journalist & writer
By Sara Valle (ARCHIVE from April 2023) As Sadiq Khan expands the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone and Islington Council installs Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in the area, residents wonder if their health is being considered too. Reporting in Blackstock Road to find out more. https://youtu.be/I-IkKx4x5o4
By Sara Valle It’s a Friday evening and people crowd in front of Islington Town Hall’s majestic neoclassical building. Clouds gather in the sky and confetti piles on the few steps that lead up to the main entrance. Someone has just gotten hitched – their colourful gowns look brighter than the white blanket that’s the …
By Sara Valle (ARCHIVE: 2022 audio package) Visits to Goodinge community kitchen in Islington have spiked during the last few months. Basic grocery products and energy prices have gone up because of the inflation rate being at 11.1%, the highest in the last forty years. The cuts and tax raises announced in Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn …
Continue reading "Audio package: Islington community kitchen"
by Sara Valle London is a metropolitan city with over nine million inhabitants roaming its streets, taking red double-decker buses, and pushing and fighting to get a seat in the Central Line at rush hour. If you step outside you realise a few things right away. First, the city is a melting pot – a …
Continue reading "Pollution in London: Will Sadiq’s plans make a difference?"
Text, photos, and infographics by Sara Valle If you’ve ever thought about buying in bulk, you might’ve been put off because of the inconvenience of having to carry empty containers to the shops or the high prices of organic food. But there are ways to make bulk shopping cheaper - while helping the environment at the …
By Sara Scheeres and Sara Valle. Photos by Sara Scheeres When you walk into the Sylvanian Families store in Finsbury Park, it feels like a coming-of-age film, right when you get to the scene where there's a flashback to the main character’s childhood. Everything has a sepia filter and when the protagonist looks down, they realise …
Continue reading "Sweet goodbye to nostalgia: Sylvanian Families store closes in Finsbury Park"
By Gülsüm Bölük, Fatou Coulibaly, Sam Sorabjee, and Sara Valle Nag’s Head business owners in Holloway feel disconnected from the upcoming community Christmas event to be held this weekend. Islington Council announced yesterday that a Festive Lights Event will take place in Nag’s Head Marketon Saturday, November 19, with Islington’s Mayor, Marian Spall, switching on the Christmas lights. …
Continue reading "Festive spirit lacking before Saturday’s Christmas event"
By Sara Valle, Lauren Spencer and Gabriela Yorgova Breweries might have to serve warm beer amid blackout warnings from the National Grid’s chief executive, and Holloway hospitality businesses are worried they might have to close down. John Pettigrew said earlier this month Britain could be affected by the winter blackouts from 4pm to 7pm during …
Continue reading "Warm beer? Industry workers speak out amid economic crisis"
By Sara Valle Wray Crescent in Islington, North London, fills up with sunshine on a Saturday morning. Ten neighbours gather, pushing wheelbarrows full of compost, digging the ground with their shovels, and chatting animatedly as they chug their cold cans of ginger beer. They don’t miss a beat. They dry off the sweat on their foreheads before resuming …
Continue reading "Friends of Wray Crescent: Being green and saving bees"
By Sara Valle Female students regularly put up with harassment in the Holloway area. Female students at London Metropolitan University said that they regularly have to put up with catcalls, wolf whistles and unwanted comments about how they look in the area around the campus. London Metropolitan University. Photo by Sara Valle-Martínez. Nicci Kinsler, 30, …
Sara Valle 