The Time Out London blog team

It’s September, which means that hopeful freshers will be arriving at London’s many universities all throughout the month. These youngsters will be getting settled in to halls, going out to student nights at XOYO and Ministry of Sound, and getting plenty of use out of the single recipe they learned before flying the nest.  But what about those students who aren’t quite freshers yet? If you’re thinking about attending uni in the capital, listen up. Because a new university ranking for 2026 has just dropped.  The Guardian University Guide for 2026 has been revealed, ranking every university in the UK. According to the Guardian, the newspaper’s rankings ‘will help you figure out which universities give their students the best experience, rather than just showing you which are strongest in academic research, like most other league tables’. Taking the cake for London’s best uni was the London School of Economics (LSE), coming in fourth place in the national ranking. LSE was scored 93.8 out of 100 overall by the Guardian. It scored 89.4 for teaching satisfaction, and 76.2 for feedback satisfaction. Ninety three percent of graduates were in full-time work within 15 months of graduating from LSE. The university was awarded a ‘value added’ score (that’s based on how much students’ academic performance improved after joining the uni) of 5.9 out of 10.  In the London rankings, LSE was followed by Imperial College and University of the Arts London (UAL) in second and third place,...

It's the final fortnight of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, and that means that England's Red Roses could be just two matches away from glory. But although they're the bookies favourites to win, they'll still need plenty of cheering on to fend off France in the semi-final at 7pm on Saturday September 20. Meanwhile, the six-time cup winners New Zealand will square up to Canada at 7pm on Friday September 19, to decide which of them will make it to be big final, which will be played at Twickenham at 4pm on Saturday September 27. In short, things are hotting up, and women's rugby supporters and converts are preparing to join the scrum at watch parties across the city. Thanks to Asahi’s Rugby Like Never Before campaign, more than 1,000 pubs across the UK (and dozens in London) have pledged to screen every match of the tournament, making it the most accessible women’s rugby tournament to date. On top of that, the final is on track to break records, with crowd of 82,000 expected to descend on Twickenham Stadium. That would make it the most attended women’s rugby match in history.  Such an historic occasion shouldn’t be missed, especially because you’ll have to wait another four years before the next one. So, here’s our roundup of London’s greatest spots to watch the Red Roses scrum, tackle and try their through the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.   The best places in London to watch the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 The Official Fan Zone at Battersea Power Station Situated in the...

There are only two shows in the Globe’s new 2026 indoor winter season – but they’re both extremely intriguing. The Tempest (Jan 17-Apr 12 2026) is a Globe staple, but you’re unlikely to have ever seen one like this before. The great avant-garde theatre maker Tim Crouch – last seen at the Globe with his one-man Shakespearean kids’ show I, Malvolio – has been given the keys to the theatre. He’ll star as Prospero in a version of the play in which Crouch’s magician, his daughter Miranda, and the spirits Ariel and Caliban are the only living creatures on the island, and the story of their escape is merely a made up tale they tell themselves to pass the years. It should be fascinating, and certainly like no Tempest you’ve seen. Fascinating for a totally different reason is Azure Blue (Feb 7-Apr 11 2026), a 2005 play by the late Chadwick Boseman who is – of course – better known as a Hollywood actor, most particularly as Black Panther in various Marvel films. Azure Blue predates all that by a long way: it’s a poetic Shakespeare-inspired drama that follows Azure, a young woman whose life spirals out of control after the shooting of her fiancé Deep, and must then have the strength to recover. It’ll be directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, whose previous credits include the smash hit For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy. The new Globe winter programme may be short, but it’s as interesting a season as you’ll see on a British stage anywhere this year (or...