Ed Cunningham

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

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

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), as well as numbing Chongqing spice at Jiāonest in Hoxton, perfect pasta at Burro in Covent Garden and Mexican seafood at Cometa in Fitzrovia. 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: Ling Ling’s, Islington 🇹🇭 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 editorial guidelines. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London

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

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 (from May 7) 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 also opened their first standalone parlour in Victoria Park. Try also; Spring Street Pizza in Borough for pie with a Michelin-starred chefs touch, Carmela’s on Upper Street for a cosy slice and Vincenzo’s in Shoreditch for no-flop pizza. 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.

London’s South Asian food scene is a mosaic of flavours showcasing the culinary traditions of everywhere from India and Pakistan to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Rather than one unified cuisine, it reflects the complex cultural tapestry that has evolved through centuries of migration, trade, and gastronomic exchange across the subcontinent. For the diaspora, food goes beyond sustenance; it’s an expression of identity, memory, and community.  London’s best Indian and South Asian restaurants at a glance: 🇱🇰 Best for Sri Lankan food: Rambutan, Borough Market 🍛 Best for a quick curry: Tamila, Kings Cross ⭐ Best for a Michelin star meal: Trishna, Marylebone 🍚 Best for a street-food snack: Shree Krishna Vada Pav, Fitzrovia and various 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Best for a family feast: Kokum, East Dulwich Rooted in philosophical teachings, including the mindful and balancing principles of Ayurveda, South Asian food in London emphasises reverence for natural ingredients and the simple joy of eating. From masala-rich Pakistani karahis and delicate vegetarian Gujarati thalis, to the spicy thrum of Bangladeshi bhortha, this list spans the diversity of the cuisine in the city. Whether it’s fine dining, street food at a community centre, trailblazing female chefs, or a family-run canteen, these establishments are love letters to their heritage, connecting Londoners through the warmth of South Asian hospitality, shared flavours and stories.  RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London. Sh

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

Down the cavernous halls of Whitehall’s Old War Offices, surrounded by opulent Michelin-starred restaurants and the supremely swish Raffles hotel, lies Kioku Sake Bar – less blindingly flashy, sure, but just as high-calibre. The street-level accompaniment to Kioku’s top-floor, five-star sushi restaurant has the effortless style and homely hideaway calm of a Japanese listening bar, prim décor and lines of hundreds of sake bottles sitting beneath immaculately balanced light. And Kioku’s substance more than matches its style. There are over 140 sakes on offer, each affectionately described, plus a trim list of sake cocktails and a refined menu of innovative, Japanese-infused small plates. The drinks and food are entirely different to those of the upstairs restaurant Kioku By Endo, making the bar very much worth a separate visit.  Order this The Daikon Gibson suspends itself entirely on the front of your tongue, with silky and potent Ginjo sake ‘vermouth’ and tangy pickled daikon combining with clean Roku gin and yuzu tang. Kioku’s cocktails all exude a sense of craft – and this does even more so. Time Out tip Make the most of Kioku’s formidable sake collection and the bar’s in-house sake sommelier to explore the tipple. Discover how the vessel material affects each sake, get a taste of the many, many different styles and regional varieties – and find a new favourite.

Stepping into the atrium of The Conservatorium, it’s immediately obvious that this is a very special hotel indeed. Rich red brickwork meets sharp glass angles, heritage details fit snugly among silky modern luxury; from the fittings and furniture to the architecture, wherever you look something catches your eye. The Conservatorium’s sense of occasion is tied to the building’s history. Many of its cavernous halls date back to 1897, when it was built as a bank. In the 1980s it became a conservatoire, then it was reconfigured into a hotel by starchitect Piero Lissoni in the 2000s. It opened as a founding member of the luxurious Set Collection in 2011. The Conservatorium’s rooms, appropriately for a hotel inhabiting a building of many previous lives, vary massively – yet they share plenty of common ground. Whether one is in the basic ‘deluxe room’ or the three-floor, roof terrace-boasting ‘I Love Amsterdam’ suite, well-proportioned rooms boast plush beds, spacious bathrooms, bountiful storage and thoughtful, refined décor. My room was a ‘royal duplex suite’, with elegant double-height windows looking out onto the humming trams and cafés of Van Baerlestraat. The essentials – bed, space, storage, bathroom, toiletries – were all faultless. Little touches of Dutch-ness (decorative clogs, a Van Gogh coffee table book, Delftware ceramic plates) were unsubtle but still tasteful, restrained. Beyond the room, breakfast (served in the Lounge) was high-calibre and the staff were as helpful

The process to renationalise British railways is well underway. Next up to be taken under public ownership are Chiltern and Great Western Railways, with the government having revealed the dates that each operator will be nationalised.  The last operator to be nationalised was West Midlands Trains (on February 1 2026) and next up is Govia Thameslink Railway. GTR will come into public ownership later this month on May 31.  When Labour was elected back in 2024, one of the party’s big manifesto pledges was to renationalise Britain’s railways. Keir Starmer and co promised to bring all of England’s major railway lines back into public ownership by 2027, and we are starting to see this come into effect. At the end of last year the UK government also revealed the branding for Great British Railways. Several of England’s train companies have already been brought into public ownership, as their private contracts with the Department for Transport expired. Going forward, all lines are on course to be nationalised by the end of 2027.  Here’s everything we know about the renationalisation of the railways so far.  Which train companies have already been nationalised? Here is a list of nationalised train companies and the date they were renationalised: South Western Railway (SWR), May 25 2025 c2c, July 20 2025 Greater Anglia, October 12 2025 West Midlands Trains (includes West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway), February 1 2026 Already in the public sector: LNER Northern So

Here we go again. In April London was hit by tube strikes for the first time since September 2025, and now they’re back for another round. Next week RMT union members will walk out, impacting pretty much the entire London Underground network.  April’s walk-outs amounted to the biggest bout of transport disruption in the city since last summer. The industrial action followed a ballot in February which saw a majority of RMT union members vote in favour of action. Strikes were called for the London Underground, with six dates spread across 12 days in April, May and June. The first two of these walk-outs were on April 21-22 and 23-24. The industrial action is in response to what the RMT says is the introduction of a ‘compressed four-day working week’ for tube drivers. The next bouts of industrial action are set to take place next week, starting on Tuesday May 19.  Worried about strikes hitting the capital once again? 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. When are the next London tube strikes? Tube drivers are walking out on the following four occasions, each a 24-hour period. The two upcoming May dates are in bold. May 19-20 (12pm to 11.59am) May 21-22 (12pm to 11.59am) June 16-17 (12pm to 11.59am) June 18-19 (12pm to 11.59am) Which services will be affected by the strikes?  Drivers belonging to ASLEF are not striking, and neither are non-driver RMT union members –

While the cost of tickets for London’s trains and tubes continues to go up and up (you can see a chart of just how much fares have increased since 2006 here), the humble bus remains pretty cheap. Sure, the Big Smoke’s double (and single) deckers currently crawl along at an average of 7.1mph, but a single fare still costs just £1.75. And this summer that single London bus ticket will stretch even further, thanks to the extension of TfL’s ‘Hopper’ fare. The Hopper, for those who aren’t in-the-know, allows passengers to take as many trips as they like on London buses and trams within an hour for the price of a single ticket. This summer TfL will launch the Weekend Hopper, allowing bus- and tram-riders to pay a single fare ticket for unlimited travel all weekend. That’s right, one fare for as many buses and trams as you can cram into 48 hours. The promotion won’t be in place all summer, only on weekends between July 25 and August 31. For reference, that’s the following dates: August 1-2 August 8-9 August 15-16 August 22-23 August 29-30 A single fare on a London bus is currently £1.75. However, it has not yet been confirmed that fares will be the same in July. While TfL froze bus ticket prices in March 2026, they’re only at the same cost until July 5 2026. The Hopper fare was introduced back in September 2016 and initially allowed Londoners to take a second bus or tram for free within an hour – saving £1.50. It was expanded to include unlimited journeys within an hour in January

How excited are you for Olivia Rodrigo’s third studio album? The ‘Drivers License’ and ‘Bad Idea Right?’ singer is set to release a new record titled You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love this summer. Even more excitingly, she’s announced a huge world tour – and just added even more London dates. So far Rodrigo has dropped just the one single for You Seem Pretty Sad…, the synthpop belter ‘Drop Dead’. The rest of the album comes out in June. To mark the record’s release, Rodrigo is going on a 60+ date world tour that will span North America, Europe and the UK. Called The Unraveled Tour, it will kick off in the USA in September 2026 and won’t reach Britain until April 2027. She’s initially announced four dates at London’s O2 Arena, though that has since been boosted. They’re currently Rodrigo’s only The Unraveled Tour shows planned for the UK, and tickets go on sale this week. Don’t want to miss out on seeing Olivia Rodrigo live next year? Here’s how to get tickets for the London dates, from when tickets go on sale and presale details to potential pricing. RECOMMENDED: The best music festivals in London. When is Olivia Rodrigo going on tour? The tour will span nine months, starting in September 2026 and ending in May 2027. What London tour dates have been announced so far? Find all the London dates confirmed by the ‘Déjà vu’ singer so far below: Monday April 5 2027 – The O2 Tuesday April 6 2027– The O2 Thursday April 8 2027 – The O2 Friday April 9 2027 – The O2 Monday Apri

Two of R&B’s mightiest titans are currently on a joint tour, bringing some of the noughties’ greatest pop tunes to arenas around the world. Ne-Yo and Akon’s Nights Like This Tour has already stopped by UK cities Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham – and now it’s London’s turn. Ne-Yo and Akon have four nights lined up at London’s O2 Arena, spanning May 8-14. These are their final UK dates before the Nights Like This Tour heads off to Europe and then North America. Can’t wait to dance to nostalgic hits like ‘Smack That’, ‘Time of Our Lives’, ‘Lonely’ and ‘So Sick’ at full volume? Here’s all the information you need to know about Ne-Yo and Akon’s joint tour dates in London. RECOMMENDED: 🎤 The best music festivals in London. 🎸 The best London gigs and music concerts in May 2026. When are Ne-Yo and Akon playing at London’s O2 Arena? The two singers are in the capital for four performances: Friday May 8 2026 Saturday May 9 2026 Sunday May 10 2026 Thursday May 14 2026 What time do doors open? As usual, the O2’s restaurants and bars will open early. However, doors open at different times depending on the day. Friday May 8 – 30pm Saturday May 9 – 30pm Sunday May 10 – 6pm Thursday May 14 – 30pm When will Ne-Yo and Akon come on stage? At previous tour stops, the duo have started their main joint set at around 8.45pm-8.50pm. Expect similar timings in London. There is one exception. At the show on Sunday May 10, expect the set to start half an hour earlier due to

An exhibition about the Southbank’s iconic skate park, an entire art fair dedicated to ceramics, a Hackney history festival and a raucous party to celebrate Tate Modern’s Nigerian Modernism exhibition are just a few of the best things to see and do in London this coming weekend. Whether you’re heading to any of the above things or just planning on being out and about in the city on May 9-10, you’ll want to know about all the planned disruption on TfL services over the coming days. Heads up: there will be several notable closures, including pretty much the entirety of the Piccadilly line. Worry not about getting transport around the city this weekend, thanks to our handy guide. Here are all the TfL train and tube closures to know about on May 9-10 2026. RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London this weekend. London travel disruption and tube closures, May 9-10 2026 Piccadilly line On Saturday May 9 and Sunday May 10 (including Friday and Saturday night tube), no trains between Cockfosters and Heathrow. There will only be a service between Acton Town and Uxbridge. Photograph: Shutterstock DLR On Sat May 9, no trains on the entire network after 11.30pm. On Sun May 10 no trains between Shadwell and Tower Gateway all day. No service on the entire network after 10.30pm. Elizabeth line On Sun May 10, no trains between Paddington and Ealing Broadway until 7.40am. Photograph: Alexey Fedorenko / Shutterstock.com Windrush line On Sun May 10: No trains between Dalston J

The Edinburgh Fringe is one of the planet’s great cultural feasts, but it can also be downright exhausting. Fatigue is very much part of the Fringe experience, a result of running around to see stuff at all hours, desperate not to miss anything special. If you’re up for some R&R at this year’s Fringe but don’t want to miss out on any theatre while you do it, here’s just the thing. This summer a sauna will open in Edinburgh that is also a theatre. It will apparently be the UK's first purpose-built sauna arts centre.  The sauna is coming to the rear courtyard of Summerhall, which makes a lot of sense. Saunas are hot topic in the UK at the mo, and Summerhall is the Fringe’s hippest venue. Not only will the Sauna Theatre be the first venue of its kind in Britain, it’ll also be the country’s biggest sauna. Image: Sauna Sessions Arts Club The 80-seat venue – which will be heated to a toasty 90C – will boast a programme of theatre, music and dance, as well as masters of German sauna ritual aufguss. Highlights include a ‘remixed’ version of Nick Cassenbaum’s sell-out performance Bubble Schmeisis, an aufguss reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves and several ‘raves’ and club nights. Sounds both cool and very, very hot. Summerhall’s Sauna Theatre is the first project from new company Sauna Sessions Arts Club, and is the idea of director James Grieve and designer Lucy Osborne. The duo previously launched Paines Plough's Roundabout theatre, a tourable in-the-round 167-seat auditoriu

It’s been a busy 2026 so far for world-conquering popstar Harry Styles. In January the former One Direction singer announced his vast Together, Together world tour, which features a whopping 12 dates at London’s Wembley Stadium this summer. In February Styles was revealed as the curator of this year’s Meltdown festival at the Southbank Centre, in March he released his fourth studio album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., then in April the music lineup for Meltdown was confirmed. Now we finally have more details about Harry Styles’ Meltdown performance – and it’ll be a special one for Harry. Not only will it be the centrepiece of this year’s Meltdown and a comparatively intimate show for the stadium-playing star, but it’ll be with a full orchestra. The date will be a one-off collab with the Jules Buckley Orchestra. Keen to get tickets for this one-of-a-kind event? Of course you are. Here’s how to get tickets to see Harry Styles at Meltdown this summer. RECOMMENDED: The best music festivals in London. When is Harry Styles’ Meltdown festival? The festival stretches is on June 11-21 2026. When is Harry Styles’ performance at Meltdown? Harry’s one-off show with an orchestra will be on June 16 2026. When do tickets go on sale? Here’s the tricky part. Tickets don’t go on sale, exactly – instead you pay to enter a prize draw. The winners will be selected at random. How does the prize draw work? There are a total of 1,900 seats allocated for the prize draw. You’ll only be able

All-conquering Spanish pop sensation Rosalía is currently in London for two shows as part of one of 2026’s biggest music tours. The first night of the LUX Tour in London has already been beamed across social media feeds, from its spectacular staging to the guest appearance from Lola Young.  Rosalía’s LUX Tour is currently working its way around Europe, bringing one of last year’s great pop albums to some of the continent’s mightiest arenas. This week, it’s London’s turn. Rosalía is playing two dates in the capital city for the LUX Tour, which are her only UK shows this year. These are also her final tour stops in Europe, before she jets off to play a series of stadiums in North and South America. Can’t wait to hear LUX hits like ‘Berghain’ and ‘La Perla’ performed in a grand arena? Here’s what you need to know Rosalía’s dates at the O2 this week. RECOMMENDED: 🎤 The best music festivals in London. 🎸 The best London gigs and music concerts in May 2026. When is Rosalía playing at London’s O2 Arena? The Catalan singer is in town for two shows: Tuesday May 5 2026 Wednesday May 6 2026 What time do doors open? On both dates, doors to the arena will open at 6.30pm. As usual, the O2’s restaurants and bars will open earlier. When will Rosalía come on stage? At previous tour stops Rosalía has been very consistent with her stage timings. Expect her to begin her set at 8.40-45pm. To avoid disappointment, get down early. Her first London show started at 8.40pm Who’s supporting Rosalía

One of the O2 Arena’s biggest residencies of the year has kicked off this week: Olivia Dean is in town for six nights at the city’s biggest indoor music venue. The Londoner (and former Time Out cover star) lands in the capital basking in the success of her second album The Art of Loving and a GRAMMY win. The Haringey-born singer and songwriter’s The Art of Loving Live tour will see her play four nights over the next week, with two more scheduled for June. The tour began in Glasgow last week and stopped in Manchester. After London it’ll head off around Europe, then be back to the Big Smoke for a couple of shows before jetting off to North America and Australasia. Can’t wait to hear smash hits like ‘Man I Need’, ‘Nice to Each Other’ and ‘So Easy (To Fall in Love)’ belted out at full volume at the O2? Here’s what you need to know about the dates. RECOMMENDED: 🎤 The top music festivals in London. When is Olivia Dean playing at London’s O2 Arena? Deano is in town for six shows: Wednesday April 29 Thursday April 30 Friday May 1 Saturday May 2 Thursday June 11 Friday June 12 What time do doors open? On all dates, doors to the arena will open at 6.30pm. The O2’s restaurants and bars will, as usual, open earlier. When will Olivia Dean come on stage? At previous tour stops in Glasgow, Dean took to the stage at 9pm. Expect similar timings in London – to avoid disappointment, get down early. Who’s supporting Olivia Dean at the O2? The support will vary on each night. Here’s the breakd

A new Banksy artwork just popped up in central London. A new statue has appeared on a plinth in St James’ – and it bears the legendary artist’s signature.  The sculpture shows a suited person marching forward off of a plinth, their face smothered by a billowing flag. It sits on Waterloo Place, near statues of Edward VII and Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War Memorial.  Time Out reported on the arrival of the artwork yesterday (April 29) and today (April 30) the artist has confirmed that it is his work. The street artist confirmed authorship on his Instagram, just like he did with the murals he has painted across the city over the past few years.  Here’s what we know about the new Banksy so far. Where is the new Banksy in London? You can find the new Banksy on Waterloo Place, just up the stairs from the ICA on The Mall. It’s about here, on Google Maps.   What does the new sculpture mean? A suited person – a politician, let’s assume – blinded by a gigantic flag and stepping off a plinth and into danger? Sounds like pretty classic Banksy political messaging to us. Check out the piece below. Photograph: Louise Androlia for Time Out London Banksy in London Big Banksy fan? There are loads of places in London where you can find his older works. One of his works is now on show at the London Transport Museum, while you can find a map of Banksys you can spot around London here. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Jus

The first May Bank Holiday weekend is upon us – and there’s no shortage of stuff to be seeing and doing in London over the three days. Summer parties in Hackney, lamb-feeding at city farms and the birthday of a beer mile are among the excellent things to do in the capital on May 2-4. Whatever your plans for the long weekend, there’s a chance you’ll have to contend with planned disruption on London’s transport network. Closures will impact most of the DLR and parts of the Metropolitan line, while a series of knotty service changes will hit the Elizabeth line and Overground. Will you need to get around London this bank holiday weekend? Here are all the planned TfL train and tube closures to know about on May 2-4 2026. RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London this weekend. London travel disruption and tube closures, May 2-4 2026 Metropolitan line On Saturday May 2, Sunday May 3 and Monday May 4, no trains between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham, Chesham and Watford. DLR On Sat May 2, Sun May 3 and Mon May 4, no trains between Shadwell and Bank, and no service between Popular/Stratford and Beckton/Woolwich Arsenal. Lioness line On Sat May 2, Sun May 3 and Mon May 4, no trains between Euston and Kilburn High Road. Elizabeth line On Sun May 3: No trains between Paddington and Ealing Broadway until 7.40am. Not trains between Stratford and Shenfield until 10.30am. On Mon May 4 a reduced service will operate between Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 4/Maidenhead after