Oxford Street pedestrianisation is a win for London Opinion The pedestrianisation of Oxford Street will create a new a public realm where it is anticipated that people will enjoy the new space, stay longer and spend more, says Andrew Busby The pedestrianisation of Oxford Street is the most radical project to hit the West End in decades. Almost a kilometre of the nation’s high [...]
Prima Facie film review: Cynthia Erivo’s harrowing tear-jerker Life&Style Prima Facie review and star rating: ★★★★ In London, only 3 per cent of reported rapes lead to a suspect being charged. It is a fact so shocking that even people with no interest in the courts recite it. It is the problem that forms the backdrop of Suzie Miller’s very good 2022 play of [...]
High School Musical London review: autumn’s must-book sing-a-long Life&Style High School Musical review and star rating: ★★★★ Musicals have always looked to film and TV for inspiration, and nostalgia is increasingly a driver for commissioners. West End productions of Clueless, The Devil Wears Prada and 50 First Dates have belted their way over from Hollywood, although the announcement of a musical version of High [...]
West End boss urges Healey to curb ‘eye-watering’ business rates October 20, 2026 The West End’s top business chief has urged John Healey to avoid adding to high street firms’ “eye-watering” business rates bills. Writing in City AM, New West End Company chief executive Dee Corsi said the Chancellor must listen to retailers and hospitality businesses who say they “cannot absorb” any more tax hikes. The industry body, [...]
The Cherry Orchard – Harold Pinter Theatre: Kristin Scott Thomas is luminous October 14, 2026 The Cherry Orchard at the Noel Coward Theatre with Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Mangan, review and star rating: ★★★★ Luminous Kristin Scott Thomas is the perfect choice for eccentric, blinkered stateswoman Lyubov Ranevskaya in Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, a mound of gesticulating passion and nostalgic delusion as the broke matriarch being slowly and [...]
Into the Woods, London review: Magical, overwhelming meta musical October 9, 2026 Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim review and star rating: ★★★ Musical theatre can be self-referential, didn’t you know? Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine certainly do. Their Into The Woods maxes out on meta gameplay in this technically brilliant but at times baseless musical that can be terribly proud of itself. A baker and his [...]
Rent musical review: This dated show is admittedly full of bangers October 9, 2026 Rent musical review and star rating: ★★★ It’s pertinently ironic that Rent’s press night coincided with the London Film Festival premiere of Elsinore, Andrew Scott’s remarkably tender AIDS drama. Perhaps in the late-eighties when this musical was conceived, even talking about the epidemic on a stage was politically powerful, even if it were sprinkled as [...]
Wetherspoon boss blasts Soho’s ‘barmy’ vertical drinking crackdown October 4, 2026 JD Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin has blasted Westminster Council’s “barmy” curbs on vertical drinking, which he said are “inhibiting business”. Martin, the chairman of Britain’s best-known pub chain, has waded into a row over the Council’s restrictions on so-called “vertical drinking” in Soho and an effective ban on new pubs and bars in the [...]
Hay Fever review: Richard E Grant is perfect Coward fodder October 2, 2026 Hay Fever review and star rating: ★★★★ Of course, darling: Richard E Grant simply must play David Bliss, the blinkered, posho patriarch at the centre of Noel Coward’s drawing room comedy, Hay Fever. This is how I imagine the casting conversations went, anyway. Shockingly, E Grant – everyone’s favourite aristo-portrayer – has until now never [...]
Burnham urged to boost West End with tax cuts and extra policing September 24, 2026 The West End risks losing its status as one of the world’s best shopping and hospitality destinations without immediate action to cut tax and boost policing, Andy Burnham has been warned. The New West End Company (NWEC), which represents 800 businesses involved in the world-famous district, has urged the government to slash business rates and [...]