We know Croydon has big ideas, angling for a city style makeover New York or Barcelona style but the south London suburb is really going to have to buck up its ideas if it wants to stay ahead of the Zone 1 game - their high street hot spot, Tiger Tiger, was a clear 3 weeks late getting unseasonably festive, having been pipped to the yuletide post by Harrods with its midsummer move to......

Are you getting that tight throated feeling? Is your wallet feeling lighter? Are you panicking because there simply isn't enough time left. Well have no fear ladies and gents Harrods have come to the rescue! Last week the department store opened their Christmas department a whopping 142 days before Xmas. We know it's good to get organised but surely that's a bit ridiculous? We put this to Harrods and a spokesperson told us that, "With......

There are just too many good events around town this week for us to narrow our picks for certain nights. Thus we present you with multiple options and leave that difficult choice to you. In the meantime, we’ll be brushing up on our science fiction in an effort to figure out how to move quickly from event to event. The solution? Teleporting. Clearly. Monday: writLoud returns to RADA tonight. We like this event, as......

David Garrett is "part maverick, part genius, total virtuoso". He's also a dreamboat; unfortunately, at present, a dreamboat in bits over his precious Stradivarius which is also in bits since he fell down some stairs onto his violin case after a concert at the Barbican before Christmas. Smash. Oh dear... We don't know if Barbican wine was to blame. The 290 year old instrument is/was priceless; a priceless jigsaw puzzle right now. Estimates for......

Strictly Come Dancing may be but a glitzy, Christmas twinkle in the memory banks but for all of you that fell in love once more with the heat and hustle of the latin section, Samba Dance Club night at Sadlers Wells is something you need to know about. Starting at 7.15pm with a beginners class (ie you don't need to know ANYTHING) then progressing to intermediate at 8.15pm (for those of you with a......

As we ease out of the austerity, self-denial and penny-pinching of January, so too the arts world comes even further out of its shell. This week sees a whole host of exciting openings. Take your pick; payday's passed and February's just round the corner! Be the first Gilbert and Sullivan's hilarious opera about love, corrupt local government, marriage, executions and heroics, The Mikado comes to the Gielgud Theatre from Wednesday. Alistair McGowan stars as......

A couple of weeks ago our attention was drawn to the London FrontRunners, a running club that somewhat surprisingly had decided to stage their unique version of A Christmas Carol at the Drill Hall. Running and acting not being the most obvious of bedfellows, Londonist decided to find out who or what the FrontRunners really are. We met Graham Kennedy, one of the two Presidents, and Leila Brosnan, a long-standing member, just before they......

Forget the Fourth Plinth, there’s a new art space in town that needs filling. And you don’t have to be an artistic luminary to enter. The Royal Institution has two niches it wants to beautify. The Grade I listed building on Albemarle Street, Mayfair will reopen this summer after a £20 million refurbishment. The lecture hall is already up and running again, but soon we’ll see a bar, restaurant and other features to lure......

Be there first Circus-style theatre comes to London in Afrika! Afrika! opening this week after heavy advertising which has been around for months. Performers from 17 different African nations make up the show; contortionists, acrobatics, jugglers, high-wire acts, musicians, singers, the list goes on. If you're thinking of joining the reported 1.5 million who've seen the show since it launched in Germany in 2005, bear in mind: ticket prices are up with the high......

This is what we have learned whilst you have been browsing through holiday brochures this weekend: A pub in Tottenham with a really bad record for trouble is to be shut down. Londonist can think of a few more that should be… A gang fight at a greengrocers has left one man stabbed to death. A met. policeman accused of killing his wife has been found dead. As has his former mother-in-law. People have......

'Tis the end of panto-season. No more Ross Kemp in Wimbledon, no more Suzanne Shaw at the Barbican - even Ian McKellan has vacated the Old Vic. Soon the time will come when we pine for hairy men in frocks and Technicolor landscapes. However, to ease us gently out of the season, London FrontRunners is putting on two charity performances of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Drill Hall this Sunday 13th January.......

Now Londonist, who has a very good friend who is a shopkeeper, would love to run a ‘how are the mighty fallen’ story around this tale of Sainsburys’ shortcomings and the evils of the food giants. But we thought we’d try something new today…. Not that we are planning to endorse the supermarket ethos in any form, shape or size. Nor are we going to attempt to defend the big orange one. Selling out of......

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home are doing it again; tugging at our heartstrings with a soppy face, melting brown eyes, greying fur and eager to please expression... yes, it's Neil Morrissey - him of Men Behaving Badly infamy - fronting the dogs home's latest adopt a dog campaign. Morrissey led a mass dog walk at the weekend with his own cute rescue pup, Tiggy, to raise awareness of the tragic number of pooches that......

We don't just mean bring out the same old decorations next year and put that box of bath salts away to give to your ageing aunty as you'll be vastly allergic to them. We mean don't let Christmas excess go to waste. Recycle your poor old Christmas tree, garish Christmas cards, hastily torn apart wrapping paper and as much of your larger than usual household waste (could anyone else start a bottle band with......

Right, so you're either saving up to blow the last of the December salary on one helluva NYE out or you're just stony broke after Christmas/sales shopping. Either way, unless you're happy to simply hibernate for the week here are some ideas for New Year jollity on a budget. New Year's Eve: Follow our top tips and gird your loins for the massive fireworks display along the Thames, focusing on the London Eye and......

SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

When this small bit of Londonist launched its IPO this summer, we had no inkling that the economy would soon be in very choppy waters. Since then we’ve seen a bank run, huge corporate losses, and grim warnings across the board. And yet somehow, bankers are still getting huge bonuses, people are still spending money they don’t have, and the rich-poor gap is getting wider and wider. All of this has left us quite......

Most travellers ever on London Underground, 7 December Yesterday was shopping madness Heathrow strike talks have started Olympic strike talk also begins... Catch any Bond this Christmas? Then "For Your Eyes Only" the Imperial War Museum's forthcoming exhibition on the life and work of Ian Fleming and 007 and how any of it was vaguely related to real life war type things is something you may wish to look forward to Image courtesy of......

The Christmas turkey is cold and in sandwiches. A few of us have struggled back to work, carrying surplus chocolate to the office in a desperate attempt to stop our expanding waistlines. Which must mean it's about time to start panicking about what to do on New Year's Eve. Aside from rammed pubs, pricey nightclubs and awkward parties in someone's frontroom, the main focus for London will be squarely on the London Eye. Since......

Well, it’s over for another year. Time to settle down, relax, and get ready for another batch of shopping in the January sales. On TV, Londonist likes: Carmen (BBC2, 13:45-16:25) This just might be the world’s most famous opera, and even if you’re not an opera fan, you’ll definitely recognise some of the songs. From the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, this production features an international cast, impressive sets and live animals. My......

Londonist asks that most pressing of daily concerns: where to go on your lunch break. Here's our look back at the good, the bad and the hungry of 2007. Since starting What’s for Lunch? in May, we have reviewed forty lunch venues throughout London. We tried the arty, the hearty and the terribly farty. We stirred up a bit of controversy with a mildly approving review of an evil hot dog vendor. And, we......

Merry Christmas! (Or, if you’re not so much into the whole Christmas thing, Happy Tuesday!) We hope you’re having a very lovely Christmas day. If you need a break from the family madness, here are a few things you might want to take a peek at. On TV, Londonist likes: Top of the Pops Christmas Special (BBC1, 13:30-4:30)) Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates present this look at the year’s most popular acts – and......

It’s Christmas Eve already? How did that happen? Surely you’re all done your shopping now, so time to reward yourself with a few nice things to watch on TV. On TV, Londonist likes: Jamie at Home Christmas Special (Channel 4, 17:10-18:15) Say what you will about Jamie Oliver, he puts on an entertaining cooking show. And we’re guessing this Christmas episode will be chock full of amazing dishes that will look incredibly simple and......

Hello Jeff! Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum - it's Christmas time! Happy Saint Jesus Day, to almost all of you! And what an event it is - a time for giving, sharing, and taking; a time for thinking about the past, as well as looking forward to the future, all the while contemplating the here and now; a time of remembrance and joy, coupled with inebriation, rage, and light misogyny. And......

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Of course, the best way to do London on the Cheap this week is to visit friends and rellies and plough through their festive supplies of food and drink, play silly games, watch a bit of frothy telly (see Londonist Stays In for top tips) and fall asleep mildly pissed. When you get cabin fever however, here's a few ideas for low level expenditure entertainment that doesn't involve church or carol singing. Christmas Eve:......

Have a nice relaxing Sunday in front of the telly, resting up for that last minute dash at shopping tomorrow. Here are a few options you might want to take a peek at. On TV, Londonist likes: Heston’s Perfect Christmas Dinner (BBC2, 14:45-15:45) If you’re feeling nervous about cooking Christmas dinner, this maybe isn’t the programme for you. You’ll very likely feel intimidated and that your dinner doesn’t match up. But if you want......

It’s almost Christmas! Over the Christmas holidays, we’ll be here every day recommending the best of what’s on television. We’ll do the hard work, slogging through the TV listings, and let you sit back with a nice hot drink and a mince pie. Enjoy! On TV, Londonist likes: Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1, 17:50-19:15 and 21:25-22:10) While we haven’t been keeping up with the excitement of this year’s dancing fun, we know lots of you......

32. The Spirit Of Christmas Christmas ghost stories told by a crackling fire are a rare occurrence in the modern age, so let me chill your spine with a few yarns relating to festive phantoms of the wintry city. The first haunting is said to occur on Christmas Day at the Cadogan Hotel, Sloane Street, and concerns the ghost of actress Lillie Langtry, once a mistress of Edward VII. The spook is not a......

Some cops are robbers Some caesareans are 'natural' Some disruption due: airport strikes are on for 7 and 14 January Anti-slavery monuments get listed status for Christmas Pedicabs get licences and Greenwich gets its own Eye Image taken in Borough Market courtesy of Tim Bradshaw via the Londonist flickr group.......