Amy Houghton

2026 has officially landed. An entire year of adventure awaits, with Britain set for a deluge of thrilling new things to see and do. Beyond the individual openings, however – the new bars and restaurants, museums and attractions – where should be on your radar for places to visit in the UK?  If you’re up for being inspired here at Time Out, as always, we’ve got you covered. We’ve scoured the listings of all that’s happening in Britain in 2026 and consulted our nationwide network of writers and editors, harnessing all that info to put together a guide to the places that should be on your radar over the next 12 months.  Destinations made it onto Time Out’s list for a vast range of reasons. Some have swaggered onto the scene with a quickfire burst of thrilling new attractions. Others have built their cred slower and reached a point of quiet brilliance, while others still are established spots that simply remain very much worth their rep. Several places will be made even more tempting by those aforementioned 2026 openings, whether that be delicious places to eat and drink, game-changing new transport options or unmissable cultural events.  From trendy seaside towns to revived industries cities, medieval forts to ‘the new Berlin’: here are the UK’s 14 top places to visit in 2026. RECOMMENDED: Looking for just London stuff? Here are 26 new things to do in the capital in 2026. 

Things are getting more and more expensive here in Europe, and many of our reliably ‘cheap’ cities aren’t so cheap anymore. The hotspots in Greece, Spain, Italy and more that are plagued with overtourism are seeing hiked prices to match, and starting to look startingly similar across the board. But don’t fear: if budgets are tight this year, there’s still plenty of spots that won’t break the bank.  The best part? On the most part, this list of budget-friendly destinations tend to come hand in hand with other wins – we mean less tourists, less crowds, and the flights there are likely to be much cheaper too. Of course, it goes without saying that a ‘cheap city’ is highly subjective, depending on a whole load of factors: which city you’ve travelled in from, what time of year you’re visiting, how bougie your tastes are and all the rest of it. But the spots you’ll find below are lively, culture-packed, and generally incredibly good value for money. Read on for the cheapest (and best) cities to visit in Europe in 2026.  RECOMMENDED:🌃 The most underrated travel destinations in Europe📍 The most beautiful places in Europe At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. 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. 

Every week, a frankly silly amount of brilliant new restaurants, cafés and street food joints arrive in London. Which makes whittling down a shortlist of the best newbies a serious challenge. But here it is. The 20 very best new restaurants in the capital, ranked in order of greatness and deliciousness. All of them have opened over the past 12 months and been visited by our hungry critics. So go forth and take inspo from this list, which is updated regularly. Check in often to find out what we really rate on the London restaurant scene. And look here for all the info about the best new openings in January 2026. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍛 Central: Adoh!, Covent Garden 🍠 North: Ling Ling’s, Islington 🥟 South: Doma, Sydenham 🍝 East: Legado, Shoreditch 🥗 West: Martino’s, Chelsea January 2026: New additions include slinky Italian joint Martino's in Chelsea, cosy Chinese cuisine at Ling Ling's at Godet in Islington, Hunanese heat at Fiery Flavors in Surrey Quays, Sri Lankan fast food at Adoh! in Covent Garden, Caribbean classics with a twist at 2210 by NattyCanCook in Herne Hill, perfect pasta at Casa Felicia in Queen's Park, spicy southern Thai at the new branch of Plaza Khao Gaeng by Borough Market, and soup noodles at Khao So-i in Fitzrovia. Hungry yet? Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London. The hottest new openings, the tasties

Thank god for Burns Night. As the long, bleak month of January rolls on, this kilt-raising, haggis-scoffing, whisky-fuelled celebration of Scotland’s national poet Rabbie Burns is a chance to banish the winter blues and have a rip-roaring time. The Bard turns 267 this year, but you don’t have to be in the big guy’s motherland to join in the festivities. An estimated 200,000 Scottish expats live in the capital, which technically makes it the third most populous Scottish city, so you can guarantee there’s plenty of feasting, boozing and partying to be done down here too.  When is Burns Night in London? Burns Night always falls on January 25, the day Robert Burns was born in South Ayrshire way back in 1759. This year’s celebration falls on a Sunday.  Whether you want to get sweaty at a ceilidh, pipe in a haggis, or have a classy time at a whisky tasting or indulgent Burns supper, this is how you can enjoy Burns Night 2026 in London.  RECOMMENDED: Here are London's best spots for a delicious Burns Night supper.

December 2025 update: There's new songs being added to karaoke machines on a regular basis, so we see it as our duty to keep this list bang up to date. Our latest additions include a K-Pop Demon Hunters anthem, as well as an addicitve tune courtesy of Benson Boone. Whether you’ve got the voice of an angel or you’re totally tone deaf, karaoke unites us all. But heed our warning: choosing the right song is crucial (aka, don’t opt for that Whitney Houston tune if you haven’t the range. And if you don't quite have the skill, steer clear of rapping.) So we thought we’d help out a little bit. In our list of the best karaoke songs ever, we’ve got everyone from Adele to Toto, and from Frank Sinatra to Ricky Martin. There's even recent singalongs from Sabrina Carpenter, Huntr/x and Chappell Roan. Something for everyone. So down that shot, grab that mic and take to the stage. Your audience awaits you. Here are the best karaoke songs ever.  RECOMMENDED:❤️ The best love songs🎶 The 40 best songs of 2025🎉 The best party songs🕺 The 25 best albums of 2025  

Even after a couple of vintage years for new music, 2025 has been special. Sure, we didn’t get a clear-cut ‘song of the summer’, but artists have been instead putting out defining works in a longer format. The past 12 (well, 11) months have featured all manner of extraordinary album releases.  Belted-to-the-rafters country pop, plunderphonic majesty, ecstatic dance music, intimate electronic world-building, history-collapsing art rock, triumphant hip-hop… these are just a few of the sounds and styles that have been executed marvellously in 2025. Here are the year’s finest 25 albums, chosen by Time Out editors and contributors.

It’s easy to leave planning New Year’s Eve to the very last minute – often you get so tangled up in the tinsel-decked glories of Christmas that you forget there's another big bash, just a week later. But New Year's Eve is the kind of night that you forget at your peril. Attempt to wing it and you might well end up stuck at home with a glass of flat prosecco in front of Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, because all London's best clubs and parties book out weeks or months in advance.  But fear not, we're here to make sure you give 2025 a seriously good send-off. Here's our list of London best NYE bashes for ringing in 2026, from never-ending club nights to LGBTQ+- friendly celebrations. Assemble your crew, book your tickets, plan the perfect ‘fit and prepare to say a big fat goodbye to the year gone by. London’s best NYE parties at a glance 🎆 Best for views of the fireworks: New Year’s Eve at Sky Garden 🦖 Best for a one-of-a-kind party: NYE at the Natural History Museum 🍴 Best for midnight snacks: New Year's Eve at Aram, Somerset House  🏳️‍🌈  Best for LGBTQ+: Horse Meat Disco at Village Underground 🌟 Best for glitz and glamour: New Year's Eve at W London RECOMMENDED: Find things to do in London on New Year’s Day.

Let’s be honest, with all the pressure that gets put on New Year’s Eve, often it ends up as a disappointment. You’re lying if you say you haven’t spent at least one countdown with your head over a toilet after getting too razzed before midnight, or the night is spent jostling with what feels like everyone in London to get into an average club night. This year, spare yourself the pain and save the hardest partying for New Year’s Day instead.  New Year’s Day raves have taken off over the last few years. They tend to last longer than the events of the night before and there aren’t the same enormous NYE crowds to battle with. Of course, celebrations on Jan 1 needn’t be instead of NYE revelries – soldier through your hangover and combine the two to create one big 48-hour blowout.  The capital’s venues are ready to welcome you with open arms for the first rager of 2026, with all manner of day and night parties to check out. Because who says the fun needs to stop as soon as the countdown’s over? Here are London’s best New Year’s Day parties.   RECOMMENDED: Find New Year’s Eve parties in London.

The final stretch of 2025 is upon us, and London is looking mighty festive in the run-up to Christmas. The skies are be sparkling with Christmas lights, the capital’s venues are filling up with Christmas pantos and carol services, and the streets are lined with colourful Christmas markets and twinkling trees. But December isn’t just about Christmas, and there’s plenty more brilliant things to do besides all the festive stuff. Notably, the acclaimed Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is making its UK debut, it’s the first full month of the Design Museum’s hotly-anticipated Wes Anderson exhibition and the last full month of the bonkers jukebox musical Titanique. Plus, there are the ice-skating rinks, the winter pop-ups and the chilly winter walks followed by cosy pub hangouts. And that’s before we even get on to New Year’s Eve!  Here’s our guide to the finest events, parties, cultural happenings and things to do in London over December 2025.  London’s best things to do in December at a glance: 🧀 Best for foodies: Future of Food, Science Museum 🎭 Best for thespians: Ballet Shoes, National Theatre 🎬 Best for cinephiles: Backyard Cinema, Bermondsey 🎨 Best for aesthetes: Wes Anderson: The Exhibition, Design Museum 🧛 Best for night owls: Christmas lights, citywide 📚 Best for families: Winter Funland, Kensington RECOMMENDED: Time Out’s definitive London events calendar.

Boxing Day might not get all the glory of Christmas Day, but if you ask us, in many ways, it’s far superior. It has all the magic of the big day, but without the stress of cooking and the pressure of keeping the whole family happy. But one of the best bits? While everything shuts down on Christmas Day, things start to tentatively open up on Boxing Day, meaning you can get up from your Quality Street-induced stupour on the sofa and get out and about on December 26.  The day after Christmas, London is mostly free of its usual crowds (except for shopping districts like Oxford Street packed with bargain hunters). That means that, should you leave your house, large parts of the capital city are yours for the taking. There are the parks and riverside paths for frosty winter walks or the Christmas lights to admire while you brave the Boxing Day sales. The city’s pop-up ice skating rinks are normally open, pantomime season is still in full swing, and there are even a few parties lined up. Here are some great ideas for how to spend your day off. RECOMMENDED: Find more festive fun with our full guide to Christmas in London.

We’ve officially entered party season, aka the time of the year when it’s socially acceptable to go out for a big one any day of the week. It’s nearly Christmas, after all! From office festive parties to Crimbo plans with your pals to final Mad Friday blowouts, there are a ton of reasons to be hitting the town in the run-up to Christmas Day. Our guide to London’s greatest Christmas-themed parties for 2025 has full-blown raves, Yuletide cabarets and plenty of events full of cheesy festive classics. And in the season’s spirit of generosity, a large helping of them are free entry. You can’t say ‘bah, humbug’ to that. All you’ve got to do now is decide where you’re going and plan the perfect party ‘fit. RECOMMENDED: See our full festive guide to Christmas in London.

Urgently in need of some cool pressie inspo for your nearest and dearest? Don’t worry about it! Our London gift guide is here, and it features loads of lovely pressies to suit just about any Londoner you can imagine.  From nifty gadgets to stylish accessories, covetable homeware to kids’ gifts, our editors have got every base covered, including plenty of sustainable options and handmade bits from some of London’s coolest indie brands and makers.  Need even more present inspiration? Check out our roundup of London’s best Christmas hampers for 2025. Time Out’s 2025 Christmas Gift Guide at a glance 🏰 Best for tech nerds: Nothing headphones 💷 Best for foodies: Allday Goods knife 🔬 Best for style queens: Peachy Den scarf and mitten set 🎡 Best for cool blokes: Percival martini cap 🎨 Best for youngsters: Ty Beanie Bouncers RECOMMENDED: More Christmas fun in London. 

Prepare to have your senses thrown into chaos. Anish Kumar’s first major UK exhibition in the UK took place at the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery in 1998. Nearly 30 years later, the internationally acclaimed sculptor’s work is coming back to the gallery for his largest UK show to date. The exhibition displays recent pieces by Kapoor made with futuristic light-absorbing nanotechnology, as well as works that defined the early part of his career.  There will be huge disorientating mirror sculptures, a colossal PVC installation, a foreboding mass of red and black wax drooping from the ceiling, and a striking collection of carnal paintings made using silicone, resin and pigment.  

Homely isn’t quite the word that comes to mind when you pull back the heavy velvet curtain separating Casa Felicia from the dozy Queen’s Park street outside. Chic, for sure. Elegant, certainly. A parade of two-cover tables are packed close together in the main whitewashed dining room, and over in a far corner, there’s a booth for larger groups which is painted entirely in an intense sultry red. But the deeper into the evening we go, the more we’re taken in by this place’s unexpected down-to-earth charm.   Fettuccine porcini and paccheri with mussels and squid are simple but impeccable Casa Felicia is helmed by chef Francesco Sarvonio, formerly of Manteca and currently of Elephant. The menu switches up daily, but always promises southern Italian ‘soul food’. A pleasing heap of puntarelle salad embellished with pear and hazelnuts, and a faultless seabass crudo speckled with crispy red pepper starts us off. We’re then presented with the most intriguing take on parmigiana I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t come in the traditional form of layered aubergine coins, but as the whole vegetable roasted, skinned and fried in a tempura batter, then cocooned in cheese fondue with a pool of marinara on the side. It’s fantastic – the batter lightly encases the vegetable like a chiffon blanket and the aubergine manages to be both firm and completely melt-in-the-mouth.   Don’t get carried away with the antipasti, as the bowls of pasta (handmade with just semolina and water, no egg) are truly generou

Adoh! (Sri-Lankan for ‘oi!’) is loud.  Sat on Maiden Lane in frenetic, tourist-packed Covent Garden, this Sri Lankan spot from Kolamba duo Eroshan and Aushi Meewella fits right in. While Kolamba and its sister restaurant on Liverpool Street are sleek, sophisticated haunts, this is a maximalist whirlwind. Chopped roti gets more heavenly with each chewy bite Adoh’s goal is to emulate the rapid, chaotic energy of Colombo and its street food culture. The decor is raucous – the tables a striking shade of red and the walls busy with storybook murals depicting hand-painted trucks of South Asia. As for service, it’s full speed ahead. You can very easily be in and out within an hour, and fully satisfied. In the throbbing heart of the theatreland that’s no bad thing.  The menu features a blend of authentic bits (isoo vadai, mutton rolls or roti and curry) and some milder hybrid dishes (fried chicken and curry leaf waffles are best suited to less adventurous members of your party). Shiny squares of prawn toast dolloped with tamarind sauce start us off, swiftly followed by a supple dosa spread with smoky masala, alongside a rather dry coconut roti with eye-wateringly hot lunu miris chilli paste.  The must-order main (which at £17 is the priciest item on the menu) is crab kothu, a late-night classic in Sri Lanka. The bronze mountain of chopped roti, egg and stir fried crab meat (mutton, chicken or jackfruit kothu are available too) isn’t particularly pretty, but drenched in curry sauce (p

One hundred years ago, a strange curtained box appeared on Broadway in New York City. If you went inside and slotted in 25 cents, you’d emerge with eight sepia tinged photos of yourself in a matter of minutes. It was the Photomaton – the world’s first fully automated photobooth. Fast forward to the 21st century and photobooths are in bars, train stations, cinemas, record shops and on streets all over the world. The Photographer’s Gallery is marking a century of the machines with Click!, an archival exhibition exploring their imperfections, their quirks and their most famous fans. Naturally, there’ll be a working photobooth for visitors to take their own snap.

In 1978, Zofia Rydet decided that was going to photograph the inside of every Polish household. Aged 67, she began knocking on doors and asking occupants if they’d be willing to partake in her project. She continued to knock on doors for the next three decades, collecting everyday stories and creating ‘one of the most important achievements in 20th century Polish photography’. More than 100 of Rydet’s prints will be on display at the Photographers’ Gallery alongside books and personal letters offering extra insight into her sociological mission.

The UK’s first major retrospective of acclaimed Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov is coming to the Photographers’ Gallery. A ‘kind of proto-punk’, Mikhailov has been capturing and commenting on life in Ukraine since the 1960s – from the everyday consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union to the realities of people living on the edges of society – through photography, conceptual work, painting and performance art. Ukrainian Diary brings much of that work together to illustrate the tumultuous social and political changes that have shaken Eastern Europe over the past fifty years.

When a place rates itself as assuredly (in huge bold letters, no less) as Good Hotel does, it’s natural to feel a little sus. But it’s true: Good Hotel really does make you feel good. Service is cheery and laid-back without being overly casual, the food leaves nothing to complain about and – maybe it’s the luxurious silence of the area or perhaps the proximity to gently lapping water – I visited in 2024, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better night’s sleep in the city. Aside from all that, guests can walk out of Good Hotel feeling extra gratified by virtue of its ‘do good’ DNA. Why stay at Good Hotel? As you walk along Royal Victoria Docks, this huge black shipping container is impossible to miss. Originally built as a Danish prison, this floating hotel docked in London in 2016 after sailing across from Amsterdam. Its founder, Marten Dresden, had come up with the Good Hotel concept four years prior while travelling in Guatemala. Now, each night you spend there pays for a week of school for a child in South America, with profits also going towards hospitality training for long-term unemployed locals (lots of whom become Good Hotel employees).  The hotel also hosts regular community workshops and events that guests can attend. There are comedy nights, yoga classes, salsa classes, kids art clubs and, if you’re in the mood to be extra good, litter-picking around the local area. What are the rooms like at Good Hotel? Throughout the hotel, the interiors are slick, earthy-toned

One of the more recent additions to Wimbledon Village, Good Fortune Club is bright and buzzy with a sprawling menu of Cantonese dishes, the best known of which is its handmade dim sum. Stop by with a large, hungry posse to pack your table with bamboo steamers and sample har gau (shrimp-filled dumplings,) xiao long bao (pork soup dumplings), cuttlefish cake and more.

Of its four south-west London outposts, DropShot’s Leopold Road location serves up hefty brunches on the daily. The portions here are breathtakingly generous, and the tennis-themed menu goes well beyond the standard eggs benny or avocado on toast; think mozzarella and chilli jam-filled potato pancakes andbig fat slices of French toast laden with monterey jack cheese and fresh pesto, or loaded with tiramisu cream and berries. The coffee is fantastic, too.

Crack Comedy Club brings pre-party laughs to Tunnel 267 – Wimbledon’s only nightclub – every Saturday night from 8pm to 10pm. For standup sets from four or five comics, tickets are £25 for general admission on the door or £21.50 if you book online in advance. You can also buy tickets that include dinner from a local restaurant beforehand, and if you stick around afterwards you’ll get free entry to Tunnel’s clubnight. Three in one. 

There's a real sense of fun to this deliberately rough-around-the-edges course. Party tunes blare from speakers, graffiti jazzes up the walls and it's made from ‘twisted junk, car booty and charity shop shizzle’. Junkyard Golf Club has four courses – Gary, Pablo, Dirk and Bozo – that are all fabulously chaotic and mildly freaky. Depending on which challenge you take on, you’ll be putting past pirate pigs, dishevelled nightclub urinals, terrifying giant clown heads and a UV rave room. There's also a second location in Camden for more of the same.  Prices start at £12 for nine holes at off-peak times (Sunday to Thursday) and go up to £21 for 18 holes on busier days (Fridays and Saturdays). And as any good crazy golf should, Junkyard has a menu of themed cocktails to keep lubed up before, during and after your game. 

This quirky, tiki-themed minigolf course first popped up in Dalston's Efes in April 2015. A decade later, that debut site is no more, but you can now find Plonks outdoors in London Fields and under the arches at Borough Market. The Hackney course, which recently got a big ol’ refurb, takes you through a ‘Polynesian themed putt paradise’ complete with a tiki forest, a volcano canyon and octupuses. There are plenty of satisfying holes that fire your ball onto tricksy little mechanisms, a loop the loop, and a lot of impossibly steep ramps. All in all: it’s a great place for a plonking party. Prices start from £9.35 per person per play. 

Back in the 1960s (thanks to nationalisation) thousands of miles of railway tracks across Britain were ripped up and thousands of railways stations were shut down. One victim of the mass closures was the North Dorset Railway in Shillingstone. But, decades later, volunteers have been working hard to bring it back to life.  A huge project to reinstate the North Dorset Railway line began in 2005. Over 20 years, hundreds of local volunteers from the North Dorset Railway Trust (NDRT) helped to repair the platforms at Shillingstone station, relay half a mile of track north of the station and restore the station building. It finally reopened as a visitor attraction in September, complete with a railway museum, a cafe, a cinema wagon and a souvenir and book shop, and it plans to start running heritage passenger services in late 2026. But there’s still more work to do.  Trustees are now in talks with Dorset Council about the prospect of extending the line southwards. If the proposal is approved, it would create a total of 2km of working track.  In a New Year message, the NDRT’s chairman Gavin Collins wrote: ‘We are in a consultation phase with Dorset Council about extending south to Holloway Lane at the southern end of Shillingstone Village, and talking with them about acquiring some land for restoration and storage sheds, siding space for more rolling stock and a loading/unloading area for road-rolling stock movements away from the station. ‘This includes shared use of the Trailway/t

Open-water swimming has been surging in popularity for a few years now. And these days, an alarming number of Londoners consider dipping into piercingly cold pond water an ideal way to spend a winter’s morning. So many, in fact, that Hampstead Heath’s mixed pond could open all year round for the first time.  While the park’s separate men’s and ladies’ ponds are already open year-round, the mixed pond currently only opens for public swimming between April and October. But in its draft five-year business plan, the City of London Corporation’s Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee has said that it’ll assess the pond’s seasonal use. That means there could soon be more options for hardcore wild swimmers who want to brave the water during the winter months.  The plan says that opening the mixed pond throughout the year would contribute to the Corporation’s priority of improving physical health and emotional wellbeing for visitors. No specific date has been set for the review, but the plan anticipates that it will happen in the 2026/27 financial year.  Gregory Jones, chair of the committee, said: ‘Given the increasing popularity of open water swimming, we will be reviewing the current arrangements at the Mixed Pond. This will include looking at access, facilities and opening hours, to bring it into line with Parliament Hill Lido, Kenwood Ladies’ Pond and Highgate Men’s Pond.’ The plan also proposes re-landscaping the area around the mixed pond and improving the o

Art lovers of London! It’s time to start curating your 2026 calendar. We’ve put together a list of the best art shows coming to the capital over the next 12 months and from Tracey Emin to Catherine Opie, there’s a remarkable amount of major exhibitions by or dedicated to women. However, the one we’re most looking forward to focuses on possibly the most famous female artist of them all: Frida Kahlo.  It’s been eight long years since a major exhibition of Mexico’s great painter came to London. But in 2026, the Tate Modern will pay homage to Kahlo and her legacy in Frida: The Making of an Icon.  More than 70 years after her death, Frida Kahlo remains a huge cultural phenomenon and commercial icon. Her monobrowed likeness has been slapped on tote bags, novelty socks, fridge magnets, mugs and limited-edition eye shadow palettes the world over. But the deluge of Frida merch can often overshadow the story of her complex personal life, her political activism and the real depth of her art – something that’s best appreciated by seeing her work in the flesh.  The Tate’s show will display 130 pieces of work by Kahlo, her contemporaries and the artists she has inspired since her death. Expect some of Kahlo’s most iconic paintings as well as documents, photographs and memorabilia from her archives.  The show promises to provide fascinating insights into Kahlo’s personal and professional life, and to deep dive into her monumental legacy. It’ll bring attention to the Frida fandoms that have

Forget the Alps, you may soon find yourself heading to the Welsh countryside for ski season instead. There have been plans to build an enormous ski resort in Wales for several years now. Rhydycar West was first mooted for Merthyr Tydfil (a town in the Brecon Beacons) way, way back in 2012. After more than a decade, it’s taken a significant step towards finally becoming a reality – and this week it’s finally been confirmed.  The Welsh government gave the green light to Rhydycar West in November 2025, but this week the project has received planning permission from Merthyr Tydfil council. The £300 million resort is set to become the UK’s largest indoor snow centre and its 400m long slope will be one of the longest in Europe. Proposals for the centre also include an indoor tropical water park with water slides and an artificial beach, hotels, 30 woodland lodges and a conference centre. Image: Rhydycar West Rhydycar also has ambitions to  a ‘world class’ and ‘internationally recognised’ destination for sports teams and elite athletes as well as tourists. It’s expected to be the the headquarters of Team GB’s Winter Olympic and Paralympic teams.  Ali Tyebkhan, Rhydycar West CEO, said: ‘This is an amazing moment. It marks the culmination of many years of hard work as well aspatience. Thank you to all our team, partners, supporters and the local community – we could not have done this without your ongoing support over the years. We are very excited and looking forward to the next s

Brace yourselves – the first named storm of 2026 is here. And, according the Met Office, it’s going to be a ‘multi-hazard event’.  Storm Goretti, which has been named by French meteorological service Meteo France, will arrive in the UK this week. With it comes weather warnings across almost all parts of the country. Over the next few days, Brits can expect lots of rain, heavy snow, ice and gale force winds, with potential disruption to power supply and to road, rail and air travel.  Here’s everything you need to know about when Storm Goretti will land, how long it’ll last and where will be hit the worst.  When will Storm Goretti hit the UK? Goretti will cross into England and Wales in the evening of Thursday January 8. Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster Chris Bulmer said: ‘A deepening area of low pressure – named Storm Goretti by Meteo France – will move across the south of the UK during Thursday and into Friday January 9. ‘It will clash with the very cold air here, meaning Thursday night could be what we call a “multi-hazard” event, with snow on the northern flank of the low, wind and rain on the southern flank.’ Which areas will be worst hit by the storm? The areas that will be worst affected by Storm Goretti will be in the south and southwest of the country.  The Met Office says that snow accumulations of up to 30cm are possible in the Midlands and Wales, while Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are under a red weather warning for high winds.  Full list of weather warning

Poor January gets a terrible rap. It’s dark, it’s freezing cold and no one seems to have the money or energy to do anything worthwhile. Our bank accounts may have been completely and utterly drained by all the Christmas and New Year festivities, but that doesn’t mean you should write the first month of the year off.  Our favourite way to shake off the January blues is by getting out in the city and making the most of all the wallet-friendly thing going on. And there’s plenty. Loads of capital’s very best theatre and musicals, restaurants and bars offer discounted tickets and cheap meal deals throughout the month to help people through, and as ever, the city is constantly host all sorts of weird and wonderful free events.  This weekend, those free events include a trouser-less excursion, a tree ceremony and lots of alcohol-free pint giveaways. Read on for Time Out’s full list of all the best things you can do in London this weekend without spending a penny.  The best free things on in London this weekend, January 9-11 2026 1. Catch the final days of some brilliant exhibitions Turner Prize-nominated video artist Hilary Lloyd’s latest commission closes at Clapham’s Studio Voltaire on Sunday. The installation is centred all around the work of the playwright and TV writer Dennis Potter, who was best known for his TV serials and surrealist Brechtian techniques. It features a series of short films exploring themes of chronic illness, death, sex, abuse of power and class with acto

The Ministry of Sound is entering a brand new era in 2026. Ahead of its 35th year of existence, the legendary club is getting its most significant transformation to date.  The venue’s main room, the Box, will be closed over the next few weeks as it undergoes a huge refurb. It’ll say goodbye to its legendary Martin Audio system and replace it with a sparkling new KV2 sound system, promising a ‘more powerful, immersive and detailed listening experience’.  The makeover will also include rebuilding and lowering the DJ booth into the crowd to allow for more stage formats, such as a 360-degree setup. The booth will be surrounding by an elevated backstage area, which will be able to fit 200 people.  There’s more. The Box is also getting a huge ‘state-of-the-art’ overhead light installation and new video and lighting design by studio Lucid Creates, which has previously created stages and installations for the likes of Glastonbury and Boomtown. Chris Carr, the agency’s founder said that it has ‘leant heavily into industrial textures and forms to inform the overall look of the space - steering away from an overly clean, overly manicured aesthetic’. The outcome, he said, is ‘something that will still feel distinctively “The Box” but in a really interesting and imaginative way’.  Work will be complete by the end of the month, and the Box will be back up and running on January 30 (the venue’s other rooms are still hosting smaller events). Tickets for the reopening weekend, which will incl

Don’t get us wrong, we’re all for a holiday abroad. But we’re also huge advocates for a staycation. Britain is teeming with towns, cities and villages all with their own brilliant unique charm. There’s the sweet chocolate-box vibes of the Cotswolds, the romantic drama of the Lake District, the underrated cities outside of London and the unbeatable beaches of Devon and Cornwall, to name but a few. And this year, there’s an abundance of brand new things to see and do across the country.   To help you fill your calendar, Time Out’s editors and writers have ranked 14 places across Britain that will be particularly worth a visit in 2026. Thanks to a game-changing new rail route and packed programme of cultural and community events, our number one must-see place in the UK in 2026 is Stirling.   Time Out UK’s news editor Ed Cunningham wrote: ‘Stirling is far from an unsung destination; the Scottish city’s greatness is legendary, particularly its immense historical sights – including its castle and National Wallace Monument, both beacons of Scottishness – and access to extraordinary natural landscapes like Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. But in 2026 there’ll be one huge new reason to visit Stirling: the launch of an affordable direct train service from London that will make the city cheaper, easier and more accessible to get to than ever.’  Photograph: Shutterstock Budget rail operator Lumo is launching a direct route from London to Stirling in mid-2026. The trains will run to and f

January is a famously dreary month of the year. The Christmas magic has worn off, everyone is swearing off anything fun and the days are dark and cold. In short, exactly when we could all do with an extra injection of light. And for the past decade, Canary Wharf has been providing just that.  At the start of each year, the Winter Lights festival sets out to help you beat the January blues and transforms the financial district into a kaleidoscopic outdoor gallery of light art. It returns for 2026 this month, on January 20.  The lights are completely free to see and will switch on every evening from 5pm to 10pm until January 31. For 2026, the festival’s theme is ‘Dreamscape’, which promises an ‘an exploratory journey of the surreal and ethereal’.  Expect interactive displays, colourful projections and magnificent installations from world-renowned light artists, as well as pop-up food stalls to keep you fuelled along the way.  Photograph: Canary Wharf Group Pippa Dale, an associate director at the Canary Wharf Group said: ‘Winter Lights started as a glowing idea to brighten the dark January nights and bring joy through art to Londoners. Over the past decade, this idea has grown and brightened into one of the capital's most ambitious light art festivals, with this year's Dreamscape theme representing our boldest vision yet.’  Last year, the installations included a piece that reflected sunlight during the day and became a dazzling choreographed light show by night, plus an illu

London is changing all the time. Our transport is always being upgraded to make travel smoother, our neighbourhoods are always getting new homes and community spaces, and fresh cultural offerings like restaurants and theatre shows are always popping up. So naturally, 2026 will be full of new openings. We’ve put together a list of all of the most exciting new projects set to alter London over the next 12 months. There are enormous multi-venue developments opening in the west of the city, a new public garden, a casino and a quirky hostel coming to the centre, and a shiny new museum and jazz bar launching in the east. Read on for all the details.  RECOMMENDED: 12 major changes coming to London transport in 2026 9 developments that will change London in 2026 Photograph: Peter Kelleher © Victoria & Albert Museum V&A East  Last year saw the great unveiling of the V&A East Storehouse. This year, it’s all about the V&A East Museum. Based in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a short walk from the storehouse, the new museum will have two free permanent galleries packed with more than 500 objects spanning art, architecture, design, performance and fashion. It’ll open to the public on April 18 and its first exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, will explore how Black British music has shaped culture in Britain and beyond, with exhibits including Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, looks worn by Little Simz and photography by Dennis Morris and Jennie Baptiste. Tate Britain Clor

Last year, Claire’s Accessories and The Original Factory Shop both came painfully close to disappearing from UK high streets for good. Luckily, investment firm Modella Capital (which also runs WHSmith and Hobbycraft) swooped in to save the day – it acquired the Original Factory Shop at the start of 2025 and took over Claire’s back in September.  But less than a year later, Modella’s efforts to give the retailers a new lease of life have led to both chains going into administration. Now the remaining 150 Claire’s stores could also disappear from our high streets, and 140 Original Factory Shop outlets could say goodbye. Here’s everything we know.  Why are Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop going into administration?  Modella said that both chain’s were already ‘highly vulnerable’ when it took them over, and put its decision down to a combination of ‘very weak consumer confidence, highly adverse government fiscal policies and continued cost inflation’.  It added: ‘This has been a very tough decision. We have worked intensively in an effort to save both businesses, having made last-ditch attempts to rescue them, but neither has a realistic possibility of trading profitably again.’ Photograph: Shutterstock What will happen to Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop? Right now, administrators will be looking for new buyers to rescue the brands – but if a buyer isn’t found, both are likely to be liquidated with all branches closing down. Between the two business, there are m

The UK is home to several iconic LGBTQ+ districts – areas that have been officially recognised for their significance to Britain’s queer community.There’s the UK’s unofficial gay capital of Kemptown in Brighton, which has been home to queer-friendly venues since the 1920s. Canal Street in Manchester has been an LGBTQ+ safe haven since the ’50s and Birmingham’s Southside is where the country’s first LGBT Community Centre was established. Now, Nottingham is getting it’s own officially recognised gay village.  Hockley, which is part of the city centre’s creative quarter and already well-known for its queer venues, is set to be transformed into the city’s LGBTQ+ district (aka ‘Rainbow Quarter’) later this year. The district will cover three streets: Broad Street, Carlton Street and Heathcote Street.  RECOMMENDED: 🏳️‍🌈 The best LGBTQ+ venues in the UK – chosen by queer icons. It’ll be designed in a similar way to the well-established gay villages in Manchester and Birmingham, with help from Carl Austin-Behan, Manchester’s first gay mayor and a key player in the creation of its own Rainbow Quarter.  The idea of making Hockley a designated LGBTQ+ area was first mooted 10 years ago. Its significance to the city’s LGBTQ+ community dates back to the ’90s when The Health Shop, a centre offering sexual health advise to gay men, opened. Next door to that is the GAi Project, a gay and bisexual men's HIV prevention initiative launched by actor Sir Ian McKellen in 1994. In 1997, Nottingha