The Time Out London blog

The riverside at Kingston upon Thames has a rich array of pubs, bars and restaurants, all within shouting distance of the bridge and an ancient marketplace. When the sun’s out, they’re all ideal for alfresco drinking and dining. Here are four of the best.   1. Woody’s The owners of Woody’s reckon their bar and kitchen is an extension of their customers’ living rooms: ‘… a place to relax, kick back and put your feet up with whatever rocks your boat’. There’s craft beer, and the food is also known to make waves. 5 Ram Passage, KT1 1HH 2. The Boaters Inn Upriver from the bridge is The Boaters Inn, another independent pub and eatery. Sitting in a leafy park away from the town centre, The Boaters Inn (so called because it’s next to the famous Kingston Rowing Club) provides a cosy vantage point for observing the river’s goings-on. On hot summer days, the park effectively becomes the pub’s beer garden – so pack the blanket and frisbee. If you forget the picnic, The Boaters Inn kitchen and BBQ does takeaway. Canbury Gardens, Lower Ham Road, KT2 5AU 3. The Ram The Ram is famed for its craft brews, real ales and draught tap room. It’s reassuringly traditional, with dark oak furniture, tiles and brass decor, but in summertime head for the long riverside garden. The food mostly follows the traditional format, but look out for off-grid starters such as gambas pil pil (tapas of prawns) and their board sharing platter of global good stuff. 34 High Street, KT1 1HL 4. Stein’s

Despite its fairly central location in Zone 2, countless pub gardens, independent cafés and boutique shops make Parsons Green feel like a small English village. Ask a resident where they live and we’ll usually reach for the more well-known ‘Fulham’ – but we’re perfectly happy in our hidden little SW6 community. You know you live in Parson’s Green when... ...people only know where you live because of one pub When you tell people you live in Parsons Green you’re almost guaranteed one response: ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been to the Sloaney Pony’. That’s the street name for the White Horse Pub on the corner of Parsons Green. On a sunny day, the Sloaney’s pub garden draws in people from all across the city. However, this can make it particularly difficult to find somewhere to sit, or even stand for that matter. As a local, you’ve probably learned the exact time to arrive so you’ve also got a chance of nabbing a table. ...you go for brunch every weekend You can’t walk more than 20 steps in Parsons Green without passing somewhere serving brunch. Whether it’s a full English and a coffee at Côte, smashed avocado on toast and a healthy smoothie at Boys ‘N’ Berry, or eggs benedict and mimosas at Hally’s, brunch is a compulsory weekend ritual. A post shared by JO GREEN | Yoga With Jo ✌🏼️ (@yoga.withjg) on Jun 3, 2017 at 6:25am PDT ...it’s pretty easy to burn off calories There are a lot of fitness freaks in the neighbourhood, and this is probably because of the 1:1 r

The city of London is over 2,000 years old. That’s a heck of a lot of history to pack under its pavements, so it’s hardly surprising that some of this past is somewhat strange, unsavoury, or just a bit bonkers. Top of the list for weirdo factor are some of London’s old laws. It turns out that those Ye Olde Londoners were really easily offended. From fancy clothing to Christmas carols, being a notorious felon 500 years ago required little more than enjoying one too many mulled wines down the pub. Here are some of the things you’d be hard-pushed to get away with, back in the day:     pixabay / 2977540   Be a fashionista Most of us like to express our personality through our clothing, so spare a thought for those poor Tudors who were expressly forbidden to be fabulous. For a brief period from 1562, courtiers who wore clothing of ‘monstrous and outrageous greatness’ could be prosecuted for breaking the law. On the plus side, it was probably a lot harder to behead someone encased in ‘outrageous double ruffs’.   pixabay / claus_indesign   Skip archery practice  From 1540, all Englishmen between 17 and 60 were required by law to both own a longbow and to practise their archery skills for two hours every week. (Women were off the hook.)   Despite the fact that the adoption of firearms in the sixteenth century (literally) blew the longbow out of the water, this law was only repealed in 1960. So, if your gramps once stunned you by hitting every bullseye during t

After the recent run of sunny weather, June is looking good. There’s a solid list of craft beer events lined up around London to enhance your summer itinerary, so why not make this the month you discover a new brewery? Tap takeovers are a perfect way to sample a range of beers, while getting to meet the people behind them. Barrel Kitchen at UBREW For this month’s wildcard event, this food and beer concept will be showcasing the beers from Driptych Brew Co alongside some delicious food from Club Lola. Think supper club meets tap takeover, where a six-course menu will be perfectly paired with beers that have been meticulously chosen to complement and enhance each dish. The whole event will be in a working open brewery – where members use professional kit to make their home-brewing dreams become a reality. UBREW is also the home of Driptych and offers a friendly environment for this inaugural event (with more promised down the line). UBREW, 29 Old Jamaica Business Estate, 24 Old Jamaica Rd, SE16 4AW. Jun 14, 7-11pm. A post shared by BrewDog Shepherd's Bush (@brewdogshepbush) on May 21, 2017 at 3:47am PDT To Øl at BrewDog Shepherd’s Bush Danish brewery To Øl is globally revered for making inventive beers. It is what’s referred to as a gypsy brewery, or a brewery that doesn’t brew in a fixed location. It travels around instead, relying on other breweries’ facilities. But that doesn’t affect their ability to turn out a nu

What are this town's top toppings? Which pizza players whack the whackiest things onto their dough in the most brilliant ways? Take a bite out of these bad boys available by the slice or pie...  1. The Full Moon Slice at Voodoo Ray’s Photo: Andy Parsons       It sounds like something your flatmate’s friend who slept on the sofa for five months and tried to grow mushrooms in the bath would have cooked up for Glastonbury. But no: the mayonnaise pizza is real, and a slice of it can be yours. Voodoo Ray’s wildcard option (it’s only available after midnight, for obvious reasons) features bacon sprinkles, marinated tomatoes and mozzarella, all held together by splodges of cult Japanese mayo brand Kewpie. The one for… Mayonnaise-loving werewolves. £4 (slice). Get a 22" pizza and four cocktails for £35 at www.timeout.com/raysbaroffer.          2. TSB at Yard Sale Pizza   A post shared by Yard Sale Pizza (@yardsalepizza) on Aug 28, 2016 at 8:20am PDT     Not to be confused with the banking giant, Yard Sale’s TSB is all the reason you need to eat your greens. Manchego and pine nuts are the supporting acts for leggy florets of tenderstem broccoli (hence TSB), gorgeously charred. And if you finish your veg, it’s totally fine to have one of their freshly baked brownies for dessert. The one for… Chlorophyl nuts. From £9.50.     3. XO pig cheek, collard greens and crackling furikake at Homeslice   A post shared by Homeslice (@homesliceldn) on

  Nathan James Page     We asked you to share the most embarrassing things that have happened to you in the work place. Get ready to blush. 'I vommed into my handbag, and a colleague unwittingly offered to carry it. He then proceeded to ask me out while carrying a bag of puked-up curry.' I pushed my boss into a swimming pool.' 'I vomited and shat myself in front of a class full of students.' 'I was having a catch-up with my boss in the canteen when they started playing Salt-N-Pepa's 'Let's Talk About Sex'. Very loudly.' 'Working late, I walked into the boardroom to find two male, married senior executives pleasuring each other.' 'IT picked up a group email I'd sent asking who was buying the MDMA for the office Christmas party.' 'I shouted "Oh fuck!" on a conference call to thousands of my fellow employees.' 'I got caught going for the five-knuckle shuffle in the office darkroom.' 'I had a sex toy delivered to my office on the day that the admin decided to open everyone's post for them.' Now tell us: what's your most heartwarming London story?

Even before Arcade Fire spent an entire album bemoaning the 'endless suburbs stretched out thin and dead' the 'burbs have had a bad rep, but one German photographer has managed to find beauty in towering pylons, low terraced brick houses and overused sports fields.  Philipp Ebeling did a ten-day, 250km circular walk around London's outskirts to document the places 'too far from the inner city to feature in the story of London, not far enough out to be leafy suburb and commuter land'. He captures the bits of the city where you can probably still get a coffee for under £2, where the sky isn't reflected in glass-paneled skyscrapers and abandoned spaces aren't turned into street-food markets (yet).  'London Ends' is a love letter to places like Tottenham, Barking, Catford, Woolwich and other areas forgotten by the guidebooks but inescapably real to the great swathes of people who live here. Ebeling told Time Out that when he first arrived in London, at 19, from a small village in Germany he found the city overwhelming: 'You never feel like you really know the city because it is so spread out and the many centres are very disconnected. It took me years of exploring until I had a more complete picture of the city in my head. The crazy thing about London is you can always find a new and different neighbourhood or street where there is something new to discover.' 'London Ends' is available to buy from FishBar, a gallery in an old fish and chip shop. Check out some of the photos b

It's been a hot spot for sex shops, gay clubbing and posh restaurants, but Soho might owe its weird name to another, older London pastime. ‘The origin is uncertain,’ says Hazel Forsyth, senior curator at the Museum of London, ‘but according to popular mythology, “so-ho!” or “so-hoe!” was originally the cry of the huntsman.’Hundreds of years ago, the area now covered by Soho was uninhabited land, and a popular hunting spot for the capital’s great and good. In a 1563 account, historian John Stow describes how the Lord Mayor and his hunting party caught a hare, ate it for dinner at the chamberlain’s banqueting house then went back out to chase a fox just for fun. There is another Soho, of course. But New York’s SoHo is boringly named after its location in Manhattan, south of Houston Street. Would they have chosen that particular name if ours hadn’t existed already? I think not. Copycats. Check out the best restaurants in Soho.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so it's no surprise that time-pushed and communication-averse Londoners are relying on emojis to get the message across. After all, why pick up the telephone when a tiny picture of two glasses clinking will do the trick? But which emojis are Londoners using the most? Perhaps the eye roll for Underground delays, an umbrella to represent the city's standard weather, or the aubergine for... y'know. Surprisingly it's none of these – the most popular emoji in London is the 'crying with laughter' face. You know the one – usually preceded with 'lol' and named as Oxford Dictionaries 'Word of the Year' in 2015. 😂 According to Emojipedia, other popular emojis that Londoners search for on their online archive include the Union Jack flag, love heart, smirking face and party popper. Can we blame Brexit for the number of people using the Union Jack flag emoji? We'll never know. But judging by these findings, Londoners are a flirtatious and patriotic party crowd.  Did you know you can now get London emojis including Sadiq Khan and the tube roundel?

Apologies in advance to the majority of you who’d rather not think about the levels of filth floating about in the tubes you board, but we’ve got new figures to share with you, and they ain’t pretty! Responding to a Freedom of Information request, TfL has recently revealed that seats on seven of the tube lines never get washed with shampoo. Those using the District, Circle, Northern, Piccadilly, Hammersmith and City, Jubilee and Metropolitan lines, you’re in for a dirty ride. The only lines to get a little scrub are the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines, and even they only get shampooed every six months to a year. If that’s brought you out in a cold sweat, find solace in the knowledge that carriages get a basic clean every night, seats are hoovered regularly, and covers are replaced if soiled. The floors get a sweep and the poles a spot clean every night, and mopping takes place every two to three days along with a thorough wipe down on the poles. A TfL spokesperson said: 'We’re committed to providing the best possible service on London’s transport network. 'Although cleaning regimes vary across the Underground, each line has a rigorous cleaning schedule in place, for both the interior and exterior of the trains, to provide a pleasant environment for our customers.' Still, maybe getting a seat on the tube isn't that appealing after all.  A few years back, Time Out set out to find out how clean the tube was. Watch the dusty results below:   In other underground ne

Between all the passive-aggressive notes and the hallway grunting, a quality relationship with your neighbour can be hard to come by. But it's not totally impossible. Check out these three websites that can help rebuild neighbourhood morale, one click at a time.   A post shared by Streetbank (@streetbank_share) on Nov 20, 2014 at 8:53am PST Streetbank So you’re hosting a party next week and you could really do with your neighbour’s barbecue set (not that you’ve been peeking into their garden or anything like that). Streetbank has you covered, listing all manner of tools and whatnot available to borrow in the local area. The exchange of services is also encouraged, which may include language tuition or advice on a range of interests, so even budding competitive dog groomers can find inspiration. Users are also able to declutter their cupboards of forgotten items, such as that dust-covered film projector you haven't used since 'Finding Nemo' came out on DVD. Team London Want to make a difference but don’t have the time or money to fly halfway across the world? With Team London, you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own borough. There’s a wide selection of roles on offer, such as child mentors, conservation workers and choppers/stirrers of nutritious surplus food for the homeless. It doubles up as a handy platform for charities to enlist local help. You’re guaranteed to meet fantastic, like-minded people and you can even collect badges to show off about your vo

London’s got Russia on the brain, and not just because of world politics or the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Grumbling about oligarchs is a major pastime these days, but Russian London isn’t all posh bars and mansions in Belgravia. There’s also a young, creative, trust-fund-free Russian community running dumpling-obsessed supperclubs, film pop-ups, art shows and start-ups. Of the 300,000-odd people of Russian descent in London, about half were born in Russia. The expat population has spiked in the last decade, leading to the jokey name Londongrad. But we’re an internationally minded bunch. When we do hang out together it’s usually to enjoy a nostalgic meal of pelmeni, or to do good. The London-based charity Gift of Life, for instance, helps cancer patients with fundraising events starring Russian classical music and theatre stars. It’s a long way from ‘Meet the Russians’. Sasha Raspopina Did you know? The Russian spring festival Maslenitsa, also known as ‘pancake week’, is widely celebrated in London in the last week of February. It’s a great time to feast on blini! Sasha’s favourite Russian places in London Home to Russian and post-Soviet art and photography, Calvert 22 Foundation in Shoreditch also has a bookshop stuffed with publications on everything New East, from brutalist architecture to Gosha Rubchinskiy. If you’re hungry and adventurous, look out for appearances by the Mince & Dough Russian Canteen, a pop-up serving some of the best Russian dumplings in