Cool Spaces map

In this (ridiculously) hot and humid weather, the Mayor is again promoting his Cool Spaces map. If you are out and about in the city and start to feel too hot, the Mayor’s Cool Spaces map will help you find a welcoming place to sit down, rest and rehydrate. What a good idea to identify places Londoners can go to cool down, or so you'd think. But is the map a useful solution on a sweaty day or just a motley collection of venues thinly spread across the capital? I've been out to check. The big dots on the map are Cool Spaces, "indoor venues open to all where Londoners can take respite on hot days". For example, if you're around King's Cross the nearby Cool Spaces are the British Library, Pancras Square Library, the St Pancras and Somers Town Living Centre and Somers Town Community Centre. Four decent air-conditioned boltholes with water on tap, indeed I've hidden away in one of them on a hot day and it was a very wise choice. But they're not very well spread out and it turns out some…