The Time Out London blog team

A new ranking of the world’s best new luxury hotels has just been revealed, and the top spot is in London.  Luxury Travel Intelligence (LTI), a members-only travel advice site that compares hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and more around the world, has unveiled its global list of the top 15 luxury hotels that opened in 2025. According to LTI, the world’s best hotel in 2025 was the Chancery Rosewood. Opening on September 1 2025, this ultra-luxury Mayfair spot is housed inside the Grade II-listed former US embassy on Grosvenor Square, which makes for some very fancy digs indeed.  Photograph: Chancery Rosewood The west London bolthole is home to eight restaurants and bars, a roof terrace, huge pool and an extremely bougie spa. You’ll find no bog-standard double rooms at the Chancery Rosewood, as all of its abodes are suites, with the smallest room measuring at 53-57 square-metres (which is about the average size for a one bed flat in London). The rooms are not cheap, with the prices starting at an eye-watering £1,280 per night.   The Chancery Rosewood was the only London hotel to make LT’s list for 2025. It beat the likes of &Beyond Suyian Lodge in Kenya, Aman Bangkok and Collegio alla Querce in Florence for the number one spot.  Photograph: Chancery Rosewood Here’s what LTI had to say: ‘Rosewood has enjoyed a remarkable year, unveiling several impressive new properties globally. Three have made this year's list. No luxury hospitality brand has yet achieved this accolade....

The iconic building above one one of London’s busiest train hubs is due to get a major makeover.  One Embankment Place is the impressive postmodern-style building above Charing Cross station that was originally designed by the late Sir Terry Farrell in the 1980s. If you look at it from the other side of the Thames, you’ll see that it resembles Victorian trainshed roofs rising up from the riverbank. The building mostly houses offices and, since it was completed in 1991, it has been the headquarters of professional services network PwC. Now, it’s in need of a big facelift.  The enhancement of Embankment Place is being led by property developers Bridgemont alongside award winning architect firm Hopkins Architects, which previously works on refurbishments of the Grade II-listed Financial Times building at Bracken House and the Wellcome Trust headquarters on Euston Road.  Hopkins’ vision for the building includes improving the arrival experience and connections at ground level to Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Station, repositioning it as ‘a vibrant destination for business, culture and tourism’, ensuring it continues to appeal to businesses and reducing its energy usage.  Plans include transforming the Victorian brick arches beneath the building into a space with high-quality retail and amenities. On top of that, the architects want to to improve connections to nearby stations, introduce more greenery, install more seating areas and celebrate the site’s ‘unique history and...

If you ride a bike in London, you’ll know that the city could do with a few more cycle routes – it’s not fun having to share a lane with a double-decker bus, a black cab and an angry van driver. So, it’s good news for north London cyclists, Lime bikers and Tadej Pogačar wannabes, because a huge new cycling route has been proposed for the north of the city.  Enfield Council has revealed a plan to create a safe walking and cycling link between Palmers Green and New Southgate. The council has recently concluded a public consultation on the scheme, which would see the introduction of new cycle lanes and traffic-calming measures.  The council wants to use quieter residential streets and traffic control to guide cyclists and walkers between New Southgate, Palmers Green and Arnos Grove stations. The proposed route would run along the boundary of the Fox Lane low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN), connecting to the border of Barnet via a cycle path through Arnos Park while also using existing cycling infrastructure along the A406 North Circular. Busy roads like Alderman Hill, Wilmer Way and Bowes Road would see segregated cycle lanes built, while the rest of the routes would be ‘on-carriageway’, which means a cycle lane would be marked but not segregated from the rest of the traffic. A southbound bus gate is proposed in Palmers Road near Arnos Grove Station, which would block most general traffic while allowing buses, cyclists and vehicles with exemptions to continue. Ashridge Gardens,...