The Time Out London blog team

There are few things more glorious than waking up with a hangover on a Sunday morning only to remember you’ve got a pub lunch booked for 2pm. Time to roll out of bed, put on your comfiest trackies and get some much-needed hair of the dog. And all the better when it’s a top-tier gastropub, with excellent nosh to compliment a tipple. But which London gastropub is the best of the lot? We’ve obviously got our own opinions on the matter here at Time Out, but now reservation platform OpenTable has chipped in with the winners of its inaugural Restaurant Awards. Half of OpenTable’s prizes were chosen by industry experts and half were voted on by the public, with the latter crowning the city’s top gastropub.  And the prize went to (drumroll please)...The Plimsoll in  Finsbury Park. Known far and wide for its iconic Dexter cheeseburger, it’s become a mainstay of north London’s dining scene.  Photograph: OpenTable Ed McIlroy and Jamie Allan, the chef duo known as Four Legs, are to thank for The Plimsoll’s culinary creations, having opened the pub in 2021 after a long stint at The Compton Arms in Islington. As well as its bona fide banger of a burger, The Plimsoll’s menu features a rotating mix of snacks, small plates and bigger plates. You’ll find everything from fried potatoes with aioli to merguez with mustard and grilled pigeon with mash. Other prizes in OpenTable’s awards were dished out to London’s 26 most ‘iconic’ restaurants – which you can read all about here. All the...

E17 locals are practically swimming in good beer. Industrial area-turned-brewery hotspot the Blackhorse Beer Mile just got a new addition from East London Brewing Co, complete with a late licence and indoor and alfresco gig spaces. Plus, the Big Penny Beach Club is back later this month for the summer season. And it’s not just the local brewers that have mastered the art of pouring the perfect pint. That’s because now Soho Theatre Walthamstow has opened its very own brew house.  Budding thespians among us will remember the hype when Soho Theatre finally opened the doors to its Walthamstow outpost in May 2025. Years in the making, the 1,000-seat space, with a capacity three times bigger than its Dean Street venue, has been serving up comedy and theatre ever since. The new Soho Theatre Pub, which soft launched on Friday May 1, sits next door to the 1930s art deco playhouse in the Hoe Street site formerly occupied by The Collab. Photograph: Ray Roberts The Walthamstow pub serves drinks from local beer makers Signature Brew, as well as other London booze brands like Mother’s Ruin, Burnt Faith, East London Brewery and East London Liquor Company. Drinks are currently the only thing on the menu, but once the venue fully opens on May 15, it’ll offer pre-show dining for audiences and a place to grab a bevvie after performances. It’ll also be open on non-show nights, meaning you don’t have to be a thesp to enjoy a drink at the boozer. As for food, well, that will be the domain of...

Craving a bit of fresh air? Luckily, London is literally surrounded by fabulous seaside towns where you can go to clear your head and your lungs.  As we enter summer, Time Out has just published its list of the best seaside towns to visit in the UK this year, with seven of them being within easy reach of the capital. The towns range from old-school resorts to quaint fishing villages and up-and-coming arty spots. Can’t decide which one to visit? Here we’ve mapped them all out for you. The best seaside towns near London mapped Image: Time Out Sister towns Hastings and St Leonards came in second place in our annual ranking. We love the duo for their art galleries, restaurants and jam-packed calendar of local events which includes pagan festivals and the UK’s biggest Mardi Gras. The East Sussex town to the southeast of London is sandwiched between Brighton and Folkestone along England’s south coast. All three towns can be reached from the capital in under two hours by train.  Slightly north from Folkestone you’ll find the glorious Whitstable, known for its oysters and shingle beaches, which ranked 14th on our list. This Kent town to London’s east can be reached in just over an hour on the train.  If you’re looking to try something slightly further afield, and perhaps less obvious than the Sussex or Kent coast, to the southwest of London you’ll find Hampshire’s quaint Lymington (number 15) which is an entry point to the pony-filled New Forest, and Southsea (3), an old-school...