Amy Houghton

Every week, a frankly silly amount of brilliant new restaurants, cafés and street food joints arrive in London. Which makes whittling down a shortlist of the best newbies a serious challenge. But here it is. The 20 very best new restaurants in the capital, ranked in order of greatness and deliciousness. All of them have opened in the past year and been visited by our hungry critics. So go forth and take inspo from this list, which is updated regularly. Check in often to find out what we really rate on the London restaurant scene. And look here for all the info about the best new openings in November. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍛 Central: Adoh!, Covent Garden 🍠 North: Belly Bistro, Kentish Town 🥟 South: Doma, Sydenham 🍝 East: Legado, Shoreditch 🥗 West: The Lavery, South Kensington November 2025: New additions include Sri Lankan fast food at Adoh! in Covent Garden, Chingford chophouse Gina, Filipino freshness at Belly Bistro in Kentish Town, indie disco turned gastropub the Macbeth in Shoreditch, Spanish smashers at Legado in Shoreditch and Balkan comfort food at Doma in Sydenham. Hungry yet? Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London. The hottest new openings, the tastiest tips, the spiciest reviews: we’re serving it all on our London restaurants WhatsApp channel. Follow us now to tuck in.

There are few things that we’d willingly brace the cold for during winter in London. But ice skating is one of them. From early November each year, ice rinks decked out towering Christmas trees and twinkly fairy lights start to fill London’s squares and courtyards, hosting everything from DJ takeovers and kids’ skating lessons to date nights and family outings over the festive period. Pretty soon you’ll get to pretend you’re in a festive London rom-com, as you romantically glide (or awkwardly stumble) with your loved ones under the backdrop of landmarks like Somerset House, Battersea Power Station and Hampton Court Palace.  Keen to flaunt your best ice moves? Determined to skate at least one lap without clinging onto the wall for dear life? We recommend you book a spot at your chosen rink as early as you can. We’ll be topping up this list as more rinks for the 2025/26 season are confirmed. How much does it cost to go ice skating? The cost to skate at London’s various permanent and pop-up ice rinks varies quite significantly. So far, this year’s cheapest option is Queens Skate Dine and Bowl, where adult tickets are available from £8 (during off-peak hours). The most expensive adult ticket in 2024 was £26 for peak hours at Skate at Somerset House. For cheaper tickets, consider visiting at less popular times.  London’s best places to go ice skating this winter: ⛸️ Best for the biggest rink in town: Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park 💃 Best for ice dance parties: Somerset House, Ald

  We all know travelling with the kids can be tricky, so finding a hotel that keeps everyone happy is key. From splashable pools to free breakfasts for little ones, London has plenty of spots that make family life on the go a whole lot easier. Here’s our pick of the best family-friendly hotels in the city, where parents can relax and kids can be… well, kids. The hotels we’ve selected all make travelling with kids as smooth possible. We look for places that are close to London’s top attractions, so you can zip from Hamleys to the park, without having to spend your whole day on public transport, as well as having the resources to keep the whole family entertained. How we choose our family-friendly hotels A family-friendly hotel is about thoughtful touches for children. Perhaps, there are extra cots, kid-friendly menus, splashable pools, and little surprises that make young guests feel welcome. These are hotels that go the extra mile, from milk and cookies at bedtime to a designated kids concierge services. We include luxury stays and budget-friendly finds. Finally, we consider atmosphere and accessibility: helpful staff, close to attractions and safe play spaces, and a vibe that makes both little ones and grown-ups feel at home. London’s family friendly hotels at a glance 💰 Best for a cheap deal: Good Hotel 🗓️ Best concierge service: The Berkeley 🧠 Most iconic: The Ritz ☕ Best afternoon tea for kids: Park Plaza County Hall 🖼️ Most dramatic design: The Mandarin Oriental M

Do you smell it? That faint waft of pumpkin spice latte in the air? Summer’s sunny days and balmy nights may be behind us, but now it’s time to embrace all the wonderful, cosy things autumn has to offer.  For some, this time of year is all about spooky season, for others it’s about candle-lit evenings in front of the telly with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. For others, it’s about pumpkins galore – a golden excuse to get picking, carving and cooking. As the weather drops, farms in and around London become gourd wonderlands, littered with bright yellow and flaming orange pumpkins. Often there’ll be photo opportunities, craft workshops and spooky goings on thrown in so you can make a real outing of it. Just make sure you book in advance to make sure you get a decent pick of the crop. So, whether you want to stock up on pumpkins to carve into Halloween lanterns or to make masses of soup and pies, here are our favourite places near London for pumpkin picking in 2025.  London’s best places for pumpkin picking at a glance: 🎃 Pumpkin smashing fun: Rogate Pumpkin Patch, Petersfield 🪄 Magical village vibes: Marsh Farm, Chelmsford 🧙🏻‍♀️ Best for witches on a budget: Cobbs Farm, Essex 🦇 Best for spooky night-time picking: Foxes Farm, Chelmsford ⚡️ Best for little adventure-seekers: Hobbledown Heath, Hounslow  RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London in October 2025

Whatever your vibe (and whatever your budget), London’s got it all – and anyone will find something they love here. Historic pubs, leafy parks and gardens and an unmatched restaurant scene make this city worth visiting year-round, but before you’ve booked anything in London, you kind of have to know where you’re going to be based. To get you started, we’ve rounded up the city’s best Airbnbs available to book right now, with expert tips from our local editors.  Should I choose an Airbnb or a hotel in London? London is not short on lovely hotels, ranging from budget to luxury and just about everything in between. But it’s fair to say that even the cheaper options cost a pretty penny – and you’ll often find them in more central, touristy areas in the city. If you want to live like a Londoner, an Airbnb can allow you to properly immerse yourself in a more residential area of London – and all the locally-loved bars, pubs and restaurants that come with it. You’ll find lots of our local tips below, but for a detailed breakdown of the best neighbourhoods to stay in London, check out our ultimate area guide. More of a hotels guy? No problem. Here’s our list of the best hotels in London.  📍 RECOMMENDED: Ultimate guide to the best hotels and Airbnbs in London Who makes the cut? While we might not stay in and review every Airbnb featured, our writers have based our list on expert knowledge of the destination covered, editorial reviews, user reviews, amenities and in-depth research to

It’s no secret that London can be very, very pricey if you’re not careful. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any options if you’re on a budget. Both big chains and beloved independents offer some very affordable rooms in the Capital – you just have to know where to look. Obviously, being ‘on a budget’ is pretty subjective, but every hotel on this list has rooms for under £200, with many starting under £100 – and even some shared dorms for £12 per person.  Every hotel highlighted here by Time Out’s experts is good value; whether that be because of its location, design, or quite simply, the price. Staying in one of these will give you the kind of buzz only a good deal can deliver. So get booking and then use all the cash you’ve saved on more important stuff. Like, erm, going to the pub.  🛌 Our guide to the best Airbnbs in London Which area is best to stay in London for a good price?  Honestly, it depends on what you’re looking for. There’s cheap options in Shoreditch, just off the South Bank and even in the heart of the West End – so you can save and still be in walking distance to Theatreland or London’s best museums. Or, go further afield to find deals that way, in more residential areas further out. To get a better grip on your options, here’s our handy guide on where to stay in London.  How we curate our hotel lists Headed up by editor Joe Mackertich, our team at Time Out London spend their time reviewing hotels all over the Capital – new openings, old classics and ever

The final stretch of 2025 is upon us. And now that we’ve said so long to summer, London’s institutions have begun to enter full festive planning mode. In a matter of months, the city’s skies will be sparkling with Christmas lights, its venues will fill up with classic Christmas tunes and its streets will be lined with colourful Christmas markets. Of course, December isn’t just about Christmas, and there’s plenty more brilliant things to do besides all the festive stuff. Notably, the acclaimed Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is making its UK debut, it’s the first full month of the Design Museum’s hotly-anticipated Wes Anderson exhibition and the last full month of the bonkers jukebox musical Titanique. Plus, there are the ice-skating rinks, the winter pop-ups and the chilly winter walks followed by cosy pub hangouts. And that’s before we even get on to New Year’s Eve!  Here’s our guide to the finest events, parties, cultural happenings and things to do in London over December 2025.  London’s best things to do in December at a glance: 🧀 Best for foodies: Future of Food, Science Museum 🎭 Best for thespians: Ballet Shoes, National Theatre 🎬 Best for cinephiles: Backyard Cinema, Bermondsey 🎨 Best for aesthetes: Wes Anderson: The Exhibition, Design Museum 🧛 Best for night owls: Christmas lights, citywide 📚 Best for families: Winter Funland, Kensington RECOMMENDED: Time Out’s definitive London events calendar.

When someone utters the word ‘Wimbledon’, we’d bet big money that the first thing you think of is tennis. Normally a quieter part of town, SW19 erupts with energy every summer when it hosts the mighty Wimbledon Tennis Championships (one of the oldest and most prestigious sports tournaments in the world), with thousands of people queuing for tickets from four in the morning, roaming around in their all-white fits and guzzling down plastic cups of Pimms. When the crowds disperse, Wimbledon is once again demoted to simply being somewhere very, very far away from the rest of London.  🏘️ Ultimate guide to where to stay in London But we’re here to assure you that Wimbledon is actually worth the trek year-round, and it has loads more going for it beyond racket sports. There’s the homely pubs, the locally loved restaurants, the underrated theatres and the lush green plains. Yes, it feels a world away from the cool hordes of Hackney and the hectic hubbub of Camden, but when you need a little breather from the city without actually leaving the city, there are few places better. Go on – venture to the end of the District line and discover the best of what Wimbledon has to offer.  RECOMMENDED 🍽️ The best restaurants in Wimbledon🍺 The best bars and pubs in Wimbledon⬅️ The best things to do in west London📍 All of Time Out London’s area guides

Greece is, quite simply, king of the holidays. It’s a country full of sprawling cities, beautiful islands and some of the best beaches in the entire world, and the food? Don’t even get us started on the food. There’s a hell of a lot of islands, and our editors have been to a hell of a lot of them, but for the on-the-ground knowledge that only a local has, we’ve roped in our Greece expert Demetrios Ioannou, who grew up in Athens but has travelled all over the country. Whatever you’re looking for, here are the best places to visit in Greece.  Where should I go for my first time in Greece? We’re firm believers that everyone should go to Athens at least once in their lives. So if it’s your first time visiting the country, you should probably start there. But the good news is that in Greece, you can pretty much do it all. So don’t stay in Athens for a full week – spend a perfect weekend there before heading out on a ferry to Aegina, Poros, Hydra and more. If you’ve ticked off Athens already, consider Greece’s latest destination dupe, Paros, which is set to this year’s ‘new Santorini’ (just without the crowds).  📍 RECOMMENDED: Discover our ultimate guide to Greece Which is the best Greek island to visit? If we’re talking most popular, Santorini and Mykonos are always going to be top of the list. But Greece has more than 6,000 islands and islets, each with its own unique vibe and all worth visiting for entirely different reasons. Crete is Greece’s biggest island, in the south of th

Boxing Day has all the magic of Christmas Day, just without the stress of cooking a colossal feast or the pressure of keeping the whole family happy. The in-laws have departed, the gifts have been handed out and now you can spend the day slouched in sweatpants, binging festive specials and demolishing chocolate reindeer while nursing a mild hangover. As enjoyable as all that is, we’re here to make the case for getting out and about on December 26.  The day after Christmas, London is mostly free of its usual crowds (except for shopping districts like Oxford Street packed with bargain hunters). That means that, should you leave your house, large parts of the capital city are yours for the taking.  There are the parks and riverside paths for frosty winter walks or the Christmas lights to admire while you brave the Boxing Day sales. The city’s pop-up ice skating rinks are normally open, pantomime season is still in full swing and there are even a few parties lined up . Here are some great ideas for how to spend your day off. RECOMMENDED: Find more festive fun with our full guide to Christmas in London.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Wales. This nation may be small but best believe it is crammed with irresistible Celtic charm, spectacular wilderness and vibrant culture. Even after growing up in Bannau Brycheiniog and spending family holidays up north and along the coast, I still cannot get enough. It’s the perfect place to rejuvenate, to give your mind a rest and to bathe in the warm hospitality of Welsh people. It’s also a hugely overlooked arts and music hub. From Michelin-star establishments, to gorgeous hikes, an official book town and several critically acclaimed festivals, whatever kind of getaway you're after, this is the very best of Cymru.  RECOMMENDED: 📍 The best places to go in Wales 🍴 The best things to do in North Wales 👀 The best things to do in Cardiff🌤️ The best things to do in the UK This article was recently updated by Amy Houghton, a writer from Bannau Brycheiniog, Wales. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines. 

August 2025 update: There's new songs being added to karaoke machines on a regular basis, so we see it as our duty to keep this list bang up to date. Our latest additions include a modern British classic from Lola Young, as well as the bounciest anthem to emerge over the past 12 months from Blackpink's Rosé and Bruno Mars. Whether you’ve got the voice of an angel or you’re totally tone deaf, karaoke unites us all. But heed our warning: choosing the right song is crucial (aka, don’t opt for that Whitney Houston tune if you haven’t the range. And if you don't have good enough flow, steer clear of rapping. Kapeesh?) So we thought we’d help out a little bit. In our list of the best karaoke songs ever, we’ve got everyone from Adele to Toto, and from Frank Sinatra to Ricky Martin. There's even recent singalongs from Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Something for everyone. So down that shot, grab that mic and take to the stage. Your audience awaits you. Here are the best karaoke songs ever.  RECOMMENDED:❤️ The best love songs☀️ The best summer songs🎉 The best party songs🕺 The best albums of 2025 so far  

Adoh! (Sri-Lankan for ‘oi!’) is loud.  Sat on Maiden Lane in frenetic, tourist-packed Covent Garden, this Sri Lankan spot from Kolamba duo Eroshan and Aushi Meewella fits right in. While Kolamba and its sister restaurant on Liverpool Street are sleek, sophisticated haunts, this is a maximalist whirlwind. Chopped roti gets more heavenly with each chewy bite Adoh’s goal is to emulate the rapid, chaotic energy of Colombo and its street food culture. The decor is raucous – the tables a striking shade of red and the walls busy with storybook murals depicting hand-painted trucks of South Asia. As for service, it’s full speed ahead. You can very easily be in and out within an hour, and fully satisfied. In the throbbing heart of the theatreland that’s no bad thing.  The menu features a blend of authentic bits (isoo vadai, mutton rolls or roti and curry) and some milder hybrid dishes (fried chicken and curry leaf waffles are best suited to less adventurous members of your party). Shiny squares of prawn toast dolloped with tamarind sauce start us off, swiftly followed by a supple dosa spread with smoky masala, alongside a rather dry coconut roti with eye-wateringly hot lunu miris chilli paste.  The must-order main (which at £17 is the priciest item on the menu) is crab kothu, a late-night classic in Sri Lanka. The bronze mountain of chopped roti, egg and stir fried crab meat (mutton, chicken or jackfruit kothu are available too) isn’t particularly pretty, but drenched in curry sauce (p

One hundred years ago, a strange curtained box appeared on Broadway in New York City. If you went inside and slotted in 25 cents, you’d emerge with eight sepia tinged photos of yourself in a matter of minutes. It was the Photomaton – the world’s first fully automated photobooth. Fast forward to the 21st century and photobooths are in bars, train stations, cinemas, record shops and on streets all over the world. The Photographer’s Gallery is marking a century of the machines with Click!, an archival exhibition exploring their imperfections, their quirks and their most famous fans. Naturally, there’ll be a working photobooth for visitors to take their own snap.

In 1978, Zofia Rydet decided that was going to photograph the inside of every Polish household. Aged 67, she began knocking on doors and asking occupants if they’d be willing to partake in her project. She continued to knock on doors for the next three decades, collecting everyday stories and creating ‘one of the most important achievements in 20th century Polish photography’. More than 100 of Rydet’s prints will be on display at the Photographers’ Gallery alongside books and personal letters offering extra insight into her sociological mission.

The UK’s first major retrospective of acclaimed Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov is coming to the Photographers’ Gallery. A ‘kind of proto-punk’, Mikhailov has been capturing and commenting on life in Ukraine since the 1960s – from the everyday consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union to the realities of people living on the edges of society – through photography, conceptual work, painting and performance art. Ukrainian Diary brings much of that work together to illustrate the tumultuous social and political changes that have shaken Eastern Europe over the past fifty years.

When a place rates itself as assuredly (in huge bold letters, no less) as Good Hotel does, it’s natural to feel a little sus. But it’s true: Good Hotel really does make you feel good. Service is cheery and laid-back without being overly casual, the food leaves nothing to complain about and – maybe it’s the luxurious silence of the area or perhaps the proximity to gently lapping water – I visited in 2024, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better night’s sleep in the city. Aside from all that, guests can walk out of Good Hotel feeling extra gratified by virtue of its ‘do good’ DNA. Why stay at Good Hotel? As you walk along Royal Victoria Docks, this huge black shipping container is impossible to miss. Originally built as a Danish prison, this floating hotel docked in London in 2016 after sailing across from Amsterdam. Its founder, Marten Dresden, had come up with the Good Hotel concept four years prior while travelling in Guatemala. Now, each night you spend there pays for a week of school for a child in South America, with profits also going towards hospitality training for long-term unemployed locals (lots of whom become Good Hotel employees).  The hotel also hosts regular community workshops and events that guests can attend. There are comedy nights, yoga classes, salsa classes, kids art clubs and, if you’re in the mood to be extra good, litter-picking around the local area. What are the rooms like at Good Hotel? Throughout the hotel, the interiors are slick, earthy-toned

One of the more recent additions to Wimbledon Village, Good Fortune Club is bright and buzzy with a sprawling menu of Cantonese dishes, the best known of which is its handmade dim sum. Stop by with a large, hungry posse to pack your table with bamboo steamers and sample har gau (shrimp-filled dumplings,) xiao long bao (pork soup dumplings), cuttlefish cake and more.

Of its four south-west London outposts, DropShot’s Leopold Road location serves up hefty brunches on the daily. The portions here are breathtakingly generous, and the tennis-themed menu goes well beyond the standard eggs benny or avocado on toast; think mozzarella and chilli jam-filled potato pancakes andbig fat slices of French toast laden with monterey jack cheese and fresh pesto, or loaded with tiramisu cream and berries. The coffee is fantastic, too.

Crack Comedy Club brings pre-party laughs to Tunnel 267 – Wimbledon’s only nightclub – every Saturday night from 8pm to 10pm. For standup sets from four or five comics, tickets are £25 for general admission on the door or £21.50 if you book online in advance. You can also buy tickets that include dinner from a local restaurant beforehand, and if you stick around afterwards you’ll get free entry to Tunnel’s clubnight. Three in one. 

There's a real sense of fun to this deliberately rough-around-the-edges course. Party tunes blare from speakers, graffiti jazzes up the walls and it's made from ‘twisted junk, car booty and charity shop shizzle’. Junkyard Golf Club has four courses – Gary, Pablo, Dirk and Bozo – that are all fabulously chaotic and mildly freaky. Depending on which challenge you take on, you’ll be putting past pirate pigs, dishevelled nightclub urinals, terrifying giant clown heads and a UV rave room. There's also a second location in Camden for more of the same.  Prices start at £12 for nine holes at off-peak times (Sunday to Thursday) and go up to £21 for 18 holes on busier days (Fridays and Saturdays). And as any good crazy golf should, Junkyard has a menu of themed cocktails to keep lubed up before, during and after your game. 

This quirky, tiki-themed minigolf course first popped up in Dalston's Efes in April 2015. A decade later, that debut site is no more, but you can now find Plonks outdoors in London Fields and under the arches at Borough Market. The Hackney course, which recently got a big ol’ refurb, takes you through a ‘Polynesian themed putt paradise’ complete with a tiki forest, a volcano canyon and octupuses. There are plenty of satisfying holes that fire your ball onto tricksy little mechanisms, a loop the loop, and a lot of impossibly steep ramps. All in all: it’s a great place for a plonking party. Prices start from £9.35 per person per play. 

What is it?  Technically several adjoining markets, this sprawl of stalls stretching from Camden Town tube to the Regent’s Canal is London’s fourth most popular visitor attraction. In its recent heyday, around 250,000 people came here every week to shop, sample street food and soak up the distinctive, still-grungy atmosphere. Camden Lock Market is an arts-and-crafts haven while the Stables Market is a trendy spot for everything from quirky furniture to fetish clothing. Nearby Buck Street Market on Camden High Street has had a shipping container revamp. As you saunter through the different markets, don’t be surprised to see grungy teenagers and old punks on the street corners. Camden feels more mainstream than it did in the ‘90s, but it’s still one of London’s most rock ‘n’ roll neighbourhoods. Why go?  To get lost in a one-of-a-kind maze of art, garms, antiques, accessories, books and endless street food.  Don’t miss The Cheese Bar – London’s only fully fromage focused restaurant – for all manner of gooey, cheese-based delights in a classy, low lit space in Stables Market.  Ticket info  No tickets needed.  When to visit  Camden Markets are open everyday of the week from 10am until late.  Time Out tip If you find the lunch queues and options a bit too much in the main Camden Lock Market, cross the road to Buck Street Market where you’ll find food that is just as great and are more likely to find a free spot to sit.  RECOMMENDED: London’s best markets

What is it?  After 130 years, luxury department store Fenwick left its iconic outlet on Bond Street in February 2024 but its flagship store in Brent Cross Shopping Centre is still going strong.  What does it sell?  The three storey emporium offers up everything you expect from any good department store – apparel, homewear, beauty bits and accessories from classic and emerging high-end brands like Stella McCartney, Viviene Westwood, Ganni, Jo Malone and Our Place. There’s also a wee horticultral section downstairs, selling fresh plants and a bunch of tools and sprays to help your patch bloom.  Opening times  Mon-Fri 10am-8pm; Sat 9.30am-8pm; Sun 11.30am-6pm. 

Nearly every year since 1995, the small Yorkshire town of Beverley has transformed into an enormous festive paradise. We’re not just talking about the standard Christmas markets and fairy lights you get in towns across the country – the Beverley Festival of Christmas is the UK’s largest one-day market and one of the most anticipated events in the winter calendar. In 2024, the festival had to be cancelled last minute due to Storm Darragh, when 34 flood warnings were issued across the country, but now, it’s coming back.  Beverley Festival of Christmas will return on Sunday, December 14. Once again, the town will fill up with 120 market stalls and heaps of festive entertainment, including fairground rides, birds of prey displays, carol singing and a big brass band.  A parade will kick off the occasion, travelling the length of the town with an appearance from Santa and his reindeer as well as live music, comedy acts, steam punks and, so we’re told, an adorable troupe of Bernese mountain dogs. The day of the festival will also be the last chance to see the 150 trees decorated by local organisations at Beverley Minster's annual Christmas Tree Festival.   RECOMMENDED: The best Christmas markets in the UK. Photograph: East Riding of Yorkshire Council Nick Coultish, the local cabinet member for culture, tourism and leisure, said: ‘Beverley Festival of Christmas is the flagship tourism event for our region and is an important date in the calendar for businesses and traders. ‘It is a

2025 has been a big year for northern lights sightings in the UK. The mesmerising spectacle has been spotted everywhere from Scotland and all the way down south in Cornwall, even appearing above London where there’s normally too much light pollution. If you somehow missed all the displays that we’ve been treated to so far this year, you’ll have another chance this weekend. The Met Office has said that a strong geomagnetic storms could bring the aurora borealis to our skies this weekend. It’s issued a yellow alert lasting from 9pm on Thursday (November 6) until 11.59pm on Saturday, November 8. If you want to maximise your chances of seeing the cosmic spectacle this weekend, here’s everything you need to know.  What are the northern lights?   The northern lights are the result of geomagnetic storms. A stream of charged particles escape the sun (this is known as coronal mass ejection or CME) and interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. The particles hit our atmosphere at several million kilometres per hour and combine with oxygen and nitrogen, triggering a geomagnetic storm and creating a multicoloured burst. A green glow is associated with oxygen while purple, blue or pink illuminations are associated with nitrogen. When will the northern lights be visible in the UK?  According to the Met Office, strong geomagnetic activity is expected on Friday November 7 and Saturday November 8, creating a ‘visible aurora’. Where will the northern lights be visible in the UK?  Provided condi

Time to embrace the darker nights, colder days and cosy evenings, and look forward to everything London in winter has to offer. Christmas is just around the corner, and to help you get in the festive mood, Winter Wonderland is soon coming back for 2025.  London’s largest Christmas festival is returning in a matter of days, lighting up Hyde Park with a thrilling lineup of rollercoasters and fairground rides, dazzling light installations, the UK’s largest open-air ice rink and Alpine bars warm with the scent of mulled wine.  Starting to feel some of the Christmas spirit? Dust off your cosiest festive jumpers and get practicing your carols – here’s everything you need to know about Winter Wonderland 2025. RECOMMENDED: Get ready for Christmas 2025 in London with our complete guide.  Winter Wonderland 2025 dates Winter Wonderland will be open from November 14 until January 1. Location As ever, Winter Wonderland is taking place across 350 acres of Hyde Park.  When do tickets go on sale?  You can get your hands on tickets right now on the Winter Wonderland website. Ticket prices There are three types of tickets for Winter Wonderland: free off-peak entry, £5 during standard time entry and £7.50 for peak hours entry.  Visitors have to pay extra if you want to check out any of the major attractions –  access to to Bar Ice and Magical Ice Kingdom costs £15.50-£18, tickets to Cirque Beserk’s show are £12.50-£18, a ride on the Giant Wheel is £8-£11 and the ice rink is £11.50-£17.50.  N

It’s now much less than two months until Christmas. And while we’ve only just got past Halloween and Bonfire Night London is fully preparing for the festive season. Pantomimes are being announced, ice rinks are open for bookings and choirs across the capital are warming up their vocals ahead of some magical carol concerts. But Christmas doesn’t truly start in London until its thousands of glimmering Yuletide lights are set aglow. Now, the switch-on date of one of the city’s most iconic Christmas light displays has been revealed, as Covent Garden has confirmed when its lights will dazzle for 2025.  RECOMMENDED: Time Out’s guide to Christmas in London 2025.  More than 300,000 lights will dazzle across the Piazza, Seven Dials, Neal’s Yard and surrounding streets. The shining golden bells lining the roof of the Market Building will be back, as will the sparkling 55ft British-grown Christmas tree.  Covent Garden is also bringing back its Christmas-themed cocktail bar Miracle at Henrietta Experimental for the occasion. Stationed at 10 Henrietta Street, it’ll be double the size of last year’s bar, with cocktails like the Christmapolitan and Snowball Old Fashioned on offer. It opens for business on November 10 and is available to book right now.  Covent Garden Christmas lights switch-on date You can watch Covent Garden’s Christmas lights come to life on Wednesday, November 12. ICYMI: the exact date that Winter Wonderland will return to London’s Hyde Park for Christmas 2025.  Get the

Christmas might only be around the corner, but we’ve already got summer 2026 on our minds. Why? Because festival lineup announcements for next year are in full swing. Latitude has revealed that it’ll be fronted by ex-Talking Heads singer David Byrne, Download will be welcoming Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Guns N' Roses and Boomtown will be headlined by Kneecap, Scissor Sisters and ska legends Madness.  Now, Scottish music fest TRNSMT has unveiled its headliners for 2026. At the top of the bill are former The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft, rock group Kasabian and singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi (who will also be busy headlining Latitude, Roundhay Festival and BST Hyde Park). Dozens of other artists spanning pop, rock, indie and dance will be joining them, with plenty more still to be announced.  If that’s enough to convince you to get a ticket to TRNSMT 2026, here’s everything you need to know.  RECOMMENDED: The best music festivals in the UK. TRNSMT 2026 date and location TRNSMT 2026 will be back on Glasgow Green from June 19-21 2026.  TRNSMT 2026 headliners Richard Ashcroft is headlining the first day of the festival, followed by Kasabian on the Saturday and Lewis Capaldi on Sunday. Other big names on the bill so far are Wolf Alice, CMAT, Loyle Carner and the Last Dinner Party.  TRNSMT 2026 full lineup so far Friday June 16 Richard Ashcroft Wolf Alice Dylan John Thomas Nile Rodgers and Chic The Beta Band  Newdad  Luvcat Songer  Cliffords Saturday June 20 Kasabian Sonny

What’s Christmas without a trip to the markets? If there’s one thing that’s going to get you in the festive spirit, it’s adorable alpine huts decked in fairy lights surrounded by the sounds of jingle bells and Mariah Carey, and engulfed in the scent of glühwein and hot mince pies.  Christmas markets will be popping up all over the UK this month, but some will be far better at putting you in the festive mood than others. So, Time Out has put together a list of the greatest Christmas markets in the UK to help you avoid any bitter disappointment. And for 2025, the finest Christmas market in the UK belongs to Manchester. This year, Manchester’s council-run markets promise to be an enormous affair. There will be 10 fairs in total scattered across the city centre, made up of more than 200 alpine huts full of Christmas crafts and festive grub.   Most excitingly, the event’s biggest market on Albert Square, which been absent for the past six years to allow for work on Manchester Town Hall, will make a brilliant, triumphant return as a festive wonderland titled ‘A Taste of Christmas’. Here’s everything you need to know about Britain’s greatest Christmas market for 2025. When is Manchester Christmas Markets?  Manchester’s Christmas Markets return on Friday, November 7 and will stick around until December 22. ‘A Taste of Christmas’ on Albert Square, the ice rink and the stalls at Cathedral Gardens will remain open until January 4.  What are its opening times?  The craft stalls will be o

In case you weren’t aware, long-standing and much-loved Shoreditch establishment Lyle’s served its final meal back in May. With a Michelin star under its belt and more than 10 years of providing (in the words of our food editor) ‘utterly heroic British food’, whatever was taking over its space in the Tea Building had big shoes to fill. Now, it’s been revealed that Lyle’s will be replaced by Sri Lankan restaurant group Hoppers.  Hoppers Shoreditch is expected to open in the Tea Building in early 2026. Backed by JKS Restaurants (the same group that backed Lyle’s), the new Hoppers will be the chain’s fourth branch, joining its existing restaurants in Soho, Marylebone and King’s Cross. The last time the group launched a new outpost was when it landed in King’s Cross back in 2020.  RECOMMENDED: The best Indian and South Asian restaurants in London right now. This spot will look a little different to the others, though. Instead of purely focusing on Sri Lankan cuisine, it’ll broaden into south India, with a selection curries, dosas, biryanis and street food from Chettinad, Madurai, Bangalore, Kochi and Chennai. Signature Hoppers dishes, like its mutton rolls, jaggery lamb kari and bone marrow varuva, will be available, too.   Image: Hoppers Karan Gokani, the founder of Hoppers, said: ‘This opening marks a very exciting new chapter for us. Over the past decade, Sri Lanka has been at the heart of what we do but our Indian heritage and journeys through South India have opened up

Its prices may be small, but Aldi’s ambitions are mighty. The budget supermarket brand, currently the cheapest of all the UK supermarkets, is spending big to boost its presence across the country and bring affordable groceries to as many Brits as it can.  At the start of 2025 the company revealed that it would be spending £650m on opening 30 new shops in the UK, then in the summer announced that it would be launching a new store ‘every week’ until the end of the year (on average, not literally). Now, it has announced that a further 16 stores will open before December 12, with new Aldis set for Kentish Town, Old Kent Road and Uxbridge in London, Northallerton in Yorkshire, Kirkintilloch in Scotland and more.  Aldi won’t be slowing down after that though. In fact, it’ll be ramping things up even more. The brand has pledged to spend a whopping £1.6 billion on opening 80 more new stores across the UK in 2026 and 2027 to ‘to meet the UK’s growing demand for affordable groceries’. The areas on its radar for those include Exmouth, Amersham, Hastings and Newport in Wales.   Jonathan Neale, the managing director of national real estate at Aldi UK, said: ‘At Aldi, we’re focused on making affordable, high-quality food accessible to as many people as possible - and opening new stores is at the heart of how we do that. ‘Launching 16 new stores in just over five weeks is a significant milestone for our business and a clear demonstration of the pace and ambition behind our growth plans. It

33 Manor Place in Elephant and Castle has lived many lives. It opened as public baths in 1898 (one of the biggest in London at the time) and a few years later it doubled up as a boxing venue, frequented by the infamous Kray twins. It fell into disuse in the ’90s but then was rescued by a Buddhist group in the ’00s and used as a meditation centre until 2010. Now, it’s been transformed into something else entirely. Streetwear brand Palace has joined forces with Nike to turn the retired bathhouse into a huge indoor skatepark. And it’s opening next week.  But it’s not just for shredding. The new Manor Place has three target audiences: creatives, skateboarders and football players. So, there are three zones. The centrepiece is The Park, a free-to-use skatepark in what was once the men’s swimming pool. Throughout the year, it’ll host skate jams, girl-only sessions and special event programming. Then, hidden beneath the Park, is the Cage, an underground three-a-side football pitch. You just press a big red button and the central section of the skatepark is mechanically raised on six steel columns to reveal the pitch.  Photograph: Palace Elsewhere in the hub, the Front Room will be a place for art exhibitions, workshops, panel talks and pop-ups and the Residency will offer studio space to six emerging creatives on a nine-month rotating basis. The studios are freestanding pods made from timber wrapped in crumpled reflective fabric, described as ‘lunar landers’. If that sounds up yo

From gothic churches to Victorian police stations to former public baths, there are really old buildings all over the capital city. It’s taken a lot of time, money and care to ensure that they’ve survived the centuries, and it’s going to take even more to ensure that they stay standing for future generations. That’s where Historic England comes in.  Every year, Historic England identifies landmarks across London and the rest of the country that are most at risk of disappearing of they’re not taken care of properly. Last year, 26 London buildings were flagged as being in danger and the year before 10 were identified. For 2025, things are looking up – of the 138 new additions to the list, just one is here in the capital. The only London landmark added to the register this year was the beloved Hill Garden Pergola on Hampstead Heath. The Grade II-listed structure, hidden away on the northwest side of the heath, was constructed in 1906 as part of a private Edwardian estate and now, Historic England says, it’s ‘starting to show its age’.  Photograph: Chris Redgrave/ Historic England Archive Originally built as a setting for Lord Leverhulme’s extravagant parties, the pergola and its gardens opened up to the public in 1963 and has been managed by the City of London Corporation since 1989. Since then, it’s gone through several repairs and restorations but parts of it are now deteriorating due to age and weathering. It’s hope that its new status as an at risk building will help secur

Michelin inspectors are a bit like the MI5 agents of the food world. They dine in restaurants across the globe totally incognito – no one knows who they are besides their closest family members and Michelin itself. Before they even become an inspector, they have to have at least five years of professional experience in the food industry and go through months of rigorous training. Then they finally become qualified to decide which restaurants make the Michelin Guide and which deserve a coveted Michelin star.  All that is to say, you can trust that these guys know a good restaurant when they see it. Every month, the Michelin Guide unveils a new list of eateries that it deems worthy of recommendation. And in October, 22 UK restaurants made the cut.  The most recent new entries came from all corners of the UK. Nine are London-based (read about those here), two are from Manchester and two hail from Leith in Edinburgh, but several restaurants are in more rural parts of the country. The guide now recommends Eight at Gazegill by Doug Crampton in the Lancashire village of Rimington (where ‘the wholesome yet refined cooking is the epitome of field-to-fork dining’), the Bryntirion Inn in Bala, north Wales (an ‘immaculate, whitewashed roadside inn’) and Coorie Inn in the Scottish village of Muthill (with ‘quality seasonal produce fashioned into fresh-tasting dishes such as North Sea crab with cucumber, apple and chives’).  In its announcement of the October additions, the guide gave a sp

While Michelin’s prestigious stars are dished out to restaurants just once a year, new places are chosen for the almost-as-prestigious Michelin Guide all year round. Each month Michelin rounds up the latest batch of eateries that have been deemed worthy of the recommendation by its anonymous inspectors. Restaurants have to be in the guide before they can be considered for a star, so inclusion is a big deal. Now, October’s additions have been announced. Twenty two UK restaurants made it into the Michelin Guide last month, and nine of them are here in London.  Michelin highlighted Chelsea pub The Chalk Freehouse in its announcement of the newly added restaurants. It said: ‘Any new opening backed by Tom Kerridge is sure to bring excitement and expectation, and The Chalk Freehouse doesn’t disappoint with its blend of elevated traditional dishes and classic pub surroundings. ‘Despite the clear focus on dining, the atmosphere still has the liveliness of a pub and the drinkers spilling out onto the pavement in summer are a welcome sight.’ Other newcomers last month include Peckham’s Lai Rai, which Time Out’s food and drink editor Leonie Cooper called a ‘sweetly chaotic little spot for Peckham’s fashion crowd’ with ‘Saigon-style street food brimming with full-on flavour’, and Town in Covent Garden, which Michelin said ‘encapsulates the dining zeitgeist’ with ‘playful snacks such as fried sage leaves drizzled in heather honey and chilli, followed by larger dishes that push quality Bri