Chiara Wilkinson

Live music, lovely little wine spots and some of the city's best cocktails – Covent Garden has more brilliant bars than you can shake a stick at. The area's drinking scene is diverse, so check out our picks of the best places for after-hours drinking in the the middle of town; whether it’s female-founded beaujolais at Lady of the Grapes, rock'n'roll Martinis at Stereo, cabaret with your cabernet at CellarDoor or beers, so many beers, at Bierschenke. RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in Covent Garden. 

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 rowdy sports bar meets 80s horror movie set Bloodsports in Covent Garden, 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.

Dalston may be known for its buzzing bars and thriving nightlife, but its dining-out scene is just as thrilling. The area boasts killer kebabs – thanks to several of London’s best Turkish restaurants – alongside global cuisine and tons of excellent cafés serving up mouthwatering and hangover-curing breakfasts. From Angelina (a chic Italo-Japanese mash-up) and the Little Duck Picklery (a ‘fermenting kitchen’ related to Ducksoup) to Dusty Knuckle Bakery, there's something for everyone. Try reliable old faves: Andu Café (Ethiopian, vegan and BYO) and Del 74 (a garish, grungy Mexican bar/taqueria) if you don't know where to start your culinary quest.      RECOMMENDED: The very best restaurants in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. So east London it hurts? Follow our Time Out East London WhatsApp channel for the latest news, openings and goss from the coolest bit of the capital. (Yeah, we said it.)

From striking documentary works from a time bygone to glitzy, high fashion editorial shoots and everything in between, London is an excellent city to explore if you’re a photography lover. There are new exhibitions popping up pretty much all of the time, allowing you to lose yourself through the camera lens.  In this list below, we’ve put together all of the best photography exhibitions out there in the city right now. We’ve been there, done that, checked them out in the flesh, and can guarantee that every exhibition on this list is worth going to.  RECOMMENDED: Top 10 art exhibitions in London12 London art exhibitions we can’t wait to see in 2025

We all know that it costs an arm and a leg to enjoy a day out in London these days. Step out the front door and you’re probably already down a mysterious tenner. And once you’ve factored in transport, food, drinks and tickets for whatever takes your fancy, you’re looking at some serious damage to your poor old bank balance. But not all is lost: you’re in a cultural capital, for goodness’ sake. Let’s not forget that we can enjoy some world-class art in world-class galleries, right here on our doorstep, free of charge. Pretty much every major museum in London is free to enter, as well as every gallery – and while the temporary exhibitions will usually take a fee, you can still see some of the greats (we’re talking your Monets, Michelangelos and Emins) at places like the Tate Modern and National Gallery without splurging a penny of your hard-earned cash.  Below, you’ll find all of the free art and photography exhibitions happening in London right now, but that’s not everything: don’t miss out on the permanent collections of some fantastic free museums and galleries right here. Enjoy. RECOMMENDED:All of the free galleries and museums in LondonExplore our full guide to free LondonThe best art exhibitions in London

If you’re dreaming of finding sand in your shoes after a long day out and queuing too long for ice cream, then you could do a lot worse than venturing out of the city and planning a trip to one of the UK’s seemingly endless coastal towns. This is an island nation, after all, which means it’s packed with rugged cliffs and windswept headlands as well as quaint fishing villages and shoreline surf spots. We might not have the sunkissed weather of our European neighbours, but when it comes to costal charm, the UK ticks a hell of a lot of boxes. Planning a trip to the seaside? Check out our list of the best coastal towns in the country, from Scotland to Cornwall.   Which UK seaside towns get the best weather?  If you’re chasing sunshine, you’re probably going to want to go south. Brighton, Margate, St Ives, Salcombe and Falmouth can clock some serious sun hours in the right season – but we can’t make any promises, so be sure to pack a raincoat to be on the safe side.  Where are the best beaches in the UK? If beach walks and swimming in the sea is what you’re after, look no further than our list of the best beaches in the UK. From the list below, we’d recommend Brighton if you’re more of a pebble person. Head to Nefyn for natural beauty and extreme quiet. Try North Berwick if you want sand between your toes and can stomach chillier waters. And for higher temperatures, head to East Portlemouth beach and stay in Salcombe.  RECOMMENDED:🌊The best outdoor swimmming pools in the UK🏖️T

The humble brunch is perhaps one of the greatest inventions of the modern age. Breakfast is too early to really get stuck into, while eating eggs and downing buckets of coffee at lunchtime seems odd. Brunch, then, is the one true morning-ish meal, especially if it incorporates pancakes, bacon and those aforementioned eggs. Or you can enjoy a totally vegan take on proceedings at LD's at The Black Heart. London is particularly well stocked with places to indulge in the famous breakfast/lunch hybrid – one of the latest additions to this list is FKA Black Axe Mangal in Highbury, (don’t forgot to order a pig cheek and prune donut). Let us guide you to the best restaurants for a fabulous brunch, from a traditional full English to innovative twists on the majestic meal, such as a bacon bao brunch.  RECOMMENDED: Like unlimited fizz with your fry-up? Here are the best bottomless brunches in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. April 2025: We've had fresh fiddle of this list, removing some of the staler options and giving you only the finest brunches in London for spring and into summer. We've included a few places that prove brunch isn't just a weekend treat, with some of these spots serving brunch every single day. Make the most of the warmer weather by bagging a terrace table somewhere like The Laundry in Brixton. Hate the heat and would rather sulk in the dark? Then it's off to LD's at The Bla

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.

The countdown is on for Glastonbury 2025. The line-up has dropped and it’s looking pretty darn good: the likes of Neil Young, The 1975, Olivia Rodrigo and Rod Stewart will take to the iconic Pyramid Stage, joined over the weekend by everyone from Charli xcx and Doechii to The Prodigy and Alanis Morissette.  Glastonbury is the UK’s biggest music festival, attracting more than 200,000 music lovers to over 100 stages. It’s also notoriously difficult to get tickets for – but if you didn’t get round to it this year (and can’t bear the resale), you can still catch up on all of the action from the comfort of your home. Most of the big sets and highlights from the weekend will be available to watch on the BBC.  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. Read our on-the-ground reviews of last year’s event here. 2026 is a fallow year, meaning that the Worthy Farm festival will have a year off to look after the land. In other words? All the more reason to go all-out at Glastonbury 2025. Here is everything you need to know, including dates, line-up info and more. RECOMMENDED:🎉 Full list of acts confirmed for Glastonbury 2025🎪 The best festivals in the UK☀️ The best festivals in Europe When is Glastonbury 2025? Glastonbury 2025 will take place from June 25 to 29.  What’s the lineup for 2025 and who’s headlini

There’s a lot of talk about the state of London nightlife right now. Naysayers lament the fact that venues are closing at an alarming rate, blame Gen Zs for not going out and claim that it’s impossible to get a drink in central after 1am (it’s really not). With all that negativity and uncertainty, it’s tempting to just stick to what you know – or worse, stay in – rather than get out there and experience what this vast city has to offer after dark.  There are new nights popping up all the time. Heart of Soul, Jungyals and Gays, Club Stamina and Joyride are all relatively new (and totally brilliant) additions to London’s club scene. There’s also the nights that have remained classics for good reason – Rowans, the Palm Tree fridays, K-Hole – as well as more wholesome late-evening activities like life drawing, spoken word nights and supper clubs.  There’s nights out for everyone in this city. Nights for foodies, film buffs, audiophiles. Nights for marathon ravers, old-school movers and for when you need a proper good singalong. Even nights out for when you just want a nice sit down.  We curated this list by asking Time Out staff members for their favourite nights out in the city – and trust us, we know our stuff. Our list features nights in central London, east London, west London, north London and in south London. They all take place frequently, or semi-frequently, throughout the year and each offers something unique. So what are you waiting for? Start planning your next night o

  Art lover? You really can’t get much better than London. Not only do you have all of the world-leading permanent collections of our namesake art galleries and museums at your disposal, you also have high end commercial galleries, amazing local community spaces and outdoor public art on every other corner – and that’s before we get onto the exciting, constantly-evolving calendar of temporary exhibitions. In other words, there is a hell of a lot of art to see in this city, especially in 2025. Some might say there’s even too much art to see – and what a problem to have. That’s where we come in. Time Out has been sending experts to review all of the major exhibitions in London, as well as a lot of the smaller ones, for decades. Working out what is actually good, and what is not, is our job: be it sculpture, painting, performance art, photography or anything in between.  Check out our list of the best art we’ve seen recently, and check back in for updates every week. These are the best exhibitions in London right now. Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.

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

What is a portrait, really? What is its role? And what makes it different from ‘just’ a photograph of a person? These are all questions that spring to mind when walking around A Thousand Small Stories, the first ever retrospective of Eileen Perrier’s photography. Since the 1990s, the London-born photographer has used her camera to capture individuals in their local communities, and this show highlights some of her finest work.  In ‘Red Gold and Green’ – a series of pictures taken of British Ghanaians in their London homes – Perrier sets up rolls of fabric in block colours, matching the Ghanaian flag, acting as a DIY professional backdrop. But elements of their private lives sneak into shot, adding a sense of intimacy: we spot framed family pictures, a vinyl collection and other nicknacks, like a Hendon rotary club wall hanging. The result feels personal, as though the family home is an extension of the self. Discrete references to the formal rituals of portraiture – the dreaded school photo day, an awkward extended-family get together – continue throughout her practice. In ‘Nation’, a series of photographs of commuters on the Paris metro in 1999, plasticky red seating doubles as a background, uniting the windswept strangers in their shared surroundings. In ‘Peckham Square Studio’, she uses Victorian photography techniques, with a hidden headrest for the sitters – but the photographs aren’t uptight, they’re vibrant, with a movement and cleanness that feels hyper-modern.  Later

The Cosmic House is one of those rare places deserving of the name ‘hidden gem’. A Victorian villa on a residential street near Holland Park station, it’s the former home of revered postmodernist landscape architect Charles Jencks, who renovated the building in the late 1970s with his wife Maggie and the architect Terry Farrell to earn its Grade I-listing. Remodelled into a liveable collage of cosmic references and playful mind-games, it can be interpreted as a mediation on our place in the universe via quantum physics, architecture and philosophy. But it’s also just an extraordinarily beautiful building; a masterpiece of light, shadow and symmetry.  Since 2021, the house has operated as a museum, and each year, the Jencks Foundation commissions an artist to respond to the surroundings. This time round, it’s a video work by Lithuanian-born musician Lina Lapelytė, composed of 12 screens dotted around the house to be hunted down like a game of hide and seek. Created in collaboration with five other artists, each screen shows a video of a musical performance taking place in the home, often right where you’re standing. In one film, singers assemble around the central spiral staircase: a dizzying kaleidoscopic shot of bodies circling a descending, twisting railing. On another screen, in the gallery basement, a performer sings a capella, sitting on the polished jade floor as light reflects in shards like a static disco ball. There is even a screen in the ‘Cosmic Loo’, complete with

The clothes we wear, the sheets we sleep on, the carpets beneath our feet. Textiles are everywhere; we can’t escape them. That’s what this show at the Fashion and Textile Museum sets out to explore: the long-running connection between us, the earth, and textiles, in just about every sense of the word.  As the exhibition points out from the get-go, we humans have relied on woven fabric to perform practical tasks for millennia, weaving reeds together to create vessels, protecting our delicate little heads from the hot sun with wicker hats and making nets to catch fish. They are the global artform. We use textiles to express our individuality through clothing, to tell stories and mark life milestones. We also use them, the exhibition argues, to communicate our deep, inherent love of animals, to show evidence of abstract thought and to interact with technology.  It sounds impressive on paper, but in practice, this exhibition lacks depth. There are certainly some beautiful, intricate, intriguing objects here: a ‘three-factorial’ weave inspired by betting odds, strings of shiny beetle wings, an applicé wearable art coat and a hand-painted Chinese wedding cloth showing a hare preparing the potion of eternal youth with a mortar and pestle. But it hops swiftly between multiple cultures and time periods, making vague points illustrated with what sometimes seems like a random assortment of objects, mainly from the last century (the most rare, and one of the oldest pieces in the collecti

Everyone is on the listening bar hype right now, from Jumbi in Peckham to Bambi in London Fields, and now Bethnal Green is getting its shot in the spotlight. Câv, hidden under the railway arches on Paradise Row, is the latest to hop on board. Its name translates to ‘cave’ in Spanish, which alludes to its dome-like interior, as well as the Spanish and Portuguese-influenced menu of bar snacks and small plates, cooked up by Tasca, who are kicking things off with a year-long kitchen residency. Dark, sultry and understated, this space is pretty big, and there are plans to install a top-quality sound system and large library of vinyl on one wall which guests will be ‘free to peruse and play at their own leisure before things get too rowdy’ – in addition to DJ decks for when the night really kicks into gear. It’s all too easy to imagine tables being pushed to one side to make way for a sizeable dancefloor. The drinks menu features a slick selection of eight house cocktails, including a lip-smacking plum manhattan, smooth lemongrass highball and a perfectly-executed dill martini. Each was complex in its own right, with a simple, sophisticated playfulness – and all were priced at a fair £12. I happily snacked on a selection of anchovies, prudo ham, and plump green olives between sips.  I have no doubts that the tried-and-tested food plus vinyl plus cool cocktails combo will be a welcome addition to Bethnal Green’s nighttime scene, who have been a little left out from the Hackney gang

You know what London is missing? A colossal bar in the middle of Covent Garden where you can watch Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen and The Shining on 30 silver screens while simultaneously cheering on the Europa League. Said no one ever. Yet Bloodsports, from the same minds behind Meatliquor, seems to really be onto something here. This is the sort of unpretentious late-night fun that has been lacking in central London for far too long. A quick stroll from Covent Garden tube, and slyly hidden down a corridor entrance sandwiched between a coffee hatch and a Tesco, this place is a Tardis: a vast, windowless den where it could be 10am or 10pm - you wouldn’t know for the glare of red neon lights and lack of windows. A generous bar lines one side of the room, another is closer to the back, and the whole space is kitted out with stacks of tables and benches as well as arcade games and pool. There’s plenty of organised fun to be had if you fancy it, though take caution if you choose to do karaoke: it is ‘on demand’, meaning pretty much the whole venue will watch (and hear) your rendition of ‘My Heart Will Go On’. This kind of huge, big-booking place could be hellish – hello, Brewdog Waterloo – but somehow, it’s not. Bloodsports is cool in a sort of self-consciously cringey way, working well because it truly goes all-in on the ‘horror movie meets sports bar’ theme. There’s a ‘bloods’ menu, with lip-smackingly good tomato-based cocktails (your classic bloody marys, as well as tequil

Watching 'Playfight', you’ll be transported back to adolescence: from opening the envelope on exam results day to competitive playground gossip. You’ll bump into former friends who exist only in memory (or your hometown pub on Christmas Eve) and feel at once grateful and melancholic that you’ve grown up a bit since then. ‘Playfight’ is a three-man drama following a group of friends over the course of 10 years, through their GSCEs to navigating their first sexual experiences and working out what they want to do with their lives. There’s Kiera (played with excellent command by Sophie Cox): the brash, over-the-top and slightly misguided northerner who recounts losing her virginity on a tennis court with close to no filter. There’s Lucy (Lucy Mangan): ditzy, Christian and somewhat secretive. Then, there’s Zainab, played by Nina Cassells: the headstrong, sceptical, intelligent lesbian who realises she has feelings for her friend. The whole thing plays out around ‘tree’, their playground meeting point, represented in Hazel Low’s gorgeous, simple set by a luminous ladder in the middle of the floor. The cast walk, climb and swing around it, as tensions unravel in the circle staging. Certain moments are so heavy, you’ll let out audible gasps. Other times, you’ll be laughing out loud, or sitting awkwardly in your seat as sexual tension feels palpable.  As years pass and scenes play out with a great, compelling pace, we see the girls grow in distance – summed up best by the scene where

A shipping container in Cambridge Heath might not sound like the most glamorous place for a facial, but there’s an undeniably east London sort of cool about re:lax – the studio feels at once homey as it does chic and edgy. Opt for their personalised facial for a tailor-made session suited to your skin needs. I arrived with concerns about my acne scarring, and after a considered consultation, I had targeted microneedling alongside a thorough cleansing and hydration, plus a gentle exfoliation, and left with my skin looking (and feeling) visibly smoother and plumper. That was great, but the highlight had to be the deep but gentle massage all over the shoulders, scalp and face: bliss. You’ll leave with a tonne of reccs for your skincare routine as well as feeling genuinely relaxed and your skin lighter and rejuvenated. £89, 60 mins.

Fashion icon, model, club promoter, musician; Leigh Bowery was a multi-hyphenate before multi-hyphenate became a thing. But above all else, he was a muse, as the Tate Modern’s extensive new exhibition tracing the Melbourne native’s life and legacy does an excellent job of portraying.  Starting with his arrival onto London’s New Romantic scene in 1980, we’re whisked through Bowery’s many different eras in loose chronological order, from his early days as a club promoter for the short-lived but influential Taboo, through to his later practice as a performance artist, clothes designer and life model for Lucian Freud.  Re-invention was what Bowery stood for, and the Tate does a great attempt of categorising his many selves, from the walls (the first section is plastered in the Star Trek wallpaper from his home, the next his favoured polka-dot motif, and so on), to the clothes, video clips and portraits on display, which grow ever more out-there as Bowery gained confidence in his craft and voice with each year he lived in London. In the final room, beautiful blown-up fashion photographs show him literally shape-shifting, wrapping and warping his flesh like a sculptor working the wheel.  Photos show him literally shape-shifting, wrapping and warping his flesh like a sculptor In the curator’s tour, we’re told that this exhibition could have been called ‘Leigh Bowery and Friends’ and perhaps that would have been more appropriate: the Bowery on show here wouldn’t exist without collab

In a swish off-street development between Covent Garden and Leicester Square tube stations, you’ll find Oriole – which, despite its relatively corporate exterior – feels like something of a breath of fresh air in this part of town. Upstairs, there’s a small but swanky bar, perfect for a pre-theatre tipple or nightcap, while downstairs, in a gorgeously decked-out basement (all Latin American references, with stylised jungle wallpaper and low lighting), is where the real action is. A small live stage hosting jazz, world music and cabaret, is surrounded by tables, where all manner of dates, after-work drinks and chattery catch-ups happen over full dinners as well as cocktails and bar nibbles. The latter is what this place seems to do best: our food was inconsistent, with the steak overdone and the dessert delivered so fast there was no disguising the plate came immediately from the fridge. That said, snackier bits, such as devilled eggs and kimchi and katsu rump steak sandwich, were divine, while the drinks – the signature cocktails feature a lot of mezcal, vodka and citrus – were spot-on. By the end of the night, the place was buzzing. Order this ‘Cities of the Plain’ – a naughty concoction of mezcal, habanero spirit and cherry liquor. Time Out tip Check the ‘Live Music’ section of their website to see what kind of events are taking place across Wednesday until Saturday.

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

From tattoo art to TikTok readings, in recent years tarot has infiltrated popular culture in ways that were previously unimaginable. In 2025, tarot is cool. And the Warburg Institute’s newly refurbished galleries, which opened last Autumn, feel like a particularly appropriate place to house London’s first major deep-dive into its history – its founder, Aby Warburg, was one of the first to give it a proper scholarly look-in.  A small but mighty exhibition, Tarot – Origins & Afterlives looks at how the function of tarot has shifted over the centuries while showing how card designs have also evolved with the times. The exhibition offers up various theories as to tarot’s origins, tracing it back to the courts of the mid-15th century Italian Renaissance via the Florentin variant known as Michiate, a 97-card deck, used for narrative-based games. There are some truly gorgeous, intricate etchings and card drawings on display By the 18th century, tarot became adopted by the occult, where it began its association with fortune telling and divination, and in 1781, a French clergyman claimed that tarot originated in ancient Egypt via the ‘Book of Thoth’. A few eccentric characters later, we learn that the mainstream decks most of us are familiar with these days can be traced to the excellently named ‘Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’, a secret society headquartered in London, that was formed in the late nineteenth century and devoted to the study of magic. There are some truly gorgeous,

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

Amateur d’art ? En 2025, Londres mérite largement le détour. Entre ses collections permanentes parmi les plus prestigieuses au monde, ses galeries pointues, ses lieux culturels de quartier et ses installations en plein air à tous les coins de rue, la capitale britannique déborde d’art sous toutes ses formes. Et c’est sans compter son calendrier d’expositions temporaires, toujours plus riche et passionnant. Autrement dit : s’il y a une ville où prendre un aller-retour pour se gaver de culture cette année, c’est bien Londres. Peut-être même trop d’expos pour tout voir – un doux problème, on vous l’accorde. Heureusement, Time Out est là. Depuis des décennies, nos critiques passent en revue les expos majeures (et aussi les plus discrètes) pour dénicher la crème de la crème : peinture, photo, sculpture, performance… on a tout vu, tout testé. Voici donc notre sélection des meilleures expos à voir en ce moment à Londres. De quoi justifier un petit saut de l’autre côté de la Manche. Les 10 meilleures expositions d’art à voir à Londres Ed Atkins, Tate Britain Considéré comme l’un des artistes contemporains les plus influents du Royaume-Uni, Ed Atkins s’offre une grande rétrospective à la Tate Britain. L’exposition couvre 15 ans de carrière à travers des vidéos générées par ordinateur, des animations, des sculptures, des installations, du son, de la peinture et du dessin. Pourquoi y aller : Parce qu’Atkins dissèque les angoisses, les absurdités et les fragilités de notre époque, dans

Ever fancied snoozing next to a Cezanne? Resting your head beside a Rembrandt? If you’ve ever dreamed about dozing off next to world-famous artworks, you might just be in luck.  The National Gallery is still going big on its 200th anniversary celebrations, and as part of it, the gallery is offering one lucky person the chance to sleep overnight in a bed ‘within sight of the world’s greatest paintings’. The winner will be the first member of the public to see the newly refurbished Sainsbury Wing following its two-year closure and rehang of its collection C C Land: The Wonder of Art. The sleepover will take place on Saturday, May 10, and the winner will also cop a private tour of the space with a National Gallery curator, and dinner for two at Locatelli, the National Gallery’s restaurant, as well as a breakfast hamper. Then, they’ll be able to enjoy the gallery’s 1000-plus artworks all to themselves before the Sainsbury Wing opens for its fist public visitors at 10am.  Fancy your own Night At The Museum? You can enter the draw from 9am on Monday April 7 if you’re over 18 and subscribe to the Gallery’s newsletter. The competition is open until 6pm on Monday April 28 after which one lucky winner will be randomly selected. All current subscribers will be automatically entered into the draw.  Don’t miss these amazing new London art exhibitions in April 2025. SXSW London has just revealed its huge music line-up. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews

With its vast, manicured grounds, swanky spa and fine dining restaurant, Gleneagles is one of Scotland’s best-known – and perhaps most-loved – hotels.  Situated in Perthshire on a sweeping countryside estate, the hotel has recently launched a Highland cow ‘safari’, which gives guests the chance to admire Scotland’s long-haired native species (often locally referred to as ‘coos’) via an off-road four-by-four tour.  Billed as the ‘Highland Cow Safari’, visitors will load onto a fleet of the estate’s Land Rover Defenders and head through farmland into the Ochil Hills to spot the creatures out in the open. A local guide will also be on hand to share facts and answer any questions about the breed. The hotel website wrote: ‘These gentle giants might even come closer for some unforgettable photo opportunities, though direct handling will not be permitted.’ The experience is part of a set of new outdoor activities being introduced at the hotel for 2025, alongside an off-road driving adventure, where visitors can travel on Land Rovers through ‘steep hills, rocky tracks and breath-taking vistas across the Perthshire Highlands’. Gleneagles also offers guided Atlantic salmon fishing on the River Tay, as well as horse riding lessons and tree climbing experiences.  The Highland Cow Safari experience will cost £320 per car for up to four guests on a one-hour private tour, and £50 thereafter with up to six guests maximum per vehicle. Find out more here.  Check out our five-star review of G

London is never short when it comes to exhibitions, but this month is looking particularly great, packed with awe-inspiring art shows, brilliant photography and much more. Spring has most definitely sprung and Londoners are coming out of hibernation, seizing the city with both hands, milking it for all it has to offer. This month’s cultural calendar is appropriately packed, with a load of new exhibition openings set to add to all of the excellent ones already showing. From the brilliant but unsettling Ed Atkins at Tate Britain to multi-disciplinary works interrogating language at the ICA, to a blockbuster photography takeover of Somerset House and experimental bodily sculptures at White Cube Mason’s Yard, London is packed with plentiful opportunities for thought-provoking visual indulgence. These are the best exhibitions to see in London in April.  The best new London art exhibitions in April 2025 Photograph: Luke Hayes 1. ‘Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style’ at the Design Museum This one technically opened at the end of March, but we gave it a well-deserved four stars, so it would be a miss for us all not to include ‘Splash!’ in this round-up. The Design Museum is celebrating all things swimming – from Pamela Anderson’s Baywatch swimsuit, to a rainbow display of budgie smugglers – via the pool, the lido and nature, and features a selection of swimwear from throughout the ages as well as some pretty Wes Anderson-style photography. ‘Splash! A Century of Swimming and St

It’s pay weekend (for most of us), and the lure of a night out to soothe our souls after a week of corporate monotony is calling. Will it be sinking one too many Neck Oils on that same pavement beside the pub around the corner from the office? Cocktails with the girlies at the usual? A few tinnies in the living room before ‘seeing where the night takes you’?  We know it’s all too easy to fall into habits of sticking to what you know when it comes to nights out. But – despite what the headlines might have you think – London nightlife is thriving, and new stuff is actually popping up all the time. There’s something for everyone in this city, at all price ranges: jazz, amapiano, jungle and baile funk nights, cinema all-nighters, lesbian supper clubs, 30+ hour raves, sex parties, audiophile listening sessions, galleries, late-night saunas, spoken-word events, supper clubs, niche karaoke, jam sessions, moonlit plays. You just need to know where to look, and our all-new list of the 50 best nights out in the city in 2025 is a good place to start. Coming in at number one in the list was Pop Never Dies, the alt-pop party that jumps between The Lexington in King’s Cross and The Waiting Room pub in Stokey. Pop music has had something of a renaissance in the last year, and a genre that has previously been snubbed for being cheesy or tacky is now genuienly cool. With artist-specific nights and a happy-go-lucky atmosphere, Pop Never Dies is a deserved number one – it even saw Charli xcx ma

If you’re familiar with east London, you’ll more than likely be acquainted with The Gun: that snug little green-tiled boozer on Well Street.  With banging food offerings, a programme of buzzy music events and proper pints, it’s been a stalwart of Hackney’s eating and drinking scene for more than a decade. It’s hosted several kitchen residencies over the years, such as the inimitable Ling Ling’s – which you might recognise as the number one in our best Sunday roasts in London list – as well as booking DJs like Daniel Avery and Marie Davidson to play its intimate 90-capacity space.  But not everything lasts forever and all good things must come to an end. Yesterday (March 16) was the last day of trading for the Hackney venue, which was forced to close its doors due to the ‘increasing costs of running a hospitality business in the current financial climate’. Time Out UK editor-in-chief Joe Mackertich said about the closure: ‘The Gun is a hugely influential, massively loved and exceptionally well-run part of London's hospitality scene. Losing it is big deal. ‘Whether you popped in for a Saturday afternoon pint, one of its legendary roasts or a critically acclaimed DJ set, the experience was always top notch. East London has lost a little piece of its identity. Hopefully everyone involved will immediately go on to new and brilliant things.’ Meanwhile, Time Out design director Bryan Mayes said: ‘Had many a joyful sesh at The Gun over the years. Unfathomably cool staff and clientele

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.  This week we’ve actually had some positive strike news. RMT train managers on Avanti West Coast services, who’ve been walking out since December, have finally achieved a new pay deal. Those strikes were supposed to last until May 2025, but now they’re off.  There is still industrial action planned on UK trains over the next month or so. 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 started at the beginning of March and will last until the end of April.  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 were supposed to continue until May 25. These have now

When visiting the Scottish capital, it’s easy to make a beeline for Edinburgh Castle – you can see the thing as soon as you step foot out of Waverley station, after all. But head a bit further down the road, past Leith and to the sea, and you’ll get to an equally popular tourist attraction: the Royal Yacht Britannia, a huge ship which was once the former royal yacht of the British monarchy, in service from 1954 to 97. And now, the attraction is about to get even better. The Royal Yacht Britannia has revealed plans to open a ‘new world-class visitor centre and retail experience’ this spring. Before checking out the ship itself, visitors will soon be able to learn about the boat’s history via all-new, never seen before photos and videos, via an exhibition which traces the Britannia’s lifetime from the build of the last Royal Yacht in John Brown’s Shipyard to the ship as a visitor attraction. There will also be a new gift shop stacked with souvenirs situated on the second floor of Ocean Terminal shopping centre, which is currently going through redevelopment, complete with a walkway guiding customers right to the ship’s top deck to kick off their tour. The Royal Yacht Britannia was a home-away-from-home for the late Queen Elizabeth II and her family more than four decades. It’s now situated at the Port of Leith, and is available to visit for a peek inside the ‘former floating palace’, attracting more than 300,000 people each year.  Check out the CGI images of what the new centre

The weekend sun seems to have given London a shake up, as though it has injected colour back into the city. Blossom is growing on trees, flowers are shooting up from grass, and the city’s museums and galleries are also gearing up for a new lease of life, with all sorts of exciting exhibition openings in the calendar for this month.  From striking Munch portraits at the National Portrait Gallery to evocative photography documenting everyday life in northern Britain, these are the best new exhibitions arriving in the capital as spring starts to show.  Six London art exhibitions to see in March 2025  Photograph: Seated Model on the Couch, Birgit Prestøe, Edvard Munch, 1924 © Munchmuseet. Photo: Munchmuseet / Sidsel de Jong. Edvard Munch Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery We all know Edvard Munch’s masterpiece ‘The Scream’, but there was a lot more to him: this show at the National Portrait Gallery catalogues the great Norwegian expressionist through his portraits of family, friends, fellow artists, writers, art collectors and others in his lifetime. Intimate, energetic and deeply human, this exhibit is set to remind us why Munch had such influence in his sphere and far beyond.   Edvard Munch Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, March 13-June 15 2025. More details here. Textiles: The Art of Mankind From the clothes we wear to the furniture in our homes, textiles are functional, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be art at the same time. Since ancient times humans

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