Annie McNamee

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

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. Recommended: 📺 The best TV and streaming shows of 2024 (so far)🔥 The 100 greatest movies of all-time🎬 The most bingeable series on Netflix

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

Ever wanted to know what life as student is really like in 2023? We asked 20-year-old student-turned-amateur-anthropologist Annie to tell us her observations about the people, parties and juiciest secrets of the UK’s unis. Here’s her verdict. Universities. National institutions. Places of learning and research, incubators of intellect. Unfortunately, also the land of the ‘student’. Student is a varied species which feeds mainly on pasta and rice. British students can often be found at the nearest Wetherspoons, getting drunk on vanilla flavoured vodka because the regular one is 30p more expensive. They tend to be slightly nocturnal and the males are known for going to extraordinary lengths to attract mates that they will subsequently ‘leave on read’.   Subtypes of ‘student’ vary based on location and each British uni comes with its own set of defining characteristics. So, buckle up: this is an entirely imaginary but 100 percent accurate investigation into the private lives of students in the wild, in their most natural habitat – on what they like to call, ‘a night out’.  Newcastle Image: Genie Espinosa We start in Newcastle and encounter Georgia moments after arriving at Market Shaker, an underground bar. She promptly begins chatting about the time she almost jumped into the Tyne ‘just for laughs’, which seems common for the ‘Geordie’ student species. Other notable characteristics appear to include: studying Geography, being obsessed with the North/South divide, Nike Air Max

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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. 

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, they’re also planning a big expansion sometime in the future. So it’s not a definitively bad picture for the stationary salesmen. For now, though, here are the branches confirmed to be closing. Bournemouth Old Christchurch Road, Dorset (January 18) Luton, Bedfordshire (January 18) March, Cambridgeshire (January 25) Basingstoke, Hampsh

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

Are you in the market for a house in one of London’s poshest areas? Probably not, but you never know when a secret rich relative is going to die and leave you with their millions, so it’s good to know what’s out there. You know, just in case. If you do come into that fortune in the near future, you’re just in time to buy a pretty cute, very pink house right in the heart of Notting Hill. The one bed, one bath property was originally built as a stable in the nineteenth century, but is now an open plan home with an abundance of exposed brick going for £1.23 million. That’s London for you. That may be a pretty steep price for a former horse-house, but you do get a good amount of outdoor space and an airy, bright living space. You’re also right next to Portobello Market, and, crucially, the tube. And, of course, the house is sort of locally famous for its shocking pink facade. Apparently, the owners painted it the bright colour in the evening, and didn’t realise what they’d done until the next morning. Their mistake, however, only served to make the house more iconic, and they reckon it is now one of the ‘most photographed houses in Notting Hill’, so before you buy make sure you’re happy to chase photographers and influencers from your doorway on a daily basis. If that all sounds ideal to you, here’s a quick look at some of the interior you’d be calling home. Photograph: Rightmove Photograph: Rightmove Photograph: Rightmove Photograph: Rightmove You can find the listing on

The Channel Tunnel is such a great invention that it’s almost a wonder they didn’t build it earlier. Thirty years on from its opening, millions of people have enjoyed its convenience and comfort, beginning their holidays/business trips without the stress of an airport. That’s nothing short of a modern miracle. But if you’re hoping to pop over to France en train, you’re not exactly spoiled for options. You can choose Eurostar or bust, and that is the way it’s been for the past 30 years, but potentially not for much longer. Virgin operated trains in the UK between 1997-2019, but it was forced to withdraw from the market for a complicated mix of reasons. Now, the operator wants to come back with a bang, and become the first ever Eurostar competitor. There have been suggestions of another company coming to share the inter-European tracks for a while (including proposals by Deutsche Bahn and Evolyn), but no concrete plans have ever been made and Eurostar has held firm. That was until recently, when Virgin announced plans to start buying up train stock in preparation for their bid, which it reckons could be ready by 2029 if all goes to plan. There are a couple of roadblocks which could prevent things going ahead so smoothly for Virgin. At the moment there just isn’t very much space in the St Pancras terminal, so even if the Channel Tunnel was happy to license the company as a competitor, it may not be possible until the station is upgraded to support the extra passengers. Virgin wi

What do you think of pineapple on pizza? Are you a diehard fan of sweet, juicy fruit adding tang to a pizza’s salty cheese and ham? Or do you think the very premise verges on criminality, an abomination in pizza-topping form?  Here’s another question: if you’re a supporter of pineapple-on-pizza, how much would you pay to add your fave topping? One pizzeria in Norwich is out to test the limits of pineapple devotion.  If you buy a Hawaiian pizza at Lupa Pizza, it will set you back a massive £100. What makes their Hawaiian so brilliant? Well, nothing. The price tag is not an indicator of quality, but instead an attempt to ward off would-be pineapple enthusiasts. The topping was added to the restaurant’s takeaway menu after customers asked for it, but, of course, with a catch. On the menu there is a note next to it which reads: ‘Yeah, for £100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on you Monster!’ So it’s not so much an offering as a warning of sorts, although the only thing hurt by you ordering it is your bank account. That, and the feelings of Francis Woolf, one of the owners of the pizzeria, who says that he ‘absolutely loathe[s] pineapple on a pizza’. His co-owner, Quin Jianoran, agreed, albeit without quite the same vitriol. ‘I love a pina colada, but pineapple on pizza? ‘Never. I’d rather put a bloody strawberry on one than that tropical menace,’ explained the restaurateur. The pair agreed to add the dish permanently to their menu if a poll in the Norwich Evening New

We’re mid-way through January, so you’re probably dreaming of escape: a sunny beach with a cocktail in hand, a European city with hundreds of years of culture, or at the very least a hotel with a decent breakfast. At this point you’ll take anything to give you something to be excited about to get you through the cold, dark mornings. The other week price comparison website Go Compare crowned the best places in the UK for a family-friendly staycation – and you can find the full list of destinations here. Notable about Go Compare’s study, however, was its list of the ‘lowest ranking’ staycation spots, with Newport in Wales placing dead last.  Poor old Newport. According to the research, the Welsh city achieved its abysmal score of 1.4 out of ten because of ‘limited selection of family-friendly accommodations and activities, as well as soaring price hikes during the holidays’. Overall, it certainly wasn’t a flattering portrait of the town. But is that really fair? Whilst it’s true that Newport is small, and it certainly doesn’t have the amenities of nearby cities like Cardiff and Bristol, it really isn’t all that bad. You can explore Tredegar House, a 17th century manor house set against a 90-acre park, or use it as a base to explore the various access points to the Welsh countryside such as the Newport Wetlands National Nature Reserve or even, slightly further out but worth the journey, the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons). There are also multiple castles and historical sites

Houses are expensive. We know; it’s a revelation. Homes are costly investments, but good ones which tend to be worth your while. If you’re lucky enough to own a property right now, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a good chance that its value has risen in the past year. Across the country, the property website Zoopla has been monitoring just how much house prices are increasing by, and it has found that over just half of the nation saw their house prices increase by more than one per cent in the past year. That’s not bad, and it’s a higher rate than in 2023 – but some places saw much higher rates of growth than others. For instance, in the northeast 68 percent of houses are worth at least 1 percent more than they were last January, but in London that number is much lower, at only 40 percent. That may come as a surprise but fear not; property in the capital is still by far the most expensive in the country. Still, it looks like the north might finally be getting the attention it deserves, as three of the top five areas of growth are northern, and one of them was Scotland, which is technically the most north of all. These regions had the largest amount of homes which are worth more than they were in early 2024: Northwest: 63 percent Northeast: 68 percent West Midlands: 59 percent Yorkshire and the Humber: 61 percent Scotland: 61 percent Here are the places in each region where the highest percentage of homes have seen an increase in value since early 2024, including how

We need food. It literally sustains us and allows us to stay alive, but more than that, it’s delicious. Well, some of it is. As much as we all love a really great meal, there’s few fates worse than having to eat your least favourite food. Maybe it’s brussels sprouts, maybe it’s mushrooms, or maybe it’s jellied eels. Jellied eels is a real, edible foodstuff which dates back to the 1700s and was actually quite popular in the UK a few years ago. By a few years ago, we do of course mean several generations. Swings and roundabouts. TasteAtlas, which recently included Scottish and English in their roundups of the world’s 100 best cuisines, has come out with a new list: the world’s 100 worst foods, and jellied eels have made the cut. But let’s back up a bit. How were these foods chosen? Well, roughly 600,000 responses were received from the publications readership, each rating different dishes based on whether or not they enjoyed them. Basically, you had to be very widely disliked to make it onto this list. Jellied eels, which are made by boiling chopped eels and then leaving them to cool in some herbs, which is ‘when the fish would produce their own gelatin, and a soft, transparent jelly would form on the cut pieces’ leaving you with something that is, despite all odds, not poisonous. TasteAtlas describe the texture as ‘delicate and soft’, and the taste as ‘mild’ and ‘slightly salty’. Yum. In fact, Time Out London food editor Leonie Cooper has positive things to say about eels: ‘Th

Busy things are busy for a reason. They’re usually either very good or one of very few options – and the West Coast Main Line (WCML) certainly applies to that latter definition. The WCML is the country’s busiest train track. Running from Scotland to England, it’s the main route between London and Glasgow and goes via other major cities including Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool, and it also sees 40 per cent of the country’s freight train traffic pass through. That means it gets a lot of wear and tear. Needless to say the WCML needs a bit of upkeep every now and then – and soon it’ll get a major overhaul. In order to ensure the WCML remains functional for many years to come, a mega renovation project, spanning over a decade, has been planned with a start date of 2026. That means that babies born today will already be in secondary school by the time it’s fully complete. The works will cost an estimated £3.84 billion, and will replace over 150 miles over overhead wires which have been in place for more than 50 years. Tracks in the affected areas – which are at various points along the line – will close for two weeks at a time, three times a year until completion. There will be rail replacement buses, but passengers have been warned to brace for ‘serious’ disruptions to usual services, but experts say that this work is essential to the future of the railway. It is not yet known exactly where the WCML will be shut and when, although it is expected that a lot of the work will