Leonie Cooper

July 2026: If you’ve had the pleasure of strolling down Exmouth Market recently, you’ll know the historic Clerkenwell strip is the buzziest pedestrianised street in London, full of al-fresco fun, convivial pintspeople and sidewalk tapas as far as the eye can see. Which is pretty much all down to the new Number 1 in our list of the best bars in London. Congratulations are due to Cafe Kick, the breezy Euro-chic sports bar about to celebrate 30 years of tricking your brain into thinking you’re on holiday. The rest of our Top 50 features bars old and new, posh and divey, and cheap and pricey, but all of them with great drinks and an unparalleled vibe. Fancy a drink? You’ve come to the right place. This is Time Out’s list of best bars in London, our curated guide to London’s drinking scene, which features the greatest bars in the capital right now. These are the places we’d recommend to a friend, because we love drinking in them and have done many times over. From classy cocktail counters to delightful dives, sleek hotel bars, rooftop bars and places to sip wine, London’s got them all. You’ll find historic drinking holes here as well as brand new openings. But what makes a truly good bar? Our critieria is simple; a menu of great drinks is important, but so is the overall energy of the place – there’s no point having the perfect paloma if you have to drink it in a bar that smells of bin juice. To make it into our Top 50, a bar has to be fun, friendly, convivial and inclusive, as we

There’s no denying it. The mighty deep-fried chick pea-based snack that is falafel is one of the finest fast foods in the world. In London, this Middle Eastern street food with Egyptian roots can come as part of a mezze platter at posh restaurant or popped in a pitta at more casual hole-in-the-wall take-out joint. Crunchy on the outside and herby and moist in the middle, we have munched our way through the city’s best to bring you a list of London’s most fabulous falafel.  RECOMMENDED: The best Lebanese restaurants in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

We’re firmly past 2026’s halfway point and it’s already been a stacked year for excellent new music. The race for song of the summer is a packed field, big-name pop titans – Olivia Rodrigo, Madonna – have delivered lauded albums and there’s been a formidable number of breakout bands. 2026’s end-of-year round-ups are already looking like contentious business indeed.  Looking to inject something new into your mid-year listening habits? Time Out’s music geeks have got together to put together a list of the albums we’ve loved so far in 2026. Raving dance-pop, grotty death metal, stratospheric jazz-funk, paranoid techno, the year’s biggest pop records… whatever’s your jam, you’ll find it here.  Read on for the best albums of 2026 as of July, according to Time Out editors and contributors (they’re in alphabetical order – you’ll have to wait until the end of the year for the definitive ranking). RECOMMENDED: The 10 songs of the summer for 2026.

September 2026: From Asian patisseries to sourdough specialists and beigel gurus, when it comes to bakeries London is one big doughy goldmine. This means whittling down the very best bakehouses in the city is no mean feat. But, we’ve risen to the challenge and eaten our way through the lot to round up London’s yeasty royalty. The best London bakeries at a glance: 🥐 Best for croissants: Toad, Camberwell 🍩 Best for beignets: Fortitude, Bloomsbury 🍯 Best for sticky buns: Bunhead Bakery, Herne Hill 🍞 Best for bread: Dusty Knuckle, Dalston 🫓 Best for flatbreads: Babans Naan, Finsbury Park 🍰 Best for mankoushe: Edami, Hackney Whether you want fluffy naan breads from north London institutions, exquisitely-made pastries, perfectly-proved sourdough, or heritage-grain flaky goodness, there’s an oven in London cooking up something for you. Why not pair your pastry goodies with a hot drink at one of the best cafés and coffee shops in London?  RECOMMENDED: London's best cheap eats. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. The hottest new openings, the tastiest tips, the spiciest reviews: we’re serving it all on our London restaurants WhatsApp channel. Follow us now.

Chelsea might just be London’s most poshest neighbourhood (but don’t let Mayfair hear you say that). As such, restaurants around here are usually pretty pricey, but often come with a Michelin star – if you’re going to blow the budget, at least you know you're going to be eating some seriously good food. Expect posh sushi, posh French bistros, and hey, why not, posh Italian trattorias in and around the hallowed environs of the King’s Road.  The best restaurants in Chelsea at a glance: 🍷 Best for French food: Josephine 🍝 Best for Italian glam: Martino’s 🍛 Best for Indian excellence: Kutir 🍕 Best for pizza: Alley Cats 🍻 Best for gastropub classics: The Chalk Freehouse RECOMMENDED: The best pubs in Chelsea. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

July 2026: Our latest update includes tasty new openings Tiella in Bethnal Green and Casa Felicia in Queen's Park, as well as much-loved neighbourhood joints like Peckham's Artusi, the legendary Ciao Bella in Bloomsbury and Lardo in Hackney. Try also the well-worth-seeking-out Polentina in Bow and walk-ins only Canteen in Notting Hill. If you've got the cash to spare, there are super plush spots such as Luca and Murano, which both have Michelin stars. If you're on budget, then one-stop pasta shop Padella is a good shout, and if you're really, really skint, then a simple coffee and cannoli at Bar Italia is never a bad move. Wherever you end up, London’s Italian dining scene is irreproachable.  London’s best Italian restaurants at a glance:  🇮🇹 Best for an old school vibe: Ciao Bella, Bloomsbury 💅 Best for the fashion crowd: Auguste, London Fields 🍕 Best for pub pizza: Elephant, Clapton 🍝 Best for pasta: Artusi, Peckham 🍷 Best for date night: Brutto, Farringdon Pasta and pizza are way more than just fast-food comfort carbs at these exceptional London restaurants and trattorias, which excel in properly good and authentic Italian cuisine. The basics – a creamy carbonara, say, or a simple margherita – are all present and correct, but the capital’s repertoire extends to stylish antipasti, sourdough pizzas, richly sauced pasta and beyond. You can also find finely crafted specialities drawn from the traditional trattorias of the rustic south and fashion-conscious north of the

Ever since Padella opened in Borough Market, and queues started to snake outside for its simple, affordable pasta small plates, London has become a city of pasta-fiends, lusting after linguine and Instagramming anelli. More and more hip Italian restaurants have opened across the capital serving up stylish, saucy, cheesy and downright-delicious strands of dough and we're also stocking up on perfect fresh pasta from delis like Lina Stores and diving into plates of trad pasta at Ciao Bella in Bloomsbury, as well as bottomless lasagna at Senza Fondo. Here are the finest pasta places in town.  RECOMMENDED: London's best Italian restaurants. 

Covent Garden is so rammed with restaurants that decision fatigue can easily threaten the quality of your dinner. Weave through the tourists and theatregoing crowds and you'll discover that this area hosts many of the best restaurants in London, as well as the French-styled Story Cellar, The Portrait by Richard Corrigan and mega trattoria Burro, as well as old faves The Savoy Grill and J Sheekey. We’ve compiled a list of the best in the area, from cutting-edge eateries and classy counter joints to party-ready and casual hangouts, with pre-theatre favourites and cheap eats among them. Think of it as your Covent Garden bucket list. The best restaurants in Covent Garden at a glance: 🍸 Best for old school glamour: J Sheekey 🥦 Best for modern British cookery: Town 🥘 Best for Spanish tapas: Barrafina, Drury Lane and Adelaide Street 🍝 Best for perfect pasta: Bancone ⌛ Best for a fast feed: Adoh! RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in Soho. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

The UK is a glorious place to eat, drink and generally be merry. Sure, there are loads of great restaurants in London, but there are hundreds more across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; ones where you’ll make napkin-stained memories that you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life. Especially if you head to Cumbria, which is home to the most Michelin stars in the UK outside of the capital. But as well as the diner’s paradise that is the Lake District, here is where else you need to head in order to sample some of the finest food and downright transcendent restaurant experiences the UK has to offer.  The best restaurants in the UK at a glance: 💸 The best for a big budget blow-out: Ynyshir, Ceredigion. 🧆 The best for vegetarians: Queen of Cups, Glastonbury. 🐚 The best for a seaside getaway: The Sportsman, Whitstable. 🥧 The best for experimental foodies: Osip, Somerset. RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in the UK. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

September 2026: Sunday roast season has finally returned to London. A boozey, end-of-the-weekend lunch is what we're all about in this city, and as well as more unique takes on the roast from the likes of the Macbeth in Hoxton, Buster Mantis in Deptford and Rice Paddy in Peckham, we're all about celebrating the classic meat-spuds-and-gravy variety of Sunday lunch. Enjoy masterful takes on the roast at The Golden Tooth on Green Lanes, The Duke Organic in Islington, and The Camberwell Arms in south London. And watch out for later in the month, when two of our favourite roasts return to London; the all-vegan slap-up roast at LD's Kitchen at the Imperial Palace of Big Red in Camden and Ling Ling's Chinese-inspired roast at Godet in Islington.  London’s best Sunday roasts at a glance: 🥩 Central: Quality Chop House, Clerkenwell 😇 North: The Golden Tooth, Newington Green ⛪ 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

September 2026: Across the city, creative chefs are showing off their prowess with plants, and dreaming up new vegetable-based delights or creating pitch-perfect imitations of meaty comfort food classics. Whether you’re after a lavish night of culinary theatre, a massive Middle Eastern spread, Ital food from Jamaica or a Michelin-star winning tasting menu, you’ll find it in our list of London’s best vegan restaurants. Read on to plan your next meat-free feast. London’s best vegan restaurants at a glance: 🔥 Best for spicy Sichuan dishes: Facing Heaven, Hackney 🏆 Best for Michelin star dining: Plates, Shoreditch 🌴 Best for Caribbean classics: Jam Delish, Angel 💐 Best for date night: Holy Carrot, Notting Hill 🥪 Best for a swift sarnie: Coven of Wiches, Brixton RECOMMENDED: London’s best restaurants for vegetarian food. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Most movie years post-pandemic have felt like rollercoasters, but 2026 so far has been particularly up-and-down – and at its highest points, especially exciting. Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day disappointed while Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey took on one of the oldest epics in literature and surpassed even the loftiest expectations. Several titanic franchises flopped hard, while smaller films like Obsession and Backrooms, made by total unknowns,  have come bursting through the box-office glass ceiling. The likes of Project Hail Mary and Toy Story 5 may not qualify as ‘original stories’, but both displayed an intelligence, emotionality and sense of crowd-pleasing fun missing from many of the IP-flogging blockbusters of the recent past. All in all, a pretty good year – and we haven’t even hit awards season yet. For now, though, here’s the best of what we’ve seen to date. 📺 The best TV and streaming shows of 2026 (so far)😂 The best comedy movies of 2026📕 15 book-to-movie adaptations to get excited about in 2026🔥 The 100 greatest movies ever made

You’ll find Astrid - a demure double-sited Euro bakehouse with impeccable curb appeal - in the leafy residential fringes of Alexandra Palace. Former journalist Charlotte O'Kelly began baking during lockdown and hasn’t stopped since. After delivering curated breakfast boxes to local residents, she opened the Wes Anderson-inspired mint green hatch in 2024. The bigger, sit-in bakery a few doors down followed not long after. The smaller spot offers all manner of sweet treats, from juicy almond croissants through to fruity pastries which incorporate more obscure fruits (greengages!) as well as fluffy brioche cardamon buns and a seriously good croissant. The larger venue sells deli bits (eggs etc) as well as Astrid’s award-winning granola, savoury offerings (ham and cheese croissant, focaccia and sausage rolls), and bread. Their sourdough is triumph; a world away from tougher, teeth-snapping versions we have known, this bouncy, light loaf is made with wholemeal spelt and heritage einkorn.  Time Out tip You can pick up a festive panettone all year round: there’s Astrid’s classic version, triple chocolate or clementine and milk chocolate varieties on offer.  Find Astrid at 118a and 114 Alexandra Park Road, N10 2AH

Convenience is rarely this stylish. Not only is Okupa situated firmly within Athens’ coolest neighbourhood Psyrri, it’s got a solid restaurant, a welcoming co-working space, and rooftop pool that comes with a view of Greece’s most legendary ruin, the Acropolis. A relative newcomer, Okupa opened in 2024, but its bones are ancient – as you enter, look down via a glass walkway to see the 2,500-year-old tomb of Lady Melenissis. Inside, there’s a simple but stylish midcentury design aesthetic and a variety of rooms for different budgets, as well as regular events for guests and locals, such as sound bath sessions, yoga classes and (fun) seminars. The onsite listening bar is packed with the founders’ impressive vinyl collection and hosts sets from acclaimed global DJs.  What are the rooms like at Okupa? There are 32 rooms across the hotel, with 1960s-inspired terrazzo floors, clean lines and our room has all your basic amenities (coffee, teas, a kettle and a hairdryer, shampoo and conditioner). Ours also has a decent-sized terrace with a table and – if you stand up – a decent view of the Acropolis. If you’ve a little less to spend, you can go dorm-style, with four and six bunk hotel style rooms. A friend had the honour of staying in one and said it was a little warm and claustrophobic, but the price (which starts at around £26 a night) is pretty hard to beat considering you get access to the rest of the hotel, pool included. Heck, you might even make some new friends. You can also

One of the prettiest islands in the known universe deserves one of the prettiest palazzos. Il Capri was originally built as a lavish private villa, but has been running as a hotel since 1899 up in the hills of Capri Town. In 2022 it received a well-earned and ultra-glam revamp, encompassing a pastel pink paint job on the grand gothic facade which overlooks the whole of the busy Marina Grande down below, with immaculate views of Mount Vesuvius from the rooftop restaurant and many of the rooms and suites. Despite its grandeur, it’s an intimate place with just 20 rooms, so if you’re looking for a little privacy, then this bougie boutique is the one - it’s also adults only, so your rooftop pool-time won’t be disturbed by kids running about the place.  What are the rooms like at Il Capri? There are 20 rooms and suites, most of them with private balconies or terraces overlooking the stunning Gulf of Naples, found via Kubrick-esque corridors. There are no TVs, but with views like this, why would you need one? The 1950s-coded peppermint pink palate is a theme throughout the hotel’s public spaces and rooms, with spacious bathrooms clad in putty-shaded titles and walls painted a soothing blush. Beds are cosy, floors are sisal, while furniture strikes the perfect balance between vintage tiki-chic and modern elegance. Vintage posters from the current owners’ personal collections adorn the walls. Free mini-bars come stocked with mini Campari mixers, local Limonata, house-made pastries, fi

Rarely has an opening been as thirsted for as the long-awaited new restaurant from Sertaç Dirik. For those who haven’t been paying close attention to nitty gritty of the London dining scene, Sertaç is the twinkling boy wonder who resuscitated his dad’s Dalston kebab joint with ultra-cheffy, Copenhagen-honed technique, all done while sporting a commendable range of 1990s metal and punk t-shirts. It’s now been almost three years since Sertaç left Mangal 2, presumably taking his sweet time to ensure his solo debut was just-so. Named after the menu’s headline act of slow-cooked goat, Kid could easily refer to Sertaç himself; still only 30, but generally accepted as one of the UK’s greatest young chefs. Wisely, he hasn’t gone it alone, joining forces with hospo big gun David Carter, founder of fire-fed heavy hitters Manteca, Oma and Agora. Much like Carter’s acclaimed roll-call, Kid is all about smokey, flame-licked food. In fact, entering the brooding restaurant, with its dark brick walls and back-lit collection of urns, feels a lot like we’ve stepped inside an actual kiln.  Where Mangal 2 was a workaday canteen, Kid offers a more sensual backdrop, with a charcoal grill as its mission control. There's an earthy main dining area, an intimate, clubbier room facing Frith Street and a handful of counter seats for a direct view of the action. But you don’t need to see the grill to taste its power; deeply juicy and rudely thick slices of sucuk sausage come with grilled peach, which tur

Don’t be fooled by the Holy Tavern’s 18th century affectations. This side street boozer might look the part, what with its scuffed wooden floor, peeling paint and tatty Delftware-style tiles, but it’s actually only been a pub since 1996. But none of that stops it from being utterly charming. First known as the Jerusalem Tavern, it’s been the Holy Tavern since 2022 and the building does actually date back to 1720, so it’s far from ersatz, feeling like a historic coffee house from the era.  Outside might look a little gothic, but inside is cosy as anything, complete with a roaming cat and assorted nooks and crannies. During the summer you’ll find local office workers supping pints by al fresco beer barrels, but as soon as the clocks go back the pub truly comes into its own; lit by candles and with the strange feeling that William Hogarth might tumble through the doors at any moment. Beer comes from St Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk, adding to the olde worlde feel. Time Out tip Some of the best restaurants in London can be found in Clerkenwell. Why not follow your pint up with dinner at St John, Bouchon Racine or Quality Chop House.

There aren’t many London boozers like the incomprable Seven Stars, known not just for a resident cat who wears an Elizabethan ruff (currently The General, though regulars will remember its feline predessor, Clement Attlee), but their near-lethal martinis. Tucked away behind the Royal Courts of Justice, the tiny, charismatic pub - and long-standing Time Out favourite, named our Best Pub of 2003 - is where barristers bring their clients for celebratory champagne or commiseratory scotch after a big case. More importantly, it’s where in-the-know Londoners sequester themselves away for an all-night session under the watchful eye of legendary Aussie landlady and London hospitality hero Roxy Beaujolais. Known for its resident cat who wears an Elizabethan ruff  Dating back to 1602, a good 64 years before the Great Fire of London, the Seven Stars creaks with history, thanks to ancient, rickety floorboards, and terrifyingly steep steps to the loos, though the interiors are largely Victorian thanks to decades of refits. Walls are covered with vintage crime movie posters, as well as black and white photos of Roxy with the great and the good of Soho across the years, giving the place the feel of a rough and ready French wine bar.   Seats at the tables covered with green and white checked oilcloths are hard to come by, but considerate bar staff do their best to alert customers to vacancies, and if you’re peckish the blackboard bistro menu always delivers. 

Ynyshir isn’t simply a restaurant, it’s something to be conquered. As the final boss of British dining, much myth and fable has been built around this Welsh wonderland - a place where an epic all-nighter meets a 30 course tasting menu in a setting that does little to dispel the Viking lore, what with the numerous animal pelts, heavy hide curtains and the presence of an onsite blacksmith.  Located on the west coast of Wales (closest neighbour: an RSPB nature reserve), Ynyshir is remote, but getting there isn’t the hardest part. That would be saving up £450 plus VAT for the pleasure of eating there. With Gareth Ward at the helm, the restaurant won its first Michelin star in 2014, and its second in 2022. He’s a mountain of a man, presiding over the operation like Thor by way of Heston, his hammer replaced by a purpose-built underground Himalayan salt chamber. This is where we first encounter Ward, with each Ynyshir guest whisked into the chilly bunker to gaze upon dangling flesh and meet the maniac who’ll be cooking for them for the next five hours. Back inside the Camden-goth dining room, your test of stamina begins. Ward’s food is every bit as wild and whimsical as the building, arriving in handmade goblincore crockery via well-drilled staff in thick leather aprons. All 20 diners face the kitchen, with seats placed side-by-side for the best view of the action, which (as well as live fire cookery and knifework so skilled as to put Uma Thurman in Kill Bill to shame,) includes a

It’s rare that an 18-course dinner leaves you wanting more, but that’s what happened at Gwen. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but behind an ordinary wine-bar exterior on the high street of tiny Machynlleth, Wales (population 2,100), is the baby sister of culinary Valhalla, Ynyshir.  But if you thought Gwen would be any less intense than its mountain of a sibling, you’d be wrong. Sure, Gwen’s Mexican-Japanese tasting menu is a full 12 courses fewer than the one served by Gareth Ward down the road, but it’s still 18 dishes, though at £180 plus vat, less than half the price.  Former Ynyshir head chef Corrin Harrison launched the bijoux eight-seater in 2023, and when he left for Mor in Cornwall earlier this year, it was assumed Gwen would close. That was until Ward parachuted in his buddy Peter Iglesias Sanchez, who’d just left Decimo, the in-house Mexican restaurant at The Standard hotel in London. ‘I feel like I’ve signed Cristiano Ronaldo,’ Gareth reportedly commented. Sanchez’s cooking is beautifully non-denominational Sanchez’s first move was to get rid of Gwen’s counter seating. Before, meals in the miniature space were reminiscent of a group therapy session, with diners breaking sourdough bread over one shared table. Now the set up is more agile - guests sit side saddle on two-tops in a black-brick front room for a host of fish dishes, before heading through a dungeon-eqsue leather curtain into the fire-powered back kitchen for a bunch of barbecue, then finall

Serving stately home realness in the middle of Stoke Newington, Clissold House is one of the few London cafes where you might accidentally run into a wedding party while you’re ordering your oat milk flat white. Built in 1793, the Grade II-listed grand building has been home to various public cafes over the years (as well as being a popular wedding venue), but none have spruced the place up like the playful Fink’s. On the move? Swing by the lower level hatch in Clissold Park’s rose garden for coffee and soft serve, or settle down in the spacious boldly-painted rooms in the main house, or take a table on the outdoor terrace. Fink’s - who run a host of other cafes in the local area - serve an all-day breakfast from 8am, which includes a California-style breakfast burrito fully-loaded with crispy bacon, fries, eggs and avocado as well as cute and spongy house-made crumpets and sausage baps. On the lighter end of the spectrum you’ll find yogurt with granola and poached fruit. The lunch-adjacent likes of frittata, salads, sandwiches and stuffed pitas arrive at 11am, and the counter serves up deli bits and bold bakes such as blackcurrant, almond and polenta cakes, banana bread, cinnamon brioche buns and jalapeno cheese scones.  Time Out tip Fink’s don’t mind you using the cafe as a workspace, but there’s a no laptops after 11am rule.

There are many wonderful Turkish restaurants in London. There’s FM Mangal holding down the juicy meat-bread scene in Camberwell, Gokyuzu doing serious mixed grill business on Green Lanes and Durak Tantuni shifting heroic beef wraps on West Green Road. And that’s just the tip of the pide. Tarama is whipped into a fluffy frenzy Styled as a ‘meyhane’ - the raki-soaked Turkish equivalent of a provincial British gastropub with good food, good drinks, and the strong likelihood of banter - Kismet is the latest in a long line of impressive residencies upstairs at Borough Market’s Globe pub. Deftly, it bridges the gap between London’s old school Turkish institutions and the chichi Euro small-plates scene. Which makes sense, as it’s run by Dom Hamdy of the Bistro Freddie and Crispin coterie of restaurants alongside former Bibi and Harwood Arms chef Keiran Mustafa, who was recently cooking at nearby Oma, the UK's first Michelin-starred Greek restaurant. If you want, you can gaze directly into Oma through the first floor balconies of Kismet, extremely handy if you’re plotting a tarama-slathered remake of Rear Window. So what does Kismet do differently from the rest of the London Turkish cohort? Well, not much, but that’s a good thing. If anything, the menu leans more Cypriot than most mangals (Mustafa’s family moved here from Cyprus in 1964 and the year is imprinted on neat branded plates) with fresh and herby, Levantine flavours and a little less bready stuff (the brimming basket of fl

For a long time the Shaston Arms was a leftfield Soho pub choice. Not one of the big hitters, (Coach & Horses, French House, Blue Posts etc), but certainly not one of the abject shitholes (of which we’ll refrain from naming to protect their modesty). A decent choice nonetheless, the Shaston wasn’t as historic as the rest. It’d actually been a regular shopfront until Dorset brewery Hall & Woodhouse took it over in 1999, named it after a Thomas Hardy town and turned it into an ersatz Victorian boozer.  Lamb chops couldn’t be cooked better  In 2025, the space was picked up by the same team behind Barnes’ bucolic Waterman Arms gastropub, of which we have previously sung the praises. They gussied up the tatty wooden booths, gave it a moody red ceiling and one of those vintage-styled fairground signs that looks like it was hand-painted by a biker who doesn't actually own a bike. Situated in the pedestrianised Carnaby quarter, it quickly became home to Soho’s biggest vertical drinking squad.   But as well as jubilant street boozing, a very small space has been carved out for dinner. It’s a bit of a squeeze, what with the dining area made up of five tables sunk into a mahogany-lined moat against the back wall of the pub. But somehow it works, with plush velvet curtains tied open and separating it from the main bar, making diners feel like they’re watching a 19th century music hall performance. Champagne Charlie has, however, been replaced by IPA Ian.   It’s quite a mad little menu,

This Victorian-era Clapton pub has gone under more names than we care to remember, from its original life as The Cricketers to The Mermaid, The Black Hen and even a stint as LGBT+ sports bar Wing and a Prayer. It’s now reached its final - and perfect - form; an trad-feeling Irish pub called Moylett’s. Come for cheap-ish pints of Guinness (£5.50 is a steal in the ghastly age of the £8 pint), as well as a weekly chess club, a basement club, and regular supper clubs and residencies spotlighting emerging chefs. Recent guests include former Kiln chef Gareth Chambers and his Irish Shpice pop-up which served serious spice bags from Lunar New Year through to St Patrick’s Day. Time Out tip Want to make a crawl out of it? The pub is just around the corner from Clapton Hart, Blondies and My Neighbours the Dumplings. RECOMMENDED: These are the best Irish pubs in London.

Two London bars have been given the nod in a new list announcing the 100 best bars in the world. In slightly confusing news, the bars have made the just-announced 51-100 spots in the er, The World’s 50 Best Bars: a global ranking of the 50 best bars in the world, which is actually made up of 100 bars. Time Out’s Top 50 Bars in London London bars in the 50 Best Bars 2026 51-100 longlist The actual 50 Best Bars 2026 will be revealed on October 7, but until then we have the 51-100 spots to keep us entertained. The two London bars to make the grade are the Soho branch of Three Sheets at no.73 and Scarfes Bar in Holborn in 77th. The only other UK bar revealed was Edinburgh’s Panda & Sons, which is higher than both the London spots, coming in at 72. Three Sheets| Three Sheets There may very well be more London bars in the top 50, but we won’t know until the ceremony takes place in Milan next month. It’ll be the 18th edition of the World’s 50 Best Bars awards. The ranking is compiled by 800 bartenders, writers, drinks educators and industry specialists.  Three Sheets Soho Time Out’s four-star review of the 73rd-best bar in the ranking said: ‘The Three Sheets Soho team have devised a menu which takes drinks you know well to sexier, more modern places. As such, the selection is never alienating, but pretty much always surprising.’ Scarfes Bar Seventy-seventh-place Scarfes received a five-star review from Time Out: ‘Picture your classic hotel bar. It’s probably got dark wood panell

Television chef Gennaro Contaldo is set to open a trattoria in Soho. The Italian cook, known for his association with Jamie Oliver as well as with Antonio Carluccio, will launch the brand-new Bolo on September 25.  Opening at 17 Air Street, previously home to another Italian restaurant called Il Conte, Bolo will seat 32 guests and is apparently inspired by 1970s Italy. The menu will include Contaldo’s signature pork and beef bolognese (Bolo is named in tribute to the dish) as part of six fresh pasta dishes available daily. One will be named ‘Antonio’ in tribute to Carluccio, a pappardelle with porcini and mascarpone bolo, while another is called ‘The Limone’, which celebrates the chef’s childhood on the Amalfi Coast via the medium of lemons, butter and mint with tagliolini.  James NorthBolo by Gennaro Speaking about Bolo, Contaldo says: ‘After more than 60 years in the kitchen, I’m still a romantic at heart. Love the food, love the people you’re cooking for, and everything else will work out beautifully in the end. Italy has given me so much throughout my life, and I’ve always wanted to celebrate that generosity through the food I cook. I want people to come to BOLO, eat well, feel at home and experience a little piece of the Italy that I know and love.’ The menu also includes starters of tomato bruschetta, ’nduja meatballs and bolo arancino, as well as ricotta doughnuts, gelato and sorbetto for dessert.  Looking for excellent pasta in London? Check out our list of the bes

Fancy a big night out in a beautiful room with excellent food? Then look no further than our brand new ranking of the most glamorous restaurants in London.  And if you’re thinking fancy means super expensive, you’d be wrong, as the number one spot has been secured by one of central London’s swankiest but best-value restaurants (especially if you order the £16.95 set menu): Brasserie Zédel.  ZedelBrasserie Zedel We’re big fans of this French fancy by Piccadilly Circus, which has operated under the Brasserie Zédel name since 2012 but was once the bowels of The Regent Palace Hotel – built in 1915 and rejigged in the early 1930s to give it some extra Jazz Age oomph. The grand, underground West End dining room was known as the Atlantic Bar and Grill in the 1990s and a solid celebrity haunt, attracting the likes of Madonna, Kate Moss and Robert de Niro and Harvey Keitel.  Now you’ll find live jazz and French classics in the sparkly and massive main room, which seats up to 240 diners. The sub-£20 set menu is still one of the best in town; oeufs mayonnaise and steak haché is our go-to order.   Helen CathcarttSimpsons in the Strand Other glammy spots to make our razzle-dazzle top 20 include the newly reopened Simpson’s in the Strand and its glorious main dining room the Grand Divan, which dates back to 1828, as well as Sessions Arts Club in Farringdon, which you’ll find in a Grade II-listed former courthouse, and The Wolseley on Piccadilly, which is in a 1920s car showroom. The mo

Dumpling Xi is set to open its first ever UK restaurant. Dumpling Xi is one of the biggest dumping chains in the world, with over 900 locations globally and restaurants in 40 Chinese cities. It will take over a Shaftesbury Avenue space previously occupied by The Theatre Café Diner. No official launch date has been announced, but the shop fit is underway with, rather excitingly, a sign outside the restaurant advertising front of house and kitchen jobs that states ‘training in China may be required’.  The first Dumpling Xi opened in Hegang in 2002, with 2024 seeing the brand travel to the US, Korea and Spain. Dumplings are prepared fresh every day, and are made in northern Chinese style.  The news follows the announcement that Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese dumpling chain, will be opening its fifth London location in King’s Cross. Currently, you can visit Din Tai Fung restaurants in Canary Wharf, Covent Garden, Selfridges and Centre Point by Tottenham Court Road station. The opening date for Din Tai Fung King’s Cross hasn’t been revealed yet, and exact details of the restaurant are also still under wraps.  Dumpling Xi will open at 154 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8HL. The best Chinese restaurants in London. Did you see that this London pizza restaurant is one of the 50 best in the world? 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 for our free Time Out London n

The team behind Sune – a Broadway Market bistro we once branded ‘practically perfect’ – is opening a pub and restaurant in Smithfield Market. The historic meat market, which is currently in the middle of a huge redevelopment programme, will see The Poet opening this November.   The Poet will be in the Victorian-era curved corner space once partially occupied by Bubb’s Le Restaurant Français, which closed in the early 2000s. The team, made up of Charlie Sims, Honey Spencer and Spencer Large, will launch The Poet with exec chef Charlie Tayler, who was most recently cooking at the Michelin-starred Aulis in Soho, reports the Standard.  There will be separate pub and restaurant areas, with food available in both. Expect elevated pub grub like prawn Scotch eggs coated with scampi fries, smoked eel caesar salad and a fallow deer and juniper suet pudding.  Photograph: ©giuliasavorelliThe Poet team The large space will see more rooms opening up next year, with an onsite cocktail bar called Shambles and a chef’s table dining area on a mezzanine.  The Poet will open around the same time as the new London Museum, which launches in Smithfield Market on November 28, after closing down its Museum of London site at the nearby Barbican. The £437m revamp project, a partnership between the City of London Corporation and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, marks the culmination of a decade-long transformation of Smithfield’s historic General Market, which is returning to public use for the first time in

The future of Covent Garden’s Café Pacifico – which opened in 1982, making it one of the UK’s oldest Mexican restaurants – is in doubt. Restaurant Online reports that liquidators have been appointed to Laverlathe Limited, which was Café Pacifico’s last known operating company, and remains named on the Langley Street restaurant’s website. Laverlathe was ‘compulsorily wound up in March following a petition filed last November’, writes Restaurant Online. The publication adds: ‘It is not currently clear whether the business has been sold to a new operator or is continuing to trade under the control of the liquidators.’  Café Pacifico calls itself ‘a fixture of the London Mexican restaurant scene. Being the first of its kind, it first introduced Mexican food, tequila and culture to the UK.’ The ‘homemade’ menu includes nachos, quesadillas, crispy empanadas, burritos, tacos and fajitas, as well as sweet adobo pork ribs with pineapple honey glaze.  Café Pacifico, which remains open, used to have a sister restaurant La Perla on nearby Maiden Lane. According to Restaurant Online, it continues to be linked to Primos Mexican Cantina on Blackstock Road in Finsbury Park. However, this is operated via a different holding company to Laverlathe, so we reckon they’ll be safe. Now got a craving for chimichangas? Check out our expert-curated list of the top 20 Mexican restaurants in London. Did you see that Newington Green is the coolest neighbourhood in London in 2026, according to Time Out?

If you enjoy a spot of creamy cassoulet, then we have the east London pub pop-up for you.  Islington’s Bistro Sablé is one of the newest additions to Time Out’s list of 20 best French restaurants in London. It opened last year in Canonbury and the team behind it are now about to launch Bistro Sablé 2:0, with a three-month takeover of gastropub The Princess of Shoreditch. From October 1, Bistro Sablé will be in residence at the pub’s first floor dining room until the end of the year. The 32-cover pop-up will see a full makeover of the space, with the room splashed with vintage posters from French flea markets and a full menu of Parisian bistro classics, from rotisserie chicken to pâté en croûte. The ground floor of the pub will also see Sablé in residence, but with a shorter blackboard menu of small plates on offer.  Photograph: Bistro SabléBistro Sablé Our recent review of the original Bistro Sablé praised the restaurant, calling it ‘concerned solely with presenting a menu of Gallic classics, served in an unpretentious yet perfectly charming environment.’  Time Out London editor Joe Mackertich added: ‘This isn’t one of those new-fangled ‘spots’ you’ve been hearing about, with monoverbal dish descriptions, disaffected stick-and-poked servers and NTS-approved soundbeds. It’s a French restaurant, of the kind you’d be delighted to encounter while holidaying in provincial Occitania.’  Find the Princess of Shoreditch at 76-78 Paul Street, EC2A 4NE and the OG Bistro Sablé at 63-69

How do you like to choose an Italian restaurant for dinner? Quality of the pasta? Strength of the negronis? Or simply… the size of the dining room? If you’re on Team Huge Room, then you’re in luck, because a place purporting to be Britain’s largest Italian restaurant is set to open later this year. Juno, named in honour of the Roman queen of the gods, is the next dining space to open over at the revamped Olympia exhibition centre. The iconic structure’s lavish £1.3 billion relaunch has come complete with a 3,800 capacity live music venue and rooftop space full of drinking and dining options.  These are the 20 best Italian restaurants in London. With space for 265 diners (as well as 500 overall, presumably with the rest loitering at the bar?), it’ll launch on October 16, so we’ll be able to see then just what Juno has in store. There’ll be live music at the weekends and when it comes to food, the menu includes crab linguine, osso buco alla milanese and tiramisu. There will also be a special pizza counter where you can watch the chefs in action, with space for 10 diners. They promise: ‘this is a house of celebration. Big tables. Flowing wine. Food made for sharing’. Image: JunoJuno neapolitan pizza counter As well as Juno, Olympia has recently launched Mexican-styled Bar Arriba, Japanese cocktail bar Wolves of Tokyo and an English small plates restaurant called Lillie’s. Their rooftop is also home to a food court called Arbour, with Fry Baby, which will serve gourmet fried ch

The return of roast season brings with it the reappearance of two of Time Out’s favourite Sunday lunches.  On Sunday September 27 – evidently the first official day of Roastmas 2026 – not only will LD’s Kitchen vegan roast be served once more, but so will Ling Ling’s Chinese-inspired Sunday lunch, which was previously our number one roast in London.  LD’s Kitchen (which was previously available at The Black Heart in Camden) will now be served around the corner at the Imperial Palace of Big Red on Chalk Farm Road. Their ‘new improved roast menu that’s gonna blow your mind’ is fully plant-based. The previous menu included ‘pork’ tofu belly, beef-style steak and a chicken-ish main served either classic or Southern corn fried alongside roasted sweet potato, swede and basil puree, creamy mustard leeks and spinach, maple and fennel glazed carrots and collard greens with garlic, a crispy yorkshire pud and garlic and rosemary roasties. Black HeartLD's Kitchen Sunday Roast After residencies at The Gun in Hackney and the Bluecoats in Tottenham, Ling Ling’s has been based at ‘wine pub’ Godet in Islington since last October, but have only just announced the return of their roast. Chef duo Jenny Phung and James Shepherd’s Chinese-inspired take on Sunday lunch features beef short rib and five spiced pork belly as well as five spiced seabass, glass skin chicken with ginger and spring onions, and miso aubergine for the vegetarians. All of these come festooned with roast potatoes, seasona

Around this time every year we give our list of the 20 best restaurants in the UK a proper update and we’re happy to announce there’s a brand new number one on the list. The latest list topped is a bijoux eight-seat spot in Machynlleth, Wales (population 2,100), and is the baby sister of double Michelin starred culinary Valhalla, Ynyshir.  Gwen, which opened in 2023, has recently been overhauled by chef Peter Iglesias Sanchez, who left Decimo, the in-house Mexican restaurant at The Standard hotel in London earlier this year. ‘I feel like I’ve signed Cristiano Ronaldo,’ Gareth Ward, who runs Ynyshir reportedly commented. Mike SimGwen, Machynlleth Like Ynyshir, Gwen offers a no-choice tasting menu, with 20 small courses inspired by Mexican and Japanese technique. Read our full review of Gwen here. ‘Skilful, scrumptious and a little bit naughty, this is how tasting menus should be done,’ states the glowing five star assessment.  The tasting menu at Gwen costs £180 a head plus VAT, which isn’t cheap, but dinner runs for three and half hours, and it’s seriously some of the best cooking Time Out’s had the pleasure of shoving in our mouths. The small restaurant is hidden behind an ordinary high street wine bar exterior and is made up of two rooms; the first seven courses are eaten in the front, then diners move to the kitchen for the next courses, before returning to the front room for dessert. The rest of the top 20 spans England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a stro

Everything is bigger in the US; including their sandwiches. And you’ll now get to see for yourself as much-loved American chain Jersey Mike’s is about to launch its debut UK outlet. After slinging subs for 70 years, Jersey Mike’s will be coming to Soho later this year (they’re saying late autumn), setting up shop on Argyll Street before three other branches launch in central London. Could this be what becomes of the old Angus Steakhouse building by Oxford Street station? They’ve already got over 3,000 branches in the US, so this sub takeover has been a long time coming. Jersey Mike’s are known for their Italian-leaning submarine rolls which come filled with sliced meats and cheeses such as provolone, ham, swiss cheese, turkey and cappacuolo, then sloshed with ‘the juice’: an in-house dressing of  red wine vinegar and oil. You can also choose to have your sub ‘Mike’s Way’ - with onions, lettuce and tomatoes. Subway, who? Photograph: James ScherziSandwiches at Jersey Mike’s The first branch of Jersey Mike’s was called Mike’s Subs and opened in 1956 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Current chairman Peter Cancro started working there when he was 14 years old, and in 1975 when he was 17, he bought the business for $125,000 after borrowing the cash from his high school football coach. He changed the name to Jersey Mike’s in the 1980s. Speaking about the London openings Peter Cancro has commented: ‘Jersey Mike’s has always been about making a great sub, taking care of our customers

Rake – AKA chefs Jay Claus and Syrus Pickhaver – has been leading the kitchen of the Compton Arms since the start of 2025, but all good things must come to an end. The duo have announced they’ll be leaving the Islington gastropub at the end of year, which also means the end of one of Time Out’s favourite Sunday roasts. But all is not lost. They’re working on a new independent project and if we know anything about the Compton Arms, it’s that they’ll have a worthy successor in the pipeline.  The Compton Arms was previously home to Four Legs, who went on to open The Plimsoll and Tollington’s, as well as chef Dara Klein, who now runs one of the best Italian restaurants in London, Tiella in Bethnal Green.  You’ve still got a fair bit of time to enjoy Rake’s old school British cookery, which includes the fishy likes of ray wing tenders on crumpets, stargazy pie and beer-battered cockles and clams. Last service is on December 19.  ‘Rake’s ethos, in its current and future form, has always been about hospitality without pretension as much as it is about cooking. Our time at the Compton Arms has provided us the opportunity to finesse exactly what that means, cooking generously, drinking well and creating a place where people can relax and spend time with friends,’ says Jay Claus, who we recently named one of London’s best young chefs. ‘The end of the residency is an evolution rather than an ending for Rake.’ Speaking about their next project, Syrus Pickhaver added: ‘We’re excited to be