Annie McNamee

This bustling coastal city is absolutely steeped in history, maritime heritage, and of course, there's loads to see. It’s roots date back as far as the Stone Age, and it's first ever museum (the Tudor House) remains a top attraction, with gorgeous gardens and guided tours on offer.  There’s plenty of modern-day action too, with a treasured football team, The Saints, and their fans bringing life to the city on match day. Southampton is also only a 20-minute drive away from the New Forest, or a ferry-ride away from the Isle of Wight, there's plenty going on that makes this city worth a visit. Check out our list of top picks for all the best things to do in Southampton.  RECOMMENDED: ⛰️ The best things to in the New Forest🏖️ The best seaside towns in the UK💕 The best things to do in the UK Annie McNamee is a writer at Time Out UK. 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. 

Television used to be considered one of the lowest forms of entertainment. It was derided as ‘the idiot box’ and ‘the boob tube’. Edward R Murrow referred to it as ‘the opiate of the masses’, and the phrase ‘I don’t even own a TV’ was considered a major bragging right. And for a long time, it was hard to say that television’s poor reputation was undeserved.  A lot has changed. Television is now the dominant medium in basically all of entertainment, to the degree that the only thing separating movies and TV is the screen you’re watching on. Now, if you don’t own a television – or a laptop or a tablet or a phone – you’re basically left out of the cultural conversation completely. The shift in perception is widely credited to the arrival of The Sopranos, which completely reinvented the notion of what a TV show could do. But that doesn’t mean everything that came before is primordial slurry. While this list of the greatest TV shows ever is dominated by 21st century programs, there are many shows that deserve credit for laying the groundwork for this current golden age. Chiseling them down to a neat top 100 is difficult, so we elected to leave off talk shows, variety shows and sketch comedy, focusing on scripted, episodic dramas, comedies and miniseries.  So don’t touch that dial – these are the greatest TV shows of all-time.

This is about the time when the January blues start to hit pretty hard. It’s dark at 4pm, you’ve got no money left after Christmas and winter feels like it’s dragging on forever. But we’re here to tell you that things are looking up, because 2025 is going to be a corker of a year for the UK.  It turns out that 2025 is going to be a bit of a big one, with a number of landmark occasions being celebrated across Britain. There’s Jane Austen’s 250th birthday in Southampton, as well as the art-packed Folkestone Triennial, a celebration of 200 years of the British railway in York and Bradford’s 2025 City of Culture festivities. Then, there are up-and-coming foodie towns in Cornwall, music scenes that are popping off in Cardiff and Belfast, and the reopening of grand cultural insitutions like the Tate Liverpool.  If there’s ever been a good time to book a trip, it’s now (it might even help keep some SAD at bay). There is so much fantastic stuff happening across the country this year, so read our list curated by local experts of the best places to visit in the UK in 2025, and get stuck in.  RECOMMENDED: 🇬🇧 The 25 best new things to do in the UK in 2025📍The 12 most underrated city breaks in the UK 🏨 The UK’s 13 best new hotels opening in 2025

There’s honestly nowhere in the world like Soho. The haunt of poets, gangsters, trendsetters and many a louche genius, the seedy, sleazy and impossibly romantic heart of London’s West End is also home to loads of great independent shops, cafés, bars and, most importantly, restaurants. Its culinary diversity has been fuelled by centuries of immigration and cultural cross-pollination. From rustic French fare to Mediterranean small plates and tasty tapas, here is Time Out’s list of our absolute favourite Soho restaurants. Whether you fancy a slap-up meal or are just in the market for a mid-town pitstop, we have you covered. Recent additions include Filipino bistro Donia, old school Soho fonude joint St Moritz, Cambodian pop-up Mamapen and revamped classic Kettner’s. RECOMMENDED: Here are London’s best restaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor and spends so much time eating in Soho that she basically lives on Greek Street. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. The hottest new openings, the tastiest tips, the spiciest reviews: we’re serving it all on our London restaurants WhatsApp channel. Follow us now.

If people make Glasgow, music is what fuels it. The city's music scene was thriving long before the rest of it had caught up, with places like the Barrowlands and the Old Fruit Market offering locals good, cheap live music when general attitudes of Glasgow were, let's just say, less than favourable.  But those days are behind us, and Scotland's biggest city is now known across the UK for its vibrant cultural heritage, nightlife, and, of course, its music scene. Whether you're looking for an arena of people to scream along your favourite songs with, or a small makeshift stage at the back of a bar to find your new favourite band, Glasgow's got you sorted. Fair warning though: crowds here are famously rowdy. They're a lot of fun, but don't be surprised if you end up beer-soaked. Oh, and brush up on our local chants. You don't want to be the only person not shouting along with 'here we, here we, here we f'ing go!'. 

History has it that Pollokshaws Road was once home to a merry band of Flemish weavers – known as the ‘Queer Folk’ – who were brought over to work in the city during the 19th century by local landowners. These days it’s still a thriving creative hub, threading down Glasgow’s Southside and linking up the districts of Govanhill, Strathbungo and Shawlands. Rows of sandstone tenements loom over traffic separated by wide pavements, behind which stand ornate townhouses designed by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson. There’s a juicy chunk of Pollokshaws Road where bars, cafés and boutiques jostle for space; pick it up from Allison Street and wander down past Queen’s Park. Since it’s a largely residential area, there’s a distinct feel of community – something that’s enhanced by the indie businesses that have popped up over the past few years. In particular it’s a brunch haven, with queues leaking out of living-room-sized cafés come rain or shine. You can also expect to find organic fruit and veg at Stalks & Stems, a fresh produce emporium with a florist next door, and (almost) a different coffee shop for every day of the week. It’s not all hipster territory, though. Punters tired of mustachioed baristas and bar staff will be cheered by the decent selection of old man pubs complete with smoked-glass windows. Recommended: Full guide to the best things to do in Glasgow

How easily could you be persuaded to shave off an eyebrow, or take a shot for every stair you climbed? Perhaps you’d feel more compelled if you were half a bottle of ‘Chicken Wine’ deep, 18, and surrounded by new friends that you were trying to impress? If you attended university in the UK you might have an uncomfortable feeling of deja-vu, perhaps being whisked back to the time you were ‘hazed’ as a first year student. If you didn’t, you’ve likely heard the rumours about former prime ministers getting it on with pigs, or rugby teams shoving carrots in places vegetables should never go. Hazing, or ‘initiation’ as it more commonly goes by this side of the Atlantic, is a practice which usually consists of ritualistically embarrassing rookie members of a given group in order for them to prove themselves. It’s also nothing new. There’s evidence of rowdy schoolboys dating as far back as 420 BCE when Plato recounted ‘practical jokes played by unruly young men’ which left both spectators and haze-ees injured. Somehow, this bizarre custom has survived the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the birth of Jesus Christ, several international plagues and found a home for itself in the modern age on university campuses. But for the past decade or so, hazing’s millenia-long reign has been threatened by a generation who supposedly care more about their physical and mental health than they do about banter and ritual humiliation. Today, hazing has met its match: Generation Z. So what do these

In 2024, what exactly makes a neighbourhood cool? Craft breweries, natty wine bars and street art are well and good, but the world’s best, most exciting and downright fun neighbourhoods are much more than identikit ‘hipster hubs’. They’re places that reflect the very best of their cities – its culture, community spirit, nightlife, food and drink – all condensed in one vibey, walkable district. To create our annual ranking, we went straight to the experts – our global team of on-the-ground writers and editors – and asked them what the coolest neighbourhood in their city is right now, and why. Then we narrowed down the selection and ranked the list using the insight and expertise of Time Out’s global editors, who vetted each neighbourhood against criteria including food, drink, arts, culture, street life, community and one-of-a-kind local flavour. The result? A list that celebrates the most unique and exciting pockets of our cities – and all their quirks. Yes, you’ll find some of those international hallmarks of ‘cool’. But in every neighbourhood on this list there’s something you won’t find anywhere else. Ever been to a photography museum that moonlights as a jazz club? Or a brewery with a library of Russian literature? How about a festival dedicated to fluff? When communities fiercely support and rally around their local businesses, even the most eccentric ideas can become a reality. And that, in our eyes, is what makes a neighbourhood truly cool. From formerly overlooked sub

You might never want to leave Edinburgh, and we get it. The Scottish capital is loved the world over for its culture, restaurants and Fringe Festival (to name a few). But if you limit your time in Scotland to just Edinburgh, trust us, you’re missing out.  Scotland is full of gems, but the best part is a whole lot of them can be reached by train or car in just one day – with enough time left to get back in time for dinner. From hilly hikes to wide-open beaches and from pretty towns to full-blown city breaks, these day trips from Edinburgh are not to be missed. Here are our favourites.  RECOMMENDED:🌤️ The best things to do in Edinburgh 🎨 The best art galleries in Edinburgh🏰 The best attractions in Edinburgh🏘️ The best Airbnbs in Edinburgh This guide was updated by Edinburgh-based Arusa Quereshi, and Time Out editors. 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. 

What words come to mind when we mention the Olympics? Prestige? Excellence? Medals? Or is it: ‘Grom’?  The Olympic games have been around for nearly three millennia. As the entire planet tunes in to watch as the top sports people compete for those coveted gold medals, there’s some stuff you’ll probably want to get your head around to make the most of your viewing experience: jargon for you normies to weave into your vocab that will have you sounding like proper Olympic pros in no time.  RECOMMENDED:How to watch the Paris 2024 Olympics in the UK for freeHere’s the full schedule and timings for the Summer Games We’ve done some digging and unearthed some 100 percent real words and phrases that will almost certainly be used by professional Olympians and commentators across the next few weeks. What’s more, there’s something inherently funny about words which sound out of place to the average Joe. There’s nothing worth giggling about hearing the word ‘jaeger’ at a bar (especially as it’s usually followed by a friend trying to convince you to neck a shot of sweet battery acid and gone-off liquorice), but watching it earnestly come out of the mouth of a world-class gymnast? Now that’s entertainment. So what are you waiting for? Brush up on your sporty lingo and drop these into convo next time you’re watching the Games to impress your mates. Skateboarding  ‘Goofy stance’: Refers to when a skateboarder has their left foot on the back of the board. Also used in surfing and snowboarding

You remember the days. Assuring your friend that she definitely looks like her older cousin’s co-worker, especially with a ponytail in. Hovering awkwardly around the corner from the off-license as your one 18-year-old pal does God’s work for the rest of you. The pit in your tummy as you recite a fake birthday to the bouncer of a sticky-floored nightclub – remembering your star sign, memorising your imaginary postcode – and the elated relief when he lets you in with a raised eyebrow and a reluctant nod. Finding increasingly inventive ways to get around age-restrictions was half the fun of being 17, but today’s teens seem to be going off going out altogether. ‘You definitely see fake IDs less than you used to,’ says one bouncer at a popular student nightclub in Bristol. When he started working at the venue a decade ago, he’d encounter a load of fakes on any given night – but not so much anymore. ‘The worst one I ever saw had the back on upside down,’ he says. ‘The ones we do see are getting a lot better and it can be harder to catch them. But they’re definitely rarer now.’ Something has certainly shifted. A few weeks ago, as I walked through the Triangle, Bristol’s premier hotspot for stumbling freshers and lovers of three for two Jägerbombs, I noticed that the local Sainsbury’s was busier than all of the clubs combined. Two years ago, dancefloors would’ve been filling up at 11pm on a Monday. This wasn’t a fluke: since that night, two of the clubs in question have closed their

For all of the stick we give the UK – the grey skies, the pigeons, the Greggs sausage roll packets littering the pavements – it’s actually a pretty gorgeous country. In London alone, you can be goggling over the Barbican’s brutalist beauty one moment, the next, you might be basking in the tranquility of Hampstead Ponds. Add the turquoise coasts of Cornwall, the rugged mountains of Snowdonia and the fairytale wonder of Scotland’s highlands and islands to the mix, and you’ve got a country which is as good looking as they come.  When we set about curating this list of the most beautiful places in the UK, we called on our network of expert travel writers. These guys have have personally experienced the pinch-me moment of seeing every place on this list IRL – so we can guarantee you there is no catfishing going on here. Of course, you’ll find the usual suspects – you can’t argue with the magic of the Isle of Skye, after all – but you’ll also find some more surprising beauty spots to add to your travel bucket list. RECOMMENDED:🚂 The UK’s most beautiful train stations🇬🇧 The best things to do in the UK🏝 The most beautiful places in the world🏠 The best Airbnbs in the UK Chiara Wilkinson is Time Out’s UK features editor, based in London. 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

You’ve been here before. Almost.  With a clientele which would be perfect for a Love Island spin-off featuring exclusively people with ‘entrepreneur’ in their bios and a healthy amount of exposed pipework, The Counter is what those in the know would probably call ‘trendy’. Its dim lights, small plate selection, and strategically chipped brick feature wall put it on the verge of parodically hip, but a glance at its menu and a quick chat with any member of its team reveal it to be much more down to Earth than some of its equally Instagrammable peers. If you close your eyes you can almost feel the Istanbuli breeze flowing through your hair The sense of deja-vu you feel may not be coming solely from its open-plan bar though. Chef Kemal Demirasal’s first UK venture, opened up two years ago in Notting Hill to much success. Originally from Turkey, he’s taken much of the charm of the original joint (as well as its most popular recipes and excellent cocktails) and transported it to Kingly Street – and combined it with a series of fresh ideas and a lot of seafood. Fresh is definitely the operative word. The cocktails are infused with real fruit. The tomatoes have been imported from Turkey. There’s sort-of-caviar sprinkled on avocado-topped fish. If you close your eyes and just bite, you can almost feel the Istanbuli breeze flowing through your hair. A series of enthusiastic staff members recommended a variety of dishes to us. Some, like the tomato salad or prawns, were familiar classi

Enjoy an evening of modern classical music composed by Black artists whose work did not get the spotlight that it deserved in its time at this Southbank Centre concert. The night will involve three different pieces from three different composers, performed by up and coming American violinist Randall Goosby, who made his debut with the Jacksonville Symphony orchestra at just nine, and award-winning Chinese pianist Zhu Wang. 

It’s impressive to do one arena tour. It’s more impressive to do two. It’s even more impressive to be relevant enough nearly 40 years after forming to still be selling them out. Nine Inch Nails have been big players in the worlds of industrial, rock and experimental music since the late ’80s, which is no mean feat. In the three and a half decades since, Trent Reznor has toured the UK many, many times, and chances are that if your dad hasn’t seen them, your best mate’s dad has. NIN last came across the Pond three years ago to play five nights scattered across the country, and now they’re back for more. There’s no new album to celebrate, because there doesn’t need to be. These shows are bigger and, we’re sure, even better than before. It’s time to get ready, NIN fans – tickets go on sale this week. Here’s everything you need to know to make sure you can see Nine Inch Nails on their 2025 ‘Peel it Back’ tour in the UK.  When are Nine Inch Nails going on their UK tour? Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will land in Britain this June, so you don’t have very long to wait. They’re set to play two nights, one in London and one in Manchester, before hopping over to our neighbours in Dublin and then continuing across the continent until August.  June is also the beginning of festival season in Europe, so keep your eyes peeled for potential further opportunities to see the boys at a festival or two this summer. Full list of UK tour dates Here is the full list of UK tour dates for Nine Inch

If you’ve been into town recently, you know what’s up. You’ve seen the boarded up windows, you’ve noticed your usual haunts disappearing, you’ve benefited from an ‘everything must go – half off!’ sale once or twice. You can see that it’s a shop-ageddon out there on UK high streets, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. In 2023, we lost Wilko, and then in 2024 we got it back. Then we said goodbye to a bunch of Marks and Spencers, some Boots, a few Body Shops, and plenty more. In fact, some studies have estimated that Britain lost up to 37 shops a day in 2024. Although we all hoped that the new year would bring good news for our high streets, it’s looking like 2025 might just be more of the same. It’s not all doom and gloom, but it’s useful to know exactly what’s coming and going so that you don’t plan an entire shopping day around a store which has closed its doors for the last time. Here’s an exhaustive list of all the big places shutting up shop this year across the country. All the UK high street closures in 2025 WH Smith There’s no need to panic buy your pens and cut-price hardbacks, even though WH Smith is shutting 17 stores this year and could sell all 500 of its high-street shops in the UK, it’s also planning a big expansion sometime in the future. So it’s not a definitively bad picture for the stationary salespeople. For now, though, here are the branches confirmed to be closing. Bournemouth Old Christchurch Road, Dorset (January 18) Luton, Bedfordshire (January

Be honest – how often do you imagine what life would be like if you were the lady/lord of a castle? If you’ve been hooked on the Traitors, it’s probably been at least three times a week, but even if you’re not, you can’t pretend it’s never crossed your mind. Owning a home of any sort feels like enough of a distant dream for many of us that it’s not even that much of a leap to mentally go straight to castle-hunting – and the perfect medieval-era joint is officially on the market. The Ripley Castle in Yorkshire, which was built in the fourteenth century, is a proper fortress. We’re talking an entire estate of 445 acres, complete with a cricket pitch, tea room, gift shop and even a built-in wedding venue. That’s right – you can finally buy the entire gift shop. Literally. The current owners, Sir Thomas and Lady Ingilby, are selling up to ‘focus on other interests’, despite the building having been in the family for 26 generations, which is somewhere around 500 years, give or take a few. The Ingilbys have divided the property into nine lots to sell, but don’t fret, you can buy them all at once for the small price of £21 million. Okay, there’s not really any way you can square that where it isn’t pretty expensive but hey, you are buying an entire hotel and gift shop as well as a castle. You get what you pay for, as they say. The estate agent responsible for the sale, Carter Jonas, has described the estate as having ‘countless possibilities to transform it further into a remarkable

You’ve worked your whole life for this. Forty-odd years of hard graft have led up to the day that you finally get to walk away for the very last time, and relax for the rest of your life. Choosing where to retire is a big decision. If all goes well, it will be where you spend a good couple of decades, and those decades will be freer than any of the previous ones, so you’ll want to pick somewhere you won’t get tired of. To help you out a bit with making up your mind, the Telegraph, along with real estate agents Savills, has created a list of the top ten best places to retire in the country. To figure out where the best spots for pensioners are, the Telegraph looked at several ‘key factors’, including ‘the number of hospitals, GPs and dentists per 10,000 people and the availability of shops and green spaces nearby’. The newspaper also considered crime rates and average property prices, then did some number crunching to determine standardised scores for each place, and finally ranked them. According to one researcher from Savills retirees are often happy to uproot and chase a better life, despite the common perception of them as frail and elderly, because; ‘these movers are likely to reconsider the location of their home to ensure the convenience and proximity of local amenities and health services, so they can be less reliant on others in later life’. So where should you recommend nan? Apparently, Exeter. The south coast city triumphed thanks to its proximity to stunning natura

Getting into Oxford is hard. Getting onto a medicine course is hard. Getting into medicine at Oxford is incredibly hard, but, as it turns out, worth it. Each year, various different people rank every university in the world based on a variety of criteria ranging from quality of teaching to student satisfaction, and one of the biggest annual charts is that of Times Higher Education. Not only does THE rank universities, it also ranks subjects, and where in the world you’re best placed to study everything from law to physics. This year, Oxford University claimed top spot for medicine. It scored well on all five of the measures, which were research quality, research environment, teaching, industry impact, and international outlook. Each school is given individual scores in each category and one overall average – this is what Oxford is leading in. The English institution had scores above 90 out of 100 in all five categories and achieved 96 overall, beating out Harvard, which came second, by just 1.2 points. It particularly excels in industry output, where it had a perfect 100/100. In Times Higher Education’s global universities ranking, published last October, Oxford came top (and several London unis placed highly). Despite its prestige and renown, medical students at Oxford will have the exact same chances of getting their first choice of location for their foundation years as junior doctors in the UK. However they will have an advantage if they choose to go into research, which

Storm Éowyn is, by all accounts, going to be quite a big one. It began early today (Friday, January 24) with winds reaching as fast as  100mph – you can learn more about the storm itself and various weather warnings here. As always, weather this grim is going to be disruptive to our day-to-day lives, and the Met Office has issued warnings that power lines may go down, and that, ‘injuries and danger to life could occur from flying debris’. In light of these forecasts, airports and train lines throughout the UK have pulled the plug on countless services over the weekend. Basically, if you can work from home tomorrow (January 24), it’s probably best that you do – especially because there’s a small chance that the internet access will be partly cut, and your weekend will start early. Every storm has its silver linings. Here’s all the info you need on travel disruption and cancellations across the UK this weekend.  Train disruption caused by Storm Éowyn In Scotland, all ScotRail services have been called of for Friday, with no alternative transport available. It said ‘once the warnings pass, the network will have to undergo safety inspections before services can be reintroduced. Please check the ScotRail website or app before travelling on Saturday morning.’ In England, Network Rail has closed the West Coast main line north of Preston and the East Coast main line north of Newcastle. LNER has cautioned against travelling north of York, and Transpennine Express expects delays and ca

Londoners are used to disruption to their travel. There are always tube closures or maintenance works or roads being shut off, but usually only for a few months at a time, maybe a year at most. The Hammersmith Bridge’s closure, however, makes that look like child’s play. The bridge has been closed for six years already, and now it’s looking like it could remain that way for another decade. That’s right. Sixteen whole years to repair what is, in the grand scheme of bridges, a relatively small crossing. So what’s the deal? In short, this Victorian suspension bridge is one of the oldest of its kind in the world, which makes it simultaneously very cool, and very pricey to fix. The government and the local council have been ping-ponging back and forth for the past few years on who is going to foot the massive £250 million bill. Last year a fancy new cycle lane was approved – but drivers are still waiting to be allowed back on the bridge. And so that debate rages on, with no end in sight according to the local MP Fleur Anderson. She has cautioned that she believes that after six years of stalling, the price and scale of the project has risen greatly, stating; ‘Even if they started [now] it would be ten years of building. So we’re talking a long time away. ‘If [the last Conservative Government] had started, and they’d got on with it six years ago, we could have done it, but everything seems to have slowed down.’ She continued that; ‘There are variables we couldn’t even have imagine

It’s not easy to be a theme park in Britain. Cornwall’s Flambard’s discovered this when it closed down last year. It’s even harder to create a new one, as the ‘British answer to Disneyworld’ discovered in recent weeks.  It’s not all doom and gloom in the world of UK theme parks, though. Britain could soon get an import from France in the form of a £600 million branch of Puy du Fou in Oxfordshire.  Puy du Fou is France’s second most visited amusement park after Disneyland, and it’s so much more than just a bunch of rollercoasters. This place has medieval rollercoasters. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean it relies on technology from the middle ages; these rides very much pass 2025 safety checks. It does, however, mean that the entire park is made to look decidedly historic, and that there are daily re-enactments of gladiator fights, sword fights, and chariot races. If that sounds good to you, you’re in luck, because the owners are now looking across the channel, and hoping to open up a new location in Cherwell, Oxfordshire. Planning permission will apparently be submitted later this year, and according to Puy du Fou the chosen site, 370 acres just north of Bicester Village, is not one of ecological or historical significance.  Olivier Strebelle, the chief executive of the existing parks, has said that he wants visitors to ‘travel through time’, continuing on to say: ‘We want our guests to be disconnected from the 21st century... The best segue between [times] is nature because it’

If you regularly commute on a train, you probably don’t think of it as the picture of opulence. It’s probably often very full, very expensive, and very delayed, but believe it or not, travelling by rail can be a very pleasant experience. The British Pullman, A Belmond Train, is a luxury vintage train offering a ride which is in all ways about the journey, rather than the destination. The carriages are straight out of a Wes Anderson film or Victorian picture book, tickets start at three figures, and it’s all very swanky (we even hopped aboard one last month – click here to read our experience). As if that wasn’t all fancy enough, the team behind the Pullman has announced a brand new Michelin Star chef series, where passengers will enjoy a five course tasting menu, paired with champagne and expensive wines, straight from the mind of an industry-leading chef. The series will begin on April 18 and run until October 24 after a total of four seasonal culinary takeovers. It will begin with Theo Randall, who has previously worked at the River Café, an Italian in London, who will create a spring spread, and he will be succeeded by Phil Howard from May 22. Based on previous work, he will probably produce a delicious French-inspired menu. Andrew Wong will climb aboard from June 13 to make magic in the form of Chinese-British fusion, and then finally Atul Kochhar, who worked with the first ever Indian restaurant to earn a Michelin star, will close things out with a bang in October. All o

Is there anything more intrinsic to British culture than the pub? Historians reckon people in what is now Britain were drinking in taverns as early as the Roman times, so getting together, pint in hand, has been a key part of socialising in this country for at least a couple thousand years. Even if you don’t drink you’ve probably spent many a night in your local watching the football, filling up on some classic grub, or embarrassing yourself and the rest of the ‘Quizzy Rascals’ on a Tuesday night. All of this to say – pubs are beloved by us Brits. So, naturally, there’s an entire organisation dedicated to tracking down the very best that the UK has to offer. CAMRA, which stands for the Campaign for Real Ale, is a consumer organisation that promotes real ale, cider and perry. Every year CAMRA crowns its pub of the year, travelling around the country trying beers and sitting in pubs – there are certainly worse ways to spend your weekends. To win, a pub must excel in ‘decor, welcome, service, inclusivity, overall impression, but most importantly – the quality of live beer, real cider and perry’. This is serious stuff. First, there is a longlist, with a winner from each region from London to Northern Ireland, then a shortlist, which whittles it down to a top four, and now today (January 17), after months of suspense, the overall winner has been revealed. CAMRA’s official pub of the year 2025 is… The Bailey Head in Oswestry, Shropshire! According to the judges: ‘The pub is a rags-

There’s a few things we’re world leaders at here in the UK. Some you will have heard about – like football and fish ’n’ chips – others are a bit more niche. For instance, we’re doing pretty well in the world of budget airline safety rankings. Okay, that’s very niche, but it’s still important. After all, when you book a flight you do ideally want to make it to your destination in one piece, even if you have only spent £20 on your ticket. That’s why Airlineratings.com, which specialises in, you guessed it, rating airlines, spends a lot of time trying to figure out who you are safest with should you choose to travel through the sky. How does Airlineratings.com measure safety? Very thoroughly. It’s not just about crashes or deaths – although those are counted – they also look at fleet size and age, the skill level and amount of training given to pilots, the rate of emergency ‘incidents’, and if they have historically passed safety audits. All of this information is collated and then standardised across a huge list of airlines from across the world. This year, in the top 15 budget airlines, two were British, and a further one was from Ireland. EasyJet, in fourth, Ryanair, in third, and Jet2, in fourteenth, all have perfect safety ratings of seven out of seven, meaning that they are very reliable, despite all having somewhat low passenger ratings. Part of what has allowed these carriers to place so highly is their large fleet sizes with, comparably, very few accidents. It is easier

For hundreds of years, making it to adulthood with a full set of teeth was a privilege. Oral healthcare was next to non-existent until the late 1800s, so keeping a full set of gnashers your whole life was basically like winning the lottery. These days it’s much easier to maintain your pearly whites, in no small part thanks to the discovery of fluoride. Fluoride might sound like a scary chemical, but it’s actually naturally occurring in many rocks and soil samples, and chances are you’ve ingested it loads of times before. It’s in most toothpastes, mouthwashes, and even in our water. Well, some of it. Which brings us to Sadiq Khan. A report from the London Assembly’s Health Committee has issued several recommendations for the London Mayor, one of which is adding fluoride to the city’s drinking water. There is already a small amount of the compound in London’s water, but the committee found that adding more would greatly benefit the oral health of the capital. The report also discovered that an above average number of five year old children in the capital experienced tooth decay in the year of 2021-22, with over a quarter of them being found to have the condition. Although there is a wider issue of lack of access to dental care in the city, it is thought that increased fluoride would help reduce these rates. Khan is now being urged to carry out a review of the feasibility of fluoridating London’s water this yearand submit the findings of the review to the Government, so it could