Ed Cunningham

Make no mistake, the UK has some of the planet’s finest stretches of coastline. Sure, Britain isn’t always outlined by beaming vast stretches of white à la Caribbean, but there’s extraordinary variety in our coast. Dramatic dunes, towering chalk cliffs and secret coves. Beaches fashioned out of pebbles, shingle and rock pools. Some attached to busy seaside towns, others blissfully remote. That diversity is all part of Britain’s seaside charm. The UK’s coast stretches thousands of miles, within which are around 1,500 beaches. How do you choose which ones are most worth visiting? Well, that’s where Time Out’s recommendations come in. Our latest guide to Britain’s top beaches has something for every kind of beach fanatic: sun-lounging spots in legendary seaside towns, creamy sands on far-off islands, newly-revived destinations, old favourites and much more. Our 2026 guide to the greatest beaches in Britain features 40 coastlines, five of which are new entries. From Cornwall’s world-famous sandy destinations all the way up to Scotland’s West Isles, here’s where to lay down a towel and go for a dip. RECOMMENDED: 🏖️ The best seaside towns in the UK to visit in 2026. 📍 The best places to visit in Britain in 2026. 🇬🇧 The best new things to do in the UK in 2026.

May 2026: There's a brand new Number 1, with Holy Carrot in Spitalfields taking the top spot thanks to some seriously creative vegetarian cookery. Other fresh additions include Guirong Wei’s The Wei in Fulham, Auguste and Cafe Kowloon in London Fields, the third Forza Wine, super fun Osteria Vibrato and latest branch of YeYe's Noodle & Dumpling (all three in Soho), perfect pasta at Burro in Covent Garden, pizza and Lambrusco at Bar Etna in Newington Green (and the nearby Golden Tooth gastropub), and Logma, a sensational supper club at a Haggerston cafe. Hungry yet? 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 over the past 12 months 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 May 2026. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍝 Central: Osteria Vibrato, Soho 🍠 North: The Golden Tooth, Newington Green 🇹🇭 South: Kruk, Peckham 🍝 East: Holy Carrot, Spitalfields 🥗 West: The Wei, Fulham Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editoria

London is full of perfect pizza. The finest of fast foods, this delicious staple has been elevated far beyond its humble roots by great Italian restaurants in London, pop-ups, street food vendors and pub residencies, and we know just where to find these world-class wonders, because we’ve been eating our way across London in order to discover the best. Whether it’s delivered in a cardboard box or served in a swish restaurant, excellent pizza is hard to beat. Browse our list of the best pizza places in town and try not to drool on your screen. Recent additions to the list include some nifty kitchen residencies; Dough Hands at the Spurstowe Arms and All My Friends in Hackney Wick, Hot Saint at the Old Queen’s Head in Angel, Little Earthquakes at the Railway Tavern in Dalston, and Short Road Pizza at the William The Fourth in Leyton and Three Colts in Bethnal Green. You can find Ace Pizza at the Pembury Tavern in Hackney Downs, but they have a standalone parlour in Victoria Park. Try also; Spring Street Pizza in Borough for pie with a Michelin-starred touch, Carmela’s on Upper Street for a cosy slice, Vincenzo’s in Shoreditch for no-flop pizza and Bar Etna in Newington Green for a slap-up pizza feast. RECOMMENDED: The finest fish and chips in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

In 2026, the UK’s coastline is more in the spotlight than it has been in a long, long time. The opening of the long-awaited King Charles III Coastal Path means that the entire coasts of England, Wales and Scotland are now fully walkable – giving you even more of a reason to visit this nation’s extraordinary roster of seaside towns. Of course, being an island nation, the UK has no shortage of coastal spots. Prim, proper, picture-postcard-worthy idylls? Check. Remote, blustery retreats from stormy seas?  Yep, plenty of that. Thrill-packed resort spots with something for everyone? Britain has all of the above and much more. If you’re on the hunt for British seaside towns that are worth checking out right now – the ones that should be on your radar specifically in 2026 – that’s what we’re here for. Time Out assembled our UK travel experts to pick out the country’s most exciting seaside, port, harbour and resort towns to visit this year. RECOMMENDED: 🏖️ The best beaches in the UK.📍 The best places to visit in Britain in 2026.🇬🇧 The best new things to do in the UK in 2026. Time Out’s best seaside towns, mapped Image: Time Out

Think treehouses are just for children? Well think again – and fulfil your inner child’s dream with one of these unique elevated stays across the UK. Don’t worry, these getaways aren’t your typical treehouse with damp and woodlice. Think panoramic forest views, hot tubs under the stars, and interiors worthy of a design mag. Whether you’re after a five-star hideout suspended in the treetops or a rustic perch for some proper peace and quiet, these stays prove that nature and luxury can coexist beautifully. May 2026 update: Time Out editor Ella Doyle finally checked in at a treehouse we’ve had our eye on for a while – and it didn’t dissapoint. Check out our brand-new number one.   Best treehouse getaways at a glance  🚆 Best near London: Treehouse Retreat, Kent 🧸 Best for families: Toad Hall treehouse, Norfolk 💘 Best for couples: Elmore Wild Treehouses, Gloucester 💫 Most luxurious: Cherrybrae Cottage, Saint Fillans 💰 Best on a budget: Little Tree House, Gwynedd When is the best time of year to stay in a treehouse? Naturally, the warmer months are ideal for simpler, less-insulated treehouses – and for making the most of the great outdoors. That said, it really depends on the spot. If your chosen perch comes with heating (and you don’t mind a little nip in the air), you can head up there any time of year. In fact, winter stays have their own kind of magic: think frosty morning walks, crackling fires, and the bonus of off-peak prices, not to mention fewer bugs for the squeam

As much as we at Time Out all love London, from its restaurants and boozers to its theatre, art and museums, sometimes it’s nice to get out of the city for a bit. And while, sure, you could limit that city-escape to a swift day trip (find all the inspo you need for that here), there are also plenty of options for a longer getaway. The UK’s capital city is, naturally, extraordinarily well-connected to the rest of the country. Whether it’s a happening city like Glasgow, Bristol or Manchester or a rural idyll like the Cotswolds, Peak District or Lake District, very few places are more than a few hours’ travel away. And Time Out has definitive travel guides for all those places. From restaurants in Edinburgh to Stratford-upon-Avon’s RSC programme, we’ve got you covered wherever you pick for your weekend jaunt.  This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, click here. Best weekend trips at a glance 🎭 Best for theatre lovers: Stratford-Upon-Avon ⛪ Best for history buffs: Cambridge 🛁 Best for literature fans : Bath 🐴 Best for hikers: Scottish Highlands 🏖️ Best for seaside fun: Cornwall RECOMMENDED: 🇬🇧 The best places to visit in the UK in 2026.📍 The best new things to do in Britain in 2026.🌊 The best seaside towns in the UK in 2026.🎤 The best music festivals in the UK to book for 2026..

Hiking is having a moment right now. Brand-new trails – including the world’s longest coastal path – are opening left, right and centre. Plus, more of us than ever are choosing active, mindful and sustainable experiences when we travel. To help you plan your next great hike, we’ve rounded up the best hiking holidays the world over, from Europe’s very own Jurassic Park to the bonnie lochs of the West Highland Way and desert landscapes in the Middle East. Each hike has been tried and tested by our globetrotting network of travel writers, so read on for all the info on where to go, when to go and how long to set aside, plus tips and tricks and the best sights to look for along the way. All you need to do is pack your bags. These are the world’s greatest hikes, according to Time Out. Updated April 2026: We’ve added two Spanish hikes to the list to help you plan your summer treks. RECOMMENDED:🌲 The best national parks in the world ⛰️ The best destinations for solo female travellers🌊 The most spectacular places to swim in the world🏝️ The best beaches in the world🚂 The best train journeys around the world

Need a fun restaurant for your birthday dinner, or a classy dining spot for a celebration? In London, you've loads of great options to dine in style, no matter if you're a party of two or 20. Here's our pick of the best restaurants in London where you can dine in a larger group. It's all here: spaces big, small, cheap and fancy. Now let the planning commence.  RECOMMENDED: The most romantic restaurants in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.  

April 2026: We've updated our roasts list to reflect the return of sunnier days. Try the Macbeth in Hoxton, which offers a great Portuguese-style Sunday sesh, and the ravishing Jamaican-inspired roast at Buster Mantis in Deptford. There are a couple of posh restaurants in the mix too, with a Nordic roast at the plush Ekstedt at the Yard near Westminster, and a serious meat feast at Quality Chop House in Clerkenwell. We also have a new Number 1 to welcome spring in; the bright and breezy offering at the super fancy-feeling Sessions Arts Club in Clerkenwell.  London’s best Sunday roasts at a glance: 🥩 Central: Sessions Arts Club, Clerkenwell 😇 North: The Angel, Highgate ⛪ South: Old Nun’s Head, Nunhead 🌈 East: The Nelson’s, Hackney 🍻 West: The Mall Tavern, Notting Hill Sunday lunch. There’s nothing quite like it. An elemental meal, one that Londoners take incredibly seriously. Debates about what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Sunday roast have been known to last for hours. There is no shortage of top roasts and Sunday lunch options in London. We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of pubs, restaurants and breweries all around town. What makes a good roast? For us, it’s simple; a welcoming room is a good start, maybe in a pub with an open fire during the winter months. Then it comes to the plate – we need perfect roast potatoes, well-cooked lamb, beef or pork and a decent plant-based option too. A Sunday roast is more than just lunch - it’s self-care. From s

Europe might be home to 44 countries, 34 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and seven Wonders of the World – but the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen here could be something totally unknown. That’s the thing about beauty: it’s personal. So rather than list 35 of the most famous sights on the continent, we instead every year ask our network of editors and travel writers to name us the most beautiful thing they’ve seen on their European travels.  The result? Beautiful places that come with a story. Like taking boats out on Germany’s hidden lakes, and tucking into picnics in the park in Portugal at sunset. Holidays spent exploring vast sand dunes in France, afternoons wandering through Art Nouveau streets in Latvia and childhood tales of clambering over jagged stones in Ireland. And that’s just a few of the memories you’ll find on this list, which stretches from Iceland all the way to Greece, from solitary islands to well-trodden walking routes. Here are the most beautiful places in Europe, according to us.  ➡️ READ MORE: The most underrated destinations in Europe Updated April 2026: We’ve just added North Macedonia’s most enchanting Lake, a frozen-in-time Bosnian village and Italy’s answer to Turkey’s Pamukkale hot springs to our list – plus many more beautiful tales.    Ella Doyle is Time Out’s Europe editor. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links

Another year, another stellar lineup of UK music festivals. Sure, Glastonbury – the UK’s tentpole music event, no pun intended – is taking a fallow year, but other lineups are more than making up for Worthy Farm’s absence. Established musical feasts (Reading and Leeds, Latitude) will return amid tantalising new blockbuster additions (Roundhay Festival), alongside the usual more specialised genre and scene events (Supersonic, AVA, FOCUS). While it might seem a little early (and a tad chilly) for planning a sun-glazed weekend of outdoors live music, these days the UK festival season lasts beyond the summer months. The festival calendar is pretty much a year-round affair, with events taking place not just in fields or parks but in venues across cities, from early spring all the way through to late November. Already confirmed for 2026 are several lineups that’ll have the heads drooling at the mouth. Reading and Leeds has Charli XCX, Chase & Status, Dave, Florence + the Machine, Fontaines D.C and Raye. Download has Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Guns N Roses. London’s Victoria Park, across All Points East and LIDO, will host Tyler, the Creator, Deftones, Lorde, CMAT and Maribou State. Looking beyond the major fests, the lineups get even better. The 15th anniversary of Outbreak in Manchester has Alexisonfire and Basement topping the bill; Mighty Hoopla has scooped a headline performance from Lily Allen (performing West End Girl in full); FOCUS Wales will boast Fat Dog, Idlewild and S

Updated for 2026: Whatever you think of Netflix’s theatrical strategy, it continues to produce some of television’s most formally daring works, including Adolescence, a hard-to-watch but impossible to ignore limited series about an unimaginable crime. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s HBO’s hilariously profane The Righteous Gemstones, which stuck the landing in 2025 with its final season. In addition, we have moved Andor into the top 20 after its astounding second and final season.  Television used to be considered one of the lowest forms of entertainment. It was derided as ‘the idiot box’ and ‘the boob tube’. Edward R Murrow referred to it as ‘the opiate of the masses’, and the phrase ‘I don’t even own a TV’ was considered a major bragging right.  A lot has changed. Television is now the dominant medium in basically all of entertainment. The shift in perception is widely credited to the arrival of The Sopranos, which completely reinvented the notion of what a TV show could do. But that doesn’t mean everything that came before is primordial slurry. While this list of the greatest TV shows ever is dominated by 21st century programs, from The Wire to Succession to Adolescence, there are many shows that deserve credit for laying the groundwork for this current golden age.  Chiseling them down to a neat top 100 is difficult, so we elected to leave off talk shows, variety shows and sketch comedy, focusing on scripted, episodic dramas, comedies and miniseries. So don’t touc

Do you count The Hague among the coolest cities in Europe? Well, you absolutely should. I know what you’re thinking: what could be ‘cool’ about all those embassies and government offices, about the International Criminal Court? But Den Haag has a phenomenal bar scene and a lively Chinatown, a thriving seaside resort district and world-leading music festivals, bags of history and spectacular works of architecture. It is quietly one of the continent’s most happening spots. The Hague boasts a casual, unshouty sort of cool – and so does its first TRIBE hotel. TRIBE Den Haag Centraal may be yet another outpost of a global hotel chain (it’s one of Accor’s ‘midscale’ brands) but it suits the city well. Prim and practical, yes, but with far more style and depth to it than first appears. TRIBE Den Haag Centraal is a great hunk of a building, a sleek and bold navy-blue tower surrounded by the shinier, glassier structures of the surrounding Spui neighbourhood. It opened in December 2025, not just rebranding a former Mercure hotel but overhauling it with all-new furniture and fittings. What are the rooms like at TRIBE Den Haag Centraal? Spacious and wisely proportioned, clean and well-equipped, heaps of style combined with the slick dependability of a chain – TRIBE is all of that. Its 159 rooms have pretty much all the features you’d expect of a brand-new hotel in the year 2026: plugs with a range of charging options, tonnes of storage, immaculate soundproofing, a bed you can truly spraw

Padella truly changed the London pasta game. The city is now chock-a-bloc with excellent hand-rolled fresh pasta and you have Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda to thank: first for opening the excellent Islington eatery Trullo, then for the debut Padella in Borough Market in 2016, which was followed by a Shoreditch location. Ten years later comes the duo’s statement West End opening: a two-floor, 80-seat Padella just off the south end of Carnaby Street. Step through the door and devotees of the original restaurant will find themselves in familiar surroundings: a simple but sleek establishment with stools in the window, bulbous mid-century lampshades and framed fashion mags on the walls. The pici cacio e pepe purrs, and remains one of the city’s great beige foodie wonders Three restaurants in 10 years is a steady and certainly not rapid rate of expansion. Would Padella’s founders prefer to take their time and not overstretch? Padella Soho certainly feels that way, like a chain primed for take-off but never losing sight of the foundations of its success. Padella’s classics are as dependable as ever. The pici cacio e pepe purrs, and its juicy mouthfuls of salt, pepper and butter remain one of the city’s great beige foodie wonders. Similarly coloured ravioli satisfies a similar part of the mouth with semi-translucent sacks of crumbly ricotta. The luminous green spinach tagliarini, with its beaming egg yolk, isn’t quite so immortal – a tad on the stuffy side – but undeniably punchy wi

The Culpeper (the pub) is among east London’s most gorgeous boozers. Tall ceilings, vast windows onto Commercial Street, an extraordinary wraparound bar and – in the warmer months – one of the city’s great rooftops. The highest praise one can heap upon the Culpeper’s boutique hotel, therefore, is that it is a more than worthy accompaniment to its downstairs boozer. The Culpeper’s boutique hotel is neatly slotted into a four-floor Victorian pub that opened under its current name in 2014. The five rooms are all on the second floor – to regular pub-goers, that’s two floors above the pub, one above the restaurant and one below the rooftop. The restaurant’s ethos and décor continues to its rooms, which are shabby-chic in a very design-led, sustainable, waste-free sort of way. Even after being open for a decade, there’s an endearing familiarity to arriving at the Culpeper. You wander through an exceedingly pretty pub, pick up your keys at the restaurant’s booking desk, climb steep creaky stairs and head down a winding corridor to the rooms. What are the rooms like at The Culpeper? Like all great boutique hotels, staying at The Culpeper is like having discovered a secret, like being somewhere you shouldn’t really be – in this case, delightful rooms hidden away in a pub in prime E1. As downstairs, the room décor is shabby-chic with washed walls and ceilings, rugged furnishings and doors of various pleasing squeaks. The harsher features – a chunk of oak for a headboard, another hunk a

It’s alright to break the rules sometimes – especially if you’ve made them up yourself. Have that fourth pint on a weeknight. Nip to the 24-hour bagel shop for a post-dinner snack. You won’t get ill from oysters this time. Because, sometimes, very special things come from such rebellion: a miraculous non-hangover, a quiet joy, or one-of-a-kind deliciousness. In a decade of vegetarianism, I’ve been to few places better Depending on your degree of plant-based militancy, Holy Carrot’s second restaurant either vaguely bends its own rules or totally upends them. At the original outpost in Portobello, head chef Daniel Watkins’s live fire cooking and ferment laboratory established Holy Carrot as one of London’s great pioneers of vegan cuisine. But this new outpost in Spitalfields is not vegan, with all manner of dairy- and/or egg-based wonders across the menu. I previously reckoned that the first Holy Carrot was ‘[not] out to blow your mind’. Well, the second very much is. Their ‘sexy’ tofu – two mighty chunks loaded with a raucous display of Watkins’ fermenting chops (pickled carrot, onion and more) – shone in a blaze of fried orange and golden yellow. Each bite – thick with crunch but juicily tender inside – was accompanied by an eye-widening flash of sweet pickle and creamy smoked carrot XO. Burrata was my first experience of non-vegan Holy Carrot, and made for a similarly vivid sequence of textures and flavours: a plump dollop with a delicately brittle lemongrass pineapple hair

Sketch. You know it. That one from Instagram. Space pod loos. Loud art on the walls. Sort of like eating in an immersive theatre experience. But the Conduit Street institution is more than just a place for selfies and soundtracked bowel movements. Over two decades after opening it’s still very much a serious restaurant – and one that’s just had a redesign. An iconic dining destination In January 2026 Sketch revealed the first major rehang of its main Gallery restaurant since 2022, with Yinka Shonibare’s masks and quilts replaced by Jonathan Baldock’s faces and cocoons. The Gallery remains sunshine yellow, with its gorgeous domed skylight, though woven cocoons now curl down from the ceiling and 84 clay masks line the walls. The loos, you’ll be glad to hear, are the same: 2001-esque egg cubicles with ambient music and convex mirrors. Plenty might go somewhere like this with a certain wariness. Nice art doesn’t necessarily mean decent food, service and value for money. But Sketch is more than just a pretty face. In the Gallery, the menu is of the modern European variety, though with plenty of Asian touches and – in a way that fits the surroundings – a pleasing penchant for bright colours and presentational flair. All of which was clear from the off. We opened with the lily sing salad; creamy miso mayonnaise spun over avocado, tofu, mango, tomatoes, pomegranates and freeze-dried raspberries. Rather than just a garish splurge of colour on balmy yellow crockery, it was a mastercla

Soho, Marylebone and Mayfair – these are not London neighbourhoods that are in short supply of luxury. A hotel that sits at the intersection of all three, therefore, might be expected to be very glamourous indeed. And that the BoTree certainly is, though in a very modern and unstuffy sense, having only opened in 2023. Those familiar with this particular link between Oxford and Wigmore Streets might recognise the BoTree’s address from its previous life as home to the brutalist, geometrically-dazzling Welbeck Street car park. These days it doesn’t really resemble that structure, the eye-catching multi-storey replaced with a shiny grey-ish block – though latticed decoration on the corner does ever-so-slightly hint at the site’s previous life. Approaching the BoTree from Oxford Street, it’s miraculous – and a bit eerie – how the atmosphere shifts so quickly from the hectic stress of Europe’s longest shopping street to sleek, calm, palpably wealthy Marylebone. By the time you’ve stepped into the lobby, the blaring pedicabs, roaring buses and general hubbub of the West End are nowhere to be seen or heard. Why stay at The BoTree? The BoTree’s standout feature is its location, no contest. The primest of prime West End, stumble out of Bond Street station and you’re here – practically all of Soho and Marylebone is within walking distance, and the rest of the city is just a tube away. What are the rooms like at The BoTree? My room was the BoTree Suite, a seventh-floor space wrapping aro

art'otel and Hoxton: on paper, at least, a match made in heaven. Famously arty hotel chain meets famously arty London neighbourhood (well, if you lump Hoxton in with Shoreditch, which is fine by us). The address has arty history, too: the hotel occupies a site formerly home to the legendary Foundry, an ale bar and arts venue once described as ‘crucible of the Britart movement’. Not familiar with art'otel? Let us bring you up to speed. The brand posits its outposts as both hotels and art galleries, with your stay being a chance to encounter real pieces of art. Each location has its own ‘signature artist’, around whom not only is the hotel themed but who gets to actually design a lot of the hotel, from its wall artworks to its furniture. art'otel Hoxton’s signature artist is D*Face (Dean Stockton), titan of English street art known for his chaotic, colourful, attention-demanding works. Approaching the hotel there’s a sense of occasion fitting for D*Face’s rep: the building towers over the fork of Great Eastern Street and Old Street. Two original Banksys sit above the doorway; dramatic escalators glide past gigantic, blinding screens of video art; a human-size sculpture of ‘D*Dog’ (one of D*Face’s best-known figures) greets you at reception as a kind of concierge. It is very much like entering a proper art gallery. Why stay at art'otel London Hoxton? If you’re fond of art – specifically street art, even more specifically the work of D*Face – art'otel Hoxton is a real treat. It’s

You can spot the building that hosts Archives from miles around, a repurposed 1960s industrial tower standing tall above Tottenham Hale’s retail parks and marshland. And it’s a worthy local landmark: since opening in 2024 Archives has regularly hosted blockbuster nights, from James Blake’s CMYK to the second edition of Eastern Margins’ festival Margins United. The space itself is an 8,500-square-foot ground-floor blank canvas with thick concrete columns and capacity for 1,600; the 360-degree soundsystem is solid, the dancefloor is well-proportioned and the outdoor/rest areas are sizeable. The only downside is the bar prices. When I was last here pints were flatly priced at a very steep £8.50 (and £7.50 for cans).

A country home amid gargantuan piles of slate, Plas Weunydd sits atop a hill overlooking not just an old industrial town but the vast landscape of Snowdonia National Park. Needless to say, the hotel is all about its location: the location on a map, sure (it’s pretty much at the dead-centre of Snowdonia and surrounded by all manner of outdoorsy activities) but also its topographical location, with views galore.  For my visit to Plas Weunydd, the approach by car saw me wind my way past the hills and valleys of the national park, through old mining town Blaenau Ffestiniog and most of the way up a not-unsteep hill. The hotel is perched near the top, at the same turning as much-hyped adventure attraction Zip World and a mountain-biking course.  Why stay at Plas Weunydd? If you’re in Snowdonia for an adventure or outdoorsy holiday (and this is very much a region famous for that), Plas Weunydd is extraordinarily well-located. Hiking, cycling, mountain biking, zip-wiring and more is almost literally on your doorstep – as previously mentioned, Zip World is across the road – while countless mountains, waterfalls, lakes or rivers in Snowdonia National Park are no more than a half-hour drive away.  The building itself was built in 1870 as the home of John Whitehead Greaves, the founder of nearby Llechwed Quarry. It was turned into a hotel in 2021, and it relaunched in April 2025 following further refurbishment. Plas Weunydd prides itself on being an adventure holiday base, but also for b

Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson are good at this by now. Excellent, in fact. The pair have put together a small chain of top Indian eateries; Islington’s Tamil Prince and Tamil Crown, and the first Tamila in Clapham. Fourth time around with Tamila King’s Cross, the experience is more refined than ever. London’s second Tamila is at the other end of Caledonian Road from the Tamil Prince, and, like the Clapham edition, isn’t a ‘desi pub’ but a curry house for fast, casual dining and with an all-day menu. Without the loveable musk of an ex-pub, the space is much airier and restaurant-y, while the service is sharper and more attentive. Food-over-booze indicators don’t get much more obvious than Tamila’s massive interior window directly into the kitchen.  The dhal flashed all sorts of vegetables across your tongue, while paneer butter masala was creamy and mightily generous Our drinks flew out at an impressive pace. A bold harbinger of the strong, spiced flavours to come, the gunpowder margarita, boasting masala dust for salt and earthy smokiness, was sumptuous. The paloma had grapefruity sweetness but a proper, heaped dash of ginger that lingered powerfully.  Tamila’s dishes verge on the more generous side of ‘small plates’. On platters so spotless and shiny they’re genuinely mirrors, come miraculously un-greasy onion bhajis, each one just more than a mouthful of prickly, salty crackle. Retaining integral crispiness beneath dollops of mint chutney, one gets the impression that th

If you’re a history buff (particularly a pottery history buff), the surroundings of this DoubleTree alone will be enough to have you in awe. The hotel is attached to Etruria Hall, a neo-classical Grade II-listed structure once home to Josiah Wedgwood – renowned industrialist and the founder of Wedgwood, one of the world’s most famous pottery companies.  Etruria Hall is no longer a stately home but an events venue, and since the 1980s it’s been attached to a hotel. In 2020 that hotel opened as a Hilton, specifically of the DoubleTree brand – yet despite being part of an all-conquering global chain, it’s maintained plenty of character. Beyond the obvious (the in-house restaurant is called Josiah), the corridors and rooms come lined with nods to local heritage; bottle oven skylines, Stoke dialect phrases, that sort of stuff.  Stoke-on-Trent’s DoubleTree, therefore, not only occupies a special historical site but makes sure you fully aware just how special it is. But it’s also a comfortable, well-kitted-out place to stay. I stayed in a king guest room that was extraordinarily spacious and flawlessly clean, with a sprawling, comfortable bed, fast wi-fi, effective blackout curtains and a practical bathroom.  The staff couldn’t have been friendlier or more helpful, the common areas were bright and welcoming, and there was a very sleek indoor pool and leisure centre. There’s on-site parking, too.  Given the building’s age, some of Stoke’s DoubleTree is understandably rough around the

When Stoke’s Hilton Garden Inn opened in 2020 it was the city’s first and only Hilton. Admittedly it didn’t hold that title for long (the DoubleTree in Etruria was rebranded a month or so later) but you get the sense that this was a statement opening. A terracotta titan towering over Hanley, this Hilton Garden Inn cost £20 million and is part of the wider redevelopment of Smithfield – a mixed-use quarter named after the area’s old bottle works. Given it’s getting on for half a decade old, Stoke’s Hilton Garden Inn still looks and feels shimmeringly new. Sure, stepping into the lobby feels very much like stepping into any new-ish Hilton, anywhere, but this one is exceptionally well-kempt, making it very much a slick, shiny beacon of modern comfort.  I stayed in a ‘king room’ up on the sixth floor, a tidy and well-proportioned space with plenty of light and a bunch of amenities tidily packed in. The décor was pared back, minimalist(ish) and very much of-this-decade, and the room’s simplicity made it feel bigger. Stoke touches on the walls (images of pottery ovens and so on) reminded you where you were – as did my view, stretching out westwards towards Etruria, Burslem and Shelton. The rest was very much as one might expect of a somewhat new Hilton. The mattress was supple, the pillows and duvet ideally sink-in-able; the shower worked as required, accompanied by fragrant Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries and the flashy touch of an anti-steam mirror. The room was well insulated for so

Nothing But Thieves have just announced their biggest tour so far. The Essex band will embark on a huge tour in 2027, which will see them headline several of the countries mightiest music venues. The singers of tunes like ‘Amsterdam’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Overcome’ have also announced details of a new album. Their fifth full-length record will be titled Stray Dogs and it’ll be released in September. The new single ‘Evolution’ is out now. NBT’s 2027 UK Stray Dogs tour will begin in Nottingham and wrap up in Birmingham. Here’s what you need to know about getting tickets RECOMMENDED: The best music festivals in the UK in 2026. When are Nothing But Thieves going on tour? The UK leg of the tour is in February 2027. The tour in general starts in January 2027 and ends in April. What UK tour dates have been announced so far? Here are all the UK tour dates confirmed so far: February 4 2027: Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena February 5 2027: London, The O2 February 8 2027: Cardiff, Utilita Arena February 10 2027: Glasgow, OVO Hydro February 12 2027: Manchester, Co-op Live February 13 2027: Birmingham, BP Pulse Live Image: Live NationNothing But Thieves 2027 Tour poster The band are also supporting Biffy Clyro in London’s Finsbury Park this summer – get tickets for that here. When do Nothing But Thieves tickets go on sale? General sale will go live this Friday June 5 at 10am BST. You’ll be able to get tickets on Ticketmaster here. Presale details Presales start from June 2. Here are the major pr

Bad news, Londoners – while May’s tube strikes have been called off, two more days of walk-outs are planned for the first week of June. Yep, the capital will be hit by industrial action again next week. In April London was hit by tube strikes for the first time since September 2025. RMT union members walked out in response to the introduction of a ‘compressed four-day working week’ for tube drivers, impacting the entire London Underground network. While the May strikes were called off, the RMT warned that ‘more strike action will follow if [the union] fail[s] to make sufficient progress’ in talks with TfL.  Worried about strikes hitting the capital? Here’s everything you need to know. RECOMMENDED:🛤️ When are the next UK-wide train strikes? What you need to know about nationwide industrial action.⛔️ London travel disruption this weekend: full list of tube and train closures for May 16-17 2026. When are the next London tube strikes? Tube drivers are still set to walk out on the following two occasions, each a 24-hour period.  June 2 (midnight to 11.59am) June 4 (midnight to 11.59am) Which services will be affected by the strikes?  Drivers belonging to ASLEF are not set to strike, and neither are non-driver RMT union members. This meant that the April strikes were not as impactful as previous walk-outs.  In April, TfL ran a reduced service will run across most lines. However, the following services were more severely hit:  The Circle line was down The Piccadilly line was n

The late May Bank Holiday Weekend is when London’s summer festival season properly gets going. Brockwell Park’s first three major events take place over the three day weekend, with Field Day first up on Saturday May 23. This year’s Field Day lineup features a stellar lineup of dance music names, with Eliza Rose, Andy C, Honey Dijon, Floating Points and Interplanetary Criminal all set to make an appearance. This will be Field Day’s second year back in Brockwell Park, after a decade in east London’s Victoria Park. Heading down to Field Day this weekend, or thinking of getting a ticket? Here’s Time Out’s guide to this year’s event, featuring everything from the full lineup and set times to the bag policy.   RECOMMENDED: The best music festivals in London. When and where is Field Day 2026? This year’s fest will take place on Saturday May 23 in Brockwell Park (SE24 9JU). What time do gates open? Gates to the festival open at 12pm, with last entry at 8pm (with no re-entry). All music will be finished by 10.30pm. Field Day full lineup and set times South Stage Nicola Bear: 12pm-1.30pm KILIMANJARO: 1.30pm-3pm Swimming Paul: 3pm-4.15pm nimino: 4.15pm-5.30pm Interplanetary Criminal: 5.30pm-7.40pm Honey Dijon: 7.40pm-9.05pm Floating Points (live): 9.05pm-10.30pm The Bowl CICELY: 1pm-1.55pm DART: 1.55pm-2.50pm Juicy Romance: 2.50pm-3.50pm LB aka LABAT: 4pm-5pm sim0ne: 5pm-6pm Partiboi69: 6pm-7pm Patrick Mason: 7pm-8.15pm KI/KI: 8.15pm-9.45pm The Grove Larimae: 12pm-1pm Just Jane: 1p

It’s rooftop bar season. Finally. After a blustery few weeks, the year’s first heatwave will hit London over the next week – starting with the Bank Holiday Weekend. And where better to soak up some rays and chill out than at your nearest sky-high, open-air drinking hole? Time Out’s latest guide to the city’s greatest rooftop bars. And this year there’s a new venue in top – no pun intended – spot. The best rooftop bar in London South Bank classic the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden is officially London’s most unmissable rooftop spot, according to us. Head here for botany-inspired cocktails, city-wide views and sprawling green space. Photograph: Cesare De Giglio A map of the best rooftop bars in London But what if you wanted to plan a sunny bar crawl, hopping from one view-tastic spot or open-air paradise to another? Well, Time Out has got you covered for that, too. We’ve put together a handy map of all the city’s best rooftop bars in 2026, allowing you to put together an itinerary of sky-high boozers. Image: Time Out From the map, you can see that there are several clusters of excellent rooftop establishments across the Big Smoke. Down south you’ve got Frank’s, Forza Wine and Bussey Rooftop Bar; on the South Bank is the other Forza Wine at the National Theatre and the aforementioned top spot Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden, while just over the river is Setlist at Somerset House. The Standard and Big Chill House aren’t too far from each other, sitting either side of King’

Last summer, the launch of a new app changed the London pub game. Called Sunseekr, the handy platform showed which of the capital’s pubs are in the sunshine at certain times of day. Created by self-described ‘sun-obsessed architect’ Mo Dawod, it launched in London and is now available in dozens of cities around the world (for the non-drinkers, it also covers restaurants and cafés). Earlier this year Sunseekr was updated to show sunshine on specific pub terraces and gardens. And now Dawod has unveiled yet another handy feature – this time for sun-seekers on the move.   If you want to level up your sun-bunnying, here’s just the thing: Sunseekr now shows you the sunniest walks in London. That’s right, if you’re really, really desperate not to get caught in the shade, the app will lay out the sunniest way to get from A to B, based on real-time shadow calculations. The new feature, which is called Sun Paths, shows walking routes between two locations. Not only can the time can be adjusted, meaning you can walk the sunniest route at any time of day, but users can choose how sunny they want the way to be (‘light’, ‘balanced’ or ‘sun-maxx’). If you don’t mind walking longer to stay in the sunshine, it’ll plan that route, too. Image: SunseekrSun Paths, a new feature from mapping app Sunseekr Sunseekr works by simulating shadows, taking into account the position of the sun in the sky and the height of nearby buildings. Naturally, it also works for people who’d rather stay in the shad

Weather-wise, the late May Bank Holiday Weekend is set to be a corker. And where better to make the most of that sunshine than beloved south London electronic music festival GALA? London’s trendiest electronic musos will head down to Peckham Rye Park between Friday (May 22) and Sunday (May 24). This year’s lineup is, as always, a who’s who of the biggest names in dance music right now – but there’s more than just electronic stuff on the bill. Massive artists in UK hip-hop and grime are playing GALA 26, with Casisdead, Giggs, Novelist and D Double E all lined up. As any regular GALA-goer no doubt already knows, the festival is as much about the curators as the performers themselves. Each stage’s lineup on each day is curated by someone different, whether that’s radio stations Rinse FM or NTS, legendary venue The Cause, Peckham hi-fi bar Jumbi or DJ Todd Terje. Heading to GALA this weekend? Here’s everything you need to know about the fest, from the lineup and set times to the weather forecast. RECOMMENDED: The best music festivals in London. When and where is GALA 2026? The festival will take place in Peckham Rye Park (SE15 3UA) on May 22-24 2026. The festival entrance is opposite Colyton Road. Timings Here’s when the festival will open and close on each day: Friday – 2pm-10.30pm Saturday – 12pm-10.30pm Sunday – 12pm-10.30pm Last entry for general tickets on Friday is 6pm. On Saturday it’s 5pm. Photograph: Jake Davis / @jakephilipdavis / @khromacollectiveGala music festiva

Not only is the weather gonna be balmy over the late May Bank Holiday Weekend, but there’s loads taking place in London that’ll help you make the most of it. From Peckham’s legendary GALA festival and the fabulous Foodies street food festival to the Chelsea Flower Show, there’s plenty to see and do in the city over the long weekend. There is, however, also a lot of transport disruption planned for the city on May 23-25. Huge sections of two of London’s major tube lines will be down for almost the entire three days, particularly impacting Londoners in the west of the city. There’s also planned closures on the DLR and Overground. But that’s none of that is a reason to stay inside and not make the most of the sunshine. Find out everything you need to know to navigate the closures with Time Out’s May Bank Holiday Weekend travel guide below. London travel disruption and tube closures, May 23-25 2026 Piccadilly line On Saturday May 23 (from 4.30am) and all day Sunday May 24 and Monday May 25, no trains between Hyde Park Corner and Northfields / Uxbridge. Includes Saturday Night Tube. On Sat May 23 in the early morning (2am to 4.30am), no trains between Hyde Park Corner and Heathrow. Eastbound trains will not call at Barons Court until June. When travelling east, go one stop west (to Hammersmith) and bounce back east. Photograph: ShutterstockPiccadilly line train in London District line All weekend (Sat May 23, Sun May 24 and Mon May 25), no trains between Earls Court and Ea

They’ve finally done it. After three consecutive second place finishes, Arsenal have ended a 22-year wait to be crowned the Premier League champions once more. The title was confirmed last night (Tues May 19) when Manchester City failed to beat Bournemouth. Plenty of partying has already taken place, with tens of thousands attending a huge unofficial party outside the Emirates overnight. Several players joined the celebrations, with Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice all making an appearance. Arsenal’s season could still get even better, with a Champions League final to play against Paris Saint Germain on May 30, but an official title celebration is already confirmed. Whether they win in Europe or not, an open-top bus parade will take place that same weekend. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out London (@timeoutlondon) Here’s what you need to know about that parade, including its date, start time and route. Arsenal trophy parade date Mark your calendars, Gunners fans, for Sunday May 31 2026.  Start time The parade will start at 2pm. Potential route The trophy parade route hasn’t yet been confirmed, apart from that it will be in the club’s home borough of Islington. However, earlier plans featured a parade that started and ended at the Emirates Stadium, passing by Drayton Park, Aubert Park, Highbury Grove, St Paul’s Road and Upper Street. Photograph: Below the Sky / Shutterstock.comArsenal club crest at the Emirates Stadium When will

2026 has already been a blockbuster year for art exhibitions in London. The capital has had new shows on Tracey Emin, Elsa Schiaparelli, David Hockney, Georges Seurat, Zurbarán and Henry Moore – and the year isn’t even at the halfway point. Still to come are huge exhibitions on the likes of Frida Kahlo, Anish Kapoor and – opening this week – James McNeill Whistler. Whistler was one of the 19th century art world’s greatest names and has been described as the first contemporary artist. Born in the US, Whistler lived, studied and worked across four continents; his body of work is diverse, ranging from oils and watercolours to etching and printmaking. He re-wrote many of the rules of art, and was an early adopter of the ’art for art’s sake’ mantra. And yes, sigh, it was also a Whistler that featured in the Mr Bean film Bean. London’s new James McNeill Whistler exhibition will be at Tate Britain, with the gallery saying it is a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to see the full breadth of his painting, drawing, printmaking and design’. Showing off 150 artworks, it’ll apparently be the biggest retrospective of Whistler’s work in all of Europe in three decades. Image: James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea bridge . 1872 - 5. Tate.James McNeill Whistler, ‘Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea bridge’ Tate’s Whistler exhibition will examine the artist’s teenage years for the first time, as well as showing statement landscapes, domestic interiors, self-portr

UPDATE MAY 18 – STRIKE SUSPENDED. After last minute talks between the RMT union and TfL, this week’s tube strikes have been suspended. A spokesperson for the union said, ‘At the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position, allowing us to further explore our members’ concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues.’ However they did at that ‘the dispute is not over, and more strike action will follow if [they] fail to make sufficient progress’.  Here we go again. Round two of London’s current bout of tube strikes is on the way. Following four days of industrial action in April, this week the London Underground network will be hit by two 24-hour strikes spread across four days. The strikes are the result of a dispute between the RMT union and TfL. The main issue is a ‘compressed four-day working week’ for tube drivers, with the RMT saying that London Underground management is attempting to compress the hours of a normal working week into four days. The union has raised concerns about shift lengths, working time arrangements and the potential impact on fatigue and safety. The April walk-outs were nowhere near as severe as the strikes back in September 2025, with TfL able to run a reduced service on most tube lines. Plus, there plenty of ways to get around the city without the tube, like buses, trams, e-bikes, National Rail trains, the Overground and the Elizabeth line. The purple line isn’t a London Underground service, so its drivers don’t take par

UPDATE, MAY 18: Amazing news! After last minute talks between the RMT union and TfL, this week’s tube strikes have been suspended. A spokesperson for the union said, ‘At the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position, allowing us to further explore our members’ concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues.’ However they did at that ‘the dispute is not over, and more strike action will follow if [they] fail to make sufficient progress’.  London is bracing for more strikes on the tube. Starting this Tuesday (May 19), London Underground drivers who are in the RMT union will walk out in two 24-hour strikes spread across four days. The drivers are protesting TfL’s plans to implement a four-day working week. The RMT says that, under the plans, staff will work a five-day week’s worth of hours in four days, increasing fatigue and compromising safety. TfL insists that the proposals are voluntary. On strike days, Londoners can expect severe disruption across the tube network. But what about the Overground? Find everything you need to know about the trusty formerly-orange network below. May 2026 Tube Strikes: How to get around London during RMT industrial action. When are the May 2026 tube strikes? There are two periods of industrial action on the tube in May: May 19-20 (12pm to 11.59am) May 21-22 (12pm to 11.59am) Following that, there will be two more strikes to watch out for in June: June 16-17 (12pm to 11.59am) June 18-19 (12pm to 11.59am) Will t

This week’s planned tube strikes have been called off. The RMT has confirmed that the walk-outs, which were supposed to take place on May 19-20 and 21-22, have been suspended.  In April London was hit with industrial action on the tube for the first time since September 2025, with drivers belonging to the RMT union walking out for two 24-hour periods at the end of the month. Four more rounds of strikes were planned for May and June 2026, and two of those walk-outs are still planned.  Members of the RMT were striking in response to a ‘compressed four-day working week’, which RMT argues will leave employees more fatigued and create a less safe working environment.  Why were the strikes called off? An RMT union spokesperson said: ‘At the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position, allowing us to further explore our members’ concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues. ‘The dispute is not over, and more strike action will follow if we fail to make sufficient progress.’ What dates are the next tube strikes? While the May strikes have been suspended, the RMT has moved forward its strikes in June. Those are still scheduled for the following dates: June 2-3 (12pm Tues to 11.59am Weds) June 4-5 (12pm Thurs to 11.59am Fri)     Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel. Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of t