Your upmarket Deliveroo might be made by your local kebab shop

Welcome to London Centric, where you can scroll down for a fascinating story revealing the next big trend in London food delivery, which is upending the economics of small neighbourhood restaurants and takeaways.

But first, some updates on previous stories:

• Two of the tacky gift shops featured in our investigation into brazen tax evasion in the centre of London will soon close down – to be replaced by a new giant 24 hour casino that was just approved by Westminster council. The site is owned by Asif Aziz, the billionaire landlord (and regular character in London Centric) who owns the Trocadero building near Piccadilly Circus. We’re sure that Aziz’s Criterion Capital and casino operator Genting will be doing their best to ensure that the gift shops currently occupying the site pay all their taxes before they vacate the premises.

• Who says local journalism doesn’t get results? The same day that we highlighted that the mysterious Tesco ramraider of east London had failed to pick up their vehicle, someone came along to finally remove it. We’d like to think the driver is a reader but fear it’s more likely to be someone in the local council.

• Our report on the troublesome relocation of the restaurants at Elephant and Castle (as mentioned in Vittles) prompted an interesting debate in the comments about how some restaurants in the area have survived. Zoë Garbett, the Green London Assembly member, told Sadiq Khan at mayor’s question time she “wanted to ring the alarm bell” about the situation in Elephant and Castle and other small local markets. Khan replied, “I’m aware of the regeneration of Elephant and Castle and the impact on the market, and the transitional arrangements. I wasn’t aware of the individual cases but I’m more than happy to look into those.”

• Times columnist Matthew Syed has been in touch following speculation at the Conservatives’ annual conference that he might be interested in being the party’s candidate to run City Hall. The new member of the Tories said that after “a crazy few days” at party conference he “won’t be standing for mayor”.

• Remember our report on the curious legal status of those blue-jacketed fundraisers outside stations, who give the impression of being charities but aren’t? Inside Success, the pioneers in this space, have filed their latest accounts. The organisation’s latest accounts said financial performance was “satisfactory” but warned of future tough

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