Lunchtime Tourism: London’s amazing Temple of Mithras August 20, 2025 The City of London is one fifth Roman. The Londinium that was founded 2000 years ago lasted just over 400 years, and gave us (amongst other things) London’s first private members’ club, The Temple of Mithras. And it’s still here. The Walbrook Club is one of the City’s most exclusive hangouts but right opposite is [...]
Eat, Drink, Sleep, Repeat: The best London and New York restaurants August 20, 2025 Our Toast the City judge Martin Williams gives his bi-weekly opinion on all things dining. This week he splits his time between London and New York. There has been a good amount of excitement in the hospitality sector as of late, with JKS and Dishoom both heading to America on expansion trails. Last weekend I, [...]
Inside Finsbury Circus Gardens, the City’s biggest green space August 20, 2025 Our Toast the City Awards are celebrating the City’s top spots and takes place this October. This week: the redesigned Finsbury Circus Gardens. If the Square Mile were to be designed today, it would feature a lot more green space. It wasn’t until the middle of the last century that architects realised the importance of nature in [...]
Why Artillery Lane is the City of London’s most charming street August 20, 2025 Our Toast the City Awards are celebrating the City’s top spots and takes place this October. This week: the bars and restaurants of Artillery Lane and Passage. Broadgate’s skyscrapers are so tall and imposing that it can feel overwhelming casting your eye upwards. Head from here into the bowels of Victorian London by way of Artillery Lane, [...]
Port Ellen cheers 200th year with Distillers One of One donation August 20, 2025 Last year, after four decades of closure, the iconic Port Ellen distillery reopened its doors just in time for its 200th anniversary. And to celebrate, the distillery has donated a one-of-a-kind bottle to the Distillers One of One auction. The Islay distillery closed in the 1980s, one of many victims of a crash that decimated [...]
Fenomeno! New Lamborghini V12 hypercar revealed in California August 19, 2025 A new limited-edition Lamborghini has taken a bow at Monterey Car Week in California – with a ferocious V12 engine proudly at its heart. Named the Fenomeno, the hybrid hypercar showcases the Italian marque’s future design language, and scales new heights of performance. The Fenomeno also celebrates the 20th anniversary of Lamborghini’s in-house Centro Stile [...]
We Out Here festival review: Dorset isn’t supposed to be this cool August 19, 2025 We Out Here festival programmes a line-up of jazz-inflected music. Its diversity is exciting, says Adam Bloodworth Over fifty festivals have shuttered in the past year. Shockingly, turning a patch of rural grass into a temporary metropolis for the weekend doesn’t chime well with the cost of living crisis. For a midsize event, upfront fees [...]
Why you’re drinking Port all wrong August 19, 2025 It turns out I have been drinking port entirely wrong. For me, this heavy fortified wine has always been something for the winter. A small glass served at room temperature to pair with the Christmas stilton. If anywhere is going to school me on the “how tos” of port then Kopke, the world’s oldest port [...]
The incredible Barbican Centre bar with naughty, late-night energy August 19, 2025 Our Toast the City Awards will celebrate the City’s top spots and takes place this October. This week: the Martini Bar at the Barbican. Think of the Barbican Centre and Brutalist architecture and great sprawling public spaces come to mind. Inside and out, it is more about scope than intimacy, except for the Martini Bar. [...]
Toast the City: Brigadiers is a culinary playground for adults August 19, 2025 To get you in the mood for out Toast the City Awards celebrating everything that makes the Square Mile great, we’re celebrating some of the City’s top spots. This week: Brigadiers. Brigadiers is a strange proposition, a sports bar-cum-Indian barbecue inspired by the wood panelled army bars of the sub-continent but housed in the polished [...]