18 stories. 18 boroughs. 1 home. London.
Home is more than four walls. It's the people, stories, and moments that shape the places we love. And for us, that has always been London.
London is not just our home, but it's yours too.
It’s where the idea for Forest first took root, over a pint in a Notting Hill pub in 2019, and it’s still the only city we proudly operate in today. This city is where we began, and where we continue to grow.
But London is more than a postcode or a skyline. It’s a patchwork of lives, stitched together by moments of connection. It’s the neighbours we befriend, like Liza and Jonathan, whose apartment building has become a home for classical music. It’s the community gardens we nurture, like Jamie’s, where connection blossoms alongside plants. And it’s the very real things we build in our local areas, like Loz’s grassroots projects that turn streets into shared spaces.
For us at Forest, these stories are not just inspiring, they are foundational. Whether you’ve taken one ride or one hundred, you’re part of a bigger story: one where micro-mobility isn’t just about moving through the city, but about connecting with it.
That’s why, for this project, we travelled across 18 boroughs to meet 18 of our riders. Real people with real stories sharing what home and community means to them.
London can feel big. But hidden in its streets are pockets of community. It’s our mission to help you reach those places, to make that sense of connection easier, more affordable, and more accessible for everyone.
We put our money where our mission is.
Because community is at the heart of this series, we wanted to celebrate it beyond our screens. So we ditched the big billboards and put our ad spend back into local businesses.
We’ve partnered with independent shops, cafés, and businesses across our operating zones to showcase our community stories right on their windows.
As a London-founded businesses ourselves, giving back to the ecosystem that shaped us feels not only right, but necessary. And if you happen to stop by one of our partner spots, look a little closer there might just be a small surprise waiting for you behind the "bar", on us.
Meet the team behind the community series.
This was probably one of the most ambitious projects we’ve ever taken on. With only ten days to pull together a four-day shoot spanning 18 boroughs and 18 real riders, we knew we were in for a challenge.
It all started with over 500 applications; hundreds of stories, all deeply personal and completely different. We narrowed them down to 40 interviews, and from there, carefully chose 18 people whose experiences felt like the beating heart of their borough. Each location was picked to give a real nod to the borough. Not the postcard version of it but the one locals actually know. You might spot a familiar landmark tucked into the background, but it was never about the big, obvious shots. It was more about those ‘if you know, you know’ corners of London.
The days leading up to the shoot were a blur of late nights, endless call sheets, and frantic WhatsApp messages. And on Tuesday 2nd September, we hit the ground running. It was the first time many of the crew had met in person, so we were both learning how to work as a team and make 18 strangers feel at ease in front of a camera.
Of course, no shoot ever goes completely to plan. We were cheered on by passing Forest riders mid-take (a morale boost we didn’t know we needed), escorted off one filming location (turns out it wasn’t as “public” as we thought), racked up a few parking fines on our electric van (oops), and developed a borderline unhealthy reliance on caffeine with a prized snack bag becoming the unofficial mascot of the project. When the rain inevitably rolled in, we found ourselves ducking into pubs and cafés for cover, laughing at the absurdity of it all.
But somewhere amidst the chaos, something shifted. The campaign stopped being just about content and became about connection. The stories people shared with us were honest, funny, vulnerable, and deeply human. We learned things about the city and the people we serve, that we’ll never forget. And by the end, London didn’t feel so big. It felt smaller, closer, like a community that we’re lucky to be part of.
