Chris Sayer is a freelance journalist and creative-at-large based in Cornwall.

Chris has edited or contributed to most mainstream men’s lifestyle titles in his time. Memorable moments include messing up a handshake with Samuel L Jackson, making a beloved TV presenter cry over the phone, and allowing Pedro Pascal to be imprisoned by a hen party in a Soho hotel room.

He’s one of them who fled south London after COVID to permanently hole up down in the southwest, where 5G will never be a thing and post-work beers have been replaced by post-work beaches. He’s not too annoying about it either, which is good.

Chris Sayer

Articles (1)

Seven ways to spot a perfect London café

Does the perfect café exist? Well, yes. We’ve investigated the city’s finest examples in all their glory so you don’t have to. And in this list you’ll find the best of the best: the parkside cafés that are so good they make you feel like you’re on a city vacay; the highbrow ones that only do black coffee; the ones that pump their lattes with flavoursome additions to boost your health (and your Instagram like count); and the joints that do merch that’s better than your favourite band’s. Read on and you’ll never drink a bad coffee again. Hungry? Discover the best brunches in London.

Listings and reviews (1)

Hotel Café Royal

Sixty-eight paces. That’s all it takes to go from Piccadilly Circus’ tube exit to the revolving doors of Air Street’s Hotel Café Royal – an olfactory journey beginning with the remnants of that very particular dusty musk found only on the Bakerloo Line, and ending with a reassuring floral perfume swirling around this historic hotel’s golden reception desk and lobby. Slap-bang in the middle of ‘the action’, five-star Hotel Café Royal occupies the lion’s share of Regent Street’s curvy bit and has done so in one form or another since 1865. And you won’t be in a hurry to forget about it: its 160-year history will be gently rammed down your throat throughout your stay. Why Stay At Hotel Café Royal? Who wouldn’t want to stay at ‘London’s heaviest hotel’? Among the three types of luxe marble used during Hotel Café Royal’s 2008 refit, a whopping 1,000 tonnes of the world’s finest Carrera marble was shipped over from Italy and hand-carved on site to give each of its 159 rooms a palatial bathroom built from the posh rock. On top of this dinner party icebreaker and its prime location, another big main draw is to add your name to a very cool but very unsubtle guestbook of famous visitors and regulars. Whether you’re eating, drinking, checking in, or navigating the almost unnerving Ex-Machina-esque minimalist corridors, you will be leered upon by enormous framed photos of past guests like Mick Jagger, Princess Diana, Lou Reed, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali, David Bowi