26/02/2018 London News

and it's going to bring some

disruption. Darren, thank you.

Welcome to BBC London News.

I'm Victoria Hollins.

Preparations are well under way

in Windsor for the wedding

of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

It's being seen a a big

business boost to the town -

not just because of tourist

revenues, but the endorsement

of the Royal brand.

Sarah Harris reports.

The castle is the symbol

of the Windsor brand.

Weekend home to The Queen

and soon-to-be venue

for the international

wedding of the year.

According to one economist,

the event is a much-needed financial

boost in uncertain times,

worth tens of millions of pounds.

If you look at the boost

of the wedding in Windsor

and in London, it's

going to be huge.

But the real boost is to Britain

plc and all the brands,

in terms of the intangibles.

It's very difficult

to quantify that.

But clearly, a lot of jobs,

a lot of economic activity is going

to come from this celebration.

Even the infrastructure of the Royal

town is having to be updated

to accommodate being the centre

of attention in the coming months.

Engineers are working to make sure

communications cables running

underneath the cobbled

streets are state-of-the-art.

It's just higher broadband speeds

for all the broadcasting as well,

so where beforehand it was copper,

fibre optics is a lot faster.

So it's putting in all the cable.

Basically for faster broadcasting,

faster photos, faster everything.

For businesses based

to the west of London,

the wedding is the Monopoly

equivalent of passing

Go and collecting 200.

It's becoming a hub for firms

moving out the city.

Windsor sits to the west of London.

It has got Heathrow Airport

and it has got fantastic

road communications.

It has the M4 and that is

the gateway to other cities

like Reading and to the south-west.

So it is increasingly a hub and it

will benefit from this wedding.

It is easy to assume revenues from

Royal events are just about tourism.

But some argue it is the brand that

is the most economically beneficial,

with a wedding a great way to

advertise it. Sarah Harris, BBC

London News.

Over the past two years,

there have been hundreds

of horrific cat deaths -

particularly around South London -

and police think it could be

the work of one person.

A £10,000 reward is being offered

to help catch the cat killer.

Graham Satchell reports.

This road is basically

where the first murder

that we were aware of happened.

We're driving with

Tony Jenkins, founder

of an animal rescue charity.

He's taking us to

where it all started.

The body was left on a

neighbour's doorstep.

And how many cases would you say

you have now encountered?

We're over 450 now.

450?

450, yeah.

He needs to be caught

because he's bringing

horror to people's lives.

You know, most people consider

their cat as a part of their family,

it's like losing a child,

and it is devastating people.

You couldn't help but love him.

He had these big,

massive green eyes.

Jane's cat, Taz, was found mutilated

in her neighbour's garden.

It was devastating, horrific.

And I think everybody who saw him,

they've been scarred.

And I don't think...

I think you can never erase

that out of your memory.

I just can't get that round my head,

why somebody would want to be

so vindictive to any animal

and to hurt loving

families with their pets.

I don't understand it.

People that start with extreme

violence towards animals do

progress, and there is a progression

hypothesis in our world that

suggests that it's like a start,

and that they will move

on and they will often progress

to doing sadistic violence

towards human beings.

The Metropolitan Police don't know

who the cat killer is.

There have been no arrests

and there are no specific suspects.

Jane's hope - that there

is a breakthrough soon,

before more cats are killed.

Graham Satchell, BBC News.

The old-fashioned Irish dancehall

is enjoying a revival

in North West London.

Once a regular part of the life

for thousands of Irish Londoners,

promoters are recreating

the atmosphere of the dancehalls

at a social club in Kilburn.

The evening is called

the Ballroom of Romance,

and it's proving a huge hit.

Thomas Magill has more.

# Last night, I had

a pleasant dream #.

In Ireland, they call this a ceilidh

- hundreds of men and women dancing

the night away to traditional

Irish music.

But these people aren't in Ireland.

This is the Galtymore

ballroom, in Cricklewood -

a popular dancehall in North London,

specialising in Irish music.

The old doors are still here,

but the dance hall's gone now.

It first opened in 1952 and,

along with other venues such

as the National in Kilburn,

the Gresham in Archway,

and the Hibernian

in Fulham Broadway, it featured

Irish show bands and country

singers, often playing to huge

crowds of revellers.

For many, the halls were a place

to find work, a flatmate,

or even the love of your life.

It took a long time to arrive,

but it arrived in 2003.

When I met my husband,

Declan, who's sitting here.

It was actually 2002.

Oh!

Whenever it was, times changed

and the dancehalls closed.

This is the Galtymore

being demolished in 2008.

It all seemed like

the end of an era.

But something rather wonderful

is happening just behind the Church

of the Sacred Heart,

here in Kilburn.

Every Monday night,

one of the performance

from back in the day -

a man known as McGinty -

is single-handedly attempting to

revive the old dancehall tradition.

He's turning its social club

into the Ballroom of Romance.

I know some people who come

in here and they've got a stick,

and they're walking in.

And as soon as the music starts,

they're up dancing on the floor.

You know, they reckon I'm

a faith healer as well.

So how does it actually compare

to the original dancehalls?

Well, Declan and Patricia have come

back to trip the light

fantastic once again.

It reminds me of 40 years ago,

the music, you know what I mean?

It hasn't changed.

The atmosphere is much the same.

And you see something

like this that's a throwback

to the old Galtymore old days.

There's no doubt McGinty's created

the atmosphere these revellers

remember from the old days.

He just hopes that maybe, one day,

a new generation will also

discover his Ballroom of Romance.

And you can see more on that story

on 'Inside Out London'

tonight at 7:30 on BBC One.

Now the weather, with Kate Kinsella.

A cold start and the temperature

will drop even further over the next

few days. Good afternoon. This

morning, we saw a little snow, a

scene of what is to come. Some light

dusting is and heavy snow through

the rush hour this morning. It left

a bit on cars on some roads and it

has been coming and the showers have

been feeding in. We have seen breaks

in the cloud as well and brilliant

sunshine, but yes, we will see snow

for the rest of the afternoon and

showers and for much of this week as

well, but the consistent thing is

the temperature. It feels bitterly

cold over the next few days. Into

the afternoon, we still see one or

two showers and the Met Office has a

yellow weather warning for snow

showers today and into the evening

and overnight. They may become more

frequent. Cloud feeding in from the

North East on a brisk north-easterly

wind which is making things feel

very cold. A maximum of two, three

Celsius. With the wind chill, much

colder. Showers continue into this

evening and overnight, perhaps

becoming heavier and more prolonged

in Essex, South East London, Surrey

and Kent. In those places, the Met

Office has upgraded the weather

warning to amber for the night-time

period and into Tuesday morning.

Elsewhere, a yellow. -3, -4, maybe

even further. A bitterly cold start

with further showers feeding in

parts of the East and across all

areas, this yellow weather warning

is extended. Tweet cold Winter game,

the temperature similar. One or two

much colder. Showers feeding in from

the East, it gets colder and further

snow showers towards Thursday and

Friday.

Thank you.

That's about it from me.

Riz Lateef will be here

with our 6:30 evening programme.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.