guess when the Piccadilly line might break down and why.. he's kicking things off with a transport-focussed address; "State of the City - the highs and lows of London transport policy 2000 - 2011". 

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Future events feature guest speakers Andrew Cameron, author of the new Manual For Streets, Jim Davis, founder of the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, and Harry Rutter (tbc) director of the National Obesity Observatory amongst others.

Street Talks have their own website and mailing list, and there is a Facebook page to signal that you're coming, too.

I'll be there, tell your friends, bring your beer money and I hope to see you on the 8th!

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