We’re going to be upfront with you and tell you about us. The London Wire didn’t have its origins in some grand boardroom vision or clever media strategy. It began when we were at a pub in Clerkenwell, complaining about the boring news. Every site felt the same. Every story was either watered down to oblivion or so thick you’d need a degree to understand it. We thought that there had to be a better way.
London’s mad, isn’t it? You have billion-pound deals going on in Canary Wharf, and meanwhile, somebody is launching a brilliant little startup three miles away in a warehouse in Peckham. There’s a football game that half the city is fretting about, a gig in Camden that will be historic, and some bloke in Shoreditch has allegedly invented the future. It’s all taking place at the same time, and on most news sites, it’s either ignored or reported as if it were a Wikipedia entry.
We wanted to do something different. Not different just for the sake of being different, but actually useful. The sort of thing you would actually want to read and not just skim because it seems like the news, and you think you should keep up with the news.
Our lot comes from all over the place. There are journalists who’ve been doing this for years, some younger writers who grew up with the internet and actually understand why people care about things, a couple of proper tech nerds, and someone who can’t walk past a new restaurant without having an opinion about it. What we’ve got in common is pretty straightforward: we all think news should be readable. Revolutionary concept, right?
Here’s how we see each bit of what we cover.
Business isn’t just numbers. Yeah, the stock market matters and company results mean something, but what we really want to know is what’s actually happening. Is this company doing something clever or just good at PR? Will this affect jobs? Does this new shop opening mean the area’s changing? That’s the stuff that matters to real people, not just city analysts.
Sports are more than scores. You can get results anywhere. What you can’t always get is the story behind it. Why did that manager make that substitution? What’s the actual situation with that transfer everyone’s talking about? How are fans really feeling about changes at their club? We talk to people, we watch carefully, and we try to tell you something you didn’t already know.
Tech coverage that makes sense. Not everyone wants to read about megabytes and processors. Sometimes you just want to know: Is this thing any good? Should I buy it? What’s it actually like to use? We test stuff properly. We ask awkward questions. If something’s rubbish, we’ll tell you it’s rubbish. If it’s brilliant, we’ll tell you that too. No sitting on the fence.
Celebrity news with a brain. We’re not interested in what someone wore to Waitrose. But if there’s a proper story, like a new film that’s actually interesting, a charity thing that’s making a real difference, or yeah, sometimes a scandal that tells you something about how things work, then we’re into it. London’s full of creative people doing creative things. When it’s worth covering, we cover it properly.
Travel that’s actually helpful. Nobody needs another listicle of “10 Instagram-Worthy Spots.” What you need is honest advice. Is this place worth the money? What’s it really like, not what the brochure says? We write about places we’ve actually been, things we’ve actually done. Sometimes that’s a weekend in Cornwall, sometimes it’s three weeks in Japan. Either way, it’s real experiences, not travel agency copy.
London news that matters to Londoners. The big national stories are everywhere, but what about the stuff that actually affects your day? The planning application that’ll change your area. The transport news that’ll mess up your commute. The council decision that seems small but isn’t. We live here too. We care about the same things you do.
Here’s our promise, and it’s simple: we won’t waste your time. No clickbait headlines that promise the world and give you nothing. No articles stuffed with fluff to hit some word count. No pretending we’re experts on things we’re not. If we get something wrong, we’ll say so and fix it. If we don’t know something yet, we’ll admit that too.
We’re not trying to be the biggest news site or the flashiest. We’re just trying not to be a waste of your time. Every day we show up and attempt to unearth the stories that matter, then tell them in a way that doesn’t feel like homework. That’s the whole thing, really.
We’re still figuring it all out as we go. It takes time to build something good, and we’re learning what works and what doesn’t. But we’re here every day, working to deliver the quality journalism you expect, which isn’t easy. If you’re still reading, thanks for humouring us a little. Stick around, see what you think, and let us know how we’re doing.
That’s The London Wire. Nothing fancy. Just news that doesn’t bore you to tears.