The Time Out London blog team

Last year, we reported on a thinktank that said housing in London has become ‘impossibly unaffordable’. If you’re a Londoner, you’ll know exactly what we were talking about. This is down to a myriad of factors, of course, but the housing shortage is a big one. A whopping 10,000 proposed new homes in and around Billingsgate Fish Market may be – ahem – a drop in the ocean, but Tower Hamlets Council would no doubt argue that every little helps.    The council has explained, in a new pamphlet promoting the area to developers, that it’s working with the City of London Corporation on the project. And don’t worry: the fish market isn’t disappearing completely; it’s moving from Poplar to the Royal Docks in Newham, as we reported at the end of last year. Naturally, given the speculative nature of the plans, it’s not clear when development might begin, but the pamphlet suggested that the council is asking developers to consider the site as a prospect for 2026. Councillors for Aspire, the local leading political party, approved the promotional pamphlet last week (on March 24).  Dubbed Future Places, the pamphlet explained that the collaboration would seek to ‘bring forward the redevelopment of the site that will create a significant new mixed-use quarter with improved connectivity between Canary Wharf and South Poplar, providing thousands of homes and jobs’. It added: ‘This is the single biggest opportunity for growth in the borough, creating a whole new mixed-use neighbourhood that...

Halloween has horror, Valentine’s Day has romcoms and Christmas movies are a genre unto themselves. In cinematic terms, Easter is the odd holiday out. The day doesn’t really have a definitive movie, and those that count lean either biblical or bunny-centric. Don’t fret, though: we’ve done some searching, and dug out a basket full of treats suitable for everyone – whether you’re devout, lapsed or just in it for the jellybeans.  The Passion of the Christ (2004) It’s the goriest story ever told! Maybe the only movie to appeal equally to both ultraconservative Catholics and Fangoria subscribers, Mel Gibson’s depiction of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is praise meets torture porn. No joke: it’s two hours of the Messiah (played by Jim Caviezel) being flayed, stabbed, beaten and ultimately crucified, all of which is shown in graphic, close-up detail. Honestly, you’d have to possess Pope-level devotion to suggest throwing it on after dinner, not to mention a strong stomach – but given how much money it made, there are more people who fit that description than you’d think. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) Not wanting to offend the world’s bazillion Christians was the furthest thought from the Monty Python gang’s mind in this lol-rich departure from the gospel story. Instead of Jesus, we follow Brian (Graham Chapman), a young Jewish man who is hailed as the messiah, has a run-in with the People’s Front of Judea (and the...

It’s often in their mid-thirties when Londoners face a fork in the road. Commit to stay living in the city, or find a place to settle down on the outskirts. If you’re hearing that call to ’burbs, with their slower pace of life and surrounding greenery, you could take your pick from the 14 places in the Home Counties that made the Sunday Times’ list of the 72 best places to live in Britain (find the full list here). The top spot in the southeast of England for 2026 went to Lindfield in West Sussex. The village is a five-minute drive from Haywards Heath railway station, from which you can get to London Victoria in as little as 43 minutes. RECOMMENDED: 7 London neighbourhoods are the UK’s best places to live in 2026. Photograph: Philip Bird LRPS CPAGB / Shutterstock.comLindfield, West Sussex The Times said that Lindfield has enough ‘reliable schools, smart shops, amenities and connections to satisfy the most hard-headed box-ticker’ as well as plenty of things to charm more romantic souls, like its duck pond, period homes and surrounding countryside. Its average house price at the moment is £631,000.  Last year’s overall best place to live, Saffron Walden, didn’t hold onto the number one spot but still made it into list. Described as ‘medieval yet increasingly modern’, it has a cool collection of indie shops and coffeehouses that help it stand above other places nearby. The average house there sits at around £609,000 and locals can get to London Liverpool Street in an easy...