London's escalatoriest stations an FoI request last week which revealed all. We learnt that 89 stations maintained by London Underground have escalators, and we learned how many there are at each. Here's the Top 10. 1) BANK/MONUMENT (35 escalators) Also a lot of them are recent, like these escalators which were added during the expansion works related to the new Cannon Street entrance. They're numbered 29, 30 and 31, which just goes to show how many escalators there are. The FoI request only gives a total but if you go round with a pen and paper, or if you know where to look online, you can work out where they all go. 1-3: Bank junction to Central line 4-5: District line to Northern line 6-7: Lombard Street entrance 8-9: Northern line, north end 10-11: DLR west end (1991) 12-13: DLR east end (1991) 14-15: District line to DLR (1991) 16-19: Walbrook entrance to W&C (2018) 20-22: Northern line to DLR (2022) 23-25: Central line to Northern line (2022) 26-31: Cannon Street entrance to Northern line (2023) There were only 9 escalators in the good old days of the Bank/Monument 'escalator connection', as depicted on tube maps. Then the DLR came along upping the total to 15 and the most recent expansion more than doubled that to 31. 2) WATERLOO (26 escalators) There were 14 before the Jubilee line arrived in 1999 and that added another 10. Except that's not 26, we're two short. Again the discrepancy can be bridged by adding in the two travelators, convincing me that the TfL FoI operative has indeed included them too. It just goes to show that no matter how carefully you phrase an FoI request it can always be misinterpreted, or data can simply be churned out of a spreadsheet without it being what you wanted. Alas in this case it does matter because the third-placed station has 24 escalators too. 3) LIVERPOOL STREET (24 escalators) I think the top 3 really ought to go like this... 1) BANK/MONUMENT (31 escalators) 2=) WATERLOO (24 escalators) 2=) LIVERPOOL STREET/MOORGATE (24 escalators) And on we go. 4=) Canary Wharf [Jubilee] (20 escalators) 4=) Tottenham Court Road (20 escalators) 6=) Bond Street (19 escalators) 6=) King's Cross St Pancras (19 escalators) 8=) Canary Wharf [Elizabeth] (17 escalators) 8=) Westminster (17 escalators) 8=) London Bridge (17 escalators) Canary Wharf has a double labyrinth of escalators, 20 at the Jubilee line station and 17 more for Crossrail. It would take top place with 37 escalators if these stations were linked but they're not so it doesn't. Of the seven stations in this list three stations are served by the Elizabeth line and four by the Jubilee line, because newer lines tend to have a lot more escalators than older lines. For Top 10 purposes it's a shame that so many of these are joint placings. No station has 9 escalators, but every other number from 1 to 10 is present. (OK, actually the most common number of escalators is 0 - there are almost 200 of those) wooden escalator on the Underground, but in 2014 they removed that, replaced it with an incline lift and added a new non-wooden escalator. It remains London's least escalatory station. But this escalator is no longer there. Further escalator FoI facts The least used station with escalators: Wanstead The most used station without escalators: Finsbury Park The only zone 6 station with escalators: Heathrow Terminal 2,3 The number of escalators beyond zone 3: 12

Officially the best If you're not following Time Out's newsfeed I worry that you may not be up to date with London's official best things. I am therefore delighted to bring you this list of official bests, as churned out by Time Out's social media editors with deadlines to meet and quotas to fill. This is just April's output, so far. • Officially the nearest unspoilt village to London is Hambleden, Bucks, according to the Daily Telegraph. • Officially Bromley-by-Bow West is London's 9th most-gentrified neighbourhood, according to consultants WPI Economics. • Officially London is the second-greenest city in the world, according to AI company Freepik. • Officially London's best museum café is at the V&A, according to the Guardian. • Officially London's best Mexican restaurant is Cavita in Marylebone, according to travel journalist Daniela Toporek. • Officially the EN5 postcode district is the most expensive outside Central London, according to property broker Jefferies James. • Officially London is the best city in Europe for live music in 2025, according to travel booking site Omio. • Officially London Heathrow is the world's 6th best airport, according to Skytrax. • Officially London is the world's 6th wealthiest city, according to wealth migration firm Henley & Partners. • Officially the world’s 5th most beautiful airport landing is into London City Airport, according to travel insurance provider AllClear. • Officially London is the world's 4th most expensive city, according to wealth migration firm Henley & Partners. • Officially the cheapest five-star hotel near London is The Roseate in Reading, according to Which. • Officially London's most-pinned bar is Lyaness at the Sea Containers Hotel, according to the Pinnacle Guide. • Officially London's best rooftop bar is Forza Wine at the National Theatre, according to Time Out. • Officially Bond Street is Europe's most expensive retail destination, according to Savills. • Officially the City of London's best pubs are Goldwood, Lamb Tavern and The Wren Tavern, according to the National Pub & Bar Awards. • Officially London's least posh borough is Barking and Dagenham, according to property brokerage Jefferies James. • Officially London's best new hotels are The Emory and the Mandarin Oriental, according to Travel + Leisure. • Officially London's best station pubs are The Parcel Yard and the Pelt Trader, according to the Telegraph. • Officially the fastest place in England and Wales to sell a house right now is Waltham Forest, according to Zoopla. • Officially the world’s 10th best low-cost airline terminal is London Luton, according to Skytrax. • Officially the best private prep school near London is Cottesmore School near Crawley, according to Carfax Education. • Officially London is the world's 18th most walkable city, according to Time Out. • Officially the London airport with the worst delays is Gatwick, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. • Officially the three best London commuter towns are Roydon, Watford and Epsom, according to the Daily Telegraph. • Officially London's best fish and chip shop is Brockley’s Rock in Brockley, according to the National Fish and Chip Awards. • Officially London's journalists with the greatest inability to do their own research write for Time Out, according to Time Out.

ACROSS             DOWN

45 45 Squared 14) WALLINGTON SQUARE, SM6 Borough of Sutton, 130m Wallington, a town halfway between Sutton and Croydon which once had its own town hall. Today's square lies just across the road, bang opposite David Weir's gold postbox, and has changed a fair bit over the years. As streets go it isn't square and you can't ride anything down it but you can buy brogues, blinds, binbags and beard trimmers so that's a bonus. The owners insist on calling it The Square for branding reasons, but officially it's Wallington Square and it's the town's chief shopping precinct. all this was lavender fields, the only buildings to the south of the station being a row of eight houses called Rose Mount on this very site. These survived into the 1970s as the town centre grew around them, at which point Sutton Council decided a shopping mall needed to be squeezed in somewhere and knocked them all down. A typical linear precinct emerged, at its heart a few trees and some benches plus a set of stairs up to an elevated car park for the convenience of local residents. The name Rosemount lives on only as the name of a tower block bolted on at the rear. 33 flats with swanky balconies. And perhaps most noticeably a stretched fabric roof was added, all white and billowy, to create an all-weather space along the entire length of the precinct. I'd say it looks gloomier now but it does also allow patrons of the Cox Pippin Cafe to spill onto outside tables and gossip over a cuppa, and they do. North side: Boots, Schroder Jewellers, Clarks, Nadri, Superdrug, Little Street, Bargain Buys, Peacocks Clarks have been here for ages whereas Nadri only started boxing up bulgogi beef and other Korean food in 2023. Little Street is a themed play centre, like a low-key version of Westfield's Kidzania except much cheaper and they haven't gone bust yet. Bargain Buys and Peacocks fill the larger units in a very non-aspirational way. South side: Boots, Fresco, Wallington Academy, Wallington DIY & Hardware, Unique Thai Massage, Angel Nails, Sue Ryder, Card Factory, Appearances Salon, Cox Pippin Cafe, Alvina Discount Scores, Sainsburys, (vacant) Fresco is a gelato-friendly cafe, much frothier than the lowlier Cox Pippin. Wallington Academy offers tution for parents who take a dim view of their kids' teachers. The hardware store is packed with boxed electricals and tat which may one day end up on Sue Ryder's shelves. Alvina is targeting the pound-plus audience, its door shielded behind a wall of plastic containers. Definition: Budget Quotient Alternative Sutton Squares I almost wrote about 45 45 Squared 14a) STANLEY SQUARE, SM5 Borough of Sutton, 90m×30m tucked away in Carshalton-on-the-Hill and forms a bridge between the interwar semis to the west and the rustic avenues to the east. Its footprint resembles a buckle on a belt, with houses packed around the outside and a lush rectangle of grass in the centre. Its trees appear to have been selected for their blossom potential and are in the process of covering the carpet of dandelions and daisies with a torrent of pink and white petals. The central tree was planted by the square's residents for the Platinum Jubilee so doesn't yet contribute to the drop. lavender is still a main crop, and if you want a date for your diary you can drop in and pick it on the last weekend in July. The S4 bus passes through, hugely incongruously, amid one of its Hail and Ride sections. Stanley Square feels charming but also very odd so I was convinced it would have a fascinating backstory but it didn't, and that's why you're not reading any more about it. 45 45 Squared 14b) MOLLISON SQUARE, SM6 Borough of Sutton, 90m×30m Roundshaw estate is inherently fascinating, having originally been the airfield for London's first international airport at Croydon. Its streets are named after planes and pilots of which Mollison is one of the latter, an aviation record setter in the 1930s. Jim's probably best known for being the husband of aviation record setter Amy, although she reverted to her maiden name of Johnson after they divorced in 1938 so everyone now knows her name. Mollison Square is the estate's notional heart and curls round the estate's focal place of worship, St Paul's, which may be the only UK church whose cross was made from an aircraft propeller. 45 45 Squared 14c) THE SQUARE, SM5 Borough of Sutton, 150m four. It's just round the back of Carshalton High Street, doesn't look square and didn't seem to have a history, only some nice houses and a car park, so I didn't even bother going. Such are the editorial choices that led me to select one Square over another.

Hurrah it's a Bank Holiday Monday today. n.b. I'm now going to explore whether this is true, Bank Holiday Mondays are the touchpoints of the English spring and summer, a key time to get out and explore, to hit the beach or the DIY store, a stately home or a garden centre, deep countryside or a festival, perhaps even fire up the BBQ. It's just a shame that the weather doesn't always deliver and that they're not better spaced. March/AprilMayJuneJulyAugust Easter MondayEarly May Late Spring--Late Summer That's the day after Easter Sunday, the first and last Mondays in May and the last Monday in August. This year the dates are as follows. March/AprilMayJuneJulyAugust Mon 21 AprilMon 5 May Mon 26 May--Mon 25 August Easter  Monday 2  weeks  Early  May3  weeks Late  Spring 13  weeks Late  Summer  One week and six week gaps are rare. A quick summary of Bank Holiday Monday gaps... Easter  Monday 1-6  weeks  Early  May3-4  weeks Late  Spring 13-14  weeks Late  Summer  Christmas DayChristmas holidayBoxing Day holidayNew Year holiday MondayMondayTuesdayMonday TuesdayTuesdayWednesdayTuesday WednesdayWednesdayThursdayWednesday ThursdayThursdayFridayThursday FridayFridayMondayFriday SaturdayMondayTuesdayMonday SundayMondayTuesdayMonday Late   Summer  34   weeks    Easter   Monday Late Summer  bank holiday  Christmas  DayEaster  Monday  gap between  BH Mondays 27 AugustTuesday22 April34 weeks 26 AugustWednesday21 April34 weeks 25 AugustThursday20 April34 weeks Late Summer  bank holiday  Christmas  DayEaster  Monday  gap between  BH Mondays 27 AugustTuesday21 April34 weeks 26 AugustWednesday20 April34 weeks 25 AugustThursday26 April35 weeks I did say I'd prove it wasn't true, A 35 week gap requires the latest possible Easter Monday. exceptionally rare. 1666 1734 1886 1943 2038 2190 2258 2326 2410 2573 2630 2782 2877 2945 3002 3097 3154 3249 3306 3469 3537 3621 3784 3841 3993 I told you they were rare. But for a 35 week gap it also has to be a leap year, and there are vanishingly few leap years in that list. Unbelievably there are only two - 1666 and 3784. All the other years, including all the other even numbers, don't divide exactly by four. But there were no Bank Holidays in 1666, the concept hadn't been invented. And by the time 3784 comes round the current system of Bank Holidays won't exist either. (nor indeed banks, nor probably holidays, nor possibly England). So although a 35 week gap between Bank Holiday Mondays is technically possible, in practice it never ever happens. So hurrah it's a Bank Holiday Monday today, and about time too, because it's been 34 weeks since the last Bank Holiday Monday, and that really is the longest possible gap.