My stressful night at London’s ultra luxe £1k a night hotel where I found glass in my food Life&Style Glass in my food and someone else’s safe code sent to my room: The £1,000 a night Six Senses London wellness hotel that caused a night of anxiety. By Adam Bloodworth Six Senses’ new Bayswater hotel is one of only a handful in the capital that can command north of a grand per night, putting [...]
Vraic: The Michelin-starred restaurant putting Guernsey on the map restaurants At Vraic, Nathan Davies has created a restaurant worth flying to – and back from – in a single day, writes Carys Sharkey Flying anywhere for lunch is pretty decadent. Flying back the same day is borderline obscene. But Vraic, which opened on Guernsey a year ago, is a restaurant that has muscled its way [...]
Lost Village festival review: is this posher than Wilderness? Life&Style Wilderness in the Cotswolds boasts a nanny service. You won’t be surprised to hear that it is the only music festival in the country to offer such a luxury. Admittedly, there is no such thing at Lost Village, although festival insiders refer to the Lincolnshire based event as the “Wilderness of the north” owing to [...]
Tesco and M&S warn Burnham against Budget tax raid on retailers September 1, 2026 Top supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer have urged Andy Burnham to rule out a Budget tax raid on retailers, warning they are already facing “unsustainable” costs. The Retail Jobs Alliance (RJA), which represents retailers employing more than 1m people, has urged the Prime Minister not to prioritise pubs and bars over high [...]
Barts North Wing would be a worthy Toast Award winner August 27, 2026 Barts North Wing houses the restored Hogarth Stair and Great Hall, a free City landmark up for Toast the City Awards. The public voting for the Toast the City Awards is over but the judges have yet to cast their votes for their favourite bars, restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, cultural venues and more. As the [...]
Wine to buy this week: The very best Pinot Noir on the shelves August 27, 2026 Last week it was Pinot Noir Day and, though I am sorry not to have forewarned you, I can reassure you that I thoroughly celebrated and am able to recommend the best to buy right now. Pinot Noir is known as the ‘Heartbreak Grape’. It is stubborn, unpredictable, sensitive and tantrum-inducingly difficult to grow. Yet [...]
Golf, events and bags of nostalgia at Newport’s Celtic Manor August 26, 2026 There’s something very nostalgic about Celtic Manor. Located a few minutes down the M4 from Newport town centre, it manages to feel entirely remote, an imposing stone building nestled within some 2,000 acres of grounds. Opened in 1982 by Welsh tech tycoon Sir Terry Matthews, once the richest man in the country, Celtic Manor brings [...]
Why The Outer Hebrides is Scotland’s ultimate wellness escape August 26, 2026 Exquisite silence and beautiful beaches in The Outer Hebrides, Scotland’s wildest part I’m floating above luminous purple coral and brilliant white starfish. The water below me is so clear that I can see individual grains of sand and the scales on the fish. One giveaway that I’m not somewhere exotic? I’m wearing a wetsuit and [...]
The Highland tourist tax: Is Scotland pricing out whisky tourists? August 25, 2026 The latest available data from the Scottish Tourism Economic Activity Monitor in Scotland (STEAM) shows that between 2012 and 2024, visitor numbers to the Highlands increased 82 per cent to 9.4m. Spending increased by a similar amount, to £2.1bn. A large share of that is directly linked to the Scotch whisky sector. You’d think, therefore, [...]
Burnham accused of ‘piecemeal’ business rates reform August 24, 2026 Andy Burnham has been accused of taking a “piecemeal” approach to business rates instead of committing to Labour’s manifesto pledge to replace the tax system. The government has launched a review into how business rates bills are calculated for pubs and hotels, but industry bodies have urged the Prime Minister to commit to wholesale reform [...]