January 2026
👍 Buying a black cab as a private car
Last year, CabbieBlog had an unusually popular post. The iconic diesel London cab can be bought for anywhere between £1,000 and £20,000, and curiously, the post featuring the pros and cons of owning such a vehicle has, by some margin, become last year’s most read post. With the push to electric, it would seem many are fighting the trend.
🚦 Per-minute billing on rental bikes
Ask a cab driver their biggest complaint about London, and it’s more likely to be cyclists jumping traffic lights. Recently, I read a post by Matt Taylor who outlined the price difference between hiring a Lime bike where you stop at red lights vs. not stopping at red lights. It seems absurd that we can have a hire bike rental system that actively encourages people to jump red lights because of pay-per-minute pricing. These bikes have built-in GPS, so surely the charge should be calculated based on distance.
🇬🇧 Passport to Romford
The London Borough of Havering is starting to resemble an Ealing Studios comedy. Comparing two pieces of junk mail from Romford MP, Andrew Rosindell, shows how, before moving to Reform UK, the Conservative Party has been ditched; his former political party isn’t featured on the latest:
Andrew is convinced that Romford shouldn’t be in Europe, be a part of London, or within the embrace of the political party he’s been a member of since he was 14. He has proposed that “Havering Belongs in Essex – Not Greater London”. Andrew loves to use the coat of arms of the long-defunct Municipal Borough of Romford, so it appears on his flyer. I suspect soon we’ll have Romford passports.
🚓 In the slow lane
London has been ranked as the world’s slowest capital city for travel time, according to new research from TomTom. Ranking only behind Barranquilla in Colombia, where cocaine gang wars and murders are often blamed for hold-ups. TomTom’s data showed that drivers in London now spend on average 35 minutes and 7 seconds for a 6-mile drive, 38 seconds more than last year.
💬 Made an offer I couldn’t accept
I recently received Lalaine’s email from flippa.com, who claim to be the world’s largest M&A Marketplace, who enquired my willingness to sell cabbieblog.com, claiming to have looked into my niche and traffic ranking, and I have buyers in mind. As it was pointed out to me by a fellow blogger, it could be a scam: by acquiring my domain name and accessing my bank details.
📅 January’s posts and pages
Most read post – 10 things Londoners never do
Most read page – About
📈 Last month’s statistics
3,593 views (+94.5%)
3,179 visitors (+118.9%)
34 likes (-19.0%)
38 comments (+8.6%)
15 posts (±00.0%)
On 1 February 1952 the first TV detector van was demonstrated to Postmaster-General Lord De La Warr at Post Office Laboratories, Dollis Hill
The building of Holloway Prison was completed in 1852 at the grand cost of £91,547 10s 8d, there were 436 cells, 283 for males, 60 for females, 62 for juveniles, 18 refractory cells and 14 reception cells
London used to be the largest and most influential city in the world. With a population of 12 million, it is still the world’s largest financial centre and Europe’s largest city
The world’s first underground public lavatory opened in 1855 under the pavement next to the Bank of England
The Prime Minister who created the most peers was Tony Blair at 357. The second-most created was 201 by Margaret Thatcher
19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle and his wife chose to live in Chelsea because it was ‘at once cheap and excellent’
On 1 February 1814 the last Thames Frost Fair commenced lasting 4 days, the ice supported an elephant led across under Blackfriars Bridge
The Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace is the oldest functioning sports building in England and still used regularly
Angel has the Underground’s longest escalator at 60m/197ft with a vertical rise of 27.5m its shortest is Stratford a vertical rise of 4.1m
The largest ox sold in England was from the Isle of Dogs. It weighed 236 stone and was sold at Leadenhall Market in 1720 for 100 guineas
Every 3 years a quill pen in the hand of Historian John Stow’s effigy is replaced at a ceremony in St Andrew Undershaft Church
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