The Time Out London blog team

Seeing pink, fluffy pedicabs fly by in central London while blasting out Abba might be entertaining, but the unregulated cabs have come under scrutiny in recent years for charging extortionate prices and causing disruption on the city’s streets. Transport for London has been promising to crack down on pesky pedicabs for quite a while now. This week, the new laws for London’s rickshaws have finally been confirmed. Thanks to the Pedicabs (London) Act 2024, new regulations are already in place and will be enforced in stages over the coming year. The big news is that for the first time TfL will enforce a maximum journey charge, meaning that rogue drivers will no longer be able to rip off unsuspecting tourists (in 2022 one man was reportedly charged £500 for a 10-minute journey).  Following two public consultations, TfL has come up with a number of new rules to improve the safety and experience of riding rickshaws. Here’s what they are.  New rules for London pedicab drivers Pedicab licences Drivers will have to pay £114 and the pedicab vehicle licensing fee and £100 for a one-year licence. Drivers will be able to apply for licences from 9 March 2026. DBS checks for drivers Drivers must undergo an enhanced DBS check, a full driving licence or valid theory test certificate, meeting English language requirements, passing an assessment of their safety, equality and regulatory understanding and meeting minimum medical standards.  Regular safety checks for vehicles Cabs will have to...

There’s no shortage of high achievers in London. In fact, based on last year’s A-level and GCSE results, the majority of England’s smartest students are right here in the capital, making it home to eight of England’s top 10 private schools.  The Top Schools Guide uses exam results to publish rankings of the best fee-paying schools in the country. According to the 2026 league tables, the majority of England’s brightest boffins are attending school here in the capital.  Per 2025 exam results, England’s very best private school is St Paul’s School in Barnes. Founded in 1509, in 2025 the all-boys’ school saw 93 percent of its A-Level entries achieve either A or A* and 97.9 percent of it’s GSCE entries awarded top results of 9, 8 or 7. A top tier education will cost you, because fees at this establishment range from £9,551 to £17,981 per term.  First place’s sister school, St Paul’s Girls’ School, came in a very close second with 88.7 percent achieving the highest A-Level results and an impressive 99.5 percent attaining the GCSE equivalents. In third place was King’s College School in Wimbledon with 86.1 percent of students getting A* or A at A-Level and 98.26 percent getting 9, 8 or 7 at GCSE. This was followed closely by Westminster, the alma mater of quite a few celebs including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Helena Bonham Carter and Louis Theroux, which had an A-Level A*/A rate of 86 percent and a GCSE 9 to 7 rate of 97.38 percent.  The best private schools in London according to...

Just a couple of years ago, journey juice (that’s the drink you have en route to a night out) usually consisted of a corner shop beer or maybe a pre-mixed G&T if you were feeling fancy. These days, we can’t imaging attending a pre-drinks without a horde of radioactive-looking spherical cocktails in our arsenal. We’re of course talking about BuzzBallz, and good news, because the corner shop cocktail brand is launching a new flavour in the UK.  To celebrate, everyone’s favourite ball-shaped cocktail is bringing a 10-foot gacha machine to the capital where thirsty Londoners can win a chance to try the new BuzzBall. Arriving in the flavour ‘Berry Cherry Limeade’ (we’re guessing it’s got notes of berry, cherry and lime), the bright blue drink will be London’s to try for the day, at a pop-up taking place on Friday February 27 at Observation Point on the Southbank.  Image: BuzzBallz By spinning the giant prize machine (which is apparently the world’s biggest), Londoners will be able to win the new flavour BuzzBall as well as 4,000 other prizes. One lucky person will even take home a £5,000 cash prize. That could buy you at least 1,000 BuzzBallz.  The pop-up will take place from 12pm to 7pm and, obviously, you must be over 18 to take part.  Did you see that a dive bar with a BuzzBallz vending machine has opened in east London? Sad: Excellent London music festival Wide Awake has been cancelled for 2026.  Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to...