In the third of our series featuring some of Tooting’s great young entrepreneurs, Saira Niazi (who’s Tooting born and bred) tells us all about Living London.

I've been working on Living London for over 3 years now. It’s an online project, consisting of a collection of over 1000 unique London places that I've visited, photographed and written about. These range from bingo halls and bus garages to quirky nature reserves, obscure museums and specialist libraries. I also seek to connect various London organisations, individuals, projects and places to each other.

The project has received support and recognition from various arts and heritage organisations including the Southbank Centre, NHM and Rich Mix as well as from the Mayor of London, local leaders, MPs, community groups, and a number of the places featured. 

A year or so ago, I began leading 'wanderings' – informal walks that enable people to explore parts of London that remain relatively unknown. I often arrange for specialists to talk at the different sites visited on the walk and encourage attendees to document the journey through journaling. 
 
Living London has enabled to bring together a lot of my interests, and to share them with others. I love leading walks and sharing my knowledge, stories and discoveries with people as well as giving them a chance to share their own stories of place. 
 

A few years ago,  I worked for an environmental organisation called Groundwork London as a communications officer. During my time working at Groundwork I was involved with all sorts of community projects. I put together a book documenting local people's memories of the River Wandle and created a film about Nepalese women gardeners in Plumstead. I also got to meet and get to know communities across the city. There's so much to London, and I think the work I was involved with at Groundwork really led me to dig deeper in understanding the city I live in, not just the different areas, but the people too.

I hope to work on Living London full time, engaging with different groups across London. I've like to lead more walks, organise more events, and change the way in which people view and relate to the city. London is a magical place with so much to offer, there are so many incredible stories and I'd love to share them where I can. 

I've lived in Tooting all my life, and absolutely love the place. It's so vibrant and diverse – there are so many places to eat, there are green spaces and a myriad of secret gems from the huge cemeteries to the beautiful old Granada cinema. There's also a strong sense of community and there's always so much going on – events, festivals – you name it! I've led tours around Tooting on a few occasions – we've visited the sewing machine museum, Springfield Hospital, the markets and a few other gems dotted along the high street. People have always been so pleasantly surprised to discover how much Tooting has to offer!