Lauren O’Neill

Damn, 2024 came through with some absolute bangers. We had Brat summer with hit-after-hit from Charli xcx, but we also saw Sabrina Carpenter sing silly little outros to her sleeper hit Nonsense, Taylor Swift quite simply refusing to leave the charts (by any means necessary) and Chappell Roan catapult into fame faster than you can say ‘Pink Pony Club’. The past year really was for the pop girlies. But what are the songs that defined the year? Well, aside from the above, we’ve seen chart-topping country boy crooners, instantly iconic rap takedowns and joyously twee indie – all making 2024 a pretty stellar year for new music. I was tasked with building our ranking of the best songs of 2024 and compiled this list by asking our amazing international team of writers and editors to contribute their year-defining tracks. Expect to find a global list of tunes, from personal favourites to chart-toppers that simply can’t be ignored. 

Peckham locals have always been proud of the area’s brand: a melting pot of cultural vibrancy, eccentric individuals, and an artsy, young DIY crowd thanks to nearby Goldsmiths University and Camberwell College of Arts. It rivals Dalston and all those other East End upstarts as the place to hang out, and it’s the perfect spot for new restaurants to find their feet. Here are some of the best in the area, as well as a host of notable places to eat just down the road in Camberwell, too.  RECOMMENDED: The best 50 restaurants in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

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 Below Stone Nest in Chinatown, Rasputin’s by London Fields, Bar Lina, an Italian aperitivo spot underneath the famous Soho deli, Jumbi hifi bar in Peckham, Oranj's vertitable wine warehouse in Shoreditch, and Helgi’s, a suggestively Satanic rock bar in Hackney. Now go forth and booze. 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.

Head to Hackney and you've got a seriously exciting evening of dining ahead of you, as some of the city's boldest chefs have set up shop in this rapidly-gentrifying patch of east London. High-end restaurants sit alongside chic brunch spots, inviting gastropubs and long-established neighbourhood joints. Whatever you're after, you'll more than likely find it here. Go east(ish) and eat. New additions to the list include modern Korean marvel Miga, Sesta in the old shell of the much-loved Pidgin, smoke and fire fun at Lagom, Michelin starry-ness at Behind, chef Abby Lee's incredible Mambow – which has moved to Clapton from Peckham and canal-side standout, Sune.  RECOMMENDED: Here are London's 50 Best Restaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor and thinks Hackney restaurants are some of the best in London (but don't tell the other boroughs, they'll only get jealous). 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.) 

London, obviously, has a great many cafés, but how to choose? We've got normal ones and really posh ones. Massive ones and tiny ones. Ones with loads of cake, and ones with loads of sandwiches. All of them, thankfully, with coffee and tea. This list is our attempt to group together the best ones. Want to know the difference between this list and our ranking of London’s best coffee shops? Well at these spots you can get eggs (fried, poached or scrambled) or a sit-down meal with your flat white. RECOMMENDED: London's best breakfasts. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

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 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 – the latest addition to this list is FKA Black Axe Mangal in Highbury, which has just 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 in our city, 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.

Forget starchy and old-fashioned. London’s best wine bars are bringing the humble grape to cool crowds of discerning drinkers. Find cosy, bistro-style settings with great food, sophisticated bars that are perfect for date night, or hip Hackney hangouts where wine is the drink du jour. Discover everything from natural wines to grapes from far-flung vineyards, plus service from knowledgeable, approachable staff. One thing is for certain, you’ll find more than a bargain bin Sauv Blanc at these great grape-peddlers. RECOMMENDED: These are London’s best bars.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

For centuries, Soho has been London’s playground: packed with spots for boozing, flirting and soaking up the best of the city after dark. And even though it's largely cleaned up its once-sleazy reputation, it's still packed with fine drinking spots, from gloomy basements to high-end cocktail bars. Whether you join the crowds hopping up and down its famous network of streets or settle in for the duration, you’re guaranteed a brilliant, boozy night out in Soho and neighbouring Chinatown. Word to the wise: you might want to line your stomach at one of Soho's best restaurants. Now head to the heart of the West End to make sure you don’t miss a thing. RECOMMENDED: These are London’s very best bars. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor, and you’ll probably find her at Trisha’s. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

London is a stressful city at the best of times, but going away for a few days to recharge isn’t always possible. However, you can get a quick fix of relaxation with a trip to one of London’s best day spas. Dissolve into a hot tub or heated pool, feel your muscles release as you succumb to the heat of a sauna or steam room and let a professional massage your cares away. The places on our list of London’s best day spas range from the ultra-affordable to the super-luxurious, and includes tried-and-tested favourites from several of our editors (they’re a perennially stressed out bunch with some of the worst postures you’ve ever seen, so trust us when we say they’re the perfect guinea pigs for trying out some steam rooms and massages). Ready to step out of your daily life for a few hours. Here are fourteen of our favourite paradises for pampering, right here in London. Aaaaaaah. Recommended: the best spas in LondonRecommended: the best hotels in LondonRecommended: the best Airbnbs in London

It would be a total understatement to call Peckham a melting-pot. Home to Del Boy, road rap hero Giggs, national acting treasures Olivia Colman and John Boyega and a much-photographed pink staircase, this south-east London neighbourhood is a place where a multitude of cultures exist alongside one another, creating a vibe that is completely unique. Here, you’ll find communities with their roots and origins in Nigeria, the Caribbean, China, India, Turkey, eastern Europe and many more places, all of whom leave their indelible marks on the area.  The beating heart of the area is Rye Lane, a cacophony of sounds and colours where you’ll find fruit and veg stalls and clothing stores on top of chicken shops and arty cafes, jumbled up with the smells of saltfish and raw meat. Walk past the kiosks playing Nigerian pop and the Chinese supermarket inexplicably blasting dance bangers and you’ll reach the Rye: a sprawling patch of green that stretches all the way to East Dulwich. But Peckham isn’t all about Rye Lane’s rickety shopfronts, crowded arcades and looming tower blocks. The side streets are leafy and low-rise, with cast-iron bollards by artist Antony Gormley. The railway arches house mechanics, breweries, bars, a tattooist and even a foundry. To the east, the streets around Queen’s Road station have started sprouting trendy bars and small plates spots, which sit alongside old man boozers and the famous M Manze pie shop, where you might still spot the Pearly King of Peckham tucking

London is full of glitz, glamour, and very swanky places. And if you want to stay somewhere with character and individuality, give the chain hotels a day off and head to one of London’s gorgeous boutique hotels. There are plenty of brilliant smaller hotels in London to suit everyone’s taste, from cosy hipster hangouts to extravagant, super-central lodgings that give London’s five-star institutions a run for their money. With artfully designed rooms, well-considered service and quirky extra touches, London’s best boutique hotels are all about being a little less fusty and a lot more on-trend.  Looking for more options? Check out London’s best Airbnbs. Who makes the cut? While we might not stay in every hotel featured, we've based our list on top reviews, hosts and amenities to find you the best stays. This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.

From head-spinning literary debuts to masterful novels from authors at the height of their power, big-name autobiographies to binge-worthy cultural histories, here are our editors’ favourite page-turners of 2023. Add these lot to your ‘to read’ pile, stat. RECOMMENDED: 🎬 The best movies of 2023📺 The best TV shows of 2023🎵 The best albums of 2023

While everyone who’s ever set foot in Peckham knows what Frank’s Café is, you might be less familiar with Bold Tendencies, the outdoor art gallery that Frank’s sits amongst, which is also open from May to September every year. The permanent collection includes work by world-renowned artists like Jenny Holzer, Richard Wentworth and Abdel Abdessemed, and featured artworks change annually according to each year’s theme. While it’s great to combine a visit with a trip to Frank’s, Bold Tendencies is also a brilliant destination for art fans all on its own.

Accessed via the Old Kent Road, Walworth Road, and Camberwell, Burgess Park is one of the two major parks that bookend Peckham – the other being Peckham Rye –  and, on balance, is probably a bit more action-packed than its compatriot. Facilities include a BMX park, tennis courts, and a park-run track for weekly timed runs, while you’ll often see roller bladers gliding about its paths. It occasionally hosts open-air film screenings in the summer, as well as several festivals, the largest of which are Maiden Voyage and the Jazz Cafe Festival. 

If it’s jerk you want, this Caribbean hole-in-the-wall at the end of Peckham High Street is where you must go. Classics like flaky patties and an especially robust curry goat are always on the menu, but it’s the jerk that is particularly special – the chicken from the grill is charred and tender, and the jerk sauce only compliments it, sweet and maddeningly moreish. If you’re around at the weekend, make sure to pick up a portion of jerk pork, too.

Immediately off Rye Lane is Copeland Park, home to the Bussey Building and its rooftop bar and cinema – a lovely choice for a wholesome night out on a summer evening – as well as bars, restaurants and shops. Visit Vintique for a massive selection of vintage furniture, specialising in mid-century modern, and Copeland Social for great Japanese fusion food courtesy of the Yagi Izakaya pop-up kitchen.

In many ways the centrepiece of the area, Peckham Rye is a 113-acre park for the community. Any given weekend sees various local sports teams playing and practising – everything from rugby to hurling – kids populating the well-maintained playground, plus more hobbyist runners than you’ve ever seen in your life. It’s an excellent spot for a walk or a picnic, and contains manicured gardens with benches as well as its more open areas. In the summer months, it hosts various festivals including major dance music weekender Gala.

Peckham’s self-styled ‘corridor of wonders and esoteric delights’ is a haven of small businesses, from nail techs and hairdressers, to independent publishers, Inverted Audio, a record shop specialising in electronic music, and Balamii, south London’s favourite radio station. Though it may be narrow, it’s easy to while away the hours browsing everything Holdrons Arcade has to offer.

Was it a side of genuinely useful social enterprise you were after with that hot cup of joe? That’s exactly what you get at Change Please Academy at Peckham Print Village, a café where people experiencing homelessness can complete barista training, allowing them to earn a living wage. It is, obviously, an incredibly worthwhile project, and in supporting what they do, you’ll also get consistently very good coffee.

Brought to Peckham by the people behind pioneering east London nightclub The Cause and Hackney Wick venue All My Friends, The Greyhound is a new pub for the area, with big screens for sport and a menu of burgers, pies and Sunday roasts. It also features a roomy basement that’s perfect for dancing, and a quality roster of local DJs, collectives and record labels stop by to spin tunes on weekends. Fridays and Saturdays get pretty lively, but you’re always likely to get a seat, and you’ll hear some good tunes too. 

Closely linked to Camberwell’s beloved Nandine, Yada’s on Rye Lane is is a Kurdish-run restaurant that does a fantastic line in mezze, so even if you’re adverse to sharing, it’s an excellent place to go with a group. If you do happen to be dining solo, go for the Falafel Beauty plate, which is probably the best £13 you can spend in the area, and offers you a taste of everything. Otherwise, menu highlights include the baba ganoush, the joja kebab, made with succulent minced lamb, and the delicious veggie kibbeh.

Everyone thinks they ‘get’ halloumi wraps – and then they have the Yemane’s version and realise they didn’t have a clue. This van parked up just off Rye Lane slings out north African wraps flavoured with a selection of house-made chutneys, which vary in spice levels but all hit a 10 on the taste-o-meter. Whether you go for the fantastic breaded halloumi, the crispy falafel or the lamb shish, this is the best, most reliable lunch option on Rye Lane.

When it comes to hotels, you’re not always looking for the same thing on every trip. Sometimes you want luxury, and sometimes you want simplicity and ease. Leven, located just off Manchester’s Canal Street, is an ideal meeting point between the two.  This mid-sized hotel, located only a few minutes’ walk from Manchester Victoria station and the city centre is a pretty unique proposition, offering all the perks of a fancy hotel, with all of those comforts you do tend to miss when you’re away from home also included. Guests can enjoy a cracking continental breakfast, a great Lobby Bar downstairs at reception, and standalone bathtubs, but rooms are also equipped with comfy living spaces with kitchens, wall-mounted TVs and big sofas to lounge on. Leven really does feel like a home away from home – that is, if your home was conceived with elegant, minimalist Scandi-style all the way through, and was equipped with a minibar.  In our Living Space room, there was everything you could ask for from a brilliant hotel: the type of rainfall shower you could linger under for days, beds to positively sink into, for example. But there were also practical elements designed to make your stay as convenient as possible. The full-size kitchen, for example, was replete with sleek fixtures and fittings that I’d have loved to cook with had I been staying for longer. It’s the type of addition that for a longer stay – or one with children – would be a total godsend, especially when it comes to budgeti

‘The Standard’ is a ballsy name for a hotel chain. It comes in hot, and essentially announces itself as the bar that everyone else should meet. It says ‘We are the standard; here’s what you’ve got to beat.’ And in the case of The Standard’s London hotel, it’s an accurate description.  The Standard London is the UK branch of the global hotel chain, which has outposts in all of the world’s sexiest cities – from New York to Bangkok. Opened in July 2019, it contains 266 rooms of varying types, two restaurants (Decimo and Isla), two bars (the Rooftop and Sweeties) and one bar-restaurant (Double Standard). It’s a Michelin Guide Recommended hotel, but it’s also got a lift that flies up and down the outside of the building like Charlie’s Great Glass Elevator. It’s fancy and fun; an undoubtedly luxury hotel that is boutique-y and small enough to feel personal too. The Standard eschews the laciness and fancy frippery you might commonly associate with London’s poshest hotel destinations, to appeal to contemporary tastes and people who own multiple pairs of Salomons.   Inside the hotel – a former Camden Town Hall annexe, itself a Brutalist masterpiece preserved from the 1970s – the design principles are bold and graphic, informed by the outer curve of the building. I got the most out of this unusual shape when I was allocated a ‘King of Kings’ room, which contains (you’ve guessed it) a bafflingly comfortable king-sized bed, a rainfall shower, and a corner sofa and working area, as well a

Nothing says Christmas like pushing yourself to the human limits of food consumption, whether that means Christmas pudding, novelty crisp flavours, or simply: roasted meats. A highly important cornerstone of this particular seasonal tradition is the obligatory box of Quality Street. Cracked open in late November and passed around laps in living rooms all December long – until it’s more infuriatingly full of wrappers than it is of sweets – it wouldn’t be Christmas without between one and four chocolates to send you nicely over the edge after dinner every night. Your choice of Quality Street is especially telling (milk chocolate block: boring; fudge: cute, likes little treats), but consider this: is it actually the case that your Quality Street chooses you? Hear us out: each choc in the box has clear characteristics (like, Strawberry Delight is definitely annoying on a night out), but does your favourite match your personality? Are you a classic, discerning green triangle? Or the biggest chaos merchant of them all: a Toffee Finger? Take our (definitely very scientific) quiz below to find out.    

Picture it: you are sitting on a restaurant terrace drinking a cold glass of white wine. It’s a balmy 26 degrees in London and you don’t need a jacket, and are wearing sunglasses so you look really fit. You feel good. You are perusing a concise but varied menu and you are about to order a meal which will both satisfy and enrich you. But what are you going to order? What foods will define your summer dining experiences in 2023?  When considering what the big dishes of sunny season might be, there are a few criteria that we need to take into account. First – seasonality: which fruits and vegetables thrive during the high season? But equally, is it light and airy enough to eat on a hot day? Secondly – how does it look? London restaurants are increasingly susceptible to the hype machine, largely fuelled by social media and photos of viral dishes that crop up online. The big hits of the summer then, will also be photogenic. And thirdly – and most importantly – is it properly delicious? The dishes that go stratospheric, after all, are those which stand up to demand.  With these important yardsticks in mind, I have employed my knowledge as a deeply greedy individual to predict what you’ll be ordering as you while away the hours (and your earnings) during the very best time of year, from fluffy roe to citrusy crudo.    10) Perello olives Now memed to within an inch of their lives, meaty, briney Perello olives are still a very nice offering for your mate’s barbecue (moved indoors last