Can Newcastle go posh? Our honest review of city’s first five-star hotel Life&Style In a far cry from the late noughties zeitgeist of Geordie Shore, Hotel Gotham offers a fresh brand of sexy that differentiates Newcastle from its MTV days. Once famous as the hangout for characters from that reality show, like Scotty T and Gary ‘the parsnip’ Beadle, Newcastle has quietly been building a higher-end repertoire of [...]
Beetlejuice musical review: I’ve never heard West End fans scream this loud Life&Style Beetlejuice musical review and star rating: ★★★ It’s rare to experience screaming so loud that it feels as if some terrible force is pressing against your eardrums. It happened at Taylor Swift’s show Wembley Stadium and last night at Beetlejuice: The Musical’s West End premiere, where after every song – whether it was good or [...]
Music venues are in dire straits: V&A show asks how we can help Life&Style As the V&A opens its Lost Music Venues exhibition, James Balmont asks we can save the grassroots institutions under threat A trip to the V&A often conjures up images of great Renaissance sculptures, haute couture and centuries-old tapestries – but those patronising the Kensington institution this summer will find something very different. In Lost Music [...]
Inside the radical festival uniting the left and right May 27, 2026 How The Light Gets In – the philosophy festival which returns to London this September – is the best of the 2026 festivals, and offers an unrivalled opportunity for human connection ★★★★★ Picture the scene: Jeremy Corbyn and Reform UK’s head of policy are kicking back together in a field in Wales. Admittedly, they aren’t [...]
Sunshine spritzes! The best rooftop bars in Kensington and Chelsea May 27, 2026 Heatwave chic is now a thing (you heard it here first). So prepare your finery, as we’re off to West London: here are the best rooftop bars in Kensington and Chelsea to book to impress your Square Mile mates. It comes following our recent guides to rooftop bars in the Square Mile and our guide [...]
Jinkx Monsoon’s Judy Garland musical proves drag is serious art May 22, 2026 Jinkx Monsoon’s Judy Garland musical, review and star rating: ★★★★★ Death Drop the Musical cautiously welcomed people back to the theatre in December 2020 with one major claim to fame: that it would be the first all-drag musical. Six years ago, that felt progressive. The musical was good, but it played to drag tropes: it was [...]
This shocking West End play is like Netflix’s Adolescence but live May 21, 2026 Equus play review and star rating: ★★★★ If a psychological drama about a teenager with an erotic fixation on horses sounds controversial, imagine how the idea landed 53 years ago. Peter Shaffer’s Equus is still platforming taboo-breaking conversations around mental health 53 years after its world premiere, which is probably more a criticism of our [...]
This Royal Albert Hall event is a must-book for film lovers May 21, 2026 The ‘Films in Concert’ series is in full-swing at the best venue in London: the Royal Albert Hall. It’s a programme that’s been running for some years now and has been met with much figurative and literal applause. The concept is simple: screen a movie but with the soundtrack deleted – then, have an incredibly [...]
In Other Worlds at the Barbican: Is this what the future looks like? May 21, 2026 In Other Worlds | The Barbican | ★★★★☆ The Barbican seems to have found its groove when it comes to contemporary art, utilising its modernist spaces to create sprawling, immersive exhibitions that couldn’t exist anywhere else. Last year Feel the Sound explored the concept of noise in all of its forms – scientific, spiritual, cultural [...]
Secret Barbican: visit these beautiful parts of the famous building May 19, 2026 I’m not sure anyone can really consider themselves an ‘insider’ at the Barbican. It’s a giant, complex dream of a place, a vision of what a community and a life might be like with creativity at its heart. I’m just lucky enough to be one of the people looking after it for a bit. And [...]