Chiara Wilkinson

Need a place to stay in London? We’re here to make it easy for you. 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. However, that can make it tricky to decide which hotel to choose. But worry not because we have slept our way across the city and hand-picked our favourites for the ultimate list of London hotels, which covers locations right across the city, and every category from blowout luxury (including having your own butler, might we add) to budget basic and brilliant. In this mega list, we've listed everything from our favourite five-star hotels in Mayfair to more affordable hotels outside of zone 1. Plus you’ll be able to check out one or two of the capital's many Michelin-starred restaurants because yep, loads of them call London hotels their home. But if spending a small fortune on food isn’t your bag? There’s also an ever-increasing number of good-value food options for budgeteers, too. Throw great design and architecture into the mix, plus superb bars, world-class hospitality and the opportunity to have a home-from-home in the best city in the world and, well, you’re laughing.  Which area is best to stay in London? It's not just the range of hotels that's so impressive – you're also spoilt for choice when it comes to picking a neighbourhood to stay in London. The city is made up of a sprawling network of dynamic neighbourhoods, all with their own uniqu

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

There’s nowt wrong with a pork scratching or bag of Scampi Fries to accompany your hand-cranked pint of amber ale, but we are ever grateful for the invention of the gastropub. London boozer The Eagle, which opened in Farringdon in 1991, is widely regarded as the first one. Its chalkboard full of dishes with ‘big flavours and rough edges’ brought proper butcher’s sausages with lentils, generously portioned pasta dishes with fennel and lemon and lovingly crafted steak sandwiches to the polished pedestal table. It changed the pub food game in the ’90s and the dining world has never looked back. Outside of London, one of the best ways to enjoy a gastropub is to arrive several hours before your booking and take yourself off on a hike to work up an appetite. That first sip of a pint when your chosen trail guides you right back to the pub’s door tastes even sweeter when your cheeks are ruddy and your glutes are burning. When it comes to the main event, dishes can be hearty classics or surprising takes, like when a ‘pickled onion’ accompaniment comes as a swoosh of gel on your plate. Ingredients must be as local as possible, seasonal, obviously, and there has to be a decent wine list as well as a cracking pint. Oh, and you should absolutely never be at risk of going home hungry.  There’s a separate list for you if you’re looking for London’s best gastropubs. But here are 14 of the best gastropubs across the rest of the UK right now. Tuck in.  Kelly Bishop is a food writer based in M

Glastonbury is the UK’s biggest (and arguably best) music festival. Taking place at Worthy Farm each summer, it boasts more than 100 stages and attracts more than 200,000 music lovers. It’s also notoriously difficult to get tickets for. The 2024 edition saw Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA headline the Pyramid Stage, with a load of other epic performances from the likes of Femi Kuti, Confidence Man, Olivia Dean and Jamie XX – as well as some iconic secret sets. RECOMMENDED:🎪 The best festivals in the UK☀️ The best festivals in Europe You can read our on-the-ground reviews of last year’s event here (and daily reviews below), but if you’d rather look forward to the 2025 festival, stay tuned. It’s been confirmed by the event organisers that the mighty festival will indeed be making a comeback for 2025, and while it’s not shared a huge amount of details just yet, it’s never too early to mark your calendars and start planning your ticket buying strategy (we have tips for that, of course). Here’s everything you need to know about Glastonbury Festival 2025, including dates, ticket sale dates and line-up rumours.  RECOMMENDED: ⛺️How to get Glastonbury 2025 tickets⭐️ Glastonbury 2024 Day 1 review: Dua Lipa and LCD Soundsystem fire the festival off to a spectacular start.⭐️⭐️ Glastonbury 2024 Day 2 review: soaring headliners Coldplay wrap up a talent-packed day⭐️⭐️⭐️ Glastonbury 2024 Day 3 review: born entertainers SZA and Shania Twain bring festival to an energetic close When is Glastonbur

There are few riffs more recognisable than the four-note sequence of ‘Smoke On The Water’. It’s been 53 years since a fire destroyed Montreux Casino during a Frank Zappa concert; a scene which members of Deep Purple watched from afar and would later immortalise in what is now one of the most iconic rock tracks going. Fast forward to 2024 and the 58th Montreux Jazz Festival, where the band played the same riff to close their headline slot on the brand new lakeside stage. Locals peered from their balconies and merch-wearing fans stamped their feet in unison. It rounded up an evening which saw Don Airey scuttle up and down the keyboard in psychedelic-tinged improv and Alice Cooper bring out a red tail boa during a terrifying theatrical shock-rock set. In other words: just another night at Montreux, a festival which, these days, is just as well known for its varied, enviable programming as much as its rich musical history.  RECOMMENDED: The best festivals in Europe Deep Purple at Montreux Jazz Festival 2024 | Photograph: Lionel Flusin And – just like tonight – history is always in the making. Walking round the site on the shores of Lake Geneva, you can see it, hear it, feel it. Up the road from the lake stage, the rebuilt casino displays notes from Roger Glover’s iconic riff as decoration on its balustrade. There’s the glinting gold statue of Freddie Mercury, who used to live in the town, looking out to shore. You’ll find a piano from Queen’s studio in the late festival founde

Munya Chawawa doesn’t waste time waiting on London buses. Showing me his phone as proof, he has completed more than 1,100 Lime e-bike journeys, covering more than 3,500 kilometres. You could say he’s a mega-fan. ‘When I’m on a Lime bike, I feel like I’m in a Fast and Furious film,’ he says. ‘Not because I’m driving fast, but because I have a certain style of riding that just feels cool.’ Aside from being obviously funny and startlingly smart, Munya is, undoubtedly, a cool guy. The coolness is clear even before he dons a shiny pink shirt for his Time Out cover shoot, clambering on set, his signature eyebrows wiggling as he smoulders jokingly at the camera. But he’s not all about jokes: as well as sharing his signature reactive comedy sketches to his three million-plus followers (his most recent include satire on Elon Musk and a sketch about losing a 425-day-strong Duolingo streak), he has continued to branch out, and now his CV spans stand-up, TV, acting, documentaries and more. Photograph: Jess Hand for Time Out So what could possibly be next? For him, the next chapter is about making something that will reach beyond the frantic whir of the algo – something that will stand the test of time and work its way into the everyday vernacular.  Here, he speaks to Time Out about sticky toffee pudding, his sincere love for theatre and his upcoming Roundhouse Three Sixty mega show.  You last did a Time Out interview in 2022, right?  Yeah. I remember I was trying to start the year with

London is absolutely world-class when it comes to museums. Obviously, we’re pretty biased, but with more than 170 of them dotted about the capital – a huge chunk of which are free to visit – we think it’s fair to say that there’s nowhere else in the world that does museums better.  Want to explore the history of TfL? We’ve got a museum for that. Rather learn about advertising? We’ve got a museum for that too. History? Check. Science? Check. 1940s cinema memorabilia, grotesque eighteenth-century surgical instruments, or perhaps a wall of 4,000 mouse skeletons? Check, check and check! Being the cultured metropolitans that we are, Time Out’s editors love nothing more than a wholesome afternoon spent gawping at Churchill’s baby rattle or some ancient Egyptian percussion instruments. In my case, the opportunity to live on the doorstep of some of the planet’s most iconic cultural institutions was a big reason why I moved here at the first chance I got, and I’ve racked up countless hours traipsing around display cases and deciphering needlessly verbose wall texts in the eleven years since. From iconic collections, brilliant curation and cutting-edge tech right down to nice loos, adequate signage and a decent place to grab a cuppa; my colleagues and I know exactly what we want from a museum, and we’ve put in a whole lot of time deliberating which of the city’s institutions are worth your time. So here’s our take on the 25 best ones to check out around London, ranging from world-famou

It’s official: London is experiencing a fast-mushrooming plant-based restaurant boom. Across the city, creative chefs are showing off their prowess with plants, creating pitch-perfect imitations of meaty comfort food classics, or dreaming up new vegetable-based delights. Whether you’re after a lavish night of culinary theatre, a delicate Middle Eastern spread, a Michelin-star winning tasting menu, or brisket at a vegan smokehouse, you’ll find it in our list of London’s best vegan restaurants. Read on to plan your next plant-free feast. RECOMMENDED: London’s best restaurants for vegetarian food. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial 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 in the past 12 months and been visited by our hungry critics. So go forth and take inspo from this list, which features everything from modern Korean cookery at Miga in Hackney, bawdy British fare at Rake, Brit/Thai mashups at AngloThai in Marylebone, deep fried olives at Sesta in London Fields, vegan Michelin star goodness at Shoreditch’s Plates, hip fish bar Tollington’s in Finsbury Park, Oma and Agora’s Greek-ish cuisine in Borough Market, and Basque steaks at Ibai. This list is updated regularly, so check in often to find out what we really rate on the London restaurant scene.  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 tastiest tips, the spiciest reviews: we’re serving it all on our London restaurants WhatsApp channel. Follow us now to tuck in.

Sushi doesn’t just mean raw fish, rice and seaweed – although there’s plenty of excellent examples of that kind in the capital. Sushi in London can also be vegan and you can eat it in Michelin-starred restaurants, or at cosy omakase counters, or with breathtaking views. Our list of London’s best sushi restaurants covers all this ground and more, so have a browse and then book your next Japanese feast. RECOMMENDED: London’s best Japanese restaurants.

Want a drink? You've come to the right place. This is Time Out’s list of best bars in London, our curated guide to London’s drinking scene, featuring the buzziest booze dens in the capital right now. If it’s on this list, it’s excellent. These are the 50 places we'd recommend to a friend, because we love drinking in them and have done many times over. From classy cocktail joints to delightful dives, hotel bars, speakeasys, bottle shops, rooftops and wine bars, London's got them all. But what makes a truly good bar? Well, our critieria for inclusion on this list is simple; a menu of genius drinks is important, but so is overall vibe – there’s no point having the perfect paloma if you have to drink it in a bar that smells of bins. To make the Top 50 a bar has to be fun, full of lovely folk, be inclusive and also look the part.  The latest additions to our list include whisky wonderland Dram Bar on Denmark Street, the hypnotic Bar Lotus in Dalston, Below Stone Nest in Chinatown, Rasputin’s by London Fields, and Bar Lina, an Italian aperitivo spot underneath a famous Soho deli. Now go forth and drink. RECOMMENDED: Like bars? Then you'll love London's best pubs.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor, and she'll have a dirty gin martini if you're buying. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

The Six Nations rugby tournament is back for 2025, taking over boozers, beer gardens and outdoor screens across London most weekends up until Saturday March 15.  Last year, Ireland claimed back-to-back titles for the third time since 1949, and will be looking to be triumphant for a third consecutive year. Games take place at venues including Paris’ Stade de France, Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, and London’s very own Twickenham Stadium as England, France, Italy, Scotland, and Wales try to burst the Irish team’s bubble. Ireland are running away with it at the moment, and will be looking to extend their lead against bottom-of-the-table Wales on Saturday afternoon, before England vs Scotland later that evening, and Italy vs France on Sunday.  And you could just watch on your telly at home, but if you’d prefer to catch every scrimmage, try and conversion in a lively atmosphere with a nice freshly-poured Guinness in hand, head to one of the rugby pubs, bars, beer halls, markets and social clubs listed here, where you’ll find free-flowing pints, special guest appearances and countless renditions of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’. RECOMMENDED: More great things to do in London this weekend 

The four canvases on display from Noah Davis’s 2013 show, ‘The Missing Link’, are large and consuming. In one, an anonymous Black man carries a briefcase, walking through an unknown urban landscape of Rothco-style block colour and concrete. The next is all mottled, moving marks of green and purple foliage, blending and blurring into shadows as an ominous man sits in the middle, holding a gun. Another is grid-like: small, static squares outline the windows of a building towering over swimmers at leisure, the messy paint of the water in fluid contrast to the rigid architecture above. The last image is different, again: Black bodies in motion, faded and fleeting like an out of focus photo, a single figure propelling above the rest, as if in flight.  Davis, the Los Angeles painter known for his figurative works depicting dreamlike visions of everyday Black life, was not one to be pigeonholed: each canvas here is technically unique, yet they still work as a set, each brushstroke deliberate, considered. In this retrospective, we are taken into his personal life: ‘Painting for My Dad’, created when he lost his father, shows a backturned figure standing on the rocky edge of the Earth, peering into the wide, open darkness; the unknown, unforgiving gravitational pull almost visceral. We discover his deep, well-referenced knowledge of art history and glimpse into his Underground Museum, the Arlington Heights gallery he co-founded with his wife, Karon Davis, in 2012. We learn about his h

With a new Cotswalds property opening up last year, and two new hotels on the way in 2025, The Pig is fast on its way to becoming the next Radisson Blu. We’re joking, but there’s good reason why their long-running concept is so popular. It’s mid-range, decent value, it’s centered around quality drinking and dining, and it has a very particular, inoffensive aesthetic: countryside chic.  The Pig Near Bath opened just over a decade ago, as the third in the chain, but it’s still in pretty good nick and avoids looking overly dated. You pull up the winding drive to a converted Georgian mansion, which in itself, is pretty nice, all faded stone and wysteria around the door, surrounded by an outside dining and drinking area and further flung fields of deer. The chicken coup plonked right next to the car park did feel slightly like someone shouting in your face ‘Look! We’re in the countryside!’, but the grounds are generally in good shape (and bear in mind this is in winter).  Inside, you’ll find welly boots lined up in the porch and various cosy lounging areas, all decorated with painted portraits of unnamed white men and stag heads planted on walls next to fireplaces. The bedrooms themsleves are neutral and tastefully done, with ‘The Pig’ cookbooks and volumes on foraging piled next to the roll-top bathtub. You’ll be tempted to take it slow here, to make a cup of The Pig’s own-branded tea, run yourself a bath and look out the window onto the grounds, which is what it’s all about, rea

It’s understandable why you might gravitate towards the beach when looking for accommodation in Sri Lanka, but Tri Koggala – with its infinity pool looking over a mass of blue, untouched lake, a singular palm tree framing the scene – is enough to outshine the island’s most golden shores. There’s a sense of secrecy and unspoilt natural beauty here that is becoming increasingly rare on this side of the country, making Tri the ideal choice if you want a romantic getaway for the books.  Tucked away down a private road just a 15-minute drive from Ahangama on the coast, this boutique hotel is calm, cool and clean. I arrived at breakfast time and was greeted with cinnamon iced tea in a champagne flute – a theme which is woven throughout the property via subtle, thoughtful touches like cinnamon-smelling shower gel and the opportunity to visit local spice makers on a private boat tour of the lake. Speaking of which, the property is dedicated to preserving its stunning surroundings, avoiding plastic use as well as embarking on a planting project to nurture and protect the lake’s shoreline. The grounds centre around the magnificent two-centuries-old Banyan tree The relaxed communal pool area doubles as a lobby and reception, with tasteful, understated day beds and contemporary takes on mid-century furniture. Below this, you’ll find the lakeside restaurant, which serves up international dishes like a full English, burgers and fries as well as delicious Sri Lankan classics (the coconut r

Many travellers see the Sri Lankan capital as a passing place to fly in and out of, rather than a landmark destination in its own right – but there’s plenty of reasons to spend good time in Colombo, with its growing, buzzy bar scene, mass of museums and temples and various food outposts offering fresh takes on local and international cuisine. Whatever your itinerary here, though, Colombo 7 is a comfortable, fashionable stay, offering a sense of perspective on the sprawling city and all it has to offer via its fantastic rooftop bar, restaurant and dizzying skyline-adjacent infinity pool.  Tucked into a corner of the city next to Cinnamon Gardens, you can easily catch a tuktuk into the centre of town or head a little further out to hit the beach. The large, open lobby is bustling with activity and all sorts of guests, from young families to trendy cosmopolitan types and sunkissed holidaymakers with surfboard bags abound. Walk through, and you’ll reach the downstairs restaurant and breakfast area, which serves up a delicious and extensive buffet brekkie with a waffle, pancake and egg bar.  This place is big: there are conference rooms, a spa, a gym and almost 100 bedrooms, most with large glass windows looking out onto the mass of city below. The design is simple and inoffensive, but the bed is big, the sheets are soft and the view – if you’re lucky enough to have one of the higher-floor rooms – is truly inspiring. You really don’t need anything more.  For a proper ‘wow’ moment,

The Witchery isn’t so much a hotel as it is a gothic fever dream. Perched on the cobbled Royal Mile, mere steps from Edinburgh Castle, the hotel takes its name from the hundreds of people who were burned at the stake as witches on Castlehill.  The hotel – which embraces its heritage with theatrical flair – occupies a sixteenth century building, once used as committee rooms for the Church of Scotland. Here, you can forget cookie-cutter luxury: you’ll feel like you’ve stepped back in time, into a fairytale where kings and queens frolic with devils, witches and sprites. It’s incredibly over the top, but it works. Dark wood panelling? Check. Velvet drapes in ruby red and gold? Check. Gilded mirrors, antique furniture, and ceilings so intricately carved you’ll wonder why they aren’t in the Museum of Scotland? It’s all here, wrapped up in candlelight. After a warm welcome, we were led up winding stone steps into The Old Rectory, one of nine unique suites. It’s hard not to gasp at the interiors: a majestic bed with a grand, organ-style detail, cupboards in hidden bookcases, baroque-style busts and a roll-top bathtub with Penhaligon’s toiletries. View wise, you’re looking out over the Royal Mile to swarms of tourists scuttling up to Edinburgh castle. Honestly, it’s the kind of place where you half-expect a ghost to waft through the wall – in an oddly comforting way.  The Secret Garden restaurant is every bit as romantic: vines drape down from a skylight ceiling, candlesticks dot the

Edinburgh is a highly walkable city, but there’s still something to be said about waking up in the centre of the action, where everything is right on your doorstep and you don’t need to glance at Google Maps every two seconds. Sitting at the west end of Princes Street, a quick stroll from Stockbridge and a just as quick stroll to the Grassmarket, this swish hotel blends no-nonsense style with the kind of charm that makes you feel right at home – if your home happens to have cracking views of Edinburgh Castle, that is. The rooms here aren’t anything grand, but they’re clean, contemporary and boast a surprising amount of peace for the convenient location in the city buzz. Our room was a little dark, though was decked out with tasteful local photography and plenty of mirrors. But it’s not just about where you rest your head. Downstairs, you’ll find Kyloe, one of Edinburgh’s top steak restaurants, offering expertly sourced Scottish beef with all the trimmings (be sure to speak to your waiter for the cut of the day). Under that, you’ll find The Huxley, an all-day eatery serving up cocktails and comfort food classics (the full Scottish brekkie here is top-notch). Ultimately, The Rutland is ideal if you’re looking for comfort, convenience, and style, but aren’t keen to spend all your time hanging around: you want to get out there and explore all that Edinburgh has to offer. NeighbourhoodWith the castle looming just a short walk away and George Street’s boutique shopping and nightli

It’s been seven years since Hannah Gadsby was last at the Edinburgh Fringe, debuting ‘Nanette’ before it exploded on Netflix, cementing the stand-up as a Fringe-changed-your-life household legend. A lot has changed since then: they’ve won an Emmy, published a New York Times best-selling memoir and ‘started sleeping in posh hotels’.  Gadsby, in other words, is now living a different life. It’s one of the themes they explore with exhausting self-awareness in ‘Woof!’ – along with all of the anxieties about remaining relatable that lurk under that level of fame. As they hammer home: how on earth will we be able to laugh along to a story about swimming with whales?  Spoiler: we aren’t able to. The Aussie stand-up starts the show by telling us it will be about ‘big questions’ and goes on to touch on everything from grief and class to gender, climate anxiety and being neurodiverse. It’s packed with sharp, intelligent writing: it has a clever narrative and is vulnerable and brave. But, as an hour and a bit of comedy, it falls flat. Maybe it’s the over-emphasis on ‘meh’ references to cabbage patch dolls and plastic plants, the cheap poo jokes or the baffling, desperate whale sketches. Perhaps it is trying to do too much at once, or – more likely – the problem is that the show lacks any grittines and actual humour for it to properly resonate. While confident, the delivery is overly casual and the more soul-searching spiels verge on self-indulgent. Clever moments of societal critique, i

It’s been seven years since Hannah Gadsby was last at the Edinburgh Fringe, debuting ‘Nanette’ before it exploded on Netflix, cementing the stand-up as a Fringe-changed-your-life household legend. A lot has changed since then: they’ve won an Emmy, published a New York Times best-selling memoir and ‘started sleeping in posh hotels’.  Gadsby, in other words, is now living a different life. It’s one of the themes they explore with exhausting self-awareness in ‘Woof!’ – along with all of the anxieties about remaining relatable that lurk under that level of fame. As they hammer home: how on earth will we be able to laugh along to a story about swimming with whales?  Spoiler: we aren’t able to. The Aussie stand-up starts the show by telling us it will be about ‘big questions’ and goes on to touch on everything from grief and class to gender, climate anxiety and being neurodiverse. It’s packed with sharp, intelligent writing: it has a clever narrative and is vulnerable and brave. But, as an hour and a bit of comedy, it falls flat. Maybe it’s the over-emphasis on ‘meh’ references to cabbage patch dolls and plastic plants, the cheap poo jokes or the baffling, desperate whale sketches. Perhaps it is trying to do too much at once, or – more likely – the problem is that the show lacks any grittines and actual humour for it to properly resonate. While confident, the delivery is overly casual and the more soul-searching spiels verge on self-indulgent. Clever moments of societal critique, i

Given its proximity to the offices scattering Holborn Viaduct and the fact it is quite literally attached to a brand-new hotel, you’d be forgiven for thinking Leydi was another run-of-the-mill restaurant; a style-over-substance set-up for lunch meetings you’d rather avoid. But Leydi is not like that: it feels like a proper place to eat. The interiors are super swish, like a toned-down version of Sketch if it was in Istanbul: all powdery pink walls collaged with bright, framed artworks, tastefully tiled floors and shell-shaped seats mirrored by rounded doorways and decorative lampshades.  It’s the new venture of Turkish-Cypriot chef Selin Kiazim, formerly of the now-closed east London restaurant, Oklava. This place is for all-day dining (hello, Turkish breakfast) and serves everything you’d expect from your classic Green Lanes grill (and more), done with central London sophistication.  Eating here is a marathon, not a sprint  You start with mezze, of course – and you’d be a fool to not venture out from your usual babaganoush. The menu is full of dips gallore – soft, smokey aubergine; cooling garlicky atom with drizzles of chilli oil; a baked claypot hummous which was as heavy as a soufflé – which arrive on your table like little pots of paint, ready to dunk one of three warmly baked breads into. After that, it was onto (perhaps ambitiously), the mixed grill for two: a generous centrepiece of skewered adana, succulent chicken and lamb meats. After the mezze starter and a borek

If you’re into clothes, you can’t really get much better than this. Join Vogue and some of the top forces in fashion – like John Galliano,  Christopher Kane and Law Roach – for a jam-packed day of talks, materclasses and mingling in the stylish setting of Central Saint Martins. The theme for this year’s event is ‘Power of the Runway’, and will feature a conversation with John Galliano and actor Gwendoline Christie, a chat with Lena Dunham and Christopher Kane and a behind-the-scenes tour of CSM fashion studios. That’s just the start of it: expect more stars, more glam and more surprises. All attendees will receive an exclusive gift bag worth more than £400, as well as access to interactive workshops with London designers and a cocktail reception.  

A yellow all-in-one jumpsuit, conical spikes protruding out of all angles. A black beret adorned with buttons, chains and keys. Gold leather trousers with an adjoining bag rhino-horning upwards from the crotch.  If you were a London club kid in the ’80s, it didn’t matter how impractically you dressed: if something was fabulous, you would wear it. This new exhibition from the Fashion and Textile Museum captures that lust for dressing up via an extensive collection of clothes, jewellery, photographs, magazines and memorabilia which came out of a specific corner of the city at a revolutionary time for fashion. The whole thing revolves around Leigh Bowery, the eccentric performance artist and designer, who arrived in London via Australia at the turn of the decade, and whose squat bedroom – complete with Star Trek wallpaper – we’re welcomed into at first instance. Here, we’re introduced to Bowery’s designs: his bold silhouettes, textural embellishments and playful motifs crop up throughout (be sure to look for the fantastic Kirby grip detailing, using rows and rows of hair clips to create a Chanel-adjacent, DIY tassel effect). You’ll wonder how our wardrobes all got so homogenised and boring.  ‘Taboo had a reputation as the wildest club in town’, a newsreader’s voice reads over a pixelated dance floor clip. Taboo, the short-lived nightclub on a corner of Leicester Square, swiftly became a home for Leigh and other noted creatives – like Boy George, John Galliano and Pam Hogg – to

Rose Matafeo is just like the rest of us. She uses her Notes app for just about everything: recipe ideas, drafts of her will, one-liners. She hates Taylor Swift. She struggles to get her head around the brainrot internet vernacular of Gen Z. And it’s this relatability, delivered with such a natural, frantic rhythm, that will have you smiling and nodding along like a bobble-head cat for a full 60 minutes.  The Kiwi creator of beloved sitcom ‘Starstruck’ and winner of the 2018 Comedy Award at the Fringe takes an introspective, confessional approach to her latest show. She contemplates her twenties, from the boarding school men she dated to being an introvert in London, she lurches into accents and light self depreciation. She examines her own love life, following all of its tragic characters via being dumped in your thirties and the weird world of online relationship coaches – covering subjects which could endanger coming across as bland or clichéd, but are delivered with such zeal and intelligence that it feels like you’re hearing about them for the first time.  It occasionally lurches into rushed moments of chaos which don’t allow space for material to land – and a few comparisons, like those of Harry Potter and Mario Kart, fell a bit flat. But for the most part, Matafeo is truly very funny. The hour takes on an arc, tricking the audience and swiftly, slyly, returning to its core messages. Fierce, clever and unashamedly ordinary, it’s a celebration of being your true, unapolo

It’s been a big night at the BRIT Awards, which returned to a packed O2 Arena in London. Ezra Collective won Group of the Year, Charli xcx won Song of the Year and Stormzy won Best Hip Hop/Grime Act, amongst many more. How were winners decided? A BRITs voting academy, made up of around 1,200 experts from the media, decided the shortlist for each category. The genre awards – such as Best R&B and Best Rock – were fan voted; the Producer, Songwriter and Rising Star awards were decided by an expert panel, while the winners of the remaining categories were decided by the voting academy.  A few awards were announced ahead of the ceremony: Myles Smith took home the Rising Star Award, while Charli xcx won Songwriter of the Year and A.G. Cook, credited with producing Brat, was crowned Producer of the Year.  As for the rest? We reported live from the 2025 annual BRIT Awards ceremony at London’s O2 Arena, hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall, and have all the winners in full below. Recommended:Brit Awards 2025: Live as it happensHow to watch the 2025 BRIT Awards on TV this weekend  BRIT Awards 2025 nominees and winners, live Rising star Myles Smith (winner) Elmiene Good Neighbours Songwriter of the year Charli xcx (winner) Producer of the year A.G. Cook (winner) Global success award Sabrina Carpenter (winner) Song of the year View this post on Instagram A post shared by xcxshake (@xcxshake) Charli xcx ft Billie Eilish – ‘Guess fea

And with that, another BRIT Awards draws to a close. Thousands of artists, music lovers and industry folk descended on London’s O2 Arena to celebrate British and international music, featuring performances from Sabrina Carpenter, The Last Dinner Party, Sam Fender and many others. The night started with the red carpet, before guests and nominees took to their seats for a night of live music and winner announcements.  Comedian and former Time Out cover star Jack Whitehall hosted the ceremony, and we reported on all the goings-on as the night unfolded, direct from London’s O2 Arena in Greenwich. Check it out below. Recommended:BRIT Awards 2025: the winners in fullHow to watch the 2025 BRIT Awards on TV  Highlights from the BRIT Awards 2025 Night wraps as Charli xcx takes home Album of the Year The singer-songwriter took home a total of five BRIT awards, including Album of the Year for – of course – Brat. In her final acceptance speech, she said ‘this time culture caught up with us’ and advised younger artists to not compromise their vision, thanking her collaborators in her final acceptance speech before Ezra Collective performed with Jorja Smith to close the show.  Tribute to Liam Payne Jack Whitehall introduced a heartfelt tribute to the late former One Direction member and singer-songwriter, Liam Payne.  TikToker Big John makes a guest appearance The BRITs will just always be better than the Grammys #BRITs2025 pic.twitter.com/7j8ll6BVdQ — Charlie Watts (@char1ie

There’s a pub on every corner in London – or at least the old saying goes. It’s maybe not quite as true anymore, but we still have an abundance of top-quality boozers here, from carpeted Samuel Smith’s joints to trendy east London gastropubs and everything in between.  All that said, we have had our fair share of fallen soldiers in recent times. A new book by Sam Cullen celebrates more than 200 of the most memorable pubs closed across Greater London over the last 25 years, covering all 32 boroughs and the City. ‘In pulling together my new book, London’s Lost Pubs, I consulted a wide array of historic pub guides to the capital’s boozers – it should come as no surprise that the Time Out guides published in the nineties onwards were a rich source of information, full of witty and colourful reviews,’ Cullen says. Below, Cullen picks out some of his favourite comments from the Time Out archives and spotlights 12 great closed pubs to remember. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best pubs in London, according to Time Out 1. The Beehive Photograph: Ewan Munro Marylebone  ‘This bijou Marylebone boozer had a particularly colourful Time Out review in 2004, being described as ‘‘a one room drinking experience that puts you in mind of a house party arranged by a mad aunt who has inexplicably gained access to several barrels of lager and bitter’’. The entry went on to say it was ‘‘cheap and distinctly cheerful’’. It closed in 2014 and has remained derelict ever since.’ 2. Cartoonist Photograph: Jim Lin

Ah, London. From Notting Hill to Love Actually, it’s the star of many rom-coms. And with the grey waters of the Thames flowing through the city, its hidden wine bars and ancient streets, it’s definitely a romantic – in its own unique, gritty sort of way. That said, it doesn’t always feel like love is all that easy to find here. As part of Time Out’s annual best cities survey, we asked more than 18,500 city-dwellers about their dating life. Most of the Londoners we surveyed have a pretty bleak view of dating: only 28 percent of London locals said they think that getting coupled up here is ‘easy’, meaning our city ranked the joint seventh worst in the world for finding love.  The higher cost of going out here – from £7 pints to extortionate tasting menus – doesn’t really help matters. A study released in 2024 found that the cost of living crisis is dramatically impacting our dating lives, with 64 percent of single people admitting to spending an average of between £90 and £140 on dates. As a result, 76 percent of single people have said they have started to lower their budgets for dates, with 32 percent opting for cheaper options like going for coffee over a meal out.   But what do Londoners really think? We took to the streets of Soho and asked people how much they think you should spend on a first date, as well as that all important question: who should pick up the bill? This is what we found.   View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out

Disputes between trade unions and train companies in the UK have now been dragging on for nearly three years, with rail workers taking action to protest poor pay and working conditions. But while train strikes are officially over for much of the UK after ASLEF negotiated a pay deal, some strikes have since been called for select services for an extended period.  The most recent bout of strikes have been called by ASLEF on Hull Trains, which are in response to a colleague being ‘unfairly sacked’. These will start at the beginning of March and last until the end of April. RMT train managers on Avanti West Coast services announced new strikes back in December, and they’ve already begun. That period of action started on New Year’s Eve and will continue all the way to May 2025.  As for nationwide strikes? Following the last bout of ASLEF strikes in May 2024 – quite some time ago, at this point, and which saw train drivers at 16 operators across the UK walk out over three days – no further action has been called for British train services.  Here’s everything you need to know about upcoming industrial action on the UK’s rail network.  RECOMMENDED: ⛔️ All you need to know about the train strikes in London. When are the next train strike dates? Avanti West Coast strikes started on New Year’s Eve and continued on January 2, and they’ll take place every Sunday between January 12 and May 25. The Hull Trains strikes will begin on March 7 and finish on April 26, taking place every Friday

The hours between leaving the club and rolling into bed are often odd ones, where the real memories are made. The last song plays, the lights come on, and you’re face to face with the strangers with which you’ve shared the dance floor euphoria for the last five hours. Everyone’s makeup looks a little crusty, you can see the drink stains on your clothes, and there’s that shared sense of communion as you queue for the cloakroom and trudge into the early hours of the morning. Maybe the sun will be rising, maybe commuters will already be shuffling past the pavements – but for you, the night is not over yet. You can get a kebab. You can scout out an afters. Maybe you’ll go home with that person you’ve had your eye on all night, or maybe you’ll just walk and talk with friends, old and new, with no plan at all. Time becomes elastic, irrelevant; you feel invincible, like the world is yours for the taking.  Mischa Haller, a documentary photographer based in London, spent 1998 capturing clubbers across the UK in those beautiful, strange in-between hours. From Brighton beach to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, his pictures show British youth in their post-party prime, laughing, smoking, making fires on the pebbled seafront, posing on pavements next to the remains of greasy takeaways and following the night out to its bitter end. They’ve been compiled into ‘Not Going Home’, the debut book from the British Culture Archive, the non-profit preserving some of the most important documentary photograph

It’s no secret that London’s nightlife is not what it used to be. Ticket prices are climbing as promoters and club owners try to keep up with rising costs, all while young people are going out less and less. It seems like it’s every other week that a new venue is under threat of closure as property developers move in, and it’s even a struggle to find a decent place to get a pint past 1am these days.   Enter the Nightlife Taskforce, a project launched by mayor of London Sadiq Khan with the aim of boosting the capital’s struggling night economy. The group was promised in Khan’s re-election manifesto, and the creation follows the resignation of Amy Lamé last October, who spent eight years as London’s night czar and faced criticism about the size of her salary and claims that she needed to do more to stop venues from closing after the pandemic.  The new taskforce will be made up of 11 industry experts, including Cameron Leslie, co-founder of Fabric nightclub, as chair. Other members include Sophie Brownlee, external affairs manager at the Music Venue Trust, Alice Hoffman-Fuller,  former art director at Corsica Studios, Nadine Noor, founder of party promoters Pxssy Palace, Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association and Nathaneal Williams, founder of Colour Factory. If you’re asking us? It looks like a pretty decent bunch of folk who are already actively involved in the best of London’s nightlife already. If anyone should know what they’re talking about, it’s them.

Can you smell that? Rich, warm, maybe slightly smokey: that’s the smell of a city functioning on caffeine. Whether you’re dedicated to your oat flat whites, like to go all out with a skinny-double-salted-caramel-frappé (extra cream) or prefer to keep things trad with a pot of freshly-brewed black, if you’re a Londoner, there’s a high chance you’re a keen coffee drinker.  The stuff is everywhere. There are your run-of-the-mill chain coffee shops; the places you turn to when you need something, anything, to wake you up on the go. There’s a growing selection of more niche places, serving up everything from Vietnamese brews to mushroom blends. And, of course, there’s a plethora of top-quality independent coffee shops and roasters, all specialising in something a little bit different. (Check out Time Out’s edit of the best coffee in the city right here.)  Celeste Wong, AKA The Girl In The Café, moved to the UK capital in the mid 2000s after working as a barista at coffee shops in Melbourne and Dunedin, New Zealand. A previous host of the The London Coffee Festival Coffee Masters competition and crowned one of London’s top five baristas by the Financial Times, she now shares her tips, recipes and caffeinated reccs on Instagram and released her first book on all things coffee just this month. ‘I got so passionate, super nerdy, and loved the creative process – but also loved the culture of it,’ she says, speaking about honing her craft down under. ‘Coffee culture in Australia and Ne

February 14 is looming: that one day of the year when you can be as cringe as you like with your beloved. You might think that Valentine’s Day is a bit of an eye-roll, with its mass-produced heart-shaped chocolates and overly forced romance, but it’s hard to argue that it’s a good excuse to get out there and see the city. In 2025, it also falls on a Friday, which means less worrying about staying out past your bedtime.  If you want to do something special and still have to sort a date-night, here are six date ideas to book now (right now) to avoid disappointment on the big day. Oh, and if you’re looking for more inspo, check out our full list of Valentine’s Day Events in London for 2025 right here.  Photograph: The Standard Rest your head in one of the capital’s design-led hotels It’s all too easy to get caught up in the work-pub-bed-repeat lifecycle that is London, and for your other half to simply become another piece of the furniture. We’re joking, but a change of scenery never goes a miss º especially if you have the full weekend ahead of you. If you want to push the boat out this Valentine’s, book a room in one of London’s best boutique hotels for a stylish overnight stay.  Catch a film at this iconic Soho cinema Fancy yourself as a bit of a film buff, do you? The Prince Charles cinema has programmed a load of movies for Valentine’s weekend, offering more obscure romantic-influenced flicks, from romantic classics ‘True Romance’ and ‘Casablanca’ to Céline Sciamma’s per

There’s a one in 653,000 chance of death when you do a tandem skydive in the UK and there were reportedly no fatalities in the 20 years between 1997 and 2016. Statistically, that’s much safer than hiking. I knew all this, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about death approximately 19 times a day in the weeks leading up to my jump. The possibilities of death, it seemed, were endless. I had dreams of my eyeballs being sucked out of my head while falling at a hundred miles per hour and of Storm Darragh pushing me off course into the icy waters of the North Sea. I’d had dark thoughts about the parachute being unable to go up; darker thoughts of a bird crashing into me as it travelled south for winter and toppling to my grave in a pile of feathers, beak and blood. I have a fear of heights. It’s not unreasonable, it doesn’t restrict my daily life, but it is very much there. It’s the impending drop which gets me: the empty space, the threat of gravity, uninterrupted. I hate jumping off cliffs into bodies of water and looking down from the tops of tall buildings makes my stomach turn. If I think too much about it, I start to feel a dizzying panic, a walls-closing-in sort of anxiety, like the floor could give away at any minute. A skydive would be a chance to prove to myself that, while not completely ridiculous, this fear was irrational in most scenarios. Photograph: Chiara WilkinsonUK Parachuting at Beccles UK Parachuting has two centres: one in Peterborough, closer to London,

It’s never good to pick favourites, especially when the calibre of choice is so very high. But sometimes it must be done. Here at Time Out we published 24 digital covers in 2024, spotlighting everyone from TV stars like AJ Odudu and Jamie Laing and breakthrough Gen Z talent like GK Barry and Cat Burns to underground wrestling clubs and the restaurant at the heart of London’s Little Lagos.  We turned Confidence Man into aliens, went boxing with Rita Ora, launched our 50 Best Pubs in London list with Jamali Maddix in the Army and Navy and took Will Sharpe to the cinema. We put Mam Sham inside a cheese grater, photographed Laufey with her identical twin, styled Stefflon Don with a snake and got together 26 legends of the underground music scene on an east London rooftop.  Keep an eye out for more cover stars coming in 2025, but for now, enjoy this round-up of our favourite covers of the year.  Mam Sham  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out London (@timeoutlondon) Back in January, we teamed up with the city’s buzziest culinary duo to present our best cheap eats in London. Read the interview here. Kingsley Ben-Adir View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out London (@timeoutlondon) We caught up with Kingsley Ben-Adir about playing Bob Marley – read the interview here. Laufey View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out London (@timeoutlondon) There’s a reason why

It’s been some year, right? I’ve spent 2024 heading up Time Out’s features desk, covering the essential culture and lifestyle stories and answering the vital questions about city life and going out in the UK. We’ve covered everything from the driving test black market to the rise of ‘nu-donk’ – it’s certainly not been boring, put it that way. From nightlife scenes to transport trends, pop stars to chefs, our team has written a lot this year – so we thought we’d get all of the best bits together for you in one place (holiday reading, anyone?). This is by no means an exhaustive list, but we hope it provides something of a taster of what we have to offer, and what we’ll continue to cover in the year ahead. We hope you enjoy. All of the best features Time Out published in 2024 In January, we kicked off the year by rounding up eight musicians to look out for in 2024. Our art editor Eddy Frankel investigated the spate of London gallery closures and we explored the eruption of new online communities helping women combat loneliness in the city, and asked the vital question: have we all fallen out of love with veganism? London’s iconic queer venue, The Glory, announced it was closing its doors, so we waved it off by tracing its sexy, shambolic history accompanied by a photoshoot with its queer community. February marked the 40th anniversary of London Fashion Week, so we celebrated the capital’s most exciting designers by catching up with them in their studios. We also explored the str