Joe Mackertich

People who don’t live in cities will tell you they’re busy, lonely and expensive places. But there’s a reason so many people choose to live in them: with world-class art and culture, unbeatable food and nightlife, buzzing neighbourhoods and a dizzying amount of stuff to do and see, there’s simply no better place to be.  Every year, we take the pulse of city living by quizzing thousands of locals across the planet about life in their hometowns. This year, more than 18,500 city-dwellers shared their insights on everything from food, nightlife and culture to affordability, happiness and the overall city vibe. When urban living can sometimes feel isolating and costly, this year we wanted to get a sense of what, exactly, makes a city feel like home. Sure, the nightlife is great, but is the city safe and walkable? Is good quality food and art available at a reasonable price? Is it easy to make friends, find love, and access nature?  Livability was a key factor in our ranking this year. But a great city to live in is, naturally, a great city to visit. So, along with the thousands of responses from locals around the world, we asked Time Out’s global network of city experts to vote on the places they think are particularly exciting right now. After crunching all that data, here we are: Time Out’s definitive ranking of the world’s best cities in 2025. Read on to see how your hometown fared… RECOMMENDED:🛍️ The coolest neighbourhoods in the world right now🌎 The best things to do in the

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

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.

Fitzrovia’s aura of upper-crust bohemia is perfectly encapsulated by its quality mix of maximalist and minimalist restaurants and plenty of Michelin stars. Don’t expect cheap eats in this part of town unless you’re checking out the ever-reliable Indian YMCA, but if you’re going to splash out on dinner in Fitzrovia, then we can show you how and where to spend your hard-earned cash in the central London neighbourhood's finest restaurants. RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in Soho.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Shoreditch is a dining destination for hipsters, tourists and ravenous city workers alike, so it’s no wonder that there are restaurants of all cuisines and price ranges in the always-buzzy area. But which of the many options deserve your time and money? Let us tell you, with our list of the best restaurants in Shoreditch and Spitalfields, which only features places that we know will hit the spot. From Michelin-starred favourites (including the UK’s only Michelin starred vegan restaurant) for big spenders to stellar street-food joints. Go east and feast. RECOMMENDED: The best bars, pubs and rooftops in Shoreditch. 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.)

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.

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, like at LD's at The Black Heart in Camden or WAVE in Hackney. 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, which has finally started serving weekend brunch (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. And it’s not just a weekend treat; some of these spots serve brunch every single day.  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. Want to brunch for less? Check out the awesome selection at Time Out Offers.

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

For centuries, French cuisine has been considered the world's very best. Although that golden crown might have slipped somewhat, French-accented cuisine is having a real resurgance in popularity. Its emphasis on technique and ingredients-first approach make it hard to beat when you fancy feasting on something rich, complex, and unimpeachably lavish. So whether you want an old-school onion soup or an elaborate, immaculately conceived dish served with undeniable je ne sais quoi, we've got you covered. Here’s our pick of the best bistros, brasseries and fine-dining spots in London spanning every budget, with everything from Michelin-star restaurants to petit back-alley bistros and chic cafes. RECOMMENDED: Here are London's 50 Best Restaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Borough is known for having one of the best food markets in the world, but it's also home to some seriously good restaurants as well as its brilliant market. The new Borough Yards development – just next to this historic, edible wonderland – is where you'll find some of the best spots to have a sit-down feast. If you're off to SE1 and your stomach is rumbling, then consult this list so you can hunt down all our favourite spots for a fabulous feed. RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in London Bridge. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Sunday lunch. There’s nothing quite like it. An elemental meal, one that Londoners take incredibly seriously. Debates about what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Sunday roast have been known to last for hours. There is no shortage of top roasts in London. We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of homely pubs and restaurants all around town. What makes a good roast? For us, it’s simple; a cosy room is a good start, maybe in a pub with an open fire. Then it comes to the plate – we need perfect roast potatoes, well-cooked lamb, beef or pork and a decent plant-based option too. A Sunday roast is more than just lunch - it’s self-care. From snug neighbourhood staples to more bijou gastropubs, posh hotels, Michelin-star spots, and even a metal bar in Camden, we’ve got something for every taste (if that taste is for comforting mounds of roast meat, lashings of gravy and carbs for days).  A lot of these places get quite busy, by the way. So you’re always advised to book ahead to avoid disappointment.  RECOMMENDED: London's 50 best pubs. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor, and her Sunday roast order is usually pork belly with extra gravy, extra roasties and a big glass of Pinot Noir. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Islington is no slouch when it comes to dining out. From Highbury and the fringes of Holloway Road to Angel via Canonbury, the gastronomical delights on offer in this north London neighbourhood almost put the best restuarants of Soho to shame. Whether it's heavy metal-styled live-fire houses you're after, perfect Italian pasta joints, sexy small plates or mouth-numbing platters of Chinese mapo tofu, you’ll find plenty to satisfy you in Islington. Ready for your restaurant crawl of Upper Street and beyond? Let’s get started. Going further afield? These are the 50 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.

The town of Atami isn’t at the top of every tourist’s Japan itinerary. And, selfishly, let’s hope it stays that way. If the town’s appealing shopping streets and bayside attractions became as over subscribed as Nara and Kyoto it would lose a significant chunk of its charm. Perched on the top-right edge of the Izu peninsula, Atami exemplifies the breezy, laid-back side of Japan that most visitors never see.  The Hiramatsu resort is a traditional (to an extent) ryokan, located just outside of the town’s centre, halfway up a hill that overlooks the magnificent Sagami Bay. The meandering road that leads to it is quite beautiful in its own right, the kind of sunny coastal highway that’s redolent of City Pop album artwork. In fact the whole area feels like a blissed-out flashback, back to a time when Japanese manufacturing (rightfully) ruled supreme, every home owned a Game Boy and the whole country was still riding high on its post-war economic miracle.  If Atami is a vibesy town that time forgot, then Hiramatsu is the hotel that time never knew existed. Guests enter the 13-room property via a suitably otherworldly secluded wooded area. By the time you’ve surrendered your shoes (standard ryokan protocol) and shuffled into the elegantly rustic interior, the real world may as well not exist. One end of the Hiramatsu is sequestered in beautiful woodland. The other looks out onto the jaw-dropping Pacific Ocean. The spacious rooms themselves are (in my experience) genuinely unique fusi

Straight off the bat: one of the most striking things about the Four Seasons in Otemachi is its views straight over and into the Imperial Palace. Being able to watch from on high as people come and go through one of Japan’s most enigmatic, exclusive areas is a tremendous privilege and never gets old. As you’d expect, the hotel itself is a successfully executed fusion of international jet-setting luxury and Japanese-accented design choices. As soon as you step out of the elevator into the lobby you’re hit with an intoxicating cocktail of shining dark wood, panelled walls and sky-high ceilings. Huge lamps, like inverted tubs, hang down, bathing everything in a blissed out gentle light. There’s something surreal about the chilled ambience (complemented by trickling water features) being located so high up in a skyscraper. The sense of this place being a self-contained little universe, located far above the financial district’s busy streets, does feel recognisably Japanese.  Once you’ve finished taking (what feels like) illicit bird’s-eye photos of one of planet Earth’s most secretive and exclusive residences, it’s time to see your room. And, what a surprise, it’s elegant in a way that’s thrillingly stylish and respectful of Japanese design. Caramel-coloured carpets, understated designer decor and high-end toiletries abound. It’s harder to imagine a nicer, sleeker pad to come back to after a day tramping up and down Ginza’s buzzy thoroughfares.  It goes without saying that Four S

Thank god the drinks at Bar Lotus are banging. Because – were the cocktails crap – the place itself would be quite funny. That is because this Kingsland Road cocktail bar is a kind of 1980s fever dream of a venue. It’s retro avant garde in a way that brings to mind Slovenian performance art spaces featuring video installations (it even has the industrial trance soundtrack to go with it.) Luckily, Bar Lotus has an exceptional roster of drinks, all prepared on a minimalist island slap-bang in the middle of the room. Each of the venue’s signature cocktails excels at being surprising and creative while never seeming gimmicky or frivolous. Whoever designs these things is clearly very good at it. It helps that the bar snacks, which are freshly prepared in the kitchen, are all top-tier dishes. The fried chicken lollipops in particular, served with an otherworldly peanut rayu, demand to be ordered twice. At least.  The other thing that makes Bar Lotus great is the bar staff. It would have been easy to hire a load of po-faced hipsters as a way to complement the decor. But in fact the people working here are unfailingly helpful, patient and sweet-natured.  Any self-respecting Londoner’s cynicism alarm will go off upon entering Bar Lotus. Luckily, this place has charm in spades and any misgivings you have about the place’s self seriousness will immediately be neutralised by the staff, the food and of course the cocktails. A fantastic addition to London’s stiff-drink scene.   Order this

If you’re in Paris to have a good time but also want to keep one eye on your budget (and who doesn’t?) it’s hard to imagine a smarter hotel choice than the citizenM just by Gare De Lyon. Beaming straight up into the lobby from street level is a space-age experience. One minute your negotiating one of Paris’ busiest Seine-side, glass-and-steel interchanges, then one short elevator ride later, you step out into a colourful, modern hotel lobby. Yes, citizenM is a wallet-friendly chain that lets you do a self-service check in, but there are plenty of capable staff on hand at all times should you need any help. And that’s the defining thing about this venue, a lot of effort’s gone into making the experience as slick and as comfortable as possible, despite the price tag. It’s inarguable that they’ve succeeded in this: everything from the massive bed to the room’s functional but fun decor. This isn’t a place you’ll ever find scuffed edges, visibly hung-over staff or broken air con.  Special shout out to the hotel’s breakfast bar. It’s can’t be easy to provide a viable breakfast in a gourmand's paradise like Paris. But citizenM’s buffet breakfast isn’t just a ‘decent option’, it’s actively very good. Combine all of this with the 12-minute journey to and from the Eurostar and you’re looking at a fairly unbeatable option for Brits longing for a quick dose of Parisian pleasure.  Neighbourhood The area around Gare de Lyon, the 12th arrondissement, is fun, unpretentious and - crucially -

The Biltmore has atmosphere. Bags of it. Whereas other luxury hotels in London can blur into a diamond-frosted blancmange of samey-ness, the Biltmore’s moody corridors, woozy colour schemes and views of Grosvenor Square all mark it out as being one-of-a-kind. Formerly known as the Millennium Hotel, the building has a no-nonsense Georgian facade, which looks 100 percent Mayfair. Inside however, there’s a laudably weird (yet elegant in a David Lynch-y way) ambience that runs through all of the Biltmore’s 257 rooms, 51 suites and various bits. The low-lit hallways should be full of wafting cigar smoke and intrigue, the courtyard car park home to 90s luxury sedans exclusively. The looming monolithic presence of what used to be the American Embassy next door (complete with gigantic gilded-aluminium eagle), just adds to the vibe: the Biltmore feels like a fittingly mysterious and glamorous rendezvous spot for spooks and double agents.  Rooms have a tranquil grey-and-caramel colour scheme, pale wood floorboards and a variety of fetching rugs. Our bathroom was exactly what you want from a place like this: freestanding tub, warmed floors and lovely slabs of marble. Our suite did feature a baffling 'leather wall' (a kind of immovable screen made of straps), but it didn’t particularly matter. Like a lot of stuff at the Biltmore, it’s just a bit different. Even at five-star properties, hotel restaurants tend to be forgettable. Grill 88 is actually one of the Biltmore’s best features. The

First thing’s first: it’s not really a canteen. It’s a small room, with tiles, near Finsbury Park. There’s also no one called Frank here. It’s the name of the owner’s son.  That’s where the misdirection ends, though. Frank’s Canteen wears its sauce-laden heart on its sleeve. What you see is what you get, and that’s a friendly space with a bubbly atmosphere and lots of sharing plates. Owner Paul Warburton’s enthusiasm and love of hospitality is what keeps this place humming. It’s tangible in the staff’s easy-going geniality, the ever-shifting menu and - crucially - the big, bolshy flavours crammed clown car-like into every morsel.  An avant-garde mackerel parfait exploded with curling tentacles of pickled baby corn Sure, the Frank’s brand is not as slick as it could be. Decor is a bit non-committal. The toilet has a big painting of Morrisey in it. But who cares, really? The dishes, all of which are designed to share, are where the party’s at. And make no mistake: the food at Frank’s is a party. Former Kudu bod, head chef Eloise Dawes sends out plate after plate of rambunctious, eye-catching fun. Peacocking standouts included the smashed jacket potato, paddling in chive oil and splattered with dill-charged sour cream and also an avant-garde mackerel parfait, exploding with curling tentacles of pickled baby corn. The rustic-sounding duck yolk scotch eggs, a new addition to the menu, were ebulliently over sauced and accessorised with fancy mushrooms, like an old friend turning u

One of the most beautiful urban areas not just in Tuscany, but in all of Italy (and therefore Europe), Siena is a mediaeval daydream, an ochre-tanned spiral of cobbled stairs, winding streets, bustling piazzas and secluded passageways. The Grand Hotel Continental obligingly places you right in the middle of it. Siena protects its historic districts with dogged loyalty (merely driving through most areas will get you slapped with a massive fine), so to bed down inside the city’s cherished core is a privilege indeed.  The hotel itself, a bolshy 16th century palazzo, is a memorable dose of baroque grandiosity (check out the absurdly lush former ballroom lounge). What used to be the courtyard is now the dizzyingly tall lounge, a vertiginous ancient chamber topped with glass. Our room, by comparison, was more laid back; terracotta-coloured stone floors, bare white walls and an astonishing view of Siena’s higgledy-piggledy rooftops (which film fans will remember from a Quantum of Solace chase scene). If you want your Siena experience laced with marble, old-world charm, ornate decor and decorum, you won’t do better than the Grand Hotel Continental. Staff were obliging and efficient throughout our stay, and arriving back at the property's doors, after hours spent perambulating up and down the city’s alleys, was always a joy.  Neighbourhood Siena is the neighbourhood. A topsy-turvy city of towering mediaeval architecture, hidden backstreets and intense local pride. The best part about

Cambridge, for many reasons, gets its fair share of tourists. And where you get tourists you get bad (but expensive) accommodation. Naff places that don’t need to try particularly hard to fill rooms. Usually they have flash lobbies, mediocre (but expensive) restaurants, ersatz-Aesop shampoos and TVs that do almost none of the things they claim to be able to do.  The University Arms, a higgledy-piggledy puzzle box of a building, is not one of those places. It is, in fact, a real treat. It sits, fortress-like, on the corner of Parker’s Piece green, at the edge of central Cambridge, looking like a copper-topped, 1800s Wes Anderson fever dream. There are no gimmicks here, no wacky decor choices or attention-grabbing ‘features’. Just a big, beautiful hotel, filled with hard-working people who seem to genuinely like what they do. Rooms at the University Arms are nicely appointed, extremely comfortable and (if you ask for the right ones) blessed with pleasant views over the green. Also: fans of elegant, freestanding bathtubs will not be disappointed (just make sure you request one). The appeal of this hotel goes far further than the rooms, obviously. The decor, the architecture, is a gloriously unfathomable combination of restrained-tasteful and full-on anachronism. Where else are you going to find Georgian classicism rubbing up against mid-century modernism, theatrical neo-deco and even a bit of seaside-y breeziness? It shouldn’t work, but it does. All of the details, from furnitur

Bosh. Right in the middle of Florence is where you’ll find this compact but substantial property, a hop and a skip from many of the city’s a-tier attractions. Like a lot of the actually decent posh hotels in Florence, Helvetia & Bristol is an enjoyable combination of contemporary swishyness and time-worn, almost eccentric grandiosity. In fact the hotel’s split personality is more in-your-face than usual: it’s technically a combination of two different buildings, with one part being more old-world opulence, while the other (the ‘Bristol’ bit) is relatively contemporary (lots of sleek, pale wood and grey fabric).  We stayed in the old-school section. Our room was splendid but friendly, with tall windows, a stylish antique dresser and a very royal-looking carved oak headboard behind the mega-wide bed. And no one dislikes a marble bathroom, do they? However, despite all of this, none of it seems garish or tacky. This is Italy, after all. The room felt like a bedroom in a home. A huge home, possibly belonging to a viscount, yes. But a home nonetheless. Food and drink come by way of the bombastically snazzy Cibreo restaurant and cocktail bar. Did the red banquettes, yellow marble and razzle-dazzle uplighting kind of clash with the lived-in grandiosity of our room? Yes, but no harm done. I liked the fact that at the top of the menu there’s an option to just order ‘a bunch of good things’ fresh from the local market. There is also an equally Unapologetically Snazzy 'winter garden', w

Entering the Peninsula Hotel in Hyde Park is one of London’s most psychedelically disorientating experiences.  After traipsing across one of the city’s smoggiest roundabouts, and scurrying through a dingy system of underpasses I pop out in a cavernous marble atrium in which a balcony-based jazz band perform 40-feet in the air, to a room full of disinterested millionaires muttering darkly about business.  ‘The restaurant is that way,’ says a woman, taking pity on the wide-eyed incongruous man sadly wheeling about in the middle of the hall. Har gao shrimp dumplings are gelatinous bombshells which detonate in your mouth with prawn-y power Moments later I’m squinting (it’s dark) at a blue porcelain fireplace, sheets of undulating Guangdong silk and a ceiling-mounted celestial map. Welcome to Canton Blue. JG Ballard could never. If you’re of the opinion that a £130 peking duck cannot be justified or encouraged, probably stop reading. Canton Blue is expensive. How expensive? It has lighting that can legally only be described as ‘sexy’, silver chopstick holders which look pricier than anything in my house and lush carpeting that clearly gets shampoo’d regularly with bespoke emollients. It’s an Orientalist fever dream, dreamed up by someone who owns more than one Italian sports car.  My guest, a less worldly individual than I, seemed blown away by it all. ‘Don’t get your hopes up,’ I warned solemnly. ‘The food in these kinds of places can be extremely shit.’ Happy to say: I was wron

An actual bloody massive castle, at the top of a hill, in the middle of a vineyard, that you can stay in! Well it’s not the imposing fortress itself that houses Castello Banfi’s guests (that’s used as a surprisingly engrossing bottle-and-glass museum). Guests sleep in the small buildings huddled beneath the castle’s walls, spacious bungalow buildings with tons of nice features and stunning views of the surrounding Tuscan countryside. But the true draw is of course the shadow of that mediaeval-style, carefully restored castle. It’s Game of Thrones meets Drops of God.   Yes, Banfi is very famous for wine. The vineyards that surround the castle, as well as looking predictably otherworldly, produce all sorts of wines that are sold globally (with the most well-known export being its Brunello di Montalcino). There’s tours of the vineyards and the cellars (a 20-minute drive away) on offer, as well as various tasting sessions, which are conducted in a beautiful hall, accompanied by local cheeses and charcuterie. The rooms aren’t rooms at all, really. They’re spacious apartments with proper bathrooms, entrance areas, corridors and large bedrooms. The fact you walk out from your room, essentially straight into the cypress-tree covered countryside makes Banfi feel less like a hotel and more like an idyllic commune built into a castle. Meals are served at the Taverna restaurant, situated under the vaulted arches of the castle’s former barrel cellars on the property’s west side (handy for

It’s Mayfair, but not as you know it. Socca is an intimate, characterful French restaurant plonked in the middle of London’s brashest, richest area. The white tablecloths, dinky back section, low-ish lighting and half curtains all quietly scream ‘east London Hinge-bait bistro’. But look a little closer and Socca is in fact Mayfair through and through. The first clue is the clientele, obviously. I was fascinated by a lone diner to our left, dressed in a strappy white party dress, gazing into her iced amalfi lemon dessert. Not only did she not look any of the staff in the eye at any point, she also didn’t look at the bill before paying. And the bill at Socca is no joke. That’s the second clue. Everything costs a lot. A delicious-looking roast chicken for two is 56 quid. And I don’t want to be that guy but the mark up on the wine (tasty as it was) was audacious. The third clue that you’re in Mayfair is the bracing indifference with which you’re treated when you first arrive at the restaurant. If anything, that last one does make Socca more authentically French. Exceptional cooking married with gratifyingly down-to-earth presentation The food was, mostly, great. Our baked Atlantic prawns, luxuriating in the kind of deep, rich tomato bedding that I enjoy, were cooked to perfection. Cornish crab tarama, featuring cured egg yolk, was salty and silky, topped with shredded meat and strands of lightning-like preserved lemon. Spooning it up with the accompanying savoury wafer things wa

AJ Odudu first came to London with big dreams of making it as a prime-time telly star. The Blackburn-born presenter may have taken her sweet time getting there, but it’s safe to say that these days she’s considered a staple of the small screen. We asked her to forget TV for just one minute and tell us about the best thing she’s ever seen on a London stage. ‘Ronnie Scott’s is my five-star venue. And I saw Prince there,’ she said on this week’s episode of the Time Out podcast. ‘It blew my mind. It was when he was doing those pop-up, secret surprise gigs around London. I was in Soho, I’d had a meeting, and was just passing. I saw these people queuing in the rain, so I just joined it and ended up paying 25 quid to see Prince. If you’ve ever been to Ronnie Scott’s you'll know it’s tiny. So it was like having Prince perform at me, in my living room. It was bonkers and nothing can top it.’ Prince came to London in 2014 and played a series of secret gigs in iconic venues. As well as Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club Prince also appeared (often with almost no notice given) at Koko, King’s Place, Electric Ballroom and the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. ‘He was majestic and indescribable,’ said Odudu. ‘No one that was there could believe that he was in the room, playing these actual classics. He was petite but beautiful.  Want to hear AJ Odudu chat about her love of London while giving Time Out a guided tour of her favourite restaurants, parks and pubs? Have a listen to this week’s episode of ‘Love Thy

Iain Stirling is known by millions for his idiosyncratic, sardonic voiceovers on ITV’s ‘Love Island’. He’s the Scottish guy who talks in a very deliberate, some would say brutally sarcastic, way. But he is of course much more than that. He’s a stand-up comedian, sitcom writer, podcaster and, for a long while, a lead presenter on CBBC.  It was while appearing on CBBC that Iain first become acquainted with Mr Falafel in Shepherd’s Bush Market.  ‘This is the greatest food on the planet,’ said Iain on this week’s ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’ podcast. ‘Mr Falafel in Shepherd’s Bush Market. Oh my god. It’s where I used to go for lunch three or four times a week. Honestly of all the places I’ve taken to you today, this is the one where I’d say you should come. The food is genuinely amazing. The extra large here is absolutely ma-hoosive. You wouldn’t get through a king size unless you were a rabies-ridden maniac.’ If you want to understand the rabies reference you might want to listen to all of this week’s podcast episode, in which Iain shows editor Joe Mackertich around the neighbourhood of Shepherd’s Bush. Guinness, Westfield and Iain’s abiding love of Spaghetti House all get discussed.  Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsSubscribe on Google PodcastsSubscribe on Amazon Music Each week on ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’, someone interesting gives Joe a personal tour around a neighbourhood that means a lot to them. Four locations, with a bit of chitchat en route

Comedian Jon Pointing, best known for his Bafta-nominated starring turn in Channel 4’s ‘Big Boys’, has revealed his London tourist attraction of choice. And it’s not an obvious choice (sorry London Dungeon fans). ‘I would say the Crossness Sewage Works,’ he says on this week’s Love Thy Neighbourhood podcast. ‘You can book it and you get a tour around these sewers that were built near Abbey Wood in Victorian times. An unnecessarily beautiful cast-iron interior that’s being slowly restored by die-hard retired maniacs. They’re down there scraping rust off iron bars.’ The Crossness Pumping Station was designed by legendary British architect Charles Driver in 1865. Described as a ‘masterpiece of engineering’ the Grade I-listed sewers are the subject of ongoing restorations.  ‘Look,’ he says. ‘There is a smell. But you learn a great bit of history, about water. It’s all connected to clean water and cholera. People used to come off pleasure cruises on the Thames and die because the layer of air above the water was so incredibly toxic. I learned all that down in the sewer.’ Want to hear Jon chat about his favourite neighbourhood of Deptford? Tune in to this week’s ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’ podcast. Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsSubscribe on Google PodcastsSubscribe on Amazon Music Each week on ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’, someone interesting gives Joe a personal tour around a neighbourhood that means a lot to them. Four locations, with a bit of chitchat en route to ea

Noomi Rapace is a bit of a global citizen. The actor, who rose to international prominence playing Lisbeth Salander in the original, Swedish-language ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, has lived all over the world. Which is why it’s so flattering she’s chosen to call London home (most of the time).  So where’s her favourite venue in the capital? In the latest episode of our podcast 'Love Thy Neighbourhood', we asked Noomi where in London really floats her movie-star boat right now. ‘I've been going to House of Koko, a lot,’ she says. ‘I love it there. It has four floors, it has little vinyl rooms, I’ve been bringing people there who visit me from LA or New York, friends who are coming to London where we need to have a work dinner, and then have some fun. It’s a beautiful venue.’  House of Koko is the new, swankier incarnation of the notorious Koko nightclub in Camden. Synonymous with rock and indie throughout the naughties, Koko closed down for a bit (and suffered a fire), got a revamp, and reopened as House of Koko in 2022.  ‘I saw Nas perform there last year, at the Koko Theatre, which was epic. And I saw Little Simz there too, she was magical.’ If you want to hear Noomi wax lyrical about her adopted neighbourhood of Portobello (including diversions into squirrels, Premier League football and the film ‘Notting Hill’) do check out this week’s ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’. Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsSubscribe on Google PodcastsSubscribe on Amazon Musi

Bafta-winning writer and actor Allan Mustafa (who you might know as Seapa) is serious about food. Best known for creating and starring in the phenomenal comedy series ‘People Just Do Nothing’, the born-and-bred Londoner is also deep into his food. So deep that he and two pals started Taste Cadets, a show where they travel around the world eating. But what about eats that are closer to home? In the latest episode of our podcast 'Love Thy Neighbourhood', we asked Seapa what his favourite pizza in London was. Because everyone likes pizza. ‘I'd say Crisp Pizza, in Hammersmith,’ he says. ‘But, by the way, I’m not one of those people that are just now jumping on the trend. We [the Taste Cadets] were some of the first people to go there, really, and the first people to properly document it. You can ask Carl down at Crisp.’  In the last year Crisp Pizza became a word-of-mouth phenomenon after various influencers started calling it the best slice in London. Owner Carl McCluskey does however, credit Seapa and his mates with being the first to raves about his cheesy wares. ‘It’s very thin, very crispy,’ says Seapa. ‘It’s a New York pizza that’s has been, for some reason, really hard to get in London. And he [Carl] has done it so well. He basically did it as a lockdown thing. This pub is called the Chancellor’s in Hammersmith. And he knocks them out of there. He went to New York, he got obsessed, and he came back and just started nerding out on it so much. He got it wrong so many times,

The latest episode of ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’, our very good podcast about London and the people who love it, has landed. This week comedian and writer Phil Wang is showing us around his ends (aka Nunhead). One of the stops of the journey just happens to be Phil’s favourite eatery in the area. We are talking, of course, about the magisterial Kudu Grill on Nunhead Lane. The former pub (that still has some of the old signage) serves South African small plates. ‘It’s a beautiful restaurant,’ says Phil. ‘Fancy South African food with amazing flat breads and meats and stuff. To me, there’s no better flavour in all cooking than that slightly burned taste. That’s braai grill, and you can’t get quite the same flavour with anything else. ‘I filmed an episode of “The World’s Most Dangerous Roads” in South Africa. We stopped at these rondavels, which are like traditional round houses, and they had these grills outside that were free to use. The crew bought all these steaks and sausages and started grilling and it was the most delicious thing. They’re just so good at meat, I don’t think anyone grills as well as the South Africans, and Kudu Grill reflects that.’ Phil also describes the restaurant’s stylish interior as ‘a millennials’ wet dream. Forest green, mid-century chairs and lots of wood. Distressed walls, a bit of piping and ceiling fans that are definitely never turned on.’ Want to hear Phil hold forth about Kudu Grill, and loads of other places in Nunhead and beyond? Have a list

We've been banging on about 'Van Gogh: The Immersive Show" for what feels like forever. With good reason! The retina-battering, virtual-reality post-Impressionist extravaganza that's taken up residence at 106 Commercial Street has all the qualities needed to make it a post-pandemic smash. Why not utterly lose yourself in a load of lush brush-strokes for a few hours? Sounds nice. Studio Melrose How does it work though? Is it projections? Are head-sets involved? Do they play depressive music to recreate the feeling of being inside the famously morose artist's head? We went along and found out. As you can see from the photos, Van Gogh's paintings are beamed hyper-sharp all over the floors and walls, using dozens of cutting-edge projectors. The all-encompassing sight of iconic works like Starry Night and Wheatfield with Crows (complete with flying birds, natch) knock a lot of socks off (particularly when augmented and combined with VR headsets). Studio Melrose The exhibition is in three parts, each one dedicated to a different section of the Dutch artist's life.  Be forewarned: the VR part of the exhibition (which takes you on a trip through eight Van Gogh paintings) is included in the price of VIP tickets, but anyone with a standard ticket will need to stump up a bit extra to experience the head-set bit of the exhibition.  Photo: Studio Melrose Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience’, 106 Commercial St, E1 6LZ, Jul 29-Feb 2022. Tickets from £19.90 (adult), available here. The

Mark it in your diary: June 20 (aka ‘this coming Monday’). This is the day on which Time Out’s all-new, daily newsletter hits eager inboxes all across London and beyond. It’s called Out Here. And it’s wonderful. You like Time Out? Of course you do. You adore the way we sort the wheat from the London chaff, rising above the noise and hype to recommend and highlight only the tastiest dishes, crispest pints, weirdest (in a good way) exhibitions and, uh, least-boring plays. Our jokes amuse and delight you. Your friends consider you clued up about culture, trends and vibes because you frequently pass off our opinions as your own. And we’re fine with that. Really. Out Here is everything you love about Time Out, condensed into a five-minute morning read. You’ll be bowled over by its brilliance, its usefulness, its humour and its charm. It’ll tell you what’s good, with daily bite-sized reviews of film, art, food and all the rest, and also provide recommendations from the capital’s best chefs, artists and makers. Daily London news? But of course. We’ll even find time to rate the city’s park benches and stuff like that. Don’t waste even a single second of your time. Subscribe here. Eating, drinking and having fun. We’ll show you how it’s done. Out Here is a daily email from the Time Out team. Subscribe to it right here. A massive, immersive dinosaur experience thing is coming to London. The 30 best rooftop bars in the city (according to us).

Name a cool London brand. Good. Now name another one. Okay. Chances are you just said ‘Um, Yard Sale.... Top Cuvée?’. Because both of those are cool London brands. We like them both. Good news: they're teaming up for a bit. The pizzeria and natural wine specialists are joining forces to create a kind of ultimate London food Voltron restaurant. Vin-Yard is the pop-up. Hackney Road is the place. May is the month. From this Friday (until May 25) the Yard Sale basement will play host to this collab of dreams. As you'd expect, Top Cuvée is handling the booze, while Yard Sale will be slinging their hot, hot pies. All the classics will be present, as well as Yard Sale’s game-changing cheese and Marmite garlic bread. See you there, basically. 184 Hackney Road London, E2 7QL, May 6- May 25. The absolute best bottomless brunches in London. Yo, Bone Daddies be collab-ing with Ivan Ramen.  

You a fan of rock and/or roll? Then you will definitely be interested to learn about a new, sexy boutique hotel, named Chateau Denmark, perhaps unsurprisingly located on Denmark Street in central London. Denmark Street was, of course, famous for its music shops. If you wanted to buy a guitar in London, that was where you went. The Chateau’s owners are no doubt hoping the hotel offers a similar level of attraction to the city’s music-loving populace and rock-steeped visitors. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CHATEAU DENMARK (@chateaudenmark) Excitingly, the hotel, which features loads of themed rooms, is set across 16 buildings (including some grade II-listed eighteenth-century townhouses). That’s loads. Interior designers were asked to ‘imagine a time where punk rock and vintage gothic meets modern psychedelia with a timeless grandeur’. Erm, right…  Several of the buildings which make up the Chateau Denmark are veritably drenched in rock and pop history. Maybe the best fact of all is that the Rolling Stones (who are celebrating their sixtieth anniversary this year) recorded their eponymous debut LP in one of these buildings. Chateau Denmark, Denmark Place, WC2H 0LA. Coca Cola’s opened a flagship shop in Covent Garden. Blackhorse Beer Mile is kicking things off with a free party this Sunday.

Craft beer heads in the city know that Blackhorse Lane is probably London’s most vital and exciting booze location. Signature, Exale, Beerblefish, Hackney, Wild Card and Truman’s all have massive taprooms there. It’s a fun place to have a drink (and do pub quizzes, eat pizza and all that other beer-adjacent stuff). Well, this Sunday, all day from noon to midnight, the aforementioned breweries will be throwing a big old shindig, featuring exclusive beers, live music, street food and brewery tours. Entry is absolutely free. The cause for all the celebrating? The official launch of the Blackhorse Beer Mile (aka the name that people have been using for the area, unofficially, for absolutely ages). But nice that it’s now legit!  Blackhorse Lane, E17.  Check it out: a new retro arcade bar is opening in Soho. The Ukraine Freedom Orchestra is playing at the Proms this year.

On August 1, the Proms (celebrating its 150th anniversary this year) is going to break a few barriers. An orchestra consisting only of kazoos? No. A programme made up entirely of incidental music from cancelled soap opera ‘Neighbours’? Also no. Instead, the annual series of classical concerts is dedicating a whole show to soundtracks from video games. The concert, titled ‘Gaming Prom: From 8-Bit to Infinity’, will feature music from the entire history of the medium. So not just the modern stuff that sounds like a film track. We’re talking bleepy-bloopy music, but played by an actual orchestra. Titles confirmed for inclusion so far: ‘The Legend of Zelda’ (sick), ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ (very atmospheric), ‘Pokemon’ (crowdpleaser) and ‘Battlefield 2042’ (don’t know it). The concert has been curated (and will be conducted) by one Robert Ames, who was also responsible for a 2009 sci-fi Proms concert that focused on film and television soundtracks. His Twitter profile image shows him scowling in the Barbican, which is quite cool in our opinion.  ‘The nostalgia of gaming music is very much part of our lives,’ Ames told the Guardian. ‘The fanbase is massive and gaming music, since its inception, has been ahead of the curve in terms of diversity. I really believe somebody like [‘Kingdom Hearts’ composer] Yoko Shimomura should be celebrated at an international music festival alongside composers like Brahms and Mahler.’ Too right, Mr Ames. Mozart did some solid work, but did he ever c