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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Alta review: Serious Spanish food amid the Carnaby crowds

January 28, 2026

Alta, Kingly Ct, Carnaby, W1B 5PW | Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus With its jolly pink furniture and candy-striped awnings, Kingly Court has an air of unreality. It’s a Disneyfied version of what food culture might look like if it were imagined by a private equity firm, a place designed to house tourists grappling with their disappointment [...]
London’s top gastropub revealed: Has your favourite made the cut?

January 27, 2026

Piccadilly Guinness emporium the Devonshire has been voted the best gastropub in the country, with the capital dominating the list. The Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs awards saw the Devonshire usurp last year’s winner The Unruly Pig in Suffolk, which fell to second place. The Red Lion and Sun in Islington took the final place [...]
DakaDaka review: The comfort food we all need right now

January 27, 2026

DakaDaka, 10 Heddon Street, W1B 4BX | Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus Heddon Street has developed its own culinary microclimate. Whether by luck or design, it has become a place where you can almost guarantee a decent plate of food, with its current crop of restaurants including Sabor (superlative Spanish), Fonda (respectable Mexican) and Casa do [...]
Paranormal Activity brings thrills and scares to London stage

January 15, 2026

Paranormal Activity | ★★★★☆ | Ambassador’s Theatre Given the endless churn of lacklustre sequels, it’s easy to forget just how scary the original Paranormal Activity was. A found footage successor to The Blair Witch Project, it brought the same flavour of supernatural horror into a chillingly recognisable domestic setting that could be your own home. [...]
Galvin La Chapelle launches menu to celebrate Toast award

January 15, 2026

I have written about restaurants for this newspaper for some 15 years – but my latest visit to City institution Galvin La Chapelle was a first: reviewing a menu designed to celebrate winning a City AM award. Last year we hosted the first Toast the City awards, celebrating the things that make the Square Mile [...]
The 100 most at risk pubs in London – is your local under threat?

January 13, 2026

The most at risk pubs in London have been revealed by a new website that calculates how proposed changes to rates could affect the hospitality industry. New website ismypubfucked.com uses official data from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to identify which pubs will be most affected by the proposed increases to the business rates. The [...]
We reveal England’s most ‘fucked’ pub thanks to Is My Pub Fucked

January 9, 2026

A new website called Is My Pub Fucked (ismypubfucked.com) has been set up to identify the most at risk pubs in the country, ranking them by how “fucked” they are. The website uses official data from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to identify which pubs will be most affected by the proposed increases to the [...]
A Ghost in Your Ear is the scariest show in London

January 9, 2026

A Ghost in Your Ear | ★★★★★ | Hampstead Theatre Theatre has evolved remarkably little over the centuries – plonk Shakespeare in the front row at the Almeida and he’d immediately recognise what’s going on. One area that feels ripe for exploration is the use of audience headphones to introduce another dimension to productions. The [...]
Sheridan Smith dazzles in psychedelic Woman In Mind

January 8, 2026

Woman In Mind | ★★★☆☆ | Duke of York’s Theatre Sheridan Smith’s stage work over the last decade has been a case of art imitating life. In 2016 she pulled out of a run of performances of Funny Girl suffering from anxiety and burnout, triggering a tabloid feeding frenzy. Since then she has led a production [...]
Galvin La Chapelle launches special menu to celebrate Toast Award win

January 8, 2026

Michelin starred City institution Galvin La Chapelle has launched a special new menu to celebrate winning Best Restaurant at the inaugural City AM Toast the City Awards. The Toast & Taste menu, which is on offer until 24 February, will feature a combination of brand new dishes and returning classics from throughout the restaurant’s 15 [...]

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By: Steve Dinneen

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