New car hire app Virtuo sidesteps all the usual pains of London car rentals August 30, 2018 By far the least entertaining part of renting a car is having to stand around inside a hermetically sealed fartbox of a portacabin on the edge of some rainy industrial estate, before a 17-year-old in an oversized suit throws you the keys to an old banger that you suspect was built in East Germany. Recently [...]
Donut County review: A charming and bizarre physics puzzler about a mysterious hole August 29, 2018 Ben Esposito is an indie games developer whose previous works include mysterious-house-in-the-woods simulator What Remains of Edith Finch. A rising star in the industry, he seems drawn towards the abstract. In 2012 he worked on The Unfinished Swan, a PlayStation exclusive in which you exist in a blank white world that only reveals itself as [...]
Working Lunch: Jikoni in Marylebone is an excellent fusion restaurant that feels as cosy as your nan’s kitchen August 29, 2018 Jikoni 21 Blandford Street, W1 WHAT AND WHERE? A cosy, cushion-filled spot in Marylebone that feels more like your nan’s kitchen than a neighbourhood fusion cafe. Jikoni actually means ‘kitchen’ in Swahili and the food reflects the culinary influences of its founder, the food writer-turned-restaurateur Ravinder Bhogal, who was born in Kenya to Indian parents, [...]
Feeling thirsty? London is getting 20 new drinking fountains at train stations and shopping hotspots August 28, 2018 The summer heatwave might be nought but a distant memory now, but if the capital sees the sun again this side of Christmas Londoners will be thankful for 20 new water fountains coming to train stations, shopping centres and museums around the city. Four of the Mayor of London's watering holes (we don't mean pubs) are [...]
Long Weekend: Live like royalty at the incredible gothic Pennsylvania Castle on the Isle of Portland August 24, 2018 In Ian McEwan’s novella On Chesil Beach, a young couple honeymooning on the Devon side of the eponymous 18 mile finger of pebbles have such a massive blowout that they never see each other again. If only they’d been staying at the other end of Chesil Beach, on the Isle of Portland, they would probably [...]
Property of the Week: Find out how much it is to have former prime ministers and BBC presenters as neighbours in Connaught Village August 24, 2018 Most London villages are affluent places that aim to be the best of both worlds. Leafy streets and indie retailers take the beauty and community of rural life, but the school run can be done on foot and the office is half an hour away on the Tube. Albion Street, Hyde Park, £5m Connaught Village [...]
Ryanair will charge you for 10kg hand luggage from November August 24, 2018 Ryanair passengers will have to make do with one item of carry-on baggage from November – unless they want to pay. The reason behind the move is "to eliminate boarding/flight delays", according to the budget airline. Nevertheless, passengers will have to pay £6 to add a 10kg cabin bag to their carry-on, with tickets otherwise [...]
New homes: All the new developments going on sale this weekend, including Help to Buy and Shared Ownership August 24, 2018 New developments on the market this week The Quarry, Bexley From £167,500 for a 50 per cent share of a £335,000 home Part-buy, part-rent 27 new homes in Erith on the border of London and Kent. Around 600 Shared Ownership and Help to Buy homes have been built on the site of a disused quarry [...]
Opinion: Young families are moving out of London at an alarming rate but they may regret it in a few years time August 23, 2018 Young families in their 30s moving out of London escaping the rat race in search of better value, more space and good schools is nothing new. However, what is surprising is the rate at which this exodus in increasing. Net migration out of the capital – people moving out minus people moving in – was [...]
Dinosaur World Live is a chilling prophecy of climate disaster, or it might just be a fun kids’ show about some cool dino-puppets August 23, 2018 Ostensibly a 50-minute long children’s show in which a series of realistically animated and life-size dinosaur puppets stomp around on stage, Dinosaur World Live at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is, beneath the veneer of Jurassic spectacle, an unflinching treatise on the irreversible effects of climate change, and the energy industry’s plundering of the remaining [...]
