Anya Ryan

Every year a wealth of new hotels open in the capital which is a testament to the fact that London remains one of the most desirable places to visit in the world. But, the city can be pretty pricey if you're not careful. Whether you live or work in London or just visit, the spending can quickly add up. From the delicious food that stands on almost every corner and lines up the streets to just having a gander around the city looking for things to do, your wallet might start to feel very, very light. We don't even want to talk about how much a night out costs.  But surprisingly, the UK capital has actually got some wallet-friendly options for spending the night. Both big chains and independent hotel joints (yep, even four- and five-star ones) offer some rooms for under £200 a night – you just have to know where to look. Every hotel highlighted here by Time Out’s experts is good value; whether that be because of its location, design, or quite simply, the price. Staying in one of these will give you the kind of buzz only a good deal can deliver. So get booking and then use all the cash you’ve saved on more important stuff. Like, erm, going to the pub.  Which area is best to stay in London for a good price?  London has so many neighbourhoods, you’re spoilt for choice. But, where should you go for the best deals? Honestly, it depends on what you’re looking for. There’s cheap options in Shoreditch, just off the South Bank and even in the heart of the West End. So, whether you want t

The UK is in the grip of a Guinness renaissance. Previously known as an old-man’s drink, the black stuff started to appear in the hands of hipsters in east London beer gardens a few years ago. It wasn’t long before normies got involved, then celebs like Olivia Rodrigo and even Kim Kardashian wanted a pint, too. Soon, Guinness was everywhere: on Hinge profiles and on Instagram stories of happy drinkers ‘splitting the G’ or tagging @shitlondonguinness. Even fashion brands like JW Anderson and Carhartt jumped in on the hype with clothing collabs. In 2024 there was no hiding from it: it was cool to be drinking, wearing and being part of Guinness. Then, in December, a crisis hit. Rumours of a Guinness shortage started to swirl – much to our horror. Diageo’s breweries allegedly couldn’t keep up with the demand. Guinness taps were running dry, pubs were plastered with signs saying ‘none left’ and The Old Ivy House in London’s Clerkenwell was even handing out ration cards to punters. What were the Guinness fanatics going to do? But, just when we thought the cult of stout was over for good, another lesser-known Irish import arrived to save the day. Enter Murphy’s. The stout, owned by Heineken and founded in Cork in the mid-19th century, came in fighting with a promotional campaign poking fun at the Guinness slogan and shortage: ‘Good things come to those waiting,’ it read. Heineken even unveiled a handy interactive map with every pub in the UK that was stocking Murphy’s. It worke

Calling all wellnes fanatics, this one's for you. Just a five-minute walk from Paddington Station, you'll find Inhabit, where the hustle and bustle of the city stops and zen begins. Sitting inside a Grade II-listed, 19th-century Victorian townhouse, Inhabit might not look like a hotel on first inspection, but if you can live with all the talk of breathwork, relaxation and green juice, it is an unexpected haven. There are daily yoga and pilates classes, a calming art collection, a library and even a vegan restaurant. Of course, there's a meditation pod and saunas, too - this is wellness, after all. Decorated in cool tones, the hotel feels like something you'd traditionally find miles away from London. The rooms are elegant, the beds are hugeand there's a diffuser in each to keep you calm. The mini fridge is stocked with Social Supermarket products, while Who Gives a Crap toilet paper is hung in every toilet. Inhabit seems genuinely committed to sustainability, and right in the heart of the capital, it offers the best of both worlds: a city stay and a retreat. There's another branch of the hotel just down the road, too.  Time Out tip: If you're staying here you might as well embrace the whole experience and try Yeotown, the plant-based restaurant. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and organic drinks are made to order. No alcohol is served here and you can expect dishes that are titled things like "joy", "balance" and "calm". Maybe you'll leave glowing? Address: 25–27 South

Fancy a bit of central London living? Bermonds Locke could be just the place. Sold as a home away from home, it is part hotel, part apartment block, and part yuppie community. There are kitchens in each room, equipped with huge fridges, hobs and full sets of pots and pans to get your culinary genius flowing - and there's no cooked breakfast on offer, so you really better get thinking about what to make. Still, in Bermonds Locke is basically the perfect place to kick back and relax. The downstairs co-working space, Shaman, a third-wave coffee shop, has drinks, brunch and pastries on sale through the day. The foyer is decorated with cool metal panels that gleam in rainbow, while a giant moon hangs above the reception desk. On the day I visit, the guy at the reception tells me i've come to the "right place to chill out". He's not wrong. The rooms offer a little slice of home. There are laundry facilities, hair dryers and a paranoramaic view of London that would look good on any trendy Instagram feed - on a clear day you'll see right from The Shard to the London Eye. With pale wooden floors and sky blue walls, the whole hotel has a sense of calm running through it. And, in the middle of Tower Bridge that is certainly something to savour.  Neighbourhood: Bermonds Locke has an array of pubs, indie shops and markets just a few minutes away. If it is a nice day, take a walk down to the river bank and soak up all of the Thames' beauty. There's also the nearby Borough Market that has c

You won't find bland decoration at Mama Shelter. Since the first branch opened in Paris in 2008, the hotels have got a reputation for their bright colours, patterns and kitsch theme. Of course, the London branch is no different - although the hotel's outside might fool you; it is stylish, metallic and chique. Of course inside is a different story; there's a wallpaper that sends your head spinning, clashing carpets and maybe one too many bejewelled Darth Vadar masks (yep, really).  No one could fault Mama Shelter for its fun energy, though. The staff are young, friendly and genuinely keen to chat or offer advice - I was heartily encouraged to try the barman's favourite cocktail, Mama Says Pica Pica during my stay. There are karaoke rooms with classic 50s-style microphones waiting for guests to sing their favourite songs into. There's a small gym and cinema room. And if you want a memento to take away with you, Mama Shelter has you covered - yep, there's a photo booth and even merch available to buy on site. The rooms are compact but have more personality than your standard budget stay, with lampshades in the shape of Tweety Bird and the Tasmanian Devil, a TV with the option of literally hundreds of films and a free porn collection. Breakfast is quite pricey at £22 a head, so we'd suggest heading down the road to Ozone for a cheaper alternative.With its sociable focus, Mama Shelter has the feel of an upmarket hostel. But, honestly, we mean that in the best way. Neighbourhood: L

Take a journey into the future at Stylotel - and on a budget, too. This 2004 Paddington hotel has a post-milenniun design scheme that looks and feels like…a spaceship. Or is it a submarine? Basically, the place is coated in metal; the floors and walls are about as shiny as you can get. There’s pleather seats in the reception area that look as though they could have been picked out by Captain Kirk. Still, as Stylotel’s manager Andreas points out, you might love or loathe the retro-futurist quirks of this trendy hotel, but you can’t deny that it’s a clean and convenient resting place for travellers who might be too knackered to notice the decor anyway. The perks of this weird and wonderful hotel certainly outweigh its peculiarities. Standard rooms are small and slick, with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, TV, pod bathrooms (shower-only), free Wi-Fi, wood flooring, chic furniture and a switch-controlled ‘do not disturb’ sign. Suites also come with kitchenettes and couch beds – useful for longer trips. You might want a comfier bed, but it still offers a decent kip. The morning’s breakfast buffet, which was a classic fry up served in metal trays works as sustenance alone – nothing more, nothing less – served in a dining room that’s gone OTT on the design front again. But it’s nothing if not memorable, which is exactly how to classify a stay that was pretty first-rate for a budget lodging: may it live long and prosper. Neighbourhood: The location is also a major plus. Split across two sit

In Coral Wylie’s nature-driven debut, absence and presence blur and spike. Pip - also played by Wylie – is a non-binary 19-year-old trying to make sense of themselves and their world. To do this, they keep a diary; filling it up with heavy feelings. ‘I don’t know myself. I don’t know how to fix it,’ they write. Pip’s parents, however, prefer to keep their worries and traumas as ungerminated seeds. Twenty years ago, Pip’s father, Craig (Wil Johnson) lost his best friend Duncan (a cracking Omari Douglas) to AIDS. But instead of speaking about their memories, Craig has tried his best to bury Duncan’s existence, deep. Near the beginning of Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew, Pip discovers one of Duncan’s old jackets with an old diary stuffed inside the pocket. Almost immediately they feel an affinity with their parents’ old friend.  The past starts to overflow like running water. Through his writing, Duncan’s personality is released in multitudes; and in these flashes Wylie’s play shimmers into something brilliant. Douglas makes Duncan an almost otherworldly vision; his diary entries pulse with humour and fire, as well as his niggling fears. Duncan’s life feels stolen; the loss of him is cruel and has left a gaping hole. Without Duncan, colour has been sucked out of Craig and his wife Lorin’s days. Max John’s set makes their once dazzling home bland and white; their walls and furniture have no decoration. In scenes from their past though, the couple are powered by their own youth.

He was the boy who nearly made it. So now Martin lives in the shadow of what he could have been – a millionaire, uber-famous film star. In 1999, at the age of 10, he came down to the last two for the role of Harry Potter, but fell at the last hurdle.  The rest is history and his competitor Daniel Radcliffe (or, as Martin likes to call him - He Who Should Not Be Named) went on to become a household name. But, Barney Norris’s adaptation of David Foenkinos’s best-selling novel from 2023 gives us a fictionalised story of the real person who suffered the near-miss. Martin is haunted by his lost potential, the trauma of the Hollywood audition process and the star that is everywhere.  There is a dash of irony thatAsa Butterfield – who plays Martin – is selling-out Riverside Studios’ hefty main space on his stage debut. Unlike Martin, Butterfield has been an actor since his childhood; he was the leading role in both The Boy in Striped Pyjamas and Hugo and gathered an even bigger following after playing Otis in the Netflix hit, Sex Education. You’d be fair to think that the association with childhood screen success might make Butterfield slightly odd casting for Martin - but he gives a totally assured and searing performance. And besides, he apparently lost the role of Spider-Man to Tom Holland. He is the nucleus of Michael Longhurst’s barebones production, which begins with Butterfield frantically thinking back to where things ‘started’ to go wrong. We meet Martin in the hospital w

Tarantula, Philip Ridley’s nightmarish monologue about trauma and its aftermath, was first performed live online during the Covid pandemic in 2021. For its in-person debut at the Arcola Theatre, director Wiebke Green and actor Georgie Henley return and work in near-perfect tandem. The result is a 90-minute immersion into the mind of a person who is sensationally and irreparably disturbed.  Erstwhile Chronicles of Narnia star Henley plays Toni, a teenager at the top of her class with big dreams of going to Oxford. She reads obsessively, but has barely any experience in the realm of love or sex. Tonight, she’s counting down the hours until her first date with fellow romantic amateur Michael, a wannabe photographer who she met while volunteering at her school’s annual event for older residents. ‘I feel like there’s a real connection between us,’ he says to her. The early part of Ridley’s monologue plays out like the dialogue in a Jaqueline Wilson novel. Toni is a ball of anxiety; constantly questioning ‘why?’ she uses certain words and if she is making a fool of herself. She talks to the audience as if we are her confidants - sharing her inner worries about her looks and behaviour, revealing a typically adolescent insecurity that she doesn’t quite fit in the world. ‘I’m a slug next to a gazelle’, she wobbles as she walks, hand in hand with Michael. And yet, for the most part, she remains a sunny - if slightly extravagant presence. But, in keeping with Ridley’s past works, darkne

As Sutara Gayle’s intensely autobiographical show starts, the theatre sits in darkness, while a soulful, passionate, overture begins. Already, it feels like we’re bearing witness to something spiritual. And then we see her; Gayle, otherwise known as Lorna Gee stands angelic and sturdy, ready to tell her life story.  And what a remarkable story it is. The Legends of Them takes us back to reggae pioneer Gayle’s childhood in Brixton, through her sexual awakening, early music career and on a transformative trip to India. We see her moving from one school to the next, into the care system and finding her soul through singing. Is all of it coherent? Absolutely not. Gayle flits from the body of one person in her life to the next, sometimes without any change in her physicality at all. In just a few seconds, she is her mother, a child psychiatrist, and her sister. There is no sense of a linear structure, with the narrative jumping around haphazardly.  You’re sure to leave the theatre slightly bewildered. But, once you accept it is a bit of a minefield, Gayle’s otherworldly presence is hard to look away from. Blending music with history, video with raw emotion onstage, she is a force to be reckoned with. In scraps she reveals herself through her memories; scenes from her past flash into reality and then disappear once more. Gayle has had a life so rich that even one of her recollections could form a full play themselves; especially the police shooting of her big sister Cherry Groce, w

What is it? Liberty was founded in 1875 - when founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty borrowed £2,000 from his future father-in-law and took a building on Regent Street with just three staff - but the present Marlborough Street site, with its ships’ timbers and leaded windows, was built in the 1920s. The interconnecting jumble of rooms, with the odd fireplace and cushioned window seat, makes for an intimate feel – as if you’ve strayed into a private room in a stately home. It’s not an accident, Arthur wanted customers to feel as if they were exploring someone’s home, keeping the shopping galleries small, albeit linked to three rather grand atriums. Although Liberty trades well on its history, it constantly squeezes innovation into its wood-panelled rooms. Over the years Liberty has launched its own clothing and homeware lines which have become firm favourites among the stars. But for all its pomp and fizz, Liberty doesn’t take itself too seriously – there’s a genuine sense of whimsy in its approach to retail. Why go? Alongside one of the best edits for fashion shopping in the world, its expansive beauty hall juxtaposes world-renowned makeup and skincare brands beside lesser known, but equally high quality, offerings.  Piercing expert Maria Tash, widely worn by celebrities and members of the fashion community, has her own parlour on the ground floor, while those who want a remodel for their home rather than their body can head up to homeware. Renowned for their unparalleled selection

Eleanor Tindall’s new play hangs on a chance meeting. Ash and Ivy bump into each other outside a nightclub, when Ivy asks for a light. But then, their paths cross again – first in a coffee shop, and then in ways that get more implausible over time. Their interactions move from awkward exchanges, through to something like friendship and then into full-throttled romance. This is their love story; unexpected, all-encompassing and like letting out a held breath.  But things couldn’t possibly be as simple as a meet-cute fling. Ivy is supposedly happy with her boyfriend Max and is trying hard to bury the feeling that something isn’t right. Ash has just left her husband-to-be Cas at the altar, but he is refusing to leave her alone and let go. Her phone is constantly ringing, her flat is overflowing with the flowers he sends to her daily. Ash and Ivy’s lives play out next to each other, merging only in the frustratingly short seconds that they do. In their own way, both are lonely and hiding big secrets. Their real selves struggle physically from beneath their skin, fighting for a way out of hiding. Tindall’s dialogue crackles and pops, although at times the multi-rolling muddies the clarity of the narrative. Annabel Baldwin plays both Cas and Max, as well as Ivy, so in scenes of quick paced conversation, their identities sometimes get confused. As Ivy and Ash though, the actors excel. Nervous energy dominates their early meetings. They naturally and apologetically interrupt each ot

The audience in Kiburn, London is welcomed to Queens, New York, by legendary DJ Mr Bugz (Richard Pepple) playing music, loud and proud from the balcony of a block of flats. Then, we head inside to meet Gerry (Jasper Britton) a gay musical theatre obsessive blasting the song ‘Getting to Know You’ from The King and I. In American writer Dan McCabe’s play, which premiered in Boston to rave reviews, the two opposing music forms become the beginning of a conversation about race, homosexuality, misogyny and cultural ownership. But, with so much unresolved discussion at its centre, I left somewhat unsatisfied.  The play mainly flows out through conversation on the doorsteps of their apartments. Bugz is joined by once big time rapper Lamont (Sule Rimi), who is a staunch defender of hip-hop’s Black origins. Gerry occasionally pops down, to give his piece on hating hip-hop too. All of them have fallen into financial difficulty. Lamont’s career is going nowhere. Bugz has taken some time off work to care for his mother with Alzheimer’s, while also secretly coming to terms with his sexuality. Ex-millionaire Gerry wasted away his fortune as he watched his friends die during the Aids crisis of the 1980s. Each in their own way longs for the better times of the past. At its best, Amit Sharma’s production deftly magnifies a pocket of New York’s soul, complete with conflicting thoughts and lifestyles.On Tom Piper’s majestic scaffolding set, which allows us to peer right into both Gerry and Bu

What is it? A favourite haunt of the consciously-uncoupled Gwyneth Paltrow, this small-but-perfectly-formed Marylebone boutique is home to understated, incredibly wearable labels. Founders Kate Allden and Jane Ellis track down soon to be cult classics before they become so by sourcing more under the radar brands, and then fill the store with stylish yet timeless pieces. and wardrobe classics. Its eponymous own-brand is great. What does it sell? From endlessly sophisticated womenswear, handbags, jewellery and shoes to lingerie and beauty products, KJ's Laundry is a fashion treasure trove. The Marylebone store is full with a mix of lesser known labels and established brands, but all the pieces are sure to be predictably cool.  Opening times: 11am-5pm daily. Time Out tip:  For those who to prefer to shop online, have a browse on their website.