We take a food and drink Odyssey through the Square Mile August 17, 2026 As voting for the Toast the City Awards enters its final week, we sent our wine columnist Libby Brodie on a wine Odyssey through the City’s finest bars and restaurants. Vote for your favourites on our website here. As The Odyssey continues to smash records – it’s now Christopher Nolan’s highest ever grossing film – [...]
These are the best restaurants in the City of London August 11, 2026 Bank is almost unrecognisable from when I began my career here with Gaucho in 2004. Fast forward to today and I am the CEO of the Evolv Collection, overseeing 33 venues, nine of which are in the Square Mile. It’s fair to say I love running restaurants in the heart of London. So when it [...]
Rosslyn Coffee boss James Hennebry tells us the secret to great coffee August 10, 2026 We’re into the final round of voting for the 2026 Toast the City Awards. We’ve been catching up with some of our finalists; today we spoke to Rosslyn Coffee co-founder James Hennebry, who has two of his City locations, Ludgate Circus and London Wall, nominated in the Best Coffee category. To vote for your favourite [...]
Humble Grape is a wine bar like no other: Here’s its origin story August 4, 2026 Is a bar only as good as its origin story? The calibre of the drinks and service are of, of course, of vital importance but it’s the mythos of a place that gives it that je nais se quoi. Humble Grape, one of our Toast the City Awards 2026 Finalists, has one of the best [...]
Martin Williams: My top picks for the Toast the City Awards 2026 July 29, 2026 The Toast the City Awards 2026, for which I am honoured to be a judge, is down to its final stage – the public vote! Now in its second year, the awards give you the chance to celebrate the most amazing places in the Square Mile (and slightly beyond). So to help inspire you to [...]
For Albarino in the City, head to Humble Grape July 29, 2026 Not satisfied with one isolated national grape day, Albarino (or Alvarinho in Portugal) is about to kick off a week’s worth of celebrations from 1 August. This annual event began in the 1950s in Spain as a wine-tasting competition between local winemakers and was later made official, spreading internationally to highlight what makes this grape [...]
Why the Bank of England museum is a one-of-a-kind July 28, 2026 Where else in the country can you walk into a museum and without any guard present, lift a gold bar worth £1.2 million? Welcome to the Bank of England museum, one of the City’s hidden gems. Apart from the gold bar, a reminder of the 400,000 beneath you, the museum is a real treasure house, [...]
Will Ibai take home a Toast the City Award? July 21, 2026 The Finalists have been announced for our second annual Toast the City Awards and we’re thrilled to highlight some of the runners and riders over the coming weeks. Today we’re celebrating the amazing steak restaurant Ibai, which is one of 12 Finalists in the Best Restaurant category. Here’s what our food critic – and Toast [...]
The Square Mile art gallery with amazing free exhibitions July 21, 2026 This Square Mile gallery is hosting free exhibitions throughout the summer You might have noticed a group of twenty-something students and creative types gathering in an art gallery at 130 Fenchurch Street recently – if you’ve wondered what’s going on there, the first bit of good news is you’re welcome to join in too. The [...]
Why Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheatre deserves a Toast Award July 20, 2026 What major London gallery contains the second largest oil painting in the country, pre-Raphaelite masterpieces, mystery paintings, biting political art and an ancient Roman building in the basement? This is The Guildhall Art Gallery, the City’s hidden gem, designed to be “a Collection of Art Treasures worthy of the capital city” when it was built [...]