By: Steve Dinneen

Life&Style Editor I'm the editor of City A.M. The Magazine, and editor of the daily newspaper's Life&Style section. We cover food, wine, going out, culture, technology and travel. I'm also the head judge of our Toast the City awards that celebrates hospitality in the Square Mile. Find me on X @steve_dinneen

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Ibai review: This Basque restaurant is one of the best of the year

October 9, 2024

Creating a vibe is a tricky business. You can have the most beautiful dining room in the world and somehow end up with a tragic, inexplicable lack of vibes, even slipping into negative vibe territory, actively sucking the spirit out of your diners (see: Brasserie Zedel). On the other hand, you can have a brutalist [...]
Why Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is the most fascinating city in Europe

October 7, 2024

Towering over the Georgian capital of Tbilisi is Mtatsminda Park, a Soviet-era fairground and gardens set atop a craggy hill. Accessed by a funicular railway, you will find a host of terrifying, creaky old amusement rides, including the 65-metre-high Giant Wheel, which seems to bow outwards over the edge of a sheer cliff. Dotted around [...]
Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit at Tate Modern – a house of horrors

October 3, 2024

Were you to stumble upon the works of Mike Kelley in, say, an abandoned warehouse rather than the galleries of the Tate Modern, you would fear for your safety, if not your sanity. Strolling through works collected from the late 1970s up until Kelley’s suicide in 2012 is like happening upon the headquarters of some [...]
Cush Jumbo: On playing Hamlet and choosing which cake to eat

October 3, 2024

There are two types of people: those who already know about Cush Jumbo, one of the finest British actors of her generation, and those who are soon to find out. The star of wildly successful TV shows including The Good Wife, Criminal Record and Deadwater Fell, Jumbo cemented her A-List credentials when she became the [...]
Airpods 4 review: ANC takes Apple’s buds to the next level

October 1, 2024

Of all the iconic products Apple has launched – at least visually speaking – the first generation of white, wired earbuds must be up there. I can still picture that ad campaign with silhouetted figures dancing against splashes of colour; wearing a pair marked you out as an iPhone enjoyer at a time when Apple [...]
A Face in the Crowd at Young Vic: Elvis Costello musical hits a dud note

September 26, 2024

How do you satirise populism, a system that seems beyond satire, that exists on a plane divorced from embarrassment, where no gaffe is too big or lie too outrageous? A Face in the Crowd just sort of muddles through, referencing events without dissecting them, pointing out problems but offering no hints at a solution. It’s [...]
Abigail’s Party review: Mike Leigh drama brought sensually to life

September 13, 2024

Abigail’s Theatre at Stratford East Theatre – ★★★★☆ In Mike Leigh’s early play Abigail’s Party, almost nothing happens: even the titular shindig takes place next door. Instead, saucy old soak Beverly – impeccably, outrageously played by a sensual and sozzled Tamzin Outhwaite – has gathered a smattering of neighbours for a far more intimate soiree. [...]
Best London spa: Hoxton’s Banya No.1 is unlike anywhere else

September 12, 2024

When was the last time you were laid out naked in an enclosed space, whipped with hot leaves and then dropped into a tub of freezing water?
The Debate: Wetherspoons – is it magical or miserable?

September 12, 2024

Wetherspoons, JD Wetherspoon, or Spoons as most of us call it. Should we be proud or ashamed?
The Real Thing play review: Wonderfully, expertly pointless

September 4, 2024

The Real Thing | The Old Vic | ★★★★☆ | The term “staginess” is usually meant as an insult but there’s a wonderful staginess to Tom Stoppard’s play of ideas The Real Thing. It’s a twisty, unabashedly academic drawing room drama in which it’s never quite clear whether the room in question is a real place [...]

Franco Manca and Real Greek owner slumps to £14m loss as boss quits

Brentford in talks to host Shakhtar Donetsk Champions League fixtures

New City venue rethinks competitive socialising… again

By: Steve Dinneen

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