Cafe Sizzles: 38.4C [All photos: Simon Lamrock]

THIS week’s record-breaking heatwave saw unprecedented May temperatures across the country, but some spots were hotter than others.

The sweltering weather will have been more bearable for those in modern air-conditioned offices, but temperatures in old buildings, buses and the tents of those sleeping rough on the streets surged beyond the peak of 35.1 degrees that was recorded in Kew Gardens on Tuesday.

Photographer Simon Lamrock was out in Islington, where he captured the 73 bus at 40.8 degrees as it drove through the borough. The lighthouse building above Five Guys at the junction of Pentonville and Gray’s Inn Road registered 37.1 degrees, while Chapel Market reached 43 degrees.

No 73 bus: 40.8C

He also snapped a homeless person’s tent in Camden, at a dangerous 41.1 degrees.

The stark images show both how the city’s infrastructure is unprepared for the once exceptional extreme heat that is becoming more common with climate change, and the inequality in how people experience it.

And while there are protections for some groups during freezing weather – councils trigger a Severe Weather Emergency Protocol to provide extra accommodation for those experiencing homelessness, for example – there are not the same formal systems in place for the heat.

Lighthouse: 37.1C

The UK also does not have a maximum temperature limit for work, compared to countries like Spain where certain workplaces or occupations can stay home or have regulated rest breaks during the hottest periods.

Islington does, however, run additional outreach services handing out water and sunscreen and helping homeless people get accommodation, as well as operating cool spaces in libraries and other places in the borough.

Temperatures are expected to fall next week, but look set to remain in the 20s.