South West Londoner

Men’s Mental Health Month sheds light on the work of charities such as The Proper Blokes Club, a London based project helping to combat the stigma on men talking about their feelings.

Founded in 2020, the Proper Blokes Club is a walk and talk community group project where men can openly discuss their feelings in a safe, non-judgemental environment.

Originally founded by Scott Oughton-Johnson, after struggling with his own mental health during lock-down, the project now has hundreds of men headed out on their weekly walks across London.

Four Streatham RedHawks players took on two competitive eaters on one chaotic night at Dough Daddy, where things got a little messy and very cheesy.

Who doesn’t love pizza? Yet while most people stop at a few slices, some take it to a whole new level.

These are the competitive eaters, food fanatics who can devour enormous portions at lightning speed and make it look easy. Pizzas, burgers, hot dogs. Even doughnuts.

Streatham Ice Hockey Club have started their NIHL South 1 campaign and are looking to reclaim the league title.

The London-based club previously won the league in four consecutive seasons, but finished in second last year, one point behind Slough Jets.

In addition to the league, the Redhawks participate in the League Cup and Challenge Cup, with opportunities to qualify for the South Playoffs and the National Championship later in the season.

After spending more than 15 years working for big names in the spirits industry, including Moet Hennessy and Pernod Ricard, Yves Cosentino decided to launch his own coffee liqueur brand: Algebra.

In his lab located in Streatham, the entrepreneur produces coffee liqueur which is then sold to bars and restaurants, in London and the UK as well as in a couple of European countries.

Entrepreneurship has been a steep learning curve.

Cosentino said: “You make a ton of mistakes initially, and you think, this is absolutely crazy, why did I ever start?

Tooting residents staged a public demonstration on Saturday 3 May to protest Transport for London’s (TfL) operational changes to the G1 bus service.

TfL’s changes mean reduced daytime frequencies on the route, where buses will now run every 20 minutes instead of every 15 minutes until 7pm Monday to Saturday.

Residents gathered on Clairview Road in Tooting to share their concerns about reductions to the popular service, which runs between Streatham and Clapham Junction via places including St George’s Hospital and Furzedown.

A gymnastics coach from Streatham has earned national acclaim for ensuring everyone has equal access to the sport.

Aisha Walters is up for both the Transforming Lives through Gymnastics and Learning and Development prizes at the British Gymnastics Awards 2025, in honour of her tireless efforts in using gymnastics to change lives.

And after seeing her name on the final shortlist, Walters – who represents Benchmark Gymnastics Club – insists seeing the positive effects of gymnastics on lives is reward enough.

The total number of food parcels distributed across London have more than tripled in the last seven years, data produced by food bank charity, The Trussell Trust has revealed.

End of year data released by the Trust shows that there has been a 231% increase in food parcels distributed by Trussell network food banks across the city since 2017.

In the last full financial year (2023-2024), the Trust provided nearly half a million emergency food parcels across London, with a record 162,418 of these parcels given to children alone.

Residents of Streatham described the not-guilty verdict rendered to the officer who shot Chris Kaba as a “travesty of justice”, while others argued new information on Kaba’s gang affiliation changed their view.

Metropolitan Police firearms officer Martyn Blake, 40, was acquitted of the murder of Kaba, who was shot dead in his car in Streatham two years ago, on October 21 – a verdict which generated mixed reactions among the district’s residents.

The Green Party candidate for Streatham and Croydon North suggested that both locally and nationally, the Labour party avoids honest dialogue with the public on matters such as Gaza.

The safe Labour seats in Lambeth of Streatham and Croydon North, Clapham and Brixton Hill, Dulwich and West Norwood, and Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, all re-elected their Labour MPs with a large majority.

Parents in Streatham Vale are campaigning to save their local nursery after it closed its doors in March citing a budget shortfall.

Sprig Ludens Nursery, Streatham Vale, had previously served a relatively deprived area, and had been praised for the quality of its outdoor space.

Parents criticised nursery operator the Streatham Youth & Community Trust (SYTC) for what they see as the poor way it handled the closure.