India Lawrence

January 2026: Our latest update includes everything from an early morning Michelin starred tasting menu to udon noodle bowls, South Indian platters and Hong Kong-style toasted buns. Of course, it wouldn't be a list of the best breakfasts in London without an appearance from Dishoom and their iconic-for-a-reason bacon naan, so that's here too, as is old school East End hangout E Pellicci - one of the best classic caffs in London.  The best breakfasts in London at a glance: 🌯 Best for a burrito: Bad Manners, Shoreditch 😎 Best for celeb-spotting: The Wolseley, Mayfair 🥓 Best for a fry-up: E Pellicci, Bethnal Green 🍛 Best for a South Indian feast: The Tamil Prince, Islington 🍞 Best for Hong Kong French toast: Hoko Cafe, Brick Lane 🍱 Best for Japanese brekkie: Ikoi, Kings Cross Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and luckily for London, the city caters to every possible morning whim. These days, London isn’t just home to the fry-up, but the ubiquitous smashed avocado on toast, bowls of shakshuka and many more besides. In fact, London genuinely might be the best place to eat breakfast in the world. Whether you’re the kind of person who favours a posh restaurant over a greasy spoon, or who champions a caff over a swanky hotel, we’ve rounded up the ultimate list.  RECOMMENDED: Breakfast’s a little too early for you? Try one of London’s best brunches instead. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial

With a bounty of great parties happening in the capital this Easter bank holiday, you can dance till you drop. Here’s our round-up of the long weekend’s best parties from Thursday April 2 to Monday April 6 2026, from (hopefully) sun-soaked daytime soirees to late-night ragers at some of the city’s best clubs.  If you’ve got the stamina, you could turn Easter into a proper bender. Just don’t count on a quick resurrection in time for work on Tuesday. RECOMMENDED:The best Easter events and activities in LondonThe 50 best nights out in London

We’ve made it through the coldest month of the year, the endless wait for that post-Christmas payday is finally over, and festival season 2026 is on our minds. By the time summer rolls around, Londoners will be absolutley spoilt for choice. With something taking place almost every weekend throughout the warmer months, you can forget trekking across the country to live in a field for five days; simply hop on the tube and before you know it you’re listening to your favourite artists, tinny to hand, knowing that there’s a hot shower and a cosy bed waiting for you once the day is over.  The future of events in Brockwell Park was thrown up in the air in 2025, but you’ll be glad to know that most of the south London park’s usual lineup of events will return in 2026, with Cross The Tracks, Field Day and Mighty Hoopla all in the diary for late May. And the line-up announcements for next year’s events are already coming in thick fast, with huge acts like Tyler, The Creator, Lewis Capaldi, Lorde, Lily Allen, Blood Orange and Deftones all set to take to London stages come the summer. Have a scroll through our comprehensive guide – which we keep meticulously updated with all the latest line-up announcements – and see what takes your fancy. RECOMMENDED: ⛺ The best UK music festivals🌍 The best festivals in Europe

When it comes to art and exhibitions, London has it all. From the niche spaces, to the avant garde galleries, and the massive crowd-pleasing museums, our city is packed with shows that will perplex, challenge, inspire, educate and leave you feeling awestruck.  The problem is... there’s absolutely tons to see. Too much, you could say. Lucky for you, Time Out exists. For decades, our experts have been visiting and reviewing all the sculpture, painting, performance, photography, history, fashion and other types of exhibitions on offer. You name it, we’ve (probably, most likely) seen it. If you’re wondering what’s actually worth your time, start here. Check out the best museum exhibitions and art in London right now, and be sure to come back weekly for the latest picks. Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED: Best photography exhibitions in LondonBest free exhibitions in London

Looking for ideas for Valentine’s that avoid the the mushy, saccharine nonsense that the day typically brings? There are loads of loved-up spots in the city that will show your beau that you’ve got original ideas that will blow dinner and a movie out of the water, as well as unusual events and alternative date options.  Skip the clichés – goodbye petrol station flowers, naff chocolates and soulless plastic presents – and treat your beloved to something different. From cult movie marathons to absinthe tastings, get your nose out of the crappy card rack and check out these alternative romantic things to do in London. RECOMMENDED: Your guide to Valentine’s Day in London.

There’s a heck of a lot to get excited about in Britain over the next 12 months or so. Between now and 2027 Brits will gobble down platefuls of new restaurants’ grub, slurp tasty bevs in fresh bars, get cultural fixes at museum exhibitions, spectate at globally-renowned sport events and even witness moments of proper historic importance. In 2026 the UK will see the return of the Bayeux Tapestry (not seen on these isles in 900 years) and the completion of the nation-spanning King Charles III Coastal Path. Among the likes of new music festivals and theme parks will be the world’s biggest Irish cultural event, the premiere of one of this century’s most highly anticipated stage musicals and centenery celebrations for a globally-loved children’s character.  And that’s just the stuff that’s planned – who knows what else will define the year? Without further ado, here are the 16 best new things to do in the UK in 2026, chosen by Time Out editors and contributors. RECOMMENDED: 📍 The 14 best places to visit in the UK in 2026.🏛️ The 26 best new things to do in London in 2026.🌍 The best new things to do in the world in 2026.

January always seems like it lasts for several hundred days, but February will here sooner than you think.  And after the punishing health regimes, sober stints and penny-pinching that the first month of the year usually entails, London’s social calendar tends to be pretty busy once that long-awaited payday finally rolls around.  February packs a bunch of important dates packed into its short four weeks, including Valentine’s Day, London Fashion Week and LGBTQ+ History Month. It’s also half-term, again (yes, already!) which means loads of family-friendly activities across the city, many of which won’t cost you a penny.  Elsewhere, the art and film industries spring into life again after a quiet few weeks at the beginning of the year, with several local film festivals on the horizon and a slew of major exhibition, from Tracey Emin at the Tate Modern to Rose Wylie at the RA.  There’s also plenty of live sport, from the Six Nations to the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, plus Kew’s Orchid Festival and King’s Cross’s new wellness-focused Equanimity Festival for the sport and outdoorsy types. And that’s by no means all! Seize your chance to have some fun this February, with our guide to the best things happening in London over the month. London’s best things to do in February at a glance: 🛏️ Best for art lovers: Tracey Emin, Tate Modern 🎭 Best for thespians: Dracula, Noel Coward Theatre  👹 Best for culture buffs: Samurai, British Museum 🏉 Best for sports fans: Six Nations, vario

January is here, which means we’re entering a brand new year. Despite all the January goals, resolutions and hopes we have for 2026, it’s no secret that January can ostensibly become the most depressing month of the year. The days are short and dark, it’s cold, and our bank balances are severely depleted after the December festivities. But, we’re here to help you realise it’s not all bleak.  For one thing, it’s the ideal time to discover London on a budget and without the crowds, while many of city’s very best theatre and musicals, restaurants and bars – ranked definitively by Time Out's crew of expert local editors – offer discounted tickets and cheap meal deals to entice you out of the house during the coldest and darkest days of the year. Believe it or not, but January can also a time for celebration, too. London will once again be playing host to plenty of Burns Night ceilidhs, haggis suppers and poetry readings commemorating Scotland’s most famous poet, plus dinners and parades in celebration of the Lunar New Year, which falls nice and early in 2025, on January 29. If you’re someone who likes to commit to a month of sobriety or a punishing new exercise regime at the start of the New Year, London definitely has your back too. The city is home to countless excellent sports clubs and fitness classes, plus dozens of glorious parks and spectacular walking routes, and there’s arguably nowhere that better caters for the sober and sober-curious. Of course, if you’d rather just s

Peckham locals have always been proud of the area’s brand: a melting pot of cultural vibrancy, eccentric individuals, and an artsy, young DIY crowd thanks to nearby Goldsmiths University and Camberwell College of Arts. It rivals Dalston and all those other East End upstarts as the place to hang out, and it’s the perfect spot for new restaurants to find their feet. Here are some of the best in the area, as well as a host of notable places to eat just down the road in Camberwell, too.  RECOMMENDED: The best 50 restaurants in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

2026 has officially landed. An entire year of adventure awaits, with Britain set for a deluge of thrilling new things to see and do. Beyond the individual openings, however – the new bars and restaurants, museums and attractions – where should be on your radar for places to visit in the UK?  If you’re up for being inspired here at Time Out, as always, we’ve got you covered. We’ve scoured the listings of all that’s happening in Britain in 2026 and consulted our nationwide network of writers and editors, harnessing all that info to put together a guide to the places that should be on your radar over the next 12 months.  Destinations made it onto Time Out’s list for a vast range of reasons. Some have swaggered onto the scene with a quickfire burst of thrilling new attractions. Others have built their cred slower and reached a point of quiet brilliance, while others still are established spots that simply remain very much worth their rep. Several places will be made even more tempting by those aforementioned 2026 openings, whether that be delicious places to eat and drink, game-changing new transport options or unmissable cultural events.  From trendy seaside towns to revived industries cities, medieval forts to ‘the new Berlin’: here are the UK’s 14 top places to visit in 2026. RECOMMENDED: 🇬🇧 The best new things to do in the UK in 2026.📍 The 26 best stuff to see and do in London in 2026. 

As much as Christmas trees, turkey and a mildly overworked Santa have become staples of the festive season, so has the music that soundtracks this cheer-soaked time of year. Christmas songs don’t just endure – many end up becoming the crown jewels of an artist’s entire career. From golden oldies by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Bing Crosby, to ‘80s icons like Wham! and The Pogues, to modern favourites from Ariana Grande and Leona Lewis, these tunes have embedded themselves into our seasonal rituals. What is the best-selling Christmas song of all time? That honour still belongs to Bing Crosby’s 1942 classic ‘White Christmas’. With over 50 million sales, it’s not only the biggest Christmas record in history – it’s the best-selling song of all time, full stop. Guinness World Records first crowned it back in 1955, and it’s held onto the title ever since. What is the most-streamed Christmas song of all time? Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ may trail Crosby in pure sales (a mere 16 million), but streaming has turned it into a seasonal juggernaut. It finally hit No.1 in both the UK and US decades after its release and became the first Christmas song to pass 2 billion Spotify streams. Hot on its heels: Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ (1.83 billion) and Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ (1.27 billion). Are there any new Christmas songs for 2025? The past decade has delivered plenty of modern holiday staples, from Ariana Grande to Sabrina Carpenter to Cher. As

As the nights draw in and the chill sets through the air, there’s no denying it: spooky season has officially arrived. The pumpkins are carved, the costume’s nailed and now there’s just one thing left to summon… a Halloween playlist wicked enough to get even the undead on their feet. Sure, the classic Halloween songs still reign supreme – we’re talking ‘Thriller’, ‘Ghostbusters’ and all the usual heavy-hitters. But lately, a new wave of pop phantoms has emerged to soundtrack your October nights. From Olivia Rodrigo’s ex-boyfriend bleeding her dry, to the enchanting spellwork of Lady Gaga a.k.a Mother Monster herself, with a detour through the slick, otherworldly beats of K-Pop’s most stylish demons – Halloween playlists have, quite literally, come back to life. Our favourite Halloween playlist songs for 2025 at a glance: Most iconic Halloween track: ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson Best new Halloween anthem: ‘Abracadabra’ by Lady Gaga Most dramatic Halloween song: ‘There Will Be Blood’ by Kim Petras Best Halloween anthem with a K-Pop twist: ‘Your Idol’ by Saja Boys Best Halloween track to dance to: ‘Monster Mash’ by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers RECOMMENDED: 👻 The best Halloween movies of all time 🎤 The best karaoke songs 🎵 The best songs of 2025 so far 🕺 The best albums of 2025 so far

The Barbican is celebrating 20 years of comissioning artists for The Curve in 2026. Chicago-based artist Julia Phillips will be the first to exhibit in the free space this year, with her first UK solo exhibition Inside, Before They Speak. Showing new sculptures that combine glazed ceramics sculpted on her body with metal hardware, Phillips explores ideas about the body, conception, technology and human connection. 

The legendary Scottish choreographer Michael Clark is unveiling a new solo at the Serpentine which was created in response to Peter Doig’s House of Music. Created for dancer Jules Cunningham (who has worked with Merce Cunningham Company, Michael Clark Company and Boris Charmatz), the site-specific commission will embody Clark’s signature punk spirit while responding to Doig’s artwork inspired by music, film and communal gathering. The solo will be performed three times throughout the days: at midday, 1.30pm and 3pm. 

London’s hottesr, non-cringe dating night Pears is teaming up with Selfridges for a special Valentine’s event in 2026. Get struck by Cupid at the speed dating party that refuses to be bounded by gender or sexuality and all are welcome. A £30 ticket includes a speed dating session hosted by drag queen Barbs, live performances, a drink and snack, and of course, the chance to meet your next loml. 

If you’ll always carry a torch for your teenage celeb crush, then this one’s for you. From the internet’s impact on beauty trends to all things cute and cuddly, Somerset House has a history of delving into contemporary pop cultural trends with its exhibition programming, and it continues in a similar vein with its spring 2026 exhibition. In Holy Pop! Somerset House will explore the power of fandom and the world of modern shrines. Through art, memorabilia, letters, photographs, and interactive installations, the pay what you can exhibition will uncover the rituals of idolisation, showing how fandom shapes identity, values, and community. 

Get ready to scream, because the ‘rockstar of the English baroque’ – yep, you heard that right – is getting his own major exhibition in London this spring. Three hundred years after his death,  the OG ‘starchitect’ Sir John Vanbrugh will get a show dedicated to his iconic architecture at Sir John Soane’s museum. Vanbrugh brought England some of its most-admired country houses, including Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, and is known for his dramatic use of light and shadow, recessions and projections. 

Henry Moore’s bulbous and undulating sculptures were designed to be seen outside and surrounded by nature. So we’re happy to say that Kew is displaying a huge collection of his works as they were intended at this mega exhibition. The world’s biggest ever exhibition of Moore will open at the botanical gardens, with 30 sculptures on show in the open air and more than 90 works including carvings and drawings displayed in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. Several of his famous and iconic reclining figures will be on view, as well as more abstract and amorphous pieces like the massive bronze marvel ‘Large Two Forms’. 

This is huge, because the Bayeux Tapestry is going on display in Britain for the first time in 900 years. The 70-metre-long artwork is an intricately embroidered depiction of the 1066 Battle of Hastings, in which William the Conquerer took the English throne, and it’s coming to the British Museum. Although it’s believed to have been embroidered in Canterbury, the tapestry has resided in Bayeux, Normandy for the past nine centuries. Despite numerous attempts from Brits to borrow the masterpiece over the past century, it will finally be on show on British soil for the first time since it was made. 

The first major European exhibition of James McNeil Whistler’s work in 30 years arrives at Tate Britain in 2026. Known as a truly global aritst, The Victorian oil painter re-wrote many of the rules of art, and was an early adopter of ’art for art’s sake’. The retrospective brings together the artist’s world-famous paintings such as ‘Whistler’s Mother’ (Mr Bean fans will recognise this one, IYKYK) alongside rarely, or never seen, works. It includes exquisite portraits, drawings, prints, and designs, from as early as his teens in St Petersburg to the enigmatic late self-portraits.   

Groundbreaking Colombian artist Beatriz González gets her first solo UK show – and biggest ever European show – at the Barbican this spring. Famed for her vibrant, Pop Art-influenced depictions of Colombia during the decade-long civil war known as La Violenca and known in her native country as ‘la maestra’, González draws on found images to tell stories about power, grief, conflict, community and more. Featuring over 150 artworks made between the 1960s and the present day and spanning painting, sculpture, furniture and monumental printed curtains, this major will look at Gonzalez’s work not only from a Colombian and Latin American perspective, but a global one. 

Floating Points will be on the decks all night long at FOLD this NYE, warming up the club before its bumper 24-hour Unfold sesh on New Year’s Day. FP will dig into his deep collection to take clubbers on a sonic journey, playing everything from disco, to garage, to techno. Skip the Jools Holland and lose yourself in here instead. 

This one is not for the faint-hearted. The Cause is going all out for 2026, bringing in the new year with a massive 16-hour day into night party. They have assembled what can only be described as the Avengers of party starters for this shindig, with takeovers from Gottwood, Bugged Out!, Origins, picnic records and more. The bash will take place across at least seven dancefloors, with more maybe to be announced. Big headliners include Francesco Del Garda, Young Marco, Helena Hauff, Lukas Wigflex, Factory Floor, Spray and Special Request. Don’t forget to pack a Snickers. 

Since launching in 2019, Cross the Tracks has firmly made its name for itself as London’s go-to festival for funk, jazz, RnB and hip hop heads. Its groove-heavy curation leads to a laid-back and open-arms atmosphere, which means you’ll find all sorts of people of having a boogie at the one-dayer.  When is Cross the Tracks 2026? Cross the Tracks is taking place in its usual slot on Sunday May 24, in Brockwell Park. How much are tickets? Next year’s ticket prices haven’t been revealed yet, but in 2025 General Admission started at £54.50 + booking fee, while VIP tickets were from £89 + booking fee. What’s the Cross the Tracks 2026 line up? Little Simz is leading the line up for 2026, joined by the likes of Joy Crookes, KOKOROKO, Obongjayar, DON WEST and WAR.  Find more London music festivals here!

Fifteen years ago, Stockport in Greater Manchester had the highest number of empty shops of any large town in the UK. However, after a recent few years of major investment the former market town is thriving. Stockport is doing so well that it was nicknamed the ‘new Berlin’ and was nominated as one of Time Out’s best places to visit in Britain in 2026.  Although Stockport might be giving less industrial techno and more Industrial Revolution, the buzzy town has ‘real energy and creativity, as well as a fertile independent culture’ according to Time Out’s Phil de Semlyen.  Must-visit areas in the SK postcode are Market Place and the Underbank, which offers a network of bars, records shops and indie cafés that has been compared to Edinburgh’s Cowgate, without quite as much booziness. For eating, loft-style restaurant Where The Light Gets In dishes up Michelin-class nosh and has become a hotspot for foodies. There’s also Fell Stockport, a community focused bar with an industrial aesthetic (is this the Berlin people are talking about?) opened by Fell Brewery Cumbria.  Photograph: Shutterstock Stockport is also home to Hat Works, the UK's only museum dedicated to the hatting industry – inside a restored Victorian mill, it’s more interesting that it might sound.  For more essential places to visit in the UK in 2026, here’s what we’ve said about Stirling, Hastings and St Leonards and Cirencester. The full list of Time Out’s 14 best places to visit in the UK in 2026.  Read about the

The past few months have been a real roller coaster for pubs in the UK.  In November Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her Budget that business rates would rise for all businesses in Britain in April 2026. This was obviously bad news for pubs, many of which were already struggling. Following widespread backlash from pubs, today (January 28) Reeves declared that all pubs and music venues would receive a 15 percent discount on their rates business bills from April 2026 until 2029. However, many pubs are still in trouble thanks to a range of factors, including the rise of the National Living Wage, climbing energy costs, increasing alcohol duty and falling consumer spending.  That’s why Ben Guerrin created ismypubfucked.com, a map showing the risk of closure for every pub in the UK. Guerrin’s site also includes a leaderboard of the ‘most fucked’ pubs in Britain which can be filtered by postcode, ranking 45,936 drinking spots on a scale of ‘fine’ to ‘absolutely fucked’. The website uses official data from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), the government body responsible for business rates in England and Wales. It compares the current rates with the proposed new rates for 2026 to calculate how big the risk of closure will be when the rates change in April of this year.  Image: ismypubfucked.com According to the map, some of the most at-risk pubs in London include the Spit and Sawdust in Southwark, the Duke of Wellington in the City of London, the Nobody Inn in Newington Gree

Good news, thespians. Plans have been approved to build London’s biggest new theatre venue in southeast London. With space for thousands of audience members, the Troubadour Greenwich Peninsula Theatre is set to lift its curtains within the next year.  Here's everything we know so far about London’s massive new theatre venue.  What is the Troubadour Greenwich Peninsula Theatre? The Troubadour Greenwich is the latest theatre to be opened by the Troubadour group. The other theatres owned by the same company include the Troubadours in Canary Wharf and Wembley Park, which currently stage the Hunger Games: On Stage and lavish train musical Starlight Express (though the latter will soon close). Where is Troubadour Greenwich Peninsula? Doing what it says on the tin, the Troubadour Greenwich Peninsula Theatre will arrive on the Greenwich Peninsula. It will be at 1 Chandlers Avenue, on the waterfront and right by the O2 and the IFS Cloud cable car.  When was the new theatre approved? Planning was granted for the theatre in January 2026.  When will Troubadour Greenwich Peninsula open? All we know so far is that it is tipped to open in ‘late 2026’.  What is the capacity?  Greenwich’s new theatre is promising to have space for up to 3,000 seats. To caveat: it won’t be the biggest capacity house in London, but it will have two 1,500-seat theatres inside, which is still pretty big in theatre terms. What is London’s current biggest theatre? If we discount gig venues and concert halls like Ro

Soon cheap pints, greasy fry-ups and questionable carpets will be coming to 12 new locations in the UK – and abroad – as Wetherspoons gears up to open a slew of new watering holes. The pub chain has announced it will open 11 UK boozers, and one in Europe, within the next six months.  The first-ever European Wetherspoon will open its doors in Alicante Airport, Spain next month. The new pub will be named Castell de Santa Bàrbera and will serve its first cerveza on February 9. The Spanish ’Spoons will open seven days a week, from 6am to 9pm, and will have an outdoor terrace alongside 1,000 square feet of space inside.  Wetherspoons pubs are also coming to Birmingham University, Edinburgh, Bath and Hayle in Cornwall – with four new boozers at Haven Holiday Parks in Hayle. The news comes after the pub group recently issued a profit warning, revealing its costs rose by £45 million in the first half of this financial year. This includes rising bills for energy, wages and business rates, with profits predicted to be lower year on year. Yesterday (January 27) Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that pubs and music venues in England will be given a 15 percent discount on their business rates bills from April, after widespread backlash against the November Budget that said all business rates would rise.  Full list of new Wetherspoon pubs and opening dates Here are all the new ’Spoons locations set to open across the UK between now and July 2026. Alicante Airport – February 9 Bath – Marc

Last night (January 25) London was awash with neon orange Irn Bru, the skirl of bag pipes and Celtic pride as Scots in the capital gathered to celebrate Burns Night. Punters broke a sweat at ceilidhs all over the city, while copious amounts of haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky were consumed.  Time Out sent photographer Chris Bethell to the knees up organised by the Ceilidh Club at the Porchester Hall to capture the action.  ‘The Porchester Hall, a beautiful building near The Royal Oak, looked hugely grand as I walked in with my pal Tim,’ Bethell said. ‘We were there first and grabbed a table near the front, watching people pour in covered in tartan, as we waited for a polite time to go get a plate of haggis with potatoes, carrots and swede. It was delicious. ‘We came back and our table had filled up with people quickly, we got chatting with them all. Then the music kicked off with everyone taking to the dance floor, the band taught everyone how to perform each ceilidh before getting into it. ‘The atmosphere was great, so social and fun. Being on the dance floor was like being in a very well organised moshpit. Halfway through the “piping of the haggis” happened, where a bagpiper and two others brought out a huge haggis.’ Burns Night 2026 in London Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out     Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out   Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out   Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out   Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out Photograph: Ch

Every year Tate Modern fills its vast Turbine Hall with a new artwork specially commissioned for the gallery. Now the art institution has just revealed who will behind its Turbine Hall commission for 2026.  Multidisciplinary artist and composer Tarek Atoui will take over the huge hallway with an artwork commissioned by Hyundai. Born in Beirut and now living in Paris, Atoui is known for creating multisensory installations. His pieces often include invented and intricately engineered instruments, made in collaboration with other artists, composers and makers, which double as sculptural objects.  Often featuring stuff like glass, water and ceramics, Atoui’s imaginative instruments are activated by touch, breath and motors, creating immersive and interactive installations. Atoui combines the resulting music with environmental recordings and computer-generated sounds. Expanding the idea of sound beyond hearing, his work investigates how ‘listening’ can be experienced through multiple senses, including touch and sight.   Photograph: Markus Tretter Catherine Wood, Interim Director of Tate Modern, said: ‘Tarek Atoui has captivated audiences internationally with his boundary-pushing approach to sound. Blending music, technology, sculpture and performance, he is a truly cross-disciplinary artist whose work references current social, historical and political realities. ‘Architectural space plays an important role in Atoui’s ongoing investigation into sound and vibration, and we can’t

Are you a lover of living museums? We’re talking about the kinds of places where actors dress up in clothes from the olden days and transport visitors back to the good old days of yore. One of the UK’s arguably best museums of this kind is the Ulster Folk Museum in Northern Ireland, and it’s about to get even better thanks to a mega £50 million investment.  Gordon Lyons, the Communities Minister for Northern Ireland, has announced that the Ulster Folk Museum will receive an investment of £40 million from the government and a further £10 million from the National Lottery. The cash injection comes as National Museums NI deemed that some of the Ulster Folk Museum’s facilities are ‘no longer fit for purpose’ due to a lack of investment in recent decades. Exact details of how the money will be spent are still to be revealed.  ‘For more than 60 years, the Ulster Folk Museum has preserved, shared and celebrated the traditions, skills and ways of life of the people of Ulster, past and present, and this investment is vital to ensure our heritage is retained for future generations,’ said Lyons. Photograph: Shutterstock   The Ulster Folk Museum is operated by the same people who run the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh, which Time Out named one of the best places to visit in the UK in 2026. While the folk museum tells of skills, customs and traditions that were passed down over many generations in Ulster, the American folk park is a living museum that explores the lives of those who

We have some good news for tote bag hoarders, unusual haircut lovers and aspiring Frieze shoppers. The Courtauld has announced it will open two brand new galleries dedicated to contemporary art in the next few years.  The Blavatnik Contemporary Galleries are expected to open in 2029 inside Somerset House, displaying contemporary art through special exhibitions, commissions and events.  The impressive new galleries will be located on the top floor of the North Wing of Somerset House within the new Courtauld Campus, and will form part of the Courtauld’s transformation of its historic Grade I-listed building. They will be housed inside a restored 18th century display room with full accessibility and public access from the East Wing.  With a focus on modern day art, working artists and education, the galleries will also provide a space for artists creating new projects, while students on the Courtauld Institute’s MA in Curating will be largely responsible for delivering the programme.  Elena Crippa, senior curator of Contemporary Art: Exhibitions and Projects at the Courtauld, said: ‘The new galleries will be a site of possibilities for artists to present exceptional artworks. These new spaces will help us connect past and present art and ideas, engage students and bring living artists to the core of our activities.’ Turner Prize-winning sculptor Anthony Gormley said he was looking forward to the new galleries too. He said: ‘Wonderful to have, in such a lively intellectual conte

The process to renationalise British railways is well underway. Next up to be taken under public ownership is London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway, which is set to be nationalised this very week. As part of the process, the service will be operated by a new company called WM Trains Limited. 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 2025 the UK government also revealed the branding for Great British Railways. A few 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 Already in the public sector: LNER Northern Southeastern TransPennine Express ScotRail Transport for Wales Rail When will the rest of the British rail companies be nationalised? These are the companies that will be nationalised next, as well as the dates that have been c

Afraid of flying? Booking on one of the airlines that have just been named the safest in the world for 2026 should give you some peace of mind. Luckily, one of the 10 most-safe in the world is British.  EasyJet has been named the fifth safest budget airline on the planet by independent aviation website Airline Ratings, which monitored 320 airlines from around the world to name the 25 safest full-service and low-cost operators. The analysis looked at several safety and operational criteria, including whether the airline had had any serious pilot-related safety incidents, and the number of fatal accidents in the past 10 years, excluding accidents caused by terrorism, hijacking, pilot suicides, or involving other airlines. The survey also took into account international safety audits. EasyJet ranked at number five on the list of 25 budget airlines, beaten by Hong Kong-based HK Express which was named the world’s safest, followed by followed by Australian Jetstar Airways (second place), Scoot (third) and Flydubai (fourth).  Other British airlines to make the list of the 25 safest low-cost airlines were Tui UK in 11th, Jet2 in 17th and Ryanair Ireland and UK in 18th.  Photograph: EA Photography / Shutterstock.com Airline Ratings’ chief executive Sharon Petersen said that the margins between the rankings were very small, and stressed that they ‘shouldn’t be interpreted as gaps in safety’.  She added: ‘What stands out this year is how little separates the leaders. All airlines in

The Blackpool-London train service could be about to glow up. And it’s just in time, because we just named the town in the north of England one of the best places to visit in the UK in 2026.  Avanti West Coast has made a new bid to bring back an extra weekday service between London and Blackpool after the service was controversially slashed in half, from four to two trains per day, in December 2025. The train operator said the bid had not been approved yet. Avanti said the decision to cut the service was made by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), an independent, non-ministerial government department. Blackpool South MP Chris Webb confirmed he will meet Transport Minister Lord Peter Hendy after he raised concerns about the cuts to the resort's rail services. Webb has already warned MPs that a reduced train service could have an adverse impact on Blackpool’s tourism-reliant economy, causing a knock-on effect to jobs.  Photograph: Shutterstock An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: ‘As with every timetable change, we have bid for the additional services that we wish to run, and these are subject to approval by the Office of Rail and Road.’ He added: ‘These services, which may be showing in some online rail systems, are not confirmed.’ If you did plan to visit Blackpool, this year would be the time. As well as it being Pleasure Beach’s 130th birthday, the town has a tonne of exciting openings scheduled for this year, including the arrival of ‘colossal’, the tallest theme-park

In a first for the city, a wild swimming spot could open inside one of south London’s iconic Grade II-listed gasholders. Within a few years London’s outdoor swimming enthusiasts (we know there are a lot of them) could be practicing their Wim Hof method in the Old Kent Road gasworks, which would be renamed Livesey Park.  Southwark Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee revealed its plans to transform the site, calling the proposals ‘unlike anything else seen in Europe’.  The project would divide the historic gasworks in two, building a cold water swimming pool in one half and a natural reed-based filtration system in the other half, keeping water for the pool fresh, while a café, shop, and changing rooms would provide refreshments and pay for the pool’s upkeep. Image: Southwark Council At one point the largest gasworks in the world, the Old Kent Road structures were built by engineer Sir George Livesey in the late 1800s but have been disused since 1953. They were bought by Southwark Council in 2017 for £15 million.   The wild swimming pool would allow the Grade II-listed metal circular structure to remain while also utilising what was once a deep-water tank on the site for the pool. If built, it would be the world’s only outdoor swimming spot at a gasworks. Southwark Labour Councillor Helen Dennis said: ‘The idea for a wild swimming pond in the planned Livesey Park is at an early stage but would transform the area with such an exciting and unique offer, and is a good exam