The London Christmas market with free entertainment and festive food November 7, 2025 The Southbank can feel chaotic at Christmas time, when half of the suburbs rock up to go shopping. There is a way to escape that though: there is a Christmas market with free entertainment, and great food and drink, just a minute from the main drag. Between the Bridges market transforms into Electric Winter for [...]
The 13 best London Christmas carols and services and concerts to book November 6, 2025 If you’ve devoured everything in sight at London’s best Christmas markets, from the Square Mile to the West End, it’s time plan the Christmas carol services you’ll be attending throughout this month and into December. Some in the Square Mile and some beyond, here is our pick of the Christmas carols and services to book [...]
Othello at the Haymarket review: Dastardly Toby Jones delights November 5, 2025 Othello review and star rating: ★★★★ If diversifying the West End feels like slow progress, remember it wasn’t that long ago that accurate representation was barely even a talking point. It was 1997 when David Harewood finally became the first black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre, following a succession of white actors [...]
I love gig tripping – and travel the world to go to festivals November 5, 2025 I’ve had some of my very best travel experiences while gig-tripping. During the summer I love to attend music festivals in Croatia, Italy, France and even Thailand, where last year I went to the Wonderfruit and Fly To The Moon festivals. As well as the good music, going gig-tripping — one of the most significant [...]
Inside the French festival serving incredible wine in a beautiful setting November 4, 2025 Typing this up on Eurostar, I am having to completely rethink what I had planned to include in this week’s column. Rather than writing from my London home and grimacing at the grey outdoors, I had been invited by Alex Watson, part of the Domaine Watson family and co-founder of Renais gin, to escape the [...]
The Capitalist: City AM, sexing up the Budget since 2005 October 30, 2025 INSIDE OUR INAUGURAL SQUARE MILE AWARDSThe Square Mile gathered in force last week to celebrate… the Square Mile. It was our inaugural Toast the City Awards, and gongs were handed out to the City’s best restaurant, bar, green space, rooftop and much more. However, Piccolo Bar, the winners of the best sandwich accolade, weren’t to [...]
The Line of Beauty at the Almeida review: Horny and exceedingly fabulous October 30, 2025 The Line of Beauty at the Almeida review and star rating: ★★★★ Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty is considered alongside The Normal Heart and Angels in America to be one of the seminal queer texts confronting the AIDS pandemic. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2004 but is more interested in queer hedonism [...]
Exclusive: The Old Vic reveals first new performance space in 207 years October 30, 2025 The Old Vic’s co-CEO Laura Stevenson talks to City AM about the theatre’s new ‘Backstage’ development, which includes a new 100-seater theatre, and cafe and restaurant Photo of Laura by Jonny Ruff In The Old Vic theatre’s new 100-seater performance space, modern lighting rigs are fitted inches from wooden ceiling rafters dating back to the [...]
Discovering the real China, with amazing food, incredible scenery and authentic culture October 24, 2025 From City AM The magazine, Autumn edition, with photos by Nicolas Quiniou I love China. There, I said it. Nowhere else I have visited has caused such a ruckus among my friends and family. My departure was marked by a stream of messages warning me to ‘be careful’ and ‘make sure you behave’. At first, [...]
New watches: Our favourite colourful chronos to beat the winter blues October 23, 2025 From London Time, three colourful chronograph watches to beat the winter blues BELL & ROSS BR-X3 NIGHT VISION Looking like something Neo would wear in The Matrix, Paris’s military watchmaker has instead been inspired by head-up displays (HUD) from the cockpits of the Rafale fighter jets, whose pilots they supply. A stealthy case in ‘LUM-CAMO’ [...]