The Time Out London blog team

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...

Every year, travel mag Condé Nast Traveller publishes a list of the world’s best new hotels. This prestigious ranking names the cream of the crop when it comes to new places to stay around the world. We’re talking boutique city boltholes, luxe seaside resorts, ultra-premium safaris and some very bougie spa hotels.  CNT’s list was curated by the publication’s global editors and contributors, who spent the past 12 months staying at the top hotel openings around the world. For 2026, two hotels in the long list were in London. The world’s best new hotels in London in 2026 Photograph: Six Senses London Six Senses The new Six Senses hotel London made the cut for 2026. The wellness behemoth with 27 hotels and resorts around the world opened its first UK outpost this year. Housed in the former Whiteleys department store in west London, the building underwent an eye-watering £1.5 billion redevelopment to create the glamorous 109-room hotel, as well as shops, restaurants and a cinema.  When Time Out reviewed the Bayswater hotel in April this year we rated it five stars. We thought the second-to-none spa was the main draw of a stay at Six Senses London. It offers a luxury but surprisingly laid back experience, where guests can try everything from a Finnish sauna, quartz crystal bed, and 20-metre swimming pool to a magnesium plunge pool and cryochamber. The cost of a stay here starts at £825 per night – see options on Booking.com here. Photograph: Booking.com Chancery Rosewood...