India Lawrence

I'm Time Out’s Staff Writer UK, where I cover news, reviews, features and more. I've interviewed starts like CMAT, Confidence Man and Bicep, and written about everything from bottomless brunch, to vaping and dating apps. 

I'm also a freelance journalist with bylines in Stylist, Huck,Gauchoworld, Square Mil  and more. I write about nightlife, food, culture, dance and internet trends. I'm also obsessed with pop culture, fashion, celebrities and anything to do with entertainment. 

I have a Distinction in MA Magazine Journalism from City, University of London.

Before journalism, I worked in marketing, branding and business development for a variety of creative agencies. 

Published work

Featured Articles

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.
National Geographic Traveller •

The UK's nightlife has lost its mojo—can it be saved?

Nights out have been a staple of British life since the early 20th century, when the country’s first nightclubs opened. But in recent years, the country has seen a surge in venue closures, with a study by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) suggesting that there could be no nightclubs by 2030. With a clutch of big openings and a new government taskforce, there are reasons to remain hopeful — but are we witnessing the end of nightlife as we know it?One nightclub is closing around every t...
Time Out United Kingdom •

Glastonbury 2025 review: popstars ruled the weekend, but special guests have lost their cool

There was a messy run-up to Glastonbury 2025. Firstly, the Neil Young debacle, where the 79-year-old folk singer declared the festival to be under too much ‘corporate control’ before being officially announced as a headliner the following day, and then the massive u-turn on whether his set would be broadcast or not. Spoiler alert: it was. 
More recently, pressure mounted for controversial Irish rap group Kneecap to be removed from the billing after front man Mo Chara was charged with a terror o...
Time Out London •

CMAT: ‘I had my first-ever lesbian experience at Koko – it was 10/10’

‘I almost pooed my pants before going on stage at Glastonbury.’
This is a level of candour that’s not unusual for Irish singer-songwriter CMAT. Because despite her glittering career (her 2022 debut album shot her to fame) and her cast-iron confidence (we experience this first hand in a karaoke booth later), she still gets stage fright.
‘My keyboardist was dry heaving, and our horn player was going like this –’ she says, hand on heart, breathing heavily pretending to hyperventilate.
We’re hang...
Time Out London •

Confidence Man: ‘If people are offended by what we do, we’ll just do more of it’

‘Ouch!’ cries Confidence Man frontman Sugar Bones, lying splayed out on a mock hospital bed. His fellow frontwoman Janet Planet is looming over him, digging the heel of her platform stiletto into his chest. With prosthetic makeup giving her an unearthly over-pronounced brow bone and wearing her second head-to-toe latex look of the day, she looks like a majestic, polka-dotted alien, overpowering her captor, the evil Dr Sugarbones. 
Cosplaying alien autopsies probably wouldn’t be on most people’s...
Time Out London •

Clara Amfo: ‘I could be a lot more bait if I wanted to’

‘I have a calamitous image of falling onto her horns,’ says Clara Amfo, as Gerty the goat – a black and white beast with big curly antlers – trots about behind her. ‘Let me not manifest that!’ 
We’re on Freightliners City Farm in Islington. It’s a sunny(ish) Wednesday afternoon in May and the easy-going presenter is donning a burgundy three-piece shorts suit by Labrum while clomping about in big brown and white cowboy boots. ‘In the summer of Cowboy Carter it feels good to wear cowboy boots,’ A...
Time Out London •

These photos capture the nostalgic world of London’s niche gaming venues

Where do you go in London if you’re really into gaming? From Soho’s Las Vegas arcade, to an underground Japanese games centre in Manor House and an E-sports bar on Cally Road, the capital has a whole world of venues for games buffs that might not be obvious to the unknowing passer-by. But for those savvy to the scene, the Big Smoke’s gaming shops and arcades can be a gateway into a vibrant and tight-knit community.
Whether they’re sweating it out on the Dance Dance Revolution machine, or battli...
Time Out London •

‘Drag’s violent sibling’: Meet queer wrestling collective Fist Club

‘Are you greased up?’ asks drag king Rich Tea, who is slipping into a pink and black unitard with ‘Little Dick’ printed on the backside. Cassius The Neon Explosion, the self-certified ‘bad twink’ of wrestling, is slathering himself in baby oil by the ring. He’s wearing bum-cheek bearing yellow hotpants adorned with daisies, and matching yellow and mint green ruffled leg warmers.
Meanwhile, Liv Laugh Love, an evil Starbucks-slurping Karen, wearing UGG boots and a cringey slogan sweatshirt, is tr...
Time Out London •

Is London losing its love for vintage shops?

From Brick Lane to Portobello Road, Camden Market to Covent Garden, there’s no shortage of vintage shops in the capital. But just how sustainable is their future?From the musty smells, to the welcoming sight of piles of old Levis, there’s nothing quite like visiting your first vintage shop. Since time immemorial, it’s been every 16-year-old’s rite of passage to spend an afternoon trying on Tommy Hilfiger dungarees, zip-up Nike track jackets and ‘shit shirts’ that looked like a pair of curtains h...
Time Out London •

Want a 24-hour-city? Superclubs aren’t the answer

You’ve all heard of Drumsheds, London’s new 15,000-capacity venue that’s been set up in the old Ikea in Tottenham. Cavernous in size, with an entire area dedicated to food vendors, the world’s most efficient toilet queuing system and airport-like security, it’s taken going out in London to the next (very grown-up) level. In a similar vein to Manchester’s Warehouse Project, tickets start at £27.50 and must be booked in advance; line-ups are revealed as ‘seasons’ which are more akin to London Fash...
Time Out London •

In the studio with London’s hottest fashion designers

When you think of London fashion, you’ll probably think of Nova check, Kate Moss and Princess Diana’s revenge dress. You might think of Naomi Campbell taking a tumble on the catwalk and Vivienne Westwood’s iconic ‘DESTROY’ shirt. But your mind might also go elsewhere, far from studios and runways and photoshoots. To the smoking areas of nightclubs, to moshpits, to drag queens with extra-long acrylic nails and to the girl popping to the offy in an Adidas tracksuit and Ugg boots. 
The point is, w...
Time Out United Kingdom •

How ketamine became Britain’s go-to party drug

When, and why, did the country go mad for K? And is it *really* killing the dance floor?

‘It always strikes you when you’re not expecting it,’ says Oliver*, 23. ‘ Your vision shifts and you start seeing these geometric shapes. Or you can feel like you’re in this giant chamber, with weird sounds and reddish, purple neon lights.’

Oliver is talking about experiencing a K-hole: taking too much ketamine and going into a dissociative, hallucinatory state. Regulars on the club scene might be familiar
Time Out London •

Queer London DJs curate your ultimate Pride playlist

London Pride is finally here! And what do the LGBTQ+ community do best? A night out on the tiles, of course. London has literally tonnes of incredible queer clubs and club nights, and let’s not forget that dance music genres like House, Disco and Acid House originated from the LGBTQ+ scene. So we asked five of London’s best queer DJs to recommend some absolute essential bangers for an epic Pride night out in the capital. Grab the speaker, pour yourself a G&T and whack these on before heading out
Time Out United Kingdom •

Stripteases, projectile vomiting and ambulances: has brunch gone too far?

‘You’re looking like a real New Yorker now,’ the chipper waiter tells my friend, giving her a knowing nod as he pours her fourth mimosa of the day. It’s barely past midday, but we’re glassy-eyed and swaying in our seats at a new restaurant-slash-bar-slash-club in north London, Destiny’s Child pounding in the background. And yes, we’re drunk.

It’s a scene we all know well. You’ve just sunk as many bloody marys you can humanly fit in your stomach, stumbling out onto the street at 2pm. The afterno
Time Out London •

King Charles who? Meet the alternative kings of London

In case you hadn't heard, Britain is getting a new monarch. But we've had enough of old sausage fingers for the time being, frankly. So we sat down with London’s royalty, who rule over the realms of theatre, drag, music and... Peckham. These kings of the capital are dripping in charisma, smarts and pzazz. Charlie boy better watch his back, lest they supplant him from the throne. Long live the alternative King(s)!

‘My grandfather was the pearly king of Mile End and his father was the Coster King
Time Out London •

The story of The Black Sheep Bar in Croydon: an unlikely spiritual home of dubstep

Put on your best bass face and point your gun fingers: this is the story of dubstep in CR0

Picture the scene: a dingy nightclub in Zone 5 that you’ve queued for two hours to get in to. In the booth, a snapback-sporting DJ blasting out wobbly basslines that are so powerful you can feel your face vibrating. The air is thick with sweat and your £2.10 pint of Carlsberg is warm in your hand. The year is 2010. This is Croydon, this is The Black Sheep Bar and this is the heyday of dubstep.

We know, w
Time Out United Kingdom •

How Cornwall went to war with Greggs (again)

A woman in a white cap and floury black apron is looking at me with disapproval. ‘No comment,’ she says firmly, when I ask her about the new Greggs that’s opened in Truro. A customer waiting for her order inhales sharply when she overhears my question. ‘We don’t want to be involved in anything political,’ the woman behind the counter adds.

She is a pasty-maker at one of Cornwall’s many independent bakeries: a not-all-that-uncommon profession in this part of the world. So when did opening a plac
Time Out London •

Will Elf Bars die in 2023?

2022 had us all riding the vapour wave, but are colourful E-cigs going to stick around into the new year?

Unless you’re still stubbornly self-isolating, chances are you’ve noticed that the UK’s been taken over by colourful sticks emanating puffs of sweet-smelling vapour. Originating from China, the most popular brand of disposable vapes, Elf Bar, comes in flavours like Cotton Candy, Blue Razz Lemonade and Peach Ice, and by the summer of 2022, these rainbow sticks of fruity-flavoured smoke had t
Time Out London •

Who’s Holiday! review: Miz Cracker stars in this naughty festive take on Doctor Seuss

If you’ve always wondered what happed to little Cindy Lou Who after the Grinch stole Christmas, this is the show for you. But be warned: this isn’t the sugary sweet Who of the book; she’s all grown up now, and she’s a Xanax-popping, bong-huffing, slut-dropping ex-convict.

In ‘Who’s Holiday!’, US playwright Matthew Lombardo gives the story of the Grinch a full drag glow-up. It’s a one-woman show, starring ‘Drag Race’ veteran Miz Cracker and directed by Kirk Jameson. As with ‘Wicked’, it’s a chan
Time Out London •

Why's it so hard to get an Uber at the moment?

Why’s it so hard to get a lift? And why do they always cancel? We spoke to cabbies to get to the bottom of London’s problem with ride-hailing apps

Picture the scene: you’ve stumbled out of the club at some godforsaken hour. Eyes blurry, mouth dry, you’re feeling wonkier than a bendy bus. Fumbling for your phone, you book an Uber to come and rescue you. But what’s this? A driver has accepted, but the tiny car on the screen keeps getting further and further away. Eventually, the ride gets cancell
Time Out London •

How London dumped the dating apps

On a Thursday night in London, 600 keen partygoers have gathered at the Steel Yard, a massive venue under the railway arches near Monument. Even though it’s a weeknight, the event is a sell-out. In the toilets, squads of girls gather to gossip, readjust their crop tops and fix their makeup. The night is sponsored by Magnum condoms, and boxes full of their eponymous product line the walls. It’s not long before they’re all gone. Single men skulk in corners, eyeing up women as they arrive. Couples
Time Out United Kingdom •

Life without a living room: how young renters are losing their communal space

Around a third of people aged 20 to 30 in London are having to hang out in their hallways. And the problem is spreading beyond the capital

For two years, I lived in a houseshare with four other people. We had five bedrooms, one kitchen, two toilets, but no living room. The seemingly barbaric layout of our house was thanks to our landlady who decided to make the most of her property, a former council house on an estate near Camden, and convert the first-floor lounge into a large bedroom. Granted
Time Out London •

Printworks might stay open as a clubbing venue

There could be a significant reprieve for the south London club following huge public outrage at its closure

The beloved venue Printworks will live to fight another day, as plans to shut down the south London nightlife institution for good might be shelved due to a massive public backlash.

that Printworks would be closing to be developed into offices in July this year. The huge industrial venue is in the middle of British Land’s redevelopment of Canada Water, and plans were approved to transfo
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Features

Time Out London •

These photos capture the nostalgic world of London’s niche gaming venues

Where do you go in London if you’re really into gaming? From Soho’s Las Vegas arcade, to an underground Japanese games centre in Manor House and an E-sports bar on Cally Road, the capital has a whole world of venues for games buffs that might not be obvious to the unknowing passer-by. But for those savvy to the scene, the Big Smoke’s gaming shops and arcades can be a gateway into a vibrant and tight-knit community.
Whether they’re sweating it out on the Dance Dance Revolution machine, or battli...
Time Out London •

King Charles who? Meet the alternative kings of London

In case you hadn't heard, Britain is getting a new monarch. But we've had enough of old sausage fingers for the time being, frankly. So we sat down with London’s royalty, who rule over the realms of theatre, drag, music and... Peckham. These kings of the capital are dripping in charisma, smarts and pzazz. Charlie boy better watch his back, lest they supplant him from the throne. Long live the alternative King(s)!

‘My grandfather was the pearly king of Mile End and his father was the Coster King
Time Out London •

The story of The Black Sheep Bar in Croydon: an unlikely spiritual home of dubstep

Put on your best bass face and point your gun fingers: this is the story of dubstep in CR0

Picture the scene: a dingy nightclub in Zone 5 that you’ve queued for two hours to get in to. In the booth, a snapback-sporting DJ blasting out wobbly basslines that are so powerful you can feel your face vibrating. The air is thick with sweat and your £2.10 pint of Carlsberg is warm in your hand. The year is 2010. This is Croydon, this is The Black Sheep Bar and this is the heyday of dubstep.

We know, w
Time Out United Kingdom •

How Cornwall went to war with Greggs (again)

A woman in a white cap and floury black apron is looking at me with disapproval. ‘No comment,’ she says firmly, when I ask her about the new Greggs that’s opened in Truro. A customer waiting for her order inhales sharply when she overhears my question. ‘We don’t want to be involved in anything political,’ the woman behind the counter adds.

She is a pasty-maker at one of Cornwall’s many independent bakeries: a not-all-that-uncommon profession in this part of the world. So when did opening a plac
Time Out London •

Will Elf Bars die in 2023?

2022 had us all riding the vapour wave, but are colourful E-cigs going to stick around into the new year?

Unless you’re still stubbornly self-isolating, chances are you’ve noticed that the UK’s been taken over by colourful sticks emanating puffs of sweet-smelling vapour. Originating from China, the most popular brand of disposable vapes, Elf Bar, comes in flavours like Cotton Candy, Blue Razz Lemonade and Peach Ice, and by the summer of 2022, these rainbow sticks of fruity-flavoured smoke had t
Time Out London •

Why's it so hard to get an Uber at the moment?

Why’s it so hard to get a lift? And why do they always cancel? We spoke to cabbies to get to the bottom of London’s problem with ride-hailing apps

Picture the scene: you’ve stumbled out of the club at some godforsaken hour. Eyes blurry, mouth dry, you’re feeling wonkier than a bendy bus. Fumbling for your phone, you book an Uber to come and rescue you. But what’s this? A driver has accepted, but the tiny car on the screen keeps getting further and further away. Eventually, the ride gets cancell
Time Out London •

How London dumped the dating apps

On a Thursday night in London, 600 keen partygoers have gathered at the Steel Yard, a massive venue under the railway arches near Monument. Even though it’s a weeknight, the event is a sell-out. In the toilets, squads of girls gather to gossip, readjust their crop tops and fix their makeup. The night is sponsored by Magnum condoms, and boxes full of their eponymous product line the walls. It’s not long before they’re all gone. Single men skulk in corners, eyeing up women as they arrive. Couples
Time Out United Kingdom •

Life without a living room: how young renters are losing their communal space

Around a third of people aged 20 to 30 in London are having to hang out in their hallways. And the problem is spreading beyond the capital

For two years, I lived in a houseshare with four other people. We had five bedrooms, one kitchen, two toilets, but no living room. The seemingly barbaric layout of our house was thanks to our landlady who decided to make the most of her property, a former council house on an estate near Camden, and convert the first-floor lounge into a large bedroom. Granted
Time Out London •

Is it just us or… is London covered in rubbish?

‘This rat just hurled out of the bin bag and jumped really high,’ says Oliver from the Rats out of SE5 Instagram account. ‘It looked massive, so at first I was like, “Oh my God has someone thrown a kitten in a bag?” But then I realised it was a rat. I was disgusted.’

Oliver, who preferred to remain anonymous because of his job, has lived next to Camberwell Green for the past three years. Over the summer, he noticed an insurgence of vermin running riot in the area. ‘It's suddenly got crazy,’ he
Huck Magazine •

“It’s one big boys club”: the women reclaiming graffiti culture

In its early days, graffiti-writing meant scaling walls to get into abandoned buildings, walking along train tracks in the dead of night, and battling with other writers to gain notability. Influenced by the originators from 1970s New York, the UK graffiti scene began to take its own form. But from the get-go, men dominated proceedings, with women writers few and far between.

In her 2001 book, The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York, ethnographer Nancy Ma
Time Out London •

Caia | Restaurants in Ladbroke Grove, London

Caia is a tale of two venues. The upstairs room of this new Notting Hill restaurant and wine bar gives off an air of sophistication, with chic bar stools to perch on and floor-to-ceiling bottles. But there’s a clear vibe shift when you walk downstairs to the basement. Suddenly you’re at a ’70s house party, with kitschy-cool velvet seating, chandeliers and even a disco ball. And here’s the kicker: on the far wall is a massive vintage record stand, bedecked with retro vinyl and three turntables. T
Time Out London •

Why the f*ck is there so much burrata everywhere?

The white cheese blob is now ubiquitous on London restaurant menus, so we went to find out exactly why

‘Burrata is a product that is suitable for travelling,’ declares Simona di Vietri, founder of La Latteria, a burrata-maker in west London. ‘Would you ship bread made in France to Australia?’

Simona is referring to the thousands of burratas that are packed into vans every day and shipped from cheesemaking factories in Italy to locations all over the world, many of which are wolfed down by us B
Time Out London •

20 things London still does better than anywhere else

Tins and tings. Here’s all the stuff we are greater at than every other city in the world

We’ve got over 3,000 public green spaces in London, and if there’s one thing they’re good for, it’s cracking open a few cans and gorging on ‘picky bits’ with your mates. During lockdown in 2020, Londoners were so desperate for a knees-up that park boozing got alcohol temporarily banned from London Fields. A proud boast, indeed.

The voyage to a day festival in London is an epic pilgrimage. Hundreds of buck
Time Out London •

How to help the people of Ukraine if you’re living in London

Practical things you can to do to support

Russian president Vladimir Putin has launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine, sending in military forces by air, land and sea. Ukraine is at war and people around the world are looking for ways to show their support for the nation. If you want to help the Ukrainians and you’re living in London, here are some practical things you can do.

Donating money to charities working on the ground is probably the most effective thing you can do to directly help th
Time Out London •

Bando Belly burned down and there’s a GoFundMe to save it

suffered a tragedy last week after a fire destroyed the restaurant’s kitchen. The blaze was sparked by a malfunctioning fuse box which exploded early in the morning on Wednesday May 11.

One of the co-founders, Naz Ramadan, has started a GoFundMe to help rally support to restore the beloved venue in . So far she has raised £1,723 of the £10,000 goal.

‘I've been cheffing it up for ten years and poured my heart into Peckham’s Bando Belly for the last year. On Wednesday, I woke up to the news that
Time Out London •

London buses have gone purple to celebrate the Jubilee

If Londoners didn’t already have enough reasons to be excited about the Platinum Jubilee, TfL has launched a number of London buses in a regal shade of purple to mark the occasion. The eight double-deckers were released on Friday May 13 and are covered in a snazzy Cadbury-coloured wrap.

If you live outside Zone 1 like the rest of us commoners, you’ll have to make a pilgrimage to central London to spot one of the majestic vehicles as they’re exclusively parading along ‘royal routes’, going past
Time Out London •

Chabuddy G is hosting a meat-free pop up in London this week

The rise and rise of plant-based comfort food in London has been noticed by all. Aimed at all parties – vegans, vegetarians, carnivores who fancy eating a bit less meat – there has been an explosion of this top, but ethical, scran in recent years and we have tucked in like everyone else. But now a most exciting thing is happening: the real American deal, meat-free company Impossible Foods, is hosting its first ever UK event. Lovers of the fake animal products have been waiting a long time for th
Time Out London •

Dreamachine is London's trippy new immersive experience

Apparently it can make you hallucinate with sounds and lights

A trippy new immersive experience has come to London. Running at Woolwich Public Market, ‘Dreamachine’ uses sounds and lights to make you hallucinate, tapping into the ‘limitless potential of the human mind’ – that’s right, no illicit substances are involved. It’s also completely free. Sounds like a wild ride, right? Strap in.

What actually is the titular machine?

It’s essentially a big box with flashing lights and loud music. Thin
Time Out London •

Big Ben is officially the UK’s most-photographed building

It turns out that people love snapping pics of Big Ben, as it’s been revealed as the most photographed building in the UK. And thanks to the old boy’s £79.7 million makeover that was finished earlier this year, we can see why.

This is according to new data from art and design gallery Singulart. By looking at Britain’s 40 most popular pieces of architecture and then cross-referencing with the relevant Instagram tags, Singulart was able to work out which buildings our cameras love the most by usi
Time Out London •

We have burning questions about the London Eye Jubilee pod

The London Eye is one of the capital's undeniably iconic tourist attractions. And to celebrate ol’ Lizzie’s Platinum Jubilee on June 2-5, the Eye's organisers have created a brand new pod experience, dedicated to our longest-reigning monarch.

We’ve had a gander at what is being billed as ‘The Queen’s Head’, ostensibly designed to be a traditional 1950s pub, soaring 135m over London, and the decor is… a lot.

A zip around on The Queen’s Head will set you back £60, which will include not one but
Time Out London •

The route for London's naked bike ride has been released

Earlier this week we received the news that London is going to be graced by not one, not two, but And for those of us itching to strip down to our birthday suits, World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) who organises the event has just released the routes.

Taking place on June 11, there will be start points at various London locations. For the hardiest cyclists, kicking off in Croydon is the longest route at just over 20 miles. The pants-free fun starts from 11am at 233 Shirley Church Road, and cyclists c
Time Out London •

Tesco is launching a co-working space in a supermarket

The first one is coming to New Malden

Have you ever been in Tesco and thought: wouldn’t the vegetable aisle be the perfect place to hold the morning meeting? Nope, us neither. But ‘hybrid working’ took on a new meaning this week when Tesco launched a new co-working space. You can now pick up your carrots and emails in one place. We just can’t believe this wasn’t invented sooner.

Later this month, the first workspace will open at Tesco Extra in New Malden. The 3,800 sq ft mezzanine will include
Time Out London •

A ‘baby bank’ is coming to Hackney for families in need

Parents can pick up toys, clothes and other essentials for their kids

We’re all worrying about the cost-of-living crisis. Sadly, rising prices mean that for some families, affording essentials has become a big issue. Parents are having to make tough decisions about how to spend their money – something that shouldn’t be a problem in one of the most economically developed countries in the world. But if there’s one thing Londoners do well, it’s banding together to give a helping hand to people in
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Reviews

Time Out London •

Who’s Holiday! review: Miz Cracker stars in this naughty festive take on Doctor Seuss

If you’ve always wondered what happed to little Cindy Lou Who after the Grinch stole Christmas, this is the show for you. But be warned: this isn’t the sugary sweet Who of the book; she’s all grown up now, and she’s a Xanax-popping, bong-huffing, slut-dropping ex-convict.

In ‘Who’s Holiday!’, US playwright Matthew Lombardo gives the story of the Grinch a full drag glow-up. It’s a one-woman show, starring ‘Drag Race’ veteran Miz Cracker and directed by Kirk Jameson. As with ‘Wicked’, it’s a chan
Time Out London •

Rotorious review

Decent chips and gravy are something you can rarely get in London. Northerners who’ve migrated south often bemoan the capital’s serious lack of the good sauce to slather on your spuds, which is typically confined to northern chippies or KFC. Although chips and gravy aren’t the main item on the menu at Rotorious, it's certainly worth going there to scoff them.

Heading up Rotorious, the new audaciously named rotisserie chicken joint at Market Stalls in Peckham, are brothers Adam and Sam Reid, nei
Time Out London •

Caia | Restaurants in Ladbroke Grove, London

Caia is a tale of two venues. The upstairs room of this new Notting Hill restaurant and wine bar gives off an air of sophistication, with chic bar stools to perch on and floor-to-ceiling bottles. But there’s a clear vibe shift when you walk downstairs to the basement. Suddenly you’re at a ’70s house party, with kitschy-cool velvet seating, chandeliers and even a disco ball. And here’s the kicker: on the far wall is a massive vintage record stand, bedecked with retro vinyl and three turntables. T
Square Mile •

Hackney Coterie brings new flavours to the heart of East London

Hidden away under the railway arches by Hackney Downs station, this unassuming spot is home to a vibrant new restaurant.

Calling itself a modern brasserie, the restaurant and wine bar is not defined by one cuisine, although hints of modern British and Asian run throughout. Hackney Coterie is founded by two friends, Anthony Lyon running front of house and sommelier Kelvin McCabe.

With exposed brick, hanging plants and colourful Basquiat-esque art, we’re definitely in East London. A giant pop-ar

News

Time Out London •

Printworks might stay open as a clubbing venue

There could be a significant reprieve for the south London club following huge public outrage at its closure

The beloved venue Printworks will live to fight another day, as plans to shut down the south London nightlife institution for good might be shelved due to a massive public backlash.

that Printworks would be closing to be developed into offices in July this year. The huge industrial venue is in the middle of British Land’s redevelopment of Canada Water, and plans were approved to transfo
Time Out London •

A statue of the Queen may be put on the Fourth Plinth

The Trafalgar Square spot has become famous for hosting some challenging contemporary art

To commemorate the Queen after her death, it has been suggested that a statue of our longest-reigning monarch could occupy a permanent position on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth.

The idea has been spinning around London’s rumour mill for years, with former London Mayor Ken Livingstone first mentioning the statue of Her Majesty back in 2013. The proposed sculpture will show Queen Elizabeth II on horsebac
Time Out London •

London Underground has banned busking until after the Queen's funeral and people aren't happy

If your commute is usually backed by the sound of singer-songwriters strumming their guitars, you can expect to trudge through the tunnels of London Underground in silence for the next week. In light of the Queen’s death on Thursday (September 8), TfL has decided to ban busking on the underground until after her funeral. However many musicians are concerned about what this means for their income.

This comes as part of a that has seen everything including football, community events and club nigh
Time Out London •

A corner shop opposite Battersea Power Station is selling £3,000 wine

Among the essentials you usually pick up from the local cornershop like toothpaste, pints of milk and late-night Tiskies, you wouldn’t expect to see truffle and caviar. But for the bougie of residents in SW11, this is apparently completely normal, as the cornershop in the new Battersea Power Station complex is selling some extremely extravagant items, including a bottle of 2007 Petrus for a cool £3,000.

Nestled inside a padlocked and temperature-controlled ‘Fine Wines’ cabinet, the red is one o
Time Out London •

Why Stoke Newington flooded so badly yesterday

Yesterday, after a week of immense heat, Stoke Newington saw some unreal scenes after torrential rainfall caused flash flooding. Chaos ensued as water gushed on to roads, pavements and parks, flooding local shops, pubs and homes.

Yesterday the Met Office put out an amber weather warning across London and parts of south-east England, meaning that there could be a threat to life. It warned there were likely to be floods, power cuts and travel disruptions.

Amber Middleton is a manager at The Thre
Time Out London •

This beautiful London café has been forced to close after 60 years

Islington’s Alpino Cafe is leaving its home because of what it calls its ‘greedy’ landlord

The latest casualty of gentrification and London’s spiralling rents comes in the form of a beloved Islington greasy spoon, Alpino Cafe, which is having to move, its owner citing a ‘greedy’ landlord.

The family-run Italian-English joint on Chapel Market opened in 1959, and ever since has supplied the area with hearty fry-ups, plates of pasta, kippers and chicken escalopes that are synonymous with the Angl
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The team behind Printworks are opening a new club in east London

They’ve just announced the line-ups for the first nights

With the news last week that Printworks will be closing down and be turned into offices, Londoners were devastated to see another beloved electronic music venue bite the dust. Luckily we haven’t retired our Air Maxes just yet, because the people behind the Surrey Quays music mecca are opening a brand new club in east London.

A collaboration between Broadwick Live (Printworks, Tobacco Docks) and LWE (Junction 2), The Beams will be based i
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An anticolonial statue will occupy the Fourth Plinth

Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth is getting a new occupant, and this time they’re giving the old white dudes a rest, as the statue will celebrate John Chilembwe, an anticolonial hero and baptist who was killed in an uprising in

Samson Kambalu, a Malawian artist and associate professor of fine art at Oxford, has created the sculpture, called ‘Antelope’. It will be unveiled in September and is the fourteenth contemporary artwork to be commissioned for display in the historic location.

‘Antelope’
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Canary Wharf has launched a new open air swimming venue

Wave to the bankers as you perfect your butterfly

Attention all you wild swimmers and water nymphs, because London’s got a brand new outdoor swimming venue. It’s found in the very wild natural beauty area of Canary Wharf.

Jokes aside, this new spot seems pretty swanky and the epitome of urban swimming. Against the backdrop of One Canada Square and Newfoundland tower block, Middle Dock, a 220-year-old former dock, is now open for seven days a week until the end of September.

You can launch you
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Asda has started security tagging butter

The cost of living crisis has come for dairy, as shoppers this week were dismayed to find Lurpak’s spreadable butter is being hawked in some supermarkets for an insane £9.

The butter is now so outrageously expensive that Asda has security tagged it. And it’s not just butter, as Aldi and Co-op have also been spotted tagging blocks of cheddar and packs of lamb chops.

In Iceland, it’s currently £9.35 for 1kg of Lurpak, while in Tesco it’s £8.98. The cheapest pack of Lurpak was found at Co-op wher
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How to help the people of Ukraine if you’re living in London

Practical things you can to do to support

Russian president Vladimir Putin has launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine, sending in military forces by air, land and sea. Ukraine is at war and people around the world are looking for ways to show their support for the nation. If you want to help the Ukrainians and you’re living in London, here are some practical things you can do.

Donating money to charities working on the ground is probably the most effective thing you can do to directly help th
Time Out London •

Bando Belly burned down and there’s a GoFundMe to save it

suffered a tragedy last week after a fire destroyed the restaurant’s kitchen. The blaze was sparked by a malfunctioning fuse box which exploded early in the morning on Wednesday May 11.

One of the co-founders, Naz Ramadan, has started a GoFundMe to help rally support to restore the beloved venue in . So far she has raised £1,723 of the £10,000 goal.

‘I've been cheffing it up for ten years and poured my heart into Peckham’s Bando Belly for the last year. On Wednesday, I woke up to the news that
Time Out London •

Dreamachine is London's trippy new immersive experience

Apparently it can make you hallucinate with sounds and lights

A trippy new immersive experience has come to London. Running at Woolwich Public Market, ‘Dreamachine’ uses sounds and lights to make you hallucinate, tapping into the ‘limitless potential of the human mind’ – that’s right, no illicit substances are involved. It’s also completely free. Sounds like a wild ride, right? Strap in.

What actually is the titular machine?

It’s essentially a big box with flashing lights and loud music. Thin
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We have burning questions about the London Eye Jubilee pod

The London Eye is one of the capital's undeniably iconic tourist attractions. And to celebrate ol’ Lizzie’s Platinum Jubilee on June 2-5, the Eye's organisers have created a brand new pod experience, dedicated to our longest-reigning monarch.

We’ve had a gander at what is being billed as ‘The Queen’s Head’, ostensibly designed to be a traditional 1950s pub, soaring 135m over London, and the decor is… a lot.

A zip around on The Queen’s Head will set you back £60, which will include not one but
Time Out London •

London is hosting three naked bike rides this summer

Get ready for pants-free fun. No, not that kind of fun! It’s a bike ride.

Picture this: it’s a beautiful summer’s day, you’re zooming through the streets of London on your fixie, wind in your hair. But that’s not the only place you can feel a breeze. You look down, and you’re completely naked. But it’s not embarrassing, it’s liberating. You’re surrounded by a sea of bare bottoms, gloriously jiggling around the city’s streets.

That’s right, it’s time for the (WNBR). And nudies rejoice, because
Prude •

Kink and fetish clubs in East London under threat of being shut down by the council

Earlier this month, Tower Hamlets council contacted venues E1 and Colour Factory, which host Klub Verboten and Crossbreed, two of London’s most popular sex positive, LGBTQIA+ friendly fetish club nights. The council threatened the venues with legal action in an attempt to prohibit “nudity and semi-nudity” at nightclubs in the borough, by invoking “archaic” laws that would require attendees to be clothed at nighttime venues.

Founded in 2016, Klub Verboten is London’s largest kink community and c

Listicles

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The funniest reactions to the London heatwave so far

London is in meltdown, literally. In this country we’re not really equipped for any kind of extreme weather. Tarmac is bubbling, trains are cancelled and the Queen’s Guards are still wearing their furry hats and wool jackets. In 40C heat, with air con, our city’s been thrown into utter chaos.

Despite the weather giving us all a feeling of impending doom, we wouldn’t be Brits if we didn’t approach the frankly terrifying heatwave with our signature sarcasm and deadpan wit. On Twitter, every man,
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20 things London still does better than anywhere else

Tins and tings. Here’s all the stuff we are greater at than every other city in the world

We’ve got over 3,000 public green spaces in London, and if there’s one thing they’re good for, it’s cracking open a few cans and gorging on ‘picky bits’ with your mates. During lockdown in 2020, Londoners were so desperate for a knees-up that park boozing got alcohol temporarily banned from London Fields. A proud boast, indeed.

The voyage to a day festival in London is an epic pilgrimage. Hundreds of buck
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10 great ways to take part in London Craft Week 2022

London Craft Week is back this week, with makers and creatives across the city celebrating all things crafty from Monday May 9 to Sunday May 15. If you want to discover a hidden talent or learn from experts in their field, there are loads of workshops, exhibitions and talks to choose from. Whether it’s spectacle-making, wine-tasting or knitting, we’ve rounded up our top picks for you to help you have a really fun crafternoon.

Make your own spectacles with Cubitts

Make the kind of glasses that
Square Mile •

Ten brilliant looks from Harry Styles

Often hailed as one of the most fashionable men on the planet, it seems that Harry Styles’s fashion knows no limits.

Fabulously flamboyant and not afraid to play by his own rules, Harry Styles has secured himself a place in the highest echelons of fashion.

Styles is Gucci’s darling, has hosted the Met Gala, and was the first man to appear solo on the cover of American Vogue.

As the singer gears up to release his highly anticipated third album Harry's House, Square Mile looks back on his best
Square Mile •

The best pubs in Camden

Ah Camden – a mecca for rock music, markets and late-night revelry. And tourists. Lots of tourists.

But don’t be put off by the crowds as Camden serves up some of the best pubs that London has to offer.

There’s vast diversity of choice – whatever your drinking needs, Camden will have the pub for you. These are boozers once frequented by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Oasis and even Charles Dickens.

For the best beer gardens, Sunday roasts and musician haunts, we've selected our favourite pubs in
Square Mile •

The best cocktail bars in Soho

If there’s one thing Soho isn’t lacking, it’s cocktail bars. But how to choose the best ones?

Our comprehensive list helps you avoid tourist traps serving watered-down Cosmos, and leads you straight to the best cocktails bars in Soho.

As you stumble out onto Dean Street in the wee hours of the morning, you’ll have ingested some of the finest cocktails that Soho has to offer – and maybe even have room for a nightcap.

Whether you’re looking to sip Cantonese spirits in Chinatown, taste London’s

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