I was originally going to call this ‘The best bars to go on a first date’ (admittedly for SEO reasons). But then I thought, no, actually you only want to take a first date to an average-to-good bar, because if it doesn’t work out (and it probably won’t), then that’s somebody else who knows about your hidden gem. Also, they might starting taking their first dates there, which would be an absolute bloody disaster. The Folly in London Bridge is a good first date bar. It’s nice but not too nice, conveniently located, big enough to always get a seat and not wildly expensive. But it is not, objectiv ..read more

Never seem to get wind of those awesome soft launches in time to bag a table? Bookmark this page for a comprehensive, idiot-proof list of upcoming opening offers (before anyone else can get to them). What: Terra Terra, Hampstead  Cuisine: Italian The deal: 40% off food between Wednesday 2nd and Wednesday 9th October at breakfast, lunch and dinner, exclusively via Hot Dinners. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Terra Terra (@terraterrauk) on Sep 9, 2019 at 1:49am PDT What: Stem + Glory, Farringdon Cuisine: Creative vegan. The deal: 50% off t ..read more

My pals and I, we love a good puzzle. We have over 80 board games in the house and often do poker nights, pub quizzes and, if we’re feeling a bit friskier, some of Fire Hazard’s outdoor puzzle games. These tend to involve a bit more effort (and running) than a quiet evening with a few bottles of wine and Settlers of Catan but they’re still tremendously good fun. One thing we do love is an escape room. These were once a fun novelty but proliferated at an alarming rate once people worked out all how much money they could squeeze out of a couple of rooms. Naturally this has led to quite a lot of ..read more

Statistically, the most dangerous job in the world is king crab fisherman. In terms of mortal peril, it is 75% more fraught than piloting, flight engineering and logging, apparently the next most likely professions in terms of coming a cropper. I know this because years and years ago I caught the ‘flu, and in my delirium became inexplicably hooked on The Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch, a documentary series that chronicles the lives of the people who earn their living dredging up crab pots from brutal and unforgiving seas. The fishermen are at sea for weeks at a time – king crabs live in p ..read more

Although our cultures are sometimes total antitheses of each other, I think that Japan and the UK do have a lot in common. We’re both small, well-developed islands densely populated with prolific tea-drinkers, and we both have our own idiosyncrasies that, to the rest of the world, must seem quite mad. For instance, the Japanese have toilets that wipe your arse for you and the kind of unfussy appetites that come from living on an island where only a fifth of the land is suitable for growing anything on. Meanwhile, we’re sat in Blighty eating black pudding and watching Fawlty Towers, apparently ..read more

Sure, London has some of the world’s finest theatre, but shit me it’s expensive. Top price seats to most West End shows start at £70 each, if you’re lucky, and ‘premium’ seats for the most popular shows, like Hamilton and Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, can be well over £200. Factor in that often a trip to the theatre is a treat or a gift so you’ll usually be buying at least two at a time…well, for that money you may as well have yourself a little mini-break. Pop over to Lisbon or somewhere. And don’t even think about pinning your hopes on the ticket lotteries. I have it on good authorit ..read more

Honestly I’m not entirely sure what possessed me to accept a last-minute invitation to the press preview of Dinner Is Coming, the new Game of Thrones-themed supper club at The Vaults in Waterloo, because I’ve been to these sorts of things before and they tend to be badly-organised, poorly-catered and horribly overpriced. But I’d just watched the first episode of the Season 8, which was a bit of a scene-setting, slow-burning jobbie, so I was gagging for something Westerosi to put me on until the following Monday. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ..read more

After haranguing a friend who considers herself a staunch Remainer for still frequenting Wetherspoons, it occurred to me how difficult it is to go about everyday modern life without accidentally lining the pockets of some utter bastard.  Because it really is rare that people become successful businesswomen and men without being – not to put too fine a point on it – arseholes. With a few notable exceptions, being an awful person is pretty much a requisite to success these days, and these awful people are both everywhere and seemingly indestructible. Like cockroaches. Cockroaches riding around i ..read more

Never seem to get wind of those awesome soft launches in time to bag a table? Bookmark this page for a comprehensive, idiot-proof list of upcoming opening offers (before anyone else can get to them). What: Kapten, ride-hailing app (basically identical to Uber, except committed to paying its taxes in the UK, hurrah!) The deal: 50% off all rides until 28th May, plus £2 off your first five rides with my referral code EMIGIB2. (You can use both promotions together!) Simply download from Google Play/Apple Store and enter in the ‘Coupons and Credits’ section.) You can also earn loyalty points for f ..read more