The Time Out London blog team

We know people love a good heist. There’s a reason why so many popular films are based on robberies: the silver screen has brought us bangers like Oceans Eleven, St Trinian’s, The Pink Panther and Reservoir Dogs to name but a few.  But when does our love of a good burglary go too far? Diamond dealers in London’s Hatton Garden are up in arms about plans to open a heist-themed wine bar in the district inspired by a real robbery that took place in 2015. Jewelers in the area called the proposals ’ghoulish’ and said it would make a mockery of the event that caused many dealers to lose their livelihoods.  The council is currently considering a proposal to transform the safe deposit box building that was the scene of the infamous hole-in-the-wall robbery into a wine bar. In 2015, the elaborate heist was carried out by six experienced thieves who had spent years planning their crime in pubs and cafés in nearby Islington and Clerkenwell. The crooks stole goods with an estimated value of £14 million, with only £4.3 million worth of items recovered to date. During the investigation the robbery was called the ‘largest burglary in English legal history’.  Hatton Garden jewelers have said the bar would force the longest-serving jewellery retailer in the area out of his shop. George Katz, owner of the threatened E Katz and Co, told the Islington Tribune: ‘To my mind [the themed bar] is like when you have a car crash and there are people slowing down to look at it and see if there are any...

Sometimes London theatre news is truly momentous and surprising and sometimes it’s simply relaying something you could have guessed anyway, and this news falls fairly squarely into the latter category. The RSC’s Game of Thrones prequel The Mad King – written by Duncan MacMillan – debuted in Stratford-upon-Avon last month and scored generally strong reviews. And if you were expecting a London transfer to follow you’d be absolutely correct: it has today been announced that it’s coming to London in 2027. Helpfully we know absolutely nothing more than that: no date (beyond 2027), no venue, and no casting details. Given we already knew the show existed and was liable to be heading to London, you sort of wonder why they couldn’t just hold off until they had something more for us, but hey ho. To speculate some more: the fully George RR Martin-endorsed show is likely to need a big theatre, which are generally in short supply in London. The Gillian Lynne Theatre – aka the current home of the RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro – is a decent shout, but it is staging that weird-looking Traitors play all summer. The Mad King could replace it in the autumn but one would assume the idea is to extend its run. The hulking Prince Edward Theatre has just become free from January as Beetlejuice has curtailed its run by four months. But Miss Saigon is moving there in June: considering the popularity of Game of Thrones it would be surprising if The Mad King was restricted to a limited run. Also it’s...

The Barbican’s revival of Sunday in the Park with George was set to be the biggest London theatre show of 2027. Then the problems started. Time Out’s theatre editor looks at what’s next for the troubled production. RECOMMENDED: The best new London theatre shows to book for in 2026 and 2027.  Sorry what the hell are you talking about I've missed all this? Sunday in the Park with George is a classic Stephen Sondheim musical, set across two timelines that focus on the painter George Seurat and his cynical great-grandson, also named George. We were supposed to get a production in 2020 starring Jake Gyllenhaal, but the pandemic put paid to that. Then earlier this year it was announced that Wicked leads Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey would star in a summer 2027 revival at the Barbican, an absurdly hot ticket. But in early August pop star Grande pulled out of all public events following the conclusion of her current world tour, amid speculation about her health. Then a month later Bailey quit via a vague Instagram statement implying he was leaving in solidarity with his friend Grande or something (but whatever the case he was definitely leaving). Oh no! Have ticket holders been refunded? Fortunately tickets never actually went on sale, which has saved some headaches as clearly Grande/Bailey stans would have snapped up the vast majority of the tickets. Is the production still going ahead?  Fundamentally, it’s going to be fine. The Barbican stages a big musical every summer...