Wilderness festival review: silliness and beauty combine to offer five-star escapism August 7, 2025 Around a quarter of the people who attended Wilderness festival this year glamped, swerving the surely horrifying idea of pitching their own tent, and they quaffed champagne at banquet feasts and from lakeside hot tubs. There is no getting around it: Wilderness attracts what the festival likes to call a “bouji” crowd (bosses don’t like [...]
This Grease immersive show isn’t the one that I want August 7, 2025 Grease: immersive musical review: ★★ A Titanic experience where you’re aboard the ship as it sinks, the heavily-mocked Elvis show (that I actually loved), a new Traitors experience and similar ones for Squid Game and Friends. Whatever you want to call them, experiences or immersive theatre (categorising these experiences has instigated a fierce debate raging [...]
Goodnight, Oscar review: Will & Grace star Sean Hayes is magnetic August 7, 2025 Goodnight, Oscar review and star rating: ★★★★ It’s fairly obvious why writers turn to televisual ratings to source their intrigue: every scribe knows the pain of having their stories or subjects exploited to reach bigger audiences. File Goodnight, Oscar next to a litany of West End hits on the subject, including Network at the National [...]
Whisky Business: A new era for Scapa August 7, 2025 Whisky Business: Morning Wire’s monthly look at the world of whisky. The Orkney Islands have a special place in the world of whisky. The cool, damp, and often windy climate is considered ideal for a slow and steady maturation process, while pristine water sources permeate the rocky landscapes. Orkney also has an abundance of unique heather-rich [...]
Lotus Evija review: The fastest, most powerful car we’ve driven August 6, 2025 On 11 May 1994, Autocar & Motor magazine published its landmark road test of the McLaren F1. As a wide-eyed and car-obsessed 15-year-old, I spent £1.35 of my pocket money on a copy and devoured every word. ‘What you are about to read is not simply the fastest road test in history,’ trumpeted the opening [...]
Lunchtime tourism: All Hallows by the Tower in Canada August 6, 2025 To get you in the mood for out Toast the City Awards celebrating everything that makes the Square Mile great, we asked a professional tour guide to recommend his favourite City spots. All Hallows By The Tower looks lonely. A dual carriageway cuts her off from the City, and behind her, the Tower of London [...]
Here’s why the Simmons bar was never going to last August 6, 2025 It should have worked. On every level. Millennial pink neon art, reliably late opening hours, chugging cheap cocktails to disco playlists. Who doesn’t like disco playlists? And yet, after taking the “tough decision” to close four bars, Simmons has gone into administration, owing millions to the bank and tax collectors. When Simmons launched in 2013, [...]
UK Heatwave 2.0: 8 best London restaurants with outdoor dining terraces for summer August 6, 2025 These London restaurants have new outdoor dining terraces ready for summer Right then, it’s blistering. The sun is showing up – probably temporarily – so it’s imperative to get outside and celebrate while this UV onslaught lasts. A range of new terraces have launched in time for social season, so no matter your vibe, here [...]
Cupra Terramar review: Golf GTI power in a sporting SUV August 6, 2025 My eagerness to test the new Cupra Terramar (‘Landsea’ if translated from Spanish) was curbed when I realised this mid-size SUV isn’t as amphibious as its name suggests. Still, after hastily cancelling a trip to the Lake District, I pressed the start button and my enthusiasm returned as the familiar – yet increasingly rare – [...]