Bonsai Treehouses Exhibition in Oxford Square
Have you ever found yourself wanting to build a tree house, but being a little short of space? Then this exhibition is for you! More than 25 leading architectural practices have built tiny treehouses for bonsai trees, and now you can see them in Connaught village. This summer (4th July – 31st August) the Museum of Architecture is holding an exhibition of Bonsai Treehouses in Oxford Square. First entry is at 9am and last entry at 6pm. And advanced booking is strongly recommended. The installation explores architecture in miniature, celebrating craftsmanship, imagination, and the relationship between built form and…
Free walking tours throughout the summer
Throughout July and August there’s a series of free character-led walking tours around Marble Arch, given by “John Nash”. John was the favoured architect of the Prince Regent, later George IV and designed this iconic landmark nearly 200 years ago, in 1827. Led in character, the immersive tours uncover the rich and often surprising history of this corner of London, from royal processions to protest movements, all through John’s eyes. The tours are every Tuesday and are run by Marble Arch BID – in partnership with The Portman Estate. The one-hour walks take in key historic sites including…
Join Hyde Park Estate’s first play street this Friday!
Do you remember your childhood days when you could play in the street? Well there is the chance to bring those memories back to life in a fun street play session this Friday 10th July 3:30pm-6:30pm on Hyde Park Crescent W2 2QD (outside St John’s Church). Thanks to an organising team led by local residents, Active Westminster has granted a one-off temporary traffic restriction order just for the purpose of play. Bring your children or just yourself, and hopscotch your way into summer. All games and toys are welcome, so please bring along balls, skipping ropes, scooters and…
Meet our new councillors and Have Your Say
HyPER members are invited to a “town hall” meeting with our newly elected councillors for the Hyde Park Estate: Md Shamsed Chowdhury, Greg Ero and Elliot Keck on Thursday 18th June at St John’s Church Hall, Hyde Park Crescent. We will begin the meeting with each councillor giving an introduction and laying out their vision and plans for the Hyde Park Estate. This will be followed by a fast-paced Q&A session with questions from attendees. It’s very early days, with the new Westminster Council administration still taking shape, but HyPER and our new Hyde Park Estate councillors want…
Next phased launched for St Mary’s consultation
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has launched the second phase of public consultation on their emerging proposals to redevelop St Mary’s Hospital. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a new, modern hospital for the needs of patients, local communities and staff, and also allows the wider regeneration of the site. Following the first phase of public consultation earlier this year, the team has been reviewing feedback and developing the proposals further. More details are now being shared including emerging designs for the new hospital and a wider masterplan. The second phase of consultation runs for six weeks,…
Shakespeare returns to Connaught Square
Shakespeare in the Squares returns to the Hyde Park Estate this year. The team will celebrate their tenth anniversary with a new production of Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy of flirtation, foolishness and the irresistible pull of love. The production will be directed by Toby Gordon and as with previous years will be held in Connaught Square. The show takes place on Wednesday 17th June with tickets available from the Shakespeare in the Squares website. Please check in at the box office desk on arrival even if you are a local resident. The performance will begin promptly…
Hyde Park Ward Safer Neighbourhood Team Event
The police Safer Neighbourhood Team for Hyde Park Ward is holding a Crime Prevention Day on Thursday 25th June from 11am to 3pm. The event will take place at 5 Merchant Square (Paddington Basin) and will include:
Community Consultation on the Transformation of St Mary’s Paddington
HyPER has been taking part in the consultation by St Mary’s Paddington about the transformation of the hospital over the next ten years. At the two-hour workshop about the design of the transformed hospital, we were represented by Chris Gunness. The session, about the patient experience and accessibility, focused on the various spaces inside the new thirty-floor facility – reception areas, waiting spaces, eating facilities, wards, treatment areas and outside spaces, to name but some. The session included local residents as well as patients. Future consultations will engage hospital staff as well as other key stakeholders, such as…
Answers to Local Elections Questions 2026
This year’s local elections take place on Thursday 7th May. This looks set to be a busy ballot paper, unusually with a full 3 candidates standing for the Green Party and Reform, in addition to the normal representation from The Conservatives, Labour and The Liberal Democrats. On this page we outline the candidates for Hyde Park Ward, and provide their responses to the HyPER questions that were assimilated from those submitted by HyPER members. We asked the candidates to provide a photograph and biography of themselves, which we have included below where received. We have listed the parties…
Questions from Hyde Park Estate residents for local councillor candidates
With local elections approaching on Thursday 7th May, we thought it would be good to sound out the candidates on where they stand on key issues that affect our neighbourhood. This looks set to be a busy ballot paper, unusually with a full 3 candidates standing for the Green Party and Reform, in addition to the normal representation from The Conservatives, Labour and The Liberal Democrats. We asked HyPER members for the topics or questions that they would like to be addressed. From all the responses, we picked the main issues and whittled the questions down to 4…
St Mary’s Hospital – Hospital design workshops
St Mary’s Hospital is running a couple of public-facing workshops that will focus on the design of a new St Mary’s. These workshops will be more focused on the patient experience and access considerations around the new hospital and how it will feel for patients and visitors to navigate. They will not include the external design of the hospital, which more will be provided on in the next round of public consultation expected to launch in June. Anyone interested in these initial patient experience workshops can sign up at this link. There will be a morning and afternoon…
Licensing Application from McDonald’s Edgware Road
The owners of the McDonald’s franchise on Edgware Road have submitted a renewed application to operate 24/7. A previous application was widely opposed previously and was rejected. Individual submissions can be made on the council’s website. The last date for representations to be received is 22nd April 2026.
Praed Street Public Art Programme
As part of the High-Streets Paddington-Bayswater programme Westminster Council is developing a series of public art commissions for Praed Street, working with a public art agency. The first commission being taken forward is to select one artist to deliver two 2D mural artworks on Praed Street. An artist Open call for Submissions has been published. A jury panel has been assembled, including a representative from HyPER, who will work with Westminster Council and the agency LACUNA to shortlist and select the winning artists. The purpose of the jury is to: The first jury panel will take place in…
Visitor Information Kiosk in Hyde Park- Volunteers Wanted
The Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens need friendly volunteers for their summer visitor information kiosk at Hyde Park Corner. The season runs from April to mid-October and the main role is helping visitors navigate and enjoy the park. Almost 25,000 visitors were helped last year. The kiosk operates Monday to Friday with two shifts each day (10 am – 1 pm and 1 pm – 4 pm), with volunteers working in pairs. Whether you want to help on a regular basis (once a week, once a fortnight) or just fill in for the odd shift, there…
A40 Westway closed from this Friday
A planned closure of the A40 Westway commences this Friday 20th, to enable vital safety and maintenance work to take place. The closure will be from the Westway Roundabout in North Kensington up to (and including) the Marylebone flyover. Marylebone Road itself will be open. The closure will last until late April. The critical safety work will replace structural joints between the Westway and Marylebone flyovers, which have reached the end of their serviceable life. TfL and partners have been carrying out renewal works for a number of years. This next phase of work involves replacing two joints on the…
Bayswater Road cycle lane proposals
Westminster Council has released plans to upgrade the cycle lanes on Bayswater Road between Lancaster Gate and Notting Hill. The proposals include the addition of protected cycle lanes (replacing the existing painted cycle lanes) as well as upgraded pedestrian crossings. Have you say on the consultation website (closes Wed 4th February).
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