Best of 2024: Our favourite features of the year all about London

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life – and this year’s bumper crop of features, delving into topics from the dominion of the London bus to the unlikely success of a rubber duck shop, go to show it.

We’ve rounded up our favourites from 2024 here, to help you learn something new about the capital.

1. How Uber boats came to rule the river

London was once awhirl with boats, but today there is just one that rules them all: the Uber Boat. Lucy Kenningham boarded the Thames Clipper, cried ahoy and set sail to chat to CEO Sean Collins for this piece – to find out exactly how the river boat business came to be.

2. The politics of Hampstead Heath’s swimming ponds

The ponds of Hampstead Heath are known as a wild swimming utopia, but politics bubble beneath the surface. In this deepdive, Anna Moloney took a look at how the muddy bit of water came to be an unlikely money-spinner, with a run-through of the ponds’ long history.

3. Let’s go for 20m Londoners

London’s housing crisis has been a hot topic within our pages this year, and our Build, Baby, Build campaign has aimed to explore and champion ambitious solutions. In this piece, Sam Bowman explains how allowing millions more people to move to the capital could make Britain as rich as America with a welfare state surpassing that of Denmark or Sweden.

4. The 10 stunning projects held up by the planning system

But enough of future solutions, what about the London that could have been? From rock stars objecting to affordable housing to jumping spiders blocking rollercoasters, Alys Denby rounded up 10 projects that could have transformed London – if pedantic regulations hadn’t have stopped them.

5. The unlikely success of London’s rubber duck empire

Amid a backdrop of struggling UK retail, Anna Moloney noticed an unlikely success story: a chain of rubber duck shops. In this feature she investigates the rise of Duck World.

6. Who’s afraid of the big red bus? Oxford Street

Everyone who has held the office of Mayor of London has shared a simple dream: to pedestrianise Oxford Street. But there’s one recurring problem: buses. In this piece, James Ford explains why the “red wall of metal” has proven such a pest to London’s traffic-free dreams

7. How one startup is revolutionising anal sex

Anal sex are two words you’ll rarely find in a business newspaper, but that sort of squeamishness could be holding the City back. In this feature, Sebastian Shehadi speaks to the founders of Polari Labs about their new anal sex device, and their uphill battle to get funding

8. The meaning behind Banksy’s London animal murals?

A flurry of new Banksy animal murals from Walthamstow to Chelsea had Londoners scratching their chins this summer, wondering just what could it all mean. Andy Blackmore had his answer: a much-needed branding exercise. Read why here.