Amelia Elder

Being in love tends to make you want to shout from the rooftops about how great it all is, so it’s no surprise it dominates the music world. And that means it’s a very, very saturated market. So we’ve gone ahead and picked the absolute best, and ranked them too. Things are getting romantic at the minute, but we’ve got it all on this list; heartbreak tunes, the occasional bit of yearning, and (mostly) a bunch of lovey-dovey, feel-good tunes that celebrate all things lovin’.  What is the number one love song of all time? Rumour has it that the best selling love song of all time is Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You.’ No surprise there. It’s a banger. And yes, we’ve got it on our list, but controversially we’ve got Dolly Parton’s version instead (fun fact: Dolly’s version was actually released first, Whitney’s was just more famous). Oh, and it’s not our number one either – for that, you’ll have to read on. Here are the best love songs ever written.  RECOMMENDED:🎙️ The best karaoke songs🎉 The best party songs🕺 The best pop songs of all time💔 The best breakup songs This guide was updated by NYC-based arts and culture journalist Alessandra Schade. Entries are by Time Out Editors. For more about how we curate, have a look at our editorial guidelines. 

So it’s January, and the big day is edging every closer. And if you’re in a relationship, you might want to get cracking on the planning. We know, we know – Valentine’s Day can be hideously over-commercialised, but we‘ve still got a soft spot for it. After all, what’s the harm in celebrating love, in all of its forms? The best part? Valentine’s Day can look pretty different all over the world. Lots of places celebrate it, but it’s not all flowers and chocolate and I Love You’s. On our list of the best places to go for V-Day, we’ve got everything from seriously romantic spots to countries with alternative ways of celebrating. Whatever you’re into, here are our top places to mark Feb 14.  RECOMMENDED:❤️ The most romantic places in the world💑 The best couple’s holiday destinations🚢 The best places to travel in February🏙️ The best cities to visit this year At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines. 

January is in full swing with its inky skies morning and night, but for 12 days at the end of the month Canary Wharf is a brightly-lit spectacle to help you through the winter blues. The area’s Winter Light Festival has returned, opening on January 21.  Turning the area into a winter kaleidoscope, the Canary Wharf Group said the installations will explore ‘transformative and otherworldly qualities of art and light... combining the real with the surreal’. The free festival is open everyday from 5pm to 10pm, running until February 1.  In addition to installations from previous years are 12 new pieces, two of which have been exclusively commissioned for this year's event. One is an immersive piece that reflects sunlight during the day, and at night becomes a dazzling choreographed light show.  Art pieces being showcased have been delicately crafted by artists hailing from the UK and internationally. Along with the array of food and drink options already in the area, additional pit stops will be available to refuel and reheat you along the way, including MMy Wood Wharf hosting a neighbourhood food market in Harbour Quay Gardens, and Dishoom offering a free chai pop up. On the theme of lights, No 35 Mackenzie Walk will open up its terrace where you can get your hands on an exclusive light-up cocktail to really warm your cockles.  Ahead of your visit you can download the map to plan your route or pick up one on arrival from one of the stewards. Find out more here. The Canary Wharf

A new Wonka is in town and his name is James Cadbury. The great-great-great grandson of Cadbury founder John Cadbury has opened his own chocolate store just off Oxford Street.  Love Cocoa on South Molton Street has been open for just over a month. It received help from Westminster Council’s ‘Meanwhile On’ project, which helps up-and-coming brands, entrepreneurs, and creatives open physical stores in London. As you’d expect, every inch of the store is a chocolate lover’s fantasy, with walls of sweet treats labelled as the ‘chocolate library’, showcasing choccy bars and truffles. Also available in the store to get your sugar fix is luxury ice-cream, a hot chocolate bar, and specialty coffee.  Inspired by his ancestors’ ethics, Love Cocoa chocolate is high-quality and produced sustainably. On the business' website, James said: ‘This is more than a store, it’s a celebration of everything we stand for: luxury, sustainability, and the joy of chocolate, crafted to delight and inspire.’ In a LinkedIn post, the Cadbury descendant also revealed he is already planning to open a second store.  If that’s awoken your craving for the sweet stuff, a new Lindt megastore is also coming to London this spring, which you can read more about here.  Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your

Balls Pond Cemetery in Dalston held its final burial in 1951 and has been closed to the public ever since. The Victorian site, built in 1854, is a key part of British Jewish history yet has suffered decades of wear and tear. But that could all soon change, as Islington Council and West London Synagogue of British Jews (WLS) have been awarded a grant to kickstart a massive restoration of the site.   The cemetery, which is owned by WLS, will undergo a £190,731 transformation, thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Work will soon begin to restore the nearly 200-year-old memorials to make it a key cultural and educational resource.  As one of the most significant Jewish burial grounds in London, the site is the final resting place for over 1,000 people. Some of the most notable people include Amy Levy, the first Jewish woman at Cambridge Uni, Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, the co-founder of UCL, and James Joseph Sylvester, a maths whizz.  The Grade II-listed site has remained untouched for decades, and apart from its prayer room (which was bombed in WWII) the majority of it is still intact. But overgrown grass, trees, and ivy branches need tending to, as well as its crumbling walls. Biodiversity research will also take place to better understand and improve the environment.  Islington Council councillor Jenny Kay said: ‘We aim to revitalise the cemetery, engage the local community and bring attention to an often-overlooked part of British-Jewish history. ‘This proje

One of the best things about London is its skyline, its sprawl of instantly-recognisable landmarks that poke up into the sky above. Many Londoners might be able to see at least part of the capital’s skyline from home, but if you wanted to see the entire thing from your abode, we might have just the thing.  A converted Victorian tower in Woolwich has just gone on the market, featuring five bedrooms, three bathrooms and views for days. It could be all yours for a measly £1.75 million. Built in 1896, the prominent nine-storey tower used to serve the Brook Fever Hospital, where patients with infectious diseases were treated, and was capable of holding 20,000 gallons of water. It was converted into a stylish home in the early 2000s. These days the tower looks really very swish indeed. Alongside the bedrooms and bathrooms, the property is spread over more than 3,860 square feet, has a private garden and features a tower top observatory with a wrap-around balcony and a glass sitting room. Needless to say, it isn’t a home for anyone with a fear of heights: at 40 metres high, it’s around the same as nine double decker London buses stacked on top of each other. Thankfully, it’s been fitted with a lift.  On blue-skied sunny days you can apparently see as far as Wembley – all the way on the other side of the capital. Here’s what the place looks like.  Photograph: Rightmove/ Tanya Baker & Co Photograph: Rightmove/ Tanya Baker & Co Photograph: Rightmove/ Tanya Baker & Co   Photogra

Writers at the Financial Times recently published an impressive list of the top record stores on the entire planet – and in great news for London’s audiophile community, several stores in the capital made it into the mix.  RECOMMENDED: 🎶 London’s 30 best record shops, according to Time Out. The FT’s list spanned some of the world’s biggest music cities, from New York and Paris to Sydney. Several places in the UK, including Leeds, Edinburgh and Stroud, also made the cut – in other words, London’s record shops were in very good company. So, which shops featured?  Sounds of the Universe  Stocking every music genre you can think of (and many more), Sounds of the Universe is on Soho’s Broadwick Street. Also the HQ of British record label Soul Jazz Records, the store houses everything from dubstep and punk rock to bossa nova and jazz. With frequent international stock shipments from across the world (including Jamaica, Brazil and Japan), SotU is a hotspot for all sorts of music lovers.  Third Man Records Right by Carnaby Street, Third Man Records is an American chain, with this store being the first and only outside the USA. It was founded and personally designed by Jack White (from the White Stripes).  With its banana yellow interior and exterior, the store houses a vast range of vinyls, but has a truly special basement area. As well as putting on intimate gigs of varying genres, ‘The Blue Basement’ also has a recording booth where artists and the public can directly record thei

Looking to branch out from your usual immersive experience spots? Hold tight because a brand new space is coming to Battersea Power Station. Set to open this spring, the venue comes from NEON, a company specialisnig in immersive experiences and exhibitions. NEON says the new space will be the first of its kind in London, and will offer two exhibitions a year. NEON has made a name for itself in the immersive exhibition sector with award-winning tours like ‘Machu Picchu, the Golden Empires of Peru’ in Sydney and ‘Jurassic World: The Exhibition’ here in London.  With Battersea now firmly an established London visitor attraction, with its plentiful restaurants, shops, offices and more, NEON hopes the new exhibition venue will attract people from all across the UK to the area.   Photograph: Star Live NEON CEO and executive chairman Ron Tan said about the new venue: ‘We are thrilled to announce the opening of a brand-new exhibition space and look forward to bringing our world-renowned immersive experiences to Battersea Power Station, which has quickly established itself as a vibrant centre of creativity and community since the restored Power Station opened its doors to the public for the first time in history in October 2022.’ Sam Cotton, Head of Asset Management at Battersea Power Station Development Company, said NEON aims to ‘deliver a vibrant centre for arts, culture, entertainment and community engagement’, especially since Wandsworth has been named the 2025 London Borough o

At the heart of London’s independent theatre scene, the Phoenix Art Club has been entertaining crowds for over three decades. From cabaret and drag acts to comedy nights, it welcomes more than 100,000 guests a year for nearly 1000 performances and has become a precious hub for theatre-lovers, emerging talent and creatives alike.  But thanks to soaring running costs and no current external funding, the club’s future is worryingly uncertain. It has now launched a crowdfunder to raise £125,000 – the amount it needs to run each year. Donations will allow the club to securely put on productions this year. The venue has a ‘not for profit’ operation as a Community Interest Company, meaning all money goes towards the community not the business .  The Phoenix Art Club was able to recover from the pandemic through an Arts Council England Grant, which helped improve their audio/visual systems and provided theatre training opportunities. But as we all know, London rates take no prisoners.  Money raised from the crowdfunder will support local performers and theatre professionals. The club also hopes to update their space with new staging, specialised theatre headphones, and a baby grand piano.  Over the years the club has hosted performances by many big names, including MOBO star Laura Mvula and the Scissor Sisters, as well many theatre productions which have transferred to larger London stages.  You can donate to the ‘Keep the Phoenix Flying’ crowdfunder here.  London superclub Drumshe

First they dabbled in restaurants, then entered baby skincare – now UK rappers Krept and Konan are switching up their day jobs again by opening a one-of-a-kind supermarket called Saveways in their hometown of Croydon, south London.  Isn’t the UK supermarket sector pretty crowded, we hear you ask? Well, the rap duo have found a gaping hole in the market. Opening in February, the rappers say that Saveways will be the first large-scale supermarket stocked with products tailored specifically to Black, Asian and ethnic communities. The supermarket will include specialist halal meat and exotic fish counters, a bakery, fresh fruit and veg, and a huge range of world foods as well as household items, cosmetics and hygiene products for those of BAME heritage.  The pair have partnered up with entrepreneur Kaysor Ali to create a shopping experience that they claim will reflect the area’s diverse population. The 2021 census revealed that over half of Croydon and Sutton’s population is Black, Asian or of mixed ethnic background.  And it doesn’t stop there. The retailer, which will have parking and an on-site prayer room, will create over 30 job opportunities and provide wholesale opportunities.  Photograph: Saveways On Instagram, Krept & Konan said: ‘Saveways is more than a supermarket, it’s a hub for the community, celebrating cultural diversity while setting a new standard for halal and world food retailing in the UK. The combination of scale, variety, quality and modern convenience ma

The Silvertown Tunnel, London’s newest Thames crossing and the city’s first new sub-river road tunnel in three decades, has been in the works since way back in 2012. After well over a decade, it’s been revealed that it’ll open on April 7, connecting Newham and Greenwich Peninsula. All of which is exciting news for London’s infrastructure-heads (we know you’re out there). But there’s more good coming from the tunnel: it’ll make several London bus routes free for an entire year.  After the Silvertown opens in April, the entire length of the shiny new Superloop SL4 and the 129 routes will be entirely free for 12 months. All of the routes will be free, rather than just the bits that use the tunnel.  But the SL4 and 129 aren’t the only Thames crossing routes that’ll be free from April. TfL has also said that the 108 (which uses the Blackwall Tunnel) will also be entirely free too for the year. The route is often used to quickly clear post-event crowds at the O2 Arena, travelling between North Greenwich and Lewisham. All of which should encourage more Londoners to bus through the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels! If you’d rather cycle, find out about the Silvertown’s ‘bike bus’ here, and if you’ll be driving through the tunnel, here is a breakdown of the toll charges.  Did you see that Blackhorse Road tube station will be affected by maintenance work for six months? Plus: All the new flight routes launching from London Stansted in 2025. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smo

With only a few hours of sunlight a day at the moment, the warm golden solar rays feel like a distant memory. But artist Luke Jerram has invented a solution. His latest creation, ‘Helios’, is a scaled seven-metre sculpture of our sun and will be suspended in the Old Royal Naval College’s Painted Hall in Greenwich from January 25.  Normally staring at the sun is extremely ill-advised, but here you can get up close and personal with the it’s most intimate features, including its sunspots and filaments.  The installation has an approximate scale of 1:200 million, meaning one centimetre of the hanging sphere represents 200km of the sun’s surface - if you can get your head around that.  Jerram’s internally lit fiery globe is accompanied by a soundscape composed by acclaimed artists Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson, creating an immersive sensory experience. Throwback to when the northern lights made a dramatic appearance last year, the installation allows you to inspect the solar activity that made it possible for Londoners to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon.  But hey, if just staring at a giant yellow ball doesn’t fully appeal, fear not. You can grab tickets to the ‘Helios’ silent disco which features ‘cosmic pop anthems and space-themed cocktails’; or if you’re scrambling for Valentine’s Day plans, there’s the offer of a romantic three-course dinner under the glowing orb.  Jerram has previously created immense scaled versions of the Earth, moon and Mars, which is still availa

Crayford is saying goodbye to its greyhound stadium, the site of which has hosted dog racing events in southeast London for 90 years. The racetrack, which was once a bustling social hub, has been part of the Dartford community (though it’s in the London borough of Bexley) since the 1930s. But due to fading attendance numbers, a lack of competitive race days, and a general shortage of trainer engagement, stadium owner Ladbrokes announced it would close the site later this month.  Originally built in 1932 and named the Crayford & Bexleyheath Stadium, Crayford Stadium was sold to betting company Ladbrokes in 1984 and 15 of the ground’s 20 acres were sold to the supermarket Sainsbury’s. A new venue was built on the remaining five acres, opening in 1986. A spokesperson from Ladbrokes said: ‘We have been exploring various avenues to avoid this decision for some time, but ultimately, it is no longer viable for us to continue operating the site. ‘The decision has not been taken lightly.’ The spokesperson also shared that Ladbrokes is in the process of supporting stadium staff with their next steps. Ladbrokes has also expressed its commitment to the welfare of the greyhounds, which will be looked after through a rehoming scheme, and hopes that the affected dogs will be able to keep racing at other UK venues. Very few greyhound racing stadiums remain in and around London. Following the closure of Wimbledon in 2017, the redevelopment of Walthamstow in the late 2000s and the recent closu

When London’s shiny, purple Elizabeth line opened way back in May 2022, it was a much needed refresher for the city’s ageing transport network. Since then the line has firmly established its place on the capital’s transport map, even winning a prestigious architecture prize last year. Now the Lizzy line has reached a new achievement: TfL says the purple service has over 500 million journeys under its belt, and that it’s officially the UK’s busiest train line.  The Lizzy’s speedy journeys and roomy carriages feel like luxury compared to other lines, and TfL says that it’s done research showing that the line is popular and making a positive difference. New reports from TfL and design company Arup say that 90 percent of Elizabeth line users said it has made a positive impact on where they live, and that the service has led to a boost in employment and housing opportunities (particularly on the Heathrow airport and Abbey Wood branches). Overall, 62 percent of customers surveyed said that the line has positively impacted their employment opportunities.  Commenting on the Elizabeth line’s milestones and reports, London mayor Sadiq Khan said: ‘The Elizabeth line has been a game-changer for the city, transforming travel in London and unlocking investment through the creation of new jobs and homes.’  Transport Commissioner Andy Lord  said: ‘The Elizabeth line has truly transformed life and travel in London and the South East by dramatically improving transport links, cutting journey