Another holiday-flavoured Camdenist today, with the regular format back next week.

For this dawn of the New Year edition, before society gets back to business as usual (while struggling to maintain all those good intentions not to), let’s take a little look forwards…

I’m a big fan of using this platform to explore how global forces – from the financial and political, to the technological and social – impact life on the ground at local level, here in Camden.

(That and being your indispensable weekly guide to making the most of life around here, too, of course.)

So, at the cultural coalface, we know it’s going to be another bitterly tough year for funding in the arts, for the very survival of numerous hospitality businesses, live music venues and nightclubs, and for cash-strapped punters even having the ability to go out and support places and events they love as much as they’d dearly like to.

Yes, it’s important that we have that conversation, to keep pressure on the government and authorities to offer more help to our struggling cultural and entertainment incubators, but I also think it’s high time to shift the narrative a bit in 2026.

There’s a danger that the whole thing becomes self-perpetuating to hear sustained doom and gloom coming out of the places we rely on for our joy.

That’s especially true when, particularly here in Camden, there are still so many plucky new ventures opening, brilliant new work debuting and iconic institutions continuing to deliver bloody brilliant experiences every day.

Right now, as we embark on a month of hairshirt resolutions and hermit-like healing of the bank balance wounds of Christmas (just) past, it’s important to remember that there’s masses of exciting stuff going on out there despite of – and perhaps even because of – all the adversity.

In 2026 we can look forward locally to the long-awaited return of queer cabaret classic pub The Black Cap, after more than a decade of relentless, effective campaigning. There’s a fresh new CEO at the Roundhouse, new owners at Camden Assembly, keen to bring back the true spirit of its Barfly heyday, and an exciting new festival mooted for King’s Cross (more on that soon).

Times may be tough, but that’s a whole load of bold fresh cultural thinking right there, and it’s really just the tip of the iceberg. There’s going to be a lot to celebrate and plenty to be bowled over by, across the next 12 months.

I do get criticised for being overly optimistic at times, so to temper that inclination, 2026 does have some major local cultural conflicts taking shape as we enter the New Year, and it would be remiss of me not to point out the negative impacts they could have.

We can see the battle lines being drawn on the many development projects currently planned for the Borough, seemingly without much of a coherent strategy between them, which appear to promise little more than a return to the highrise mistakes of the 60s, with multiple residential towers being proposed as the only solution to the housing crisis.

The brutal cut and thrust of the global property sector is likely to have its way with us in some of these cases, with the result of the ridiculous standoff over completion of Camden Goods Yard among the first of the many planning skirmishes to kick off in the early part of the year.

Meanwhile, the scandalous sword that currently hangs over the indie café operators on Hampstead Heath and the other City of London green spaces is sure to see a major revolt in the weeks ahead, and it would be a travesty for the overwhelming voices of the people to be ignored. We shall see how that one turns out (I remain quietly optimistic for another u-turn by CofL or even Daisy Green, the victorious replacement operator, but there I go again….)

These are just a couple of manifestations of big companies riding roughshod over what locals actually want. And at the macro level, our Silicon Valley overlords continue to bludgeon their way through culture everywhere, the curious prospect of ‘human obsolescence’ is only going to gain more ground this year, (with the driverless taxis about to descend), but who knows actually what these seismic shifts will bring, or take away from, to the person on the street.

For Camdenist, thrown as we are into the ugly modern day attention economy, vying for a moment of your time against AI cat videos and the rest, it’s going to be another challenge to see what shape all this will need to take next. The human touch is – for now – still the only thing that produces in-depth knowledge about the cultural workings of somewhere as dynamic and broad-reaching as LB Camden.

Glad to have you all along for the ride as we delve into all these topics and more every Friday. If you want to share Camdenist with a friend, that’s one New Year’s resolution I can wholeheartedly get behind – do it!

What do you think are the other big issues are that we’re likely to be looking at, potentially reeling from, and hopefully enjoying the best of, too, over the next 12 months? If you respond to this email I’ll see all replies, and it would be great to hear from you…

Happy New Year!

Tom