50 best London websites
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Sonya Barber
Posted: Mon Feb 18 2008
Blogs | History | Going out | Shopping and services | CommunitiesGoing out
www.londonarchitecturediary.com
Listing the vast range of events related to our ever-changing built environment, the London Architecture Diary is run by a small team with exhibitions and debates run by the likes of RIBA.
Check out Each month a guest editor is invited to give his or her input on the recommendations – past editors have included Alain de Botton, Tom Dyckhoff and journalist Henrietta Thompson.
www.gingerbeer.co.uk
This vibrant guide to lesbian London lists everything from bars and clubs to committee events and book launches – as well as a smattering of explicit sex tips. And, to ease any fears that you’re ‘the only gay in the village’, there’s a map of the capital’s ‘Gaybourhoods’.
Check out Have a gander at ‘Cleavage Of The Month’. Just, you know, because.
www.untoldlondon.org.uk
This site seeks to ‘discover the history of London’s diverse communities’. What’s impressive is the level to which it delves into local archives and communities, away from the big institutions and exhibitions, to document the past of the capital’s ethnic and cultural groups – so you’ll find a multimedia record of the Greek Cypriot immigrant community next to a profile of Jimmy Peters, the black Greenwich orphan who went on to play rugby union for England.
Check out The huge, and unique, archives.
Feature continuesAdvertisementwww.scene-out.com
An online community of London’s gay clubbers, fronted by cute cartoon characters representing the city’s queer tribes (think Lego meets lumberjack). You’ll find news, listings, and photos of previous nights’ debauchery, plus users’ reviews that also cover music and theatre.
Check out If you’re looking for something going on in London that you can’t find anywhere else you’ll almost certainly be able to hunt it down through the scene-out.com forums.
www.walkit.com/london
With the aim of getting more of us to walk around London, this site boasts a nifty set of tools to encourage even the laziest city-dwellers. The key feature is bespoke maps – simply enter start and end points for your journey and the site will give you full directions and an estimate of how long the walk will take (depending on whether you’re shuffling slowly or power walking). You can even customise the route to avoid busy streets.
Check out Learn how many calories you’ll burn – a great motivation after a large lunch.
www.dirtydirtydancing.com
This slick site showcases the photography of Alistair Allen, who spends his nights on the tiles at some of London’s hippest club nights. Boombox, Trailer Trash, Smash and Grab, and others are all extensively documented.
Check out Thanks to the circles he mixes in, Allen is also on the list for plenty of fashion designers' parties, making this is the first place to come if you’re looking to find out what the extroverts are wearing after dark.
www.london-city-churches.org.uk
‘Going out’ in London doesn’t have to involve hedonistic excess – and perhaps this site can provide a welcome change of pace. As its name suggests, this is a guide to City churches – some of the finest ecclesiastical buildings in Europe. So rather than a trip to the obvious St Paul’s, you can hunt out St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe or St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.
Check out The location map of all 47 churches (and nine tours), which will help plan your day’s visits.
www.hidden-london.com
A website, with associated print book, dedicated to the little-known corners of London – from Abbey Wood to Yeading (so far there isn’t a listing under the letter Z).
Check out The ‘Recommended’ section, which includes south-west London’s ‘Korea Town’, Croydon’s beautiful residential gardens and the architectural follies of EG Trobridge up in the north-west.
www.londonisfree.com
A recent addition, possibly capitalising on the famous but now sadly departed www.LondonFreeList.com. There are listings of exhibitions, events and activities that cost nothing, and it’s strong on finding live radio and TV recordings.
Check out The family events section – particularly useful when holiday time comes round again.
www.run-riot.com
This blog-style guide is excellent for hunting out alternative events. It grew from an informal text-only bulletin and is popular with London’s creative types.
Check out The noticeboard has call-outs for everything from stewards and arts industry jobs, to invitations to compete in an alternative beauty pageant.
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22 comments
Unfortunately, it appears the noise map has been taken down.
Yeah who said craft is for the light hearted!!
Sam xx
I think you forgot Mr-Skill.co.uk in that list, which is similar to the londonrate.com you mentioned but a lot bigger. Customers post a job they need done, and builders and tradesmen from London submit their quotes (Only in London!). Thx
This is our blog, campaigning to make a small suburban street safer for young children. It may not be the best blog in London, but it addresses crucial issues related to the quality of life for children - issues that are generally overlooked.
http://makesouthvalesafe.blogspot.com/
just for the record... our website is here...
http://www.hungamunga.co.uk
well you cant say we dont live up to our name can you !
Me thinks there are some lessons to be learned here. Lets all do something positive and go get crafting instead.
ROTFLOL! Thanks ladies, this is one of the funniest things I've read in ages. Who knew knitting could be so cut-throat and, well, bitchy! Knit On!
It is clear that you don't like that the group got chosen. You think the girls "got their mates" to attack (I personally am a group member, but hardly know the girls, though I do have a great amount of respect for what they do). You accuse their events of being "all part of other people's events" which is utter rubbish since they solely organised the Knit Crawl and the Lion Scarf. Also the girls have worked with other groups and organisations such as IKnit and Twisted Thread in harmony with them, rather than jumping on their coattails as you seem to imply (and again all in their spare time for no pay!)
You can't like everything all the time, but it seems to me you should just let the girls have their moment, and leave it at that. You have told the world you think their website isn't good enough for the top 50. The rest of your put downs they could have done without, I think.
You tell them to take it on the chin, but you are basically putting down five very hardworking girls who go out of their way to organise events and write newsletters that benefit you. This seems rather ungrateful to me.
I think the girls who have replied have been remarkably restrained in their comments. And I love the website. It makes me laugh. Well done girls.
I think this all may have spiraled a little out of control! Charley, you are more than welcome back to the group and are completely entitled to your opinion on the site and the group itself. There was no move to gang up and we are sorry if you feel that way - those that have posted obviously feel very protective of the group and I'm sure they meant no offense to you. Perhaps we can all do a few stiches and cast off this matter now!
Charley, I am not picking on you but it seems to me that you're missing the point of of Time Out's article and being needlessly brash about it. The introduction to the article says: "here we present 50 other corkers, all of them useful and entertaining, all of them devoted entirely to the Big Smoke."
Stitch and Bitch London may not have the slickest website but their website has lead to a community being formed centred around knitting and being in London.
Fair enough, Hungamunga also do crafts but they don't necessarily have a London-specific theme. Also, iKnit is a yarn and knitting shop/cafe so it is primarily a business.
Flipin heck, there's nothing like a stitch n bitch scorned. I do get the newsletter, I have been to the group...all I wanted to say is I don't think, of all the craft sites in London, it deserved to be the only one in the top 50 BEST WEBSITES IN LONDON. I take it very personally that Amy says I'm slagging off a charity event - the link says 'check the progress of it' and I'm just saying that the progress has finished - Time Out's fault not yours. It was a brilliant idea and it looked fabulous. Maybe my beef is with Timeout for choosing the site and I realise you've probably got all your mates here to attack any kind of criticism and I'm feeling a bit ganged up on. Take it on the chin - it's just my opinion! You are all mighty and powerful and the best knitting group in the world, your sacrifices 'to spread the pure love of the knit' are truly astonishing and your projects (all part of other people's events - although I loved the knit-crawl too) are worthy of the highest praise - I just didn't like your website's all. Will I be allowed to come back?
sounds like sour grapes to me. thanks for the extra publicity though
Charley, Stitch and Bitch London meet every week. I would think that is fairly regular. How much more regularly would you like them to hold events?
Also they arrange events all the time. They did the Knit Crawl in the summer (which I loved), the Champagne bar at Ally Pally's Knit Show, and the UK Blanket for all the knitting groups. And they have stuff coming up all year.
Both sites you mentioned have had their Time Out glory in the past. Why not let Stitch and Bitch have theirs?
Charley, luckily most people in the craft community are more supportive of each other. You're wrong about the lion scarf event too - I just checked, it was less than a year ago. Pretty bad form to slag off a charity event.