Joe Mackertich

Do you like coffee? Trick question: everyone likes coffee. Apart from that small group who prefer tea. And that even smaller group who ‘don’t do hot drinks’ (strange). London, obviously, has a great many cafés, but how to choose? We've got normal ones and really posh ones. Massive ones and tiny ones. Bad ones and good ones. This list is our attempt to group together all the good ones. This isn’t about who has the fanciest beans or the most enjoyably knowledgable/patronising baristas. It’s about what venues work for us. Where do we want to while away a few hours, pretending the real world doesn’t exist?     RECOMMENDED: London’s best coffee shops.

Cada año, le preguntamos a miles de habitantes de ciudades de todo el mundo sobre la vida en su ciudad de origen. Indagamos acerca de la escena restaurantera y los mejores bares. Lo destacado en teatro y en las galerías de arte. También acerca de cómo son los vecinos y los barrios que consideran más cool. La idea es mostrar la vida global de cada ciudad y destacar los sitios que realmente entusiasman a los lugareños.   ¡Aquí están los resultados del Time Out Index 2022! Como siempre, hemos analizado todos esos datos y los hemos aprovechado para elaborar nuestra clasificación anual de las mejores ciudades del mundo. Durante los últimos dos años, la lista se ha enfocado en destacar cómo las ciudades se unieron durante la pandemia e hicieron de la vida (casi) tolerable durante los confinamientos. Pero ahora, después de dos años de restricciones para viajar, el mundo se está abriendo nuevamente y nosotros, como tú, estamos ansiosos por volver a salir. Nuestras principales ciudades este 2022 son las que cuentan con una vida nocturna próspera, comida y bebida increíbles, arte, cultura y museos en abundancia. También hemos aprovechado nuestra red global de editores y colaboradores expertos para obtener información privilegiada sobre lo que está de moda, lo que es nuevo y las tendencias. Si estás planeando una escapada por el mundo este año (especialmente si es la primera en mucho, mucho tiempo), estos son los lugares imperdibles.  

Londoners love the summer. It makes everyone cheerful. Everyone walks with a woozy swagger. And then, after three days of sun, everyone gets a bit irratible and hot. If this is you, you might want to: cool off at a rooftop bar; pack a picnic and head to the London parks or consume a cone from one of the city’s many ice cream parlours.  But when the temperature really rises, jumping into a fountain (or perching near to one) can be the only way to cool off. Here in London there are some corkers - both in the city’s major parks and in amongst the landmarks. Whether you’ve got little people who enjoy a paddle, or you want to try your hand at dodging the jets - here are the best public fountains in London - just remember to pack a spare set of clothes. RECOMMENDED: The best of outdoor London

Nothing says summer quite like the towering stalks and glowing yellow petals of the noble sunflower. If you’ve already checked out London’s lavender fields, why not get neck-deep in heliotropic heaven at these golden fields full of custard-yellow blooms, which are at their peak from August to September. Just a stone’s throw from the city, these farms let you do the picking, so you can create your own still life at home. Remember, nature doesn’t always play ball with our plans so always check ahead to make sure the crops are fresh and ready to pick before you visit. RECOMMENDED: Day trips from London for flower lovers. 

Guess what? It's summer. Guess what else? There’s a high chance that if you look outside right now during the day time you’ll see actual sun beaming down from sky. There are two things you should do immediately to capitalise on this. First: go outside. Secondly: have a big old picnic. London has loads of parks and grand green spaces, perfect for a bit of al fresco, blanket-based action. Or, if you fancy a proper sit down in a restaurant try these restaurants with outdoor seating. RECOMMENDED: London's most BBQ-friendly parks

Drinking before noon is generally seen as ‘a bad thing’. But what if said boozing is done inside a fashionable London restaurant and accompanied by eggs, sourdough loaves and artisan coffee? In that case we call it a bottomless brunch and it’s entirely acceptable.  In London, you’ll find bottomless bubbles and Bloody Marys, obviously, but you can also go beyond the tried-and-tested and experiment with infinite beer or endless streams of rosé. The food doesn’t have to be straightforward breakfast stuff either. Brunch can be anything from bao to barbecue, Turkish to Japanese. What’s more, the majority of these bottomless brunches go on well into the pm, so you don’t need to get up early to get involved. Time to go hard then go home! Or, you could just stick to regular old brunch. Video: Check out this list of five fab bottomless brunches in London RECOMMENDED: Find more great breakfasts in London. Into bargains? Check out these bottomless offers.

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 in London. We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of homely pubs and restaurants all around town. From snug neighbourhood staples to more bijou gastropubs, we’ve got something for every taste (if that taste is for comforting mounds of roast meat, lashings of gravy and carbs that’ll see you through winter).  A lot of these places get quite busy, by the way. So you’re always advised to book ahead to avoid disappointment. 

Beer gardens are one of the best things about London. There’s no finer way to spend a sunny (or not-so-sunny) afternoon in the capital, than supping on a couple of cold boys under the city’s famous sky. If you’re looking to sink some pints or sip on mulled wine while you embrace the breezy great outdoors, we’ve got you covered with the city’s best beer gardens. Some have been included for their bucolic vibe and lush foliage, some for their ace drinks, some for their riverside location (although a lot of those will also pop up in our guide to London’s best riverside pubs and bars). If you’ve had enough of the great outdoors, don’t forget to check out our list of London’s best pubs. Then, if you want to be outside but higher up, you might like our directory of the capital's finest rooftop bars.  RECOMMENDED: Outdoor London

At Time Out, we know a lot about bars in London. We know about the city’s best bars. We know about rooftop bars. We know about cocktail bars. And yes, we even know about (whisper it) secret bars. There’s a chance you don’t even know what secret bars are. You might have walked past them loads of time without even realising they are there. That’s how damn secret they are. But be in no doubt: London has its fair share of mysterious, hard-to-find drinking establishments. If you promise to be discreet about it, we’ll let you in on them. Just don’t go blabbing your mouth off about them.

Londoners, real Londoners, genuinely love walking. The whole city, with its winding streets, historic buildings and verdant green spaces is made for strolling.  There are loads of truly beautiful spots in London for walkers. Learn a little about the past with a historical trot around town, or feel calm and restored after bathing in the glory of nature. Comfortable shoes are recommended, as is an umbrella. Nothing spoils a walk like getting drenched in a downpour.  And if London's not cutting it at the moment, why not check out our properly good list of walks near (but not in) the capital? And if trees are your thing, here’s a load of walk suggestions that take in some of the best forests around the city.  RECOMMENDED: 101 best things to do in London

Brunch. A simple but devastatingly impactful concept. Eggs, sourdough and coffee (and maybe booze) a few hours after conventional breakfast time? Count us in, friend. It’s all stuff you can do at home, obviously, but occasionally it’s nice to get out, isn’t it? It’s a pretty sociable meal, after all. London is particularly well-stocked with places to indulge in the famous breakfast/lunch hybrid. Let us guide you to the best restaurants in town for a kick-ass weekend brunch in our city, from alco-friendly bottomless brunches to traditional full-English fry-ups and even New York-style feasts. 

Run out of a small ex-pub in that strip of Islington squashed between posh Barnsbury and less-posh Cally Road, the Tamil Prince is an Indian restaurant from the folks who created cult Malay-Singaporean canai-and-curry basement joint Roti King. Unlike everyone else who went to university in London, I missed out on Roti King at the time, which in retrospect feels a bit like living in Paris in the 1920s and not bothering with Café de Flore. But that’s on me. That’s my L to carry.  The Tamil Prince is Roti King with a glow-up, on steroids, having been to finishing school and on acid. Roti King has un-bunched her hair, taken off her glasses and… she’s beautiful! Head chef Prince Durairaj has taken what made his previous eatery so popular (bombastic, flavoursome cooking, centring spiritually on his billowing, pliable roti canai) and ratcheted up the dining dimension. Whoever did the interior has done a cracking job and deserves a medal for their services to Tasteful And Consistent Aesthetics. The shade of green on the walls is the best shade of green I’ve seen for ages. The menu, comprising of small plates and mains, is compact but satisfying, like Xherdan Shaqiri. If you and three friends were starving you could probably eat it all. The crinkly crunchy okra fries were great, neither oily nor stodgy. I’d recommend the cheeky, chunky chicken lollipops too, served with chilli chutney. It’s the mains, however, that will make this place famous (if indeed it isn’t already by the time yo

I once had a really awful flatmate. His bedroom smelled like the London Zoo reptile house, his taste in music offended me and he often left the bathroom in a state of apocalyptic dilapidation. But I put up with it for one reason. He was a great chef. You do that, don’t you? Overlook the repulsive habits that make a person unfit to be a co-habiter, because they can knock up a decent chargrilled Norfolk quail. I only mention this because if The Nook’s chef Lalé Oztek-Pook was my flatmate, she could get away with absolute murder and I’d be fine with it – her cooking is that good. The Nook, built on the white-tiled bones of Highbury’s much-missed Linden Stores bar, and run by a winsome husband-and-wife team. It sits awkwardly on a narrow bit of pavement, directly opposite a mysterious bubble tea shack. Upstairs, you’ll find the kinetic Angus who does front of house and knows loads about wine. But he’d be the first to admit that, for all his talent, he’s essentially the Flava Flav to his wife’s Chuck D. You can tell Angus is as gob-smacked by Lalé’s Turkish-inspired, deeply personal cooking as the rest of us, and he talks about it like a teenager gushing to his mates about a new band that’s just changed his life. Lalé trained at Cordon Bleu (and paid her dues at Oklava, Kyseri, and The Mash Inn), stays mostly out of sight, a Michelin-worthy Santa’s elf, toiling away in the kitchen downstairs. Alone. I mean really alone. Not only is she picking up veg on the way to work, she’s also

Why yes, this is a bizarre, immersive mash-up of Disney’s ‘Mulan’ and Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Moulin Rouge’. Guests are encouraged to turn up dressed like a character from either film (although they’re at pains to point out that culturally insensitive costumes will not be tolerated) and get involved with a drag-tastic night of food, music and fun.  The four-course meal sounds particularly exciting, created as it is by Flavourology, the team behind Gingerline. Classic French cuisine meets fresh Asian flavours is what we’re promised. The whole venue will have been done up to the nines, and there’s a drag show written by ShayShay. A very full-on night awaits.

Flying Frenchman doesn’t resemble any of the restaurants and cafés perched on the edges of Newington Green, like screw-faced supermodels lounging around a rooftop swimming pool. Flying Frenchman has secured a place by the pool, but how come it looks so much happier than everyone else? I’ll tell you why Flying Frenchman is happy. This idiosyncratic, corner-site bistro isn’t concerned about superficial stuff, social media clout or whether its starters are sufficiently on-trend. This is a lively, lovely communal dining room for locals. And the man whose house it is, slaving away in the kitchen, greeting people at the door, dispensing hard-won Gallic wisdom, sending you away satisfied and tipsy, is owner and head chef Guillaume Desmurs. Reviewing this place without talking about Desmurs would be like trying to explain Buckingham Palace without mentioning the Queen. Much like her Royal Highness, Desmurs has been doing his job for a while. Unlike the Queen (as far as I know), he is passionate about sausage meat. Flying Frenchman’s homely, informal setting is an extension of his personality, as is the menu, which revolves around old-school but deftly assembled French classics. The sausage cassoulet is significant, rustic and rich – like a farm-dwelling Kardashian Things Desmurs may bring you: a soulful and cheesy french onion soup (croutons as big as rocks, mate); anecdotes about living and cooking all over the world; wine; rare-breed pork belly (butter-soft and smoked in-house to

From March 17-25, London will play host to one of the most thought-provoking, significant film festivals out there. Ten new works will be streamed for audiences in the UK and Ireland, including pre-recorded chats with the filmmakers, actors and relevant activists. This year’s theme is ‘freedom of choice’, with the films tackling subjects like journalists in Myanmar (‘Myanmar Diaries’), asylum seekers in the UK (‘Silence Heard Loud’), female surfers in Bangladesh (‘Bangla Surf Girls’) and more.  

The Latin music festival La Linea is coming back to London this spring. You can expect all kinds of artists, playing in some of our favourite music venues across the capital from April 21. Artits features include Grammy-nominated (and daughter of Joao Gilberto) Bebel Gilberto, French-Chilean vocalist Ana Tijoux, Cuban pianist Roberto ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ Fonseca and Las Adelitas aka the only all-female mariachi bands in Europe.

Ever see pictures of ceramics where there’s an odd but definitely very beautiful golden line running through the piece? That, friend, is kintsugi. ‘Joining with gold’ would be an approximate translation from the Japanese, and it’s a centuries-old technique for repairing stuff, using lacquer dusted with powdered gold.  It’s a proper art form, and lucky for you the friendly folk at Japan House want to share the knowledge with everyone. From February 27 to the end of May, the Kensington venue will be offering introductions and demonstrations, so we can all repair our own broken and chipped ceramics at home.  Workshops are on March 27, April 30 and May 28. Each day consists of two sessions, one starting at 1.30pm and the other at 4pm. Can't get a ticket? Check out this online talk and kintsugi demonstration.

Everyone’s fave Italian superstore, Eataly London is hosting a three-day celebration of wines. Il Vino (the boozy bit of Eataly) is home to the UK’s biggest Italian winery, and it sells more than 2,000 varieties of plonk. Visitors to the festival will also get to hob nob and chat to Eataly’s on-site experts, who will be dishing out advice, samples and recommendations like an Eataly chef scooping out fusili pasta. Visitors can choose between five or 10 wine tastings and will get a pouch to take home.   

The Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens is getting a Costa Rican makeover this February, courtesy of a mind-bending new orchid display. You’ll get it all: the tropical dry forest of the north, to the verdant rainforests of the southern coastline.  Vsitors to the glasshouse will run into loads of ‘native animals’, carevd out of plants and replicated across the horticultural displays. Monkeys, sea turtles, toads and hummingbirds. All your favourites.  Entry to the display is included when purchasing a ticket to Kew Gardens.

2022’s first big whack of cosplay, meet and greets, comic culture and general fandom. The Olympia London plays host to a packed weekend of stuff catering to fans of iconic telly, video games and film. Appearances already announced feature cast and crew from James Bond, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, the MCU and, yes, Star Wars. 

The nights might be getting darker, but that doesn’t mean the sky will be any less bright this winter. In fact, here in the city, it might well be dazzling more than usual. And the tallest bit of lighting will be found across the top 20 stories of The Shard for what has been dubbed the highest seasonal light display in Western Europe (as in tallest not… you know). Anyway, the lights will switch on from 4pm on December 1, adding a pop of colour to the city’s skyline every evening until New Year's Eve. This year’s display plans to offer a special thanks to emergency service workers for all their efforts to keep up safe during the cold months. A few of those very essential workers and their families will be on-hand to kick off the lights on that first evening too.  Of course, central London might be a little hectic for some of you this Christmas, but that doesn’t mean you can’t check out The Shard Lights. Given they’ll be flashing around 310m in the air (that’s over 1000ft), you’ll likely spot them at some point if you crank your head toward the clouds while looking in their general direction. In a statement, the organisers have said they want the lights to encourage “Londoners to look up and reflect on the relationships with loved ones that are so important during the festive season”, which is a nice reason to have them there, isn’t it. 

Alright, let’s not waste time. Do you eat meat? If you answered no, please skip immediately to the sixth paragraph and then stop reading. Like a clandestine culinary cult that’s taken root in a medieval city, Manteca the concept has been buzzing around London for a while now. The brainchild of two fine chefs, it flared up briefly, in its embryonic form, in two different parts of Soho. Neither incarnation, in my opinion, did justice to the Sandy-at-the-end-of Grease version of Manteca. The Manteca that exists in Shoreditch today is the underground cult gone mainstream. If you know your tenderloins from your tallow, then this is church. The elevator pitch would be that Manteca is a blend of Trullo/Padella’s eye for ‘proper’, hand-rolled fresh pasta and St John’s cleaver-happy commitment to nose-to-tail minimal waste. If the cut exists, Manteca will find a way to serve it to you. To my eternal discredit I wasn’t brave enough to try the off-menu, stuffed pig snout main. I should have. That’s on me. Next point: Manteca’s pasta is right up there with the best in London. And that’s coming from someone who worships at the altar of Trullo. The fazzoletti with duck ragu, made with hearts and gizzards then braised in red wine and stock, deserves the plaudits, but you’d struggle to go wrong anywhere. Silky smooth crab cacio pepe (which I had in the Soho branch) was a properly thicc saucy boi. I’m not usually a fan of squash-filled cappellacci, but this one made me nod my head like a half

Mark it in your diary: June 20 (aka ‘this coming Monday’). This is the day on which Time Out’s all-new, daily newsletter hits eager inboxes all across London and beyond. It’s called Out Here. And it’s wonderful. You like Time Out? Of course you do. You adore the way we sort the wheat from the London chaff, rising above the noise and hype to recommend and highlight only the tastiest dishes, crispest pints, weirdest (in a good way) exhibitions and, uh, least-boring plays. Our jokes amuse and delight you. Your friends consider you clued up about culture, trends and vibes because you frequently pass off our opinions as your own. And we’re fine with that. Really. Out Here is everything you love about Time Out, condensed into a five-minute morning read. You’ll be bowled over by its brilliance, its usefulness, its humour and its charm. It’ll tell you what’s good, with daily bite-sized reviews of film, art, food and all the rest, and also provide recommendations from the capital’s best chefs, artists and makers. Daily London news? But of course. We’ll even find time to rate the city’s park benches and stuff like that. Don’t waste even a single second of your time. Subscribe here. Eating, drinking and having fun. We’ll show you how it’s done. Out Here is a daily email from the Time Out team. Subscribe to it right here. A massive, immersive dinosaur experience thing is coming to London. The 30 best rooftop bars in the city (according to us).

Name a cool London brand. Good. Now name another one. Okay. Chances are you just said ‘Um, Yard Sale.... Top Cuvée?’. Because both of those are cool London brands. We like them both. Good news: they're teaming up for a bit. The pizzeria and natural wine specialists are joining forces to create a kind of ultimate London food Voltron restaurant. Vin-Yard is the pop-up. Hackney Road is the place. May is the month. From this Friday (until May 25) the Yard Sale basement will play host to this collab of dreams. As you'd expect, Top Cuvée is handling the booze, while Yard Sale will be slinging their hot, hot pies. All the classics will be present, as well as Yard Sale’s game-changing cheese and Marmite garlic bread. See you there, basically. 184 Hackney Road London, E2 7QL, May 6- May 25. The absolute best bottomless brunches in London. Yo, Bone Daddies be collab-ing with Ivan Ramen.  

You a fan of rock and/or roll? Then you will definitely be interested to learn about a new, sexy boutique hotel, named Chateau Denmark, perhaps unsurprisingly located on Denmark Street in central London. Denmark Street was, of course, famous for its music shops. If you wanted to buy a guitar in London, that was where you went. The Chateau’s owners are no doubt hoping the hotel offers a similar level of attraction to the city’s music-loving populace and rock-steeped visitors. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CHATEAU DENMARK (@chateaudenmark) Excitingly, the hotel, which features loads of themed rooms, is set across 16 buildings (including some grade II-listed eighteenth-century townhouses). That’s loads. Interior designers were asked to ‘imagine a time where punk rock and vintage gothic meets modern psychedelia with a timeless grandeur’. Erm, right…  Several of the buildings which make up the Chateau Denmark are veritably drenched in rock and pop history. Maybe the best fact of all is that the Rolling Stones (who are celebrating their sixtieth anniversary this year) recorded their eponymous debut LP in one of these buildings. Chateau Denmark, Denmark Place, WC2H 0LA. Coca Cola’s opened a flagship shop in Covent Garden. Blackhorse Beer Mile is kicking things off with a free party this Sunday.

Craft beer heads in the city know that Blackhorse Lane is probably London’s most vital and exciting booze location. Signature, Exale, Beerblefish, Hackney, Wild Card and Truman’s all have massive taprooms there. It’s a fun place to have a drink (and do pub quizzes, eat pizza and all that other beer-adjacent stuff). Well, this Sunday, all day from noon to midnight, the aforementioned breweries will be throwing a big old shindig, featuring exclusive beers, live music, street food and brewery tours. Entry is absolutely free. The cause for all the celebrating? The official launch of the Blackhorse Beer Mile (aka the name that people have been using for the area, unofficially, for absolutely ages). But nice that it’s now legit!  Blackhorse Lane, E17.  Check it out: a new retro arcade bar is opening in Soho. The Ukraine Freedom Orchestra is playing at the Proms this year.

On August 1, the Proms (celebrating its 150th anniversary this year) is going to break a few barriers. An orchestra consisting only of kazoos? No. A programme made up entirely of incidental music from cancelled soap opera ‘Neighbours’? Also no. Instead, the annual series of classical concerts is dedicating a whole show to soundtracks from video games. The concert, titled ‘Gaming Prom: From 8-Bit to Infinity’, will feature music from the entire history of the medium. So not just the modern stuff that sounds like a film track. We’re talking bleepy-bloopy music, but played by an actual orchestra. Titles confirmed for inclusion so far: ‘The Legend of Zelda’ (sick), ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ (very atmospheric), ‘Pokemon’ (crowdpleaser) and ‘Battlefield 2042’ (don’t know it). The concert has been curated (and will be conducted) by one Robert Ames, who was also responsible for a 2009 sci-fi Proms concert that focused on film and television soundtracks. His Twitter profile image shows him scowling in the Barbican, which is quite cool in our opinion.  ‘The nostalgia of gaming music is very much part of our lives,’ Ames told the Guardian. ‘The fanbase is massive and gaming music, since its inception, has been ahead of the curve in terms of diversity. I really believe somebody like [‘Kingdom Hearts’ composer] Yoko Shimomura should be celebrated at an international music festival alongside composers like Brahms and Mahler.’ Too right, Mr Ames. Mozart did some solid work, but did he ever c

When Robbie Williams famously asked us to let him ‘entertain us’, we naively assumed he meant strictly through the mediums of song and dance. How wrong we were. It turns out that the ‘Angels’ singer is bang into painting. And throughout May the 300-year-old Bond Street auction house Sotheby’s will be exhibiting the fruits of his creative labour. The 14 never-before-seen paintings aren’t entirely his own work, though. Williams has collaborated with his designer pal Ed Godrich. ‘Art is really whatever you want it to be,’ observed the singer-painter, sagely. ‘Just like music it has the ability to soothe and provide company when you’re lonely. Art and music have punctuated my ups and downs, but more importantly they both have the power to change how I feel in a moment.’ Williams has admitted that his introduction to art came in the form of Peter Blake’s famous cover design for the Beatles’ ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. Meanwhile, the new work, exhibited as part of The Black and White Paintings show, is heavily inspired by ’90s rave culture and dance music. Does that mean it features little smiley faces? Why not pop along to Sotheby’s and find out for yourself? ‘Black and White Paintings’ runs May 13-25 at the auction house’s New Bond Street base. The Royal Court’s new play is by a guy that no one’s ever heard of. Brilliant London fundraising events to help you support the people of Ukraine.

London Fashion Week is a bi-annual, week-long event that sees the world’s most glamorous people flock to the capital to attend run-way shows, network and make comments like ‘next summer's aesthetic is all about fisherman chic’. But you don’t need to be part of the industry to have a ball during London’s most fashionable five-day period. From Friday February 18 to Tuesday February 22 there are quite a few fun, open-to-the-public events that will admit even the schlubbiest layperson. Here are seven good 'uns. Waxy workshop French Connection’s snazzy, two-floor West End concept store is playing host to a DJ-assisted candle making workshop. If that doesn’t say ‘fashion’, then nothing does. February 19, 12-4 pm. 55 Duke Street, W1K 5NR. Clock on A lovely little shoe shop off Wigmore Street, Tracey Neuls has been made to look a bit like an old-school office to celebrate the brand’s 20-year anniversary. Pop in for free cups of tea, coffee and some stronger stuff too.  Feb 18–22, 10am – 6pm, 29 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2NQ. Future clothes Today’s fashion? All well and good. But why not go and get a good gander at tomorrow’s fashion. Gaze far into the future of clothes at the London College of Fashion’s special showroom, decked out with creations from the school’s masters graduates. Feb 19, 12–5pm, Victoria House Basement, WC1B. Sustainable snacking Remember Silo? The zero-waste restaurant in Hackney that we gave five stars to, just before the pandemic. They’ve teamed up with swanky cloth

Hackney Council has put out the call: it wants the help of local artists to renovate that much-loved stretch of Dalston known as Ridley Road. Part of the exciting, million-quid overhaul of the street, the chosen artists will be asked to create two public works that reflect the character and spirit of Ridley Road Market. The council has also made it clear that the artworks need to reference the history and heritage of the area. Considering the market started in 1880, there’s a lot of history and heritage to work with. The final request is that applicants should know all about the area and understand the market’s special significance. ‘There is a great tradition in Dalston of hosting exciting, progressive and participatory public art from the Peace Mural to the Dalston House installation,’ said Councillor Guy Nicholson. ‘It's now time to look beyond Dalston’s cultural quarter in and around Ashwin Street, to Ridley Road street market as the space for the next arts-led interventions in Dalston.’ The plan, currently, is to exhibit the works at the end of the market that connects with Kingsland Road. Prime real estate! If this sounds like you (or someone you know) why not get in touch with the council? Batten down the hatches: Storm Dudley is on its way to drench London. Notting Hill Carnival is back and better than ever (hopefully) for 2022.  

The Science Museum has decided to expose Londoners to the blinding light of pure genius. For the first time, the personal items of legendary cosmologist Stephen Hawking have gone on public display to, hopefully, provide unrivalled insight into the great man’s life and ideas. ‘Stephen Hawking at Work’ gives Londoners an opportunity to get up close and personal with loads of totemic objects, including the scientist’s actual, pre-fame PhD thesis, first voice synthesiser, spectacles and even an invitation to a ‘time travellers’ party’ that Hawking hosted. The objects have been chosen from more than 700 items belonging to Stephen Hawking that are now in the Science Museum’s possession. The museum says that, in time, details of all of them will be uploaded online for the public to study and enjoy.   One item of particular interest is a ‘treasured blackboard’ daubed in mathematical equations, scribbles, cartoons and weird maths in-jokes. What does any of it mean? Unless you’re also a Cambridge-educated super-genius, probably nothing. But it’ll certainly be nice to stare at, slack-jawed, for a while. ‘Stephen Hawking at Work’ is at the Science Museum until Jun 12. Free entry. Extremely cool things to do in London this weekend. More 20mph speed limit zones are going to be created across London.

Pasty powerhouse Greggs is teaming up with popular high-street clothing retailer Primark for a first-of-its-kind collab. Details are sketchy at the minute, but we’re told the collection will feature a limited-edition, 11-piece clothing range which will be available in 60 Primark stores across the UK from Saturday February 19. Could Primark and Aldi be the new Gucci and Versace? People first became aware that something was afoot, when a bloke called Anthony noticed something was off about one of the window displays in the Oxford Street Primark. It had Greggs food items placed stealthily within it! Imagine ‘Where’s Wally’, but instead of a creepy bespectacled weirdo in a massive crowd, it’s beige, baked goods peeking out of faux-leather handbags. It is, in other words, a Greggsbombing. Anthony promptly posted pics of his findings on Twitter. Erm, why are there sausage rolls and pasties in the windows of Primark on Oxford Street? This you @GreggsOfficial? 👀 pic.twitter.com/V7IGCICEQo — Anthony 🦥 (@anorderlymess) February 6, 2022 ‘Deffo Banksy,’ commented one wag. Someone else accused Irish drag queen Victoria Secret of being involved, somehow. ‘I would never waste Greggs like this,’ came the reply. A cursory glance at Anthony’s profile does reveal he works in marketing. And while that is certainly not reason enough to assume the whole thing is a big ol’ PR stunt, it does make this particular Greggsbombing a little sus. In our opinion. The clothing collection will be av

April 1 will forever be known as the day the dinosaurs came to London! Huge, terrifying prehistoric lizards are heading for the capital, and there can only be one outcome: a wonderful day out for kids and families.  Dino Kingdom (which runs until April 18) will be a huge, interactive, outdoor experience, featuring AR holograms, life-sized dinosaurs, digital installation and loads more. Greeting you at the gate will be The King of the Tyrant Lizards himself, a 16-metre-tall replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Keep your eyes peeled also for an 18-metre-long Apotasaurus (aka the one you and everyone else used to call a Brontosaurus).  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dino Kingdom (@dinokingdomuk) It’s not all about the giants though. The place will be scattered with loads and loads of smaller dinos and other creatures including, crocs, frogs, bees, spiders and even little hatching babies. You and the kids will also get to enjoy volcanoes, eggs, an excavation sandpit and a giant skeletal dinosaur head with a walk-through fossil tunnel. Worth noting too, that Dino Kingdom comes from the same creative minds as the deliriously popular Lightopia. So probably safe to assume it’ll deliver the goods. Dino Kingdom is at Gunnersbury Park from from Apr 1-18. The London Insta pet power ranking according to us. An ultra-immersive theatre event is coming to the Churchill War Rooms.

Hampstead. Home of steep hills, charming side streets and those famous swimming ponds. We can now add one more to that list: the world’s (maybe) smallest sandwich shop. Gabriele Contenta, a 30-year-old Hackney resident, has set up a focaccia stand in a phone box on Rosslyn Hill, right by Hampstead Heath. Pinkadella serves focaccia sandwiches with a full range of proper Italian fillings including mortadella, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and burrata. Nice one, Gabriele. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Wine&Thecity (@wineandthecity_napoli) ‘I was waiting for a long time to open but I think right now it’s the right moment because, little by little, everything is coming back to normal,’ Gabriele said to the Ham & High newspaper. We can’t officially call it the world’s smallest sandwich shop because no one’s actually recognised it as that yet. But that looks set to change. Gabriele has said he’s going to contact Guinness World Records to see if it genuinely is the tiniest. Pinkadella, 40 Rosslyn Hill, NW3 1NL. These phone boxes were turned into art galleries last year.  The best sandwiches in London right now.