logo
I had a luxe London trip on discount codes — with £30 theatre and £26 Hawksmoor

I had a luxe London trip on discount codes — with £30 theatre and £26 Hawksmoor

Metroa day ago
London rightly has a reputation as one of the most expensive cities in the world. That's fair enough, particularly when it comes to rent and mortgages. And yes, going out can also make a serious dent to your bank balance.
But if you're a money saver, I think living or visiting the capital offers far more potential to cut other costs than anywhere else in the UK. And that doesn't require scrimping or thifting, nor does it mean missing out on some of the nicer things.
Don't believe me? Here are some highlights from a few days I've just spent in London.
With so many restaurants, there are also many ways to get really good food for less. One I took advantage of was a special menu at steak mini-chain Hawksmoor available at lunch, pre and post-theatre.
The Slice is your weekly guide to what's happening in London, so if you're looking for restaurant reviews, drinks deals or just a great new exhibition to visit on a rainy Saturday in the capital, we've got you covered.
Click here for this week's edit of the best things to do in town.
The Slice newsletter also a brand new look! We'll still be in your inbox every week, bringing you all the very best things to eat, drink and do in the capital. So if you want get the next edition before anyone else, sign up here!
If you want to do it all on the cheap, you can also find our latest batch of exclusive hand-picked offers in partnership with Time Out here.
The hake and sweet potato main was delicious and sizeable and a happy hour glass of rose hit the spot. Stacking an American Express 10% cashback offer on top of this special menu, I paid just £26 including service.
An hour later and the same meal would have set me back £42. Adding extra courses included in the offer would have increased the saving even more, but there wasn't any point spending more when I was full enough.
And good news for non-Londoners, it also has locations with the same offer in Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
It's no wonder there are frequent op-eds decrying how expensive West End theatre tickets are. The seat I had for matinee performance of the Broadway transfer of the Tony-winning Stereophonic was listed at £150. The row in front was priced at a staggering £250.
However, I paid just £30, saving £120. That was thanks to the 'Rush ticket' feature on the app TodayTix. It's effectively a lottery on the day of the performance to fill empty seats. There's no guarantee you'll get a ticket, or that you'll get one of the top priced seats, so I was lucky. And though I don't agree with some of the rave reviews, for £30 it was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.
I managed to see a decent comedy show for just a tenner thanks to Central Tickets. The rules of websites like this are I can't say what I saw, but my seat should have cost £47.90 if I'd gone direct to the box office.
I love a good gig, and managed to see two performances on my trip. The biggest bargain was an in-store from all-girl punk group Panic Shack at Rough Trade East, just off Brick Lane.
For £16.06 I not only got access to an intimate gig, but also a copy of their new CD. Dates for their tour later this year start at £20 before fees, so throw in the album on top and I think it was at least a 50% saving.
This way to save isn't just limited to London, but I used a free ticket to finally see Danny Boyle's latest movie 28 Years Later at the Vue Leicester Square. More Trending
There are a few ways I get these, from opening up a Club Lloyds current account to a perk from Vitality health insurance, but this one was actually a freebie given away by my energy provider Octopus earlier in the year.
Since weekend showings are often more expensive than others, using this on a Saturday saved me £13.99.
Finally, travel. Yep the tube and trains are pricey, especially compared to other metro systems in other countries. The daily cap on card payments will help people moving around a lot, but I managed to beat this on my first day – and that was by adding a Travelcard to my inbound rail ticket.
This added £5.60 to my fare, versus a £8.90 limit on Zone 1-2 travel with my debit card. And I knocked another 10% off that thanks to an offer for train ticket seller LNER via my American Express card. Total saving:£203.81. Total spent: £77.10.
View More »
MORE: Westminster Cathedral turned into drug dealer haven with 'cocaine sold on pews'
MORE: Murder manhunt after woman in 20s killed outside Romford care home
MORE: 'The worst show on TV' might finally be ending and viewers are surprisingly sad
Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Dame Helen Mirren: 'I'm such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy'
Dame Helen Mirren: 'I'm such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy'

STV News

time9 minutes ago

  • STV News

Dame Helen Mirren: 'I'm such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy'

Dame Helen Mirren has said that while she is a feminist the next James Bond 'has to be a guy'. It comes after Amazon MGM Studios, which has taken creative control over the 007 character, revealed last month that Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight would be writing the script for the next film. The Oscar-winning actress told Saga Magazine: 'I'm such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy. You can't have a woman. It just doesn't work. 'James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else.' Dame Helen, 80, stars alongside former 007 actor Pierce Brosnan in the new Thursday Murder Club film, a cosy crime drama adapted from the best-selling book by game show host Richard Osman. Brosnan, 72, agreed with the actress about the next portrayal of Bond and told the magazine: 'Oh, I think it has to be a man.' PA Media Dame Helen Mirren stars in the new Thursday Murder Club film (Jordan Pettitt/PA) He added: 'I wish (Amazon) them well. I'm so excited to see the next man come on the stage and to see a whole new exuberance and life for this character. 'I adore the world of James Bond. It's been very good to me. It's the gift that keeps giving. 'And I'm just a member of the audience now, sitting back, saying: 'Show us what you're going to do'.' Dame Helen previously told the Standard that 'the whole concept of James Bond is drenched and born out of profound sexism' and added: 'Women have always been a major and incredibly important part of the Secret Service, they always have been.' In the forthcoming Thursday Murder Club film, the veteran actress plays a retired spy, who is also the founder and leader of the club. Speaking about her character Elizabeth, she told Saga: 'So many women have worked in that world. She's a manifestation of a reality, that's for sure.' Asked if she is a better portrayal of a spy than Bond, Dame Helen said: 'More realistic. But not so much fun as Bond!' PA Media Pierce Brosnan and Dame Helen Mirren on the cover of Saga Magazine (Saga Magazine/Giles Keyte/Netflix/PA) She added: 'The great thing about a movie like this is that it reminds everyone, as an older person I have a brain, I have agency, energy, commitment, passion and intellect. It doesn't all stop when you're 40.' Brosnan said the movie, directed by Harry Potter director Chris Columbus, would also appeal to anyone who likes the film series about wizardry and added: 'This is like a Harry Potter retirement home.' The film, which lands on Netflix on August 28, follows a crime-busting group of retirees, played by Oscar-winning actress Dame Helen, Mamma Mia! star Brosnan, Calendar Girls actress Celia Imrie and Gandhi star Sir Ben Kingsley. You can read the full interview in Saga Magazine's September issue. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country

Martin Shaw: ‘Lewis Collins behaved so badly'
Martin Shaw: ‘Lewis Collins behaved so badly'

Telegraph

timean hour ago

  • Telegraph

Martin Shaw: ‘Lewis Collins behaved so badly'

Passing through the corridors backstage at the Harold Pinter Theatre on the way to meet Martin Shaw, line after line of A Man For All Seasons runs through my head like holy writ. The Robert Bolt play, turned into an Oscar-winning film in 1966, includes some of the most powerful but perfectly weighted dialogue of the 20th century. Shaw is making his second appearance in the play as Sir Thomas More – Henry VIII's martyred chief minister – for a summer West End run. 'I never got this play or Sir Thomas More out of my system,' he says. Shaw's career has oscillated between high theatre and high-profile TV roles such as Judge John Deed, Inspector George Gently and – most famously for those of a certain vintage – as Doyle in the much maligned cop show The Professionals. When we speak, he is an incredibly spritely 80 in his Hush Puppies, with long white hair falling either side of the face of a man 10 years his junior. That's just as well given the demands of playing More, a man with such integrity he would rather die than endanger his immortal soul by taking an oath confirming Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church. More's saintly virtues have been called into question recently, with Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy and the resulting BBC drama adaptation portraying him as a sadistic schemer of the Tudor court who enjoyed torturing heretics in opposition to his great rival Thomas Cromwell. In A Man For All Seasons, these roles are more or less reversed. 'I think Wolf Hall is one of the greatest dramas with the greatest performances ever produced by British television,' says Shaw. 'I've heard Hilary Mantel partly wrote Wolf Hall as a response to A Man For All Seasons. But from what I know, I think her portrayal of More is probably not accurate.' 'I told the casting director I couldn't work with Lewis' Whatever philosophical puzzles Shaw grapples with on stage, it's the legacy of a much less distinguished TV show he still finds tricky to escape. The Professionals, produced from 1977 to 1981, made Shaw a household name – all high cheekbones, footballer's perms and karate chops. It's remembered for the unbridled machismo of lead characters Bodie and Doyle – part police, part secret agents working for the fictional CI5 – who spent most of their time skidding a Ford Capri around the streets of London, shooting terrorists and making off-colour remarks about beautiful women. The trouble is, Shaw hated every single minute of it, in particular his toxic relationship with Lewis Collins, the actor who played Bodie to his Doyle. 'It was truly, truly horrible and there was a sense of blessed relief when it was over. Ten years after the show finished I met Lewis and everything was healed between us. But the trouble all started when I was a villain in The New Avengers in 1977 and he was my sidekick. Lewis behaved so badly on that set. He had a small part but he was so arrogant. It was beyond that. It was bizarre.' Shaw describes how Collins would boast about his physical prowess at the expense of the other actors and confuse the director by talking about how the scenes would play out if he had to fight for real. 'I looked at the script for The Professionals and was offered the part. I'd done a film with Anthony Andrews and we were good mates so we rehearsed together and I thought he was a shoe-in for the other lead. But the production company wanted an abrasive relationship. 'I'd already said to the casting director, 'I can't work with Lewis because we don't get on', but they cast him anyway. I went up to him on the first day of shooting and said: 'You know I didn't want you to do this but let's get on with it and have fun.' And he told me to f--- off and he never forgave me for the next four years.' There is a notorious episode of The Professionals called 'The Klansman' about a far-Right group Shaw's character has to infiltrate. It was never broadcast in the UK because it featured such a prevalence of racist language. Did Shaw think this seemed insane during filming? 'I thought pretty much every episode was insane,' he replies. The thing Shaw found most uncomfortable then as now is that his work up to that point – the Royal Court and the National Theatre, TV and movie roles – 'vanished' once he was in The Professionals. Shaw, born in Birmingham in 1945, attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (Lamda) from 1963, served his time in rep and London theatre, and came to prominence playing Banquo in Roman Polanski's film of Macbeth in 1971. Polanski – who owned a flat in Chelsea – asked him to test for the role of Macbeth, though the lead eventually went to Jon Finch. 'When I saw the people testing for Macbeth, including Antony Hopkins who was my hero and with whom I shared a house, I thought I had no chance. But Polanski called me and offered me the role of Banquo.' Shaw recounts the conversation in a Dracula-esque Polanski accent and says the seven months of Macbeth's production were some of the greatest of his life. He's understandably circumspect about Polanski's ongoing exile in France as a result of his flight from the US in 1971 following his conviction for sex with a minor. 'Polanski was great with actors. My admiration and respect for him carried on through the whole production. There is so much gossip about the case he was involved in but it's a terrible loss to the industry.' 'Rhodes did some very bad things but I didn't mind playing that character' In the four decades since The Professionals, Shaw invariably appeared on British TV as a detective or a judge, which he says is attributable more to television's obsession with the law than anything to do with his persona or slow, sonorous voice. One notable blip on this long list of hits was the eight-part BBC epic drama Rhodes in 1996, which told the story of Britain's most 19th-century empire builder Cecil Rhodes in southern Africa. It seems almost inconceivable that this would be made today, given the bitter controversy over Rhodes's reputation. The show was rounded on by critics and the ratings almost halved between the first and second episode. 'Rhodes was hard enough to make even then,' says Shaw. 'The BBC didn't want to support it. I suspect they wanted to kill it. Eventually it was made for £8m instead of £12m. The South African government withdrew their funding, not because of any sensitivities over the theme of colonialism, but because they didn't like Rhodes being portrayed as a homosexual. 'It was clear even in 1996 that Rhodes did some very bad things. I didn't mind playing that kind of character. Those bad things are there in all of us and having a licence to access them as an actor is great.' 'It's almost impossible to be a person of integrity in public life' 'Bad things' are harder to find in Thomas More, but they must be in there somewhere. A Man For All Seasons is Shaw's happy place, having already taken the role in 2005 at London's Haymarket Theatre. Shaw says he went to see the play and the film over and over again in the 1960s, starring the peerless Paul Scofield. Shaw wants to keep evolving his approach to More, as much to make the most of the character's limitless depth as to step out of the great man's shadow. 'This time I'm playing him as a more life-enhancing, life-loving character who could laugh and get incredibly angry as well as his better known qualities.' This is a play that poses one dilemma after another. At its heart is the question of how far a person is prepared to go to preserve their own conscience, their own sense of truth as they believe it to be. Every other character compromises for gain or self-preservation (other than Henry VIII, who doesn't need to). More goes to the block for his beliefs. 'From my point of view, More's stand was borderline ridiculous,' says Shaw. 'For him, his oath was 'words you say to God' so he could not, as his daughter suggested, take the oath and think differently in his heart.' Among many memorable lines – the quickfire battles with Cromwell, More's stirring defence of the law – the exchange between More and former hanger-on Richard Rich stands out. Rich perjured himself to gain promotion to the Attorney General of Wales and his lies provide the only evidence against More. Knowing his trial is all but over, More asks to see the red dragon on Rich's new badge of office. 'Richard, it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world if he should lose his soul … but for Wales?' The script is all but perfect. Shaw recalls the line, 'When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties they lead their country by a short route to chaos.' 'That is true now more than ever,' he adds. 'Think about how important conscience and integrity are. It's almost impossible to be a person of integrity in public life – but I truly believe they are out there.' Shaw is full of contradictions. He has been a vegetarian since 1971 and follows Sant Mat, a mystical philosophy movement influenced by Sikhism and Hinduism. There's no reason why that shouldn't co-exist with sliding over the bonnet of an Escort RS2000 in pursuit of a gun runner, but it feels like it might. Still, despite all Shaw's misgivings, he has made something approaching peace with the worst experience of his career. 'There is another side to The Professionals. Years later an actor walked up to me on set and said 'It's so wonderful to meet you. You're my childhood hero.' So that helped me see the show differently. So many people loved it and got some sort of happiness from it.' It's wisdom of which Sir Thomas More would surely approve.

The ten-seat table where dinner has a score
The ten-seat table where dinner has a score

Time Out

timean hour ago

  • Time Out

The ten-seat table where dinner has a score

Just recently, we found ourselves sitting at the chef's counter of a restaurant tucked down a side street near Chinatown – the kind you could almost miss. Peek inside and you might catch the soft glow of a charcoal grill, the blur of a hand turning something over the flames. Inside, the light is warm and low, pooling over idiosyncratic paintings and a quiet army of cat figurines. This is Nothing Sacred, the ten-seat chef's table from Grammy Award-winning producer-turned-chef Alex Jarvis and his partner, artist and restaurateur Nicole Scott. Here, dinner is never just dinner: each course arrives with its own music, composed by Alex to match the rhythm of the plate. The effect is intimate without being precious – a room designed to feel like home, but one where the home-cooked meal has been replaced by something far stranger and more deliberate. What sets the experience apart is the music, curated and composed by Jarvis, a two-time Grammy-winning producer, to accompany each dish – a soundtrack for the palate, unfolding in harmony with the flavours on the plate. Conceived together, Jarvis and Scott, an artist and restaurateur, have crafted a space where food, music, and art collide, redefining what an intimate dining experience can be. We were curious – how do two creatives so rooted in the music world pivot to a restaurant venture, and what does it take to translate their artistry from stage and studio to kitchen and table? So we asked everything. The door There's just a little sign outside Nothing Sacred. Just an emerald-green wall, a yellow door and a single square window, where the faint orange lick of a charcoal grill cuts through the Bangkok dusk. From the pavement in old town, you can just about make out the glint of a copper pan, the silhouette of a chef turning something over fire. Inside, it's warmth incarnate – idiosyncratic paintings, an amber glow that feels less like restaurant lighting and more like the forgiving shade of a late-afternoon sunbeam, and a scattering of feline figurines. Alex and Nicole, partners in both life and work, have compressed a decade of shared creativity into 10 seats a night. Alex is a two-time Grammy winner turned chef; Nicole, an artist and restaurateur whose hands seem to be in everything from crochet coasters to the wine list. Their concept is as much about listening as tasting: each 10-course menu is paired with music Alex composes specifically for the evening. 'We knew we wanted it to feel like our home,' Nicole says. 'Not just in the way it looks, but in the way people are welcomed.' From tour buses to tasting menus Their route here isn't linear. Nicole toured as a singer from the age of 11; Alex was in kitchens by 13 and drumming even earlier. They met in college in Canada, fell in love, and eventually moved to Nashville, where they spent a decade making music – until immigration policy and a collapsing industry during the pandemic forced a change of plan. The pivot was Congee Boy, a Thai-Chinese pop-up in Canada serving steaming bowls of rice porridge. It was as much about community as cooking, but they closed it at the height of its success to chase a more permanent dream in Bangkok. 'Alex lived here when he was 18,' Nicole says. 'Thailand was always in the back of our minds. The food at Congee Boy came from here, and Alex always said this is the best place in the world to cook. It's not just the ingredients – it's the kind of diners you get in Bangkok. People come here hungry in every sense.' Old Town, with its tangle of temples, markets and half-forgotten shopfronts, was the only location they considered. They'd had photos of the neighbourhood hanging in Congee Boy for years. 'We didn't even have to talk about it,' she adds. 'We just knew.' A soundtrack you can taste On paper, the idea of a 'sound-and-supper lab' sounds like a gimmick. In reality, it's more like being inside a film, where the score and the story bleed into one another. Alex writes each piece to mirror the arc of the meal: a slow, low-voiced Celine Dion sample might slip under a dish of grits as an homage to their Nashville years, while sharper, brighter notes might arrive with something citrus-cut and briny. 'I don't overthink it,' Alex says. 'It's the same process as cooking – pull from what you have, what means something to you, and let it evolve.' The soundtrack isn't just background music; it's the restaurant's other half. In one section, the pitch-shifted Celine vocal feels like a secret handshake between the couple, their shared history pressed into vinyl. Nicole calls that her favourite moment. 'It's the sound of my childhood, but reimagined by him. That's us.' The fermenter's library If the music tells their story, the menu is its diary – not linear, but layered. Alex is obsessive about fermentation, using it to stretch the life and deepen the flavour of each ingredient. He speaks about his fermentations like some chefs speak about wine, recalling batches by taste memory alone. 'Fermentation is my seasoning,' he says. 'I'm at Khlong Toei market almost every day, even on my days off. I come back with things I've never seen before, and I'm inspired by the people who sell them.' Some of the ferments travelled with them from Canada: a few vinegars, a clutch of SCOBYs, talismans from their earlier kitchen. 'They were our starting point,' Alex explains. 'They'll always be part of the story, even as the collection grows.' One of his most telling dishes might be their Issan chocolate mousse with prawn-head caramel and grasshopper garum – a Frankenstein of technique, thrift and instinct. 'It sounds crazy, but it eats like something familiar. That's what I want.' Hosting as an art form Nothing Sacred doesn't do table-turning. There's one seating a night, ten people max. Nicole describes it less as service and more as hosting – tending to the room like a conductor might a chamber ensemble. 'If it's a smaller group, we work harder to keep conversation flowing,' she says. 'It's not about being formal. It's about making people feel looked after. They might forget the exact dish or song, but they'll remember how they felt.' Nicole's role covers everything that isn't fire and knife. She is GM, sommelier, bartender, curator, coaster-maker, napkin-ironer. Alex works in broad strokes; Nicole handles the details that make the whole space hum. 'I'll spend hours finding the right fabric for a curtain or sanding down a piece of furniture. He'll be in the kitchen or the studio. 'We're working towards the same feeling, without having to agree on it. It's just who we are.' The next course For now, the couple's ambitions are modest but deliberate. They're planning to add balcony seating to keep the experience communal without sacrificing intimacy. They've also launched House of Koji, a side project selling their shoyu and other ferments. 'Our house-made shoyu is magic, if we do say so ourselves.' Awards – whether Grammys or Michelin stars – are not the point. 'Those things don't change you the way you think they will,' Alex says. 'You have to enjoy the process.' What they want guests to take away is harder to measure. 'Reconnection,' Nicole answers without hesitation. 'We don't want to be another Instagram stop,' Nicole says. 'We want people to leave remembering what it felt like, not just what they ate or heard. 'With themselves, with creativity, with community. We want people to leave feeling inspired, a little lighter, and maybe a little braver.' As the last of the diners filter out, the soundtrack fades, and the grill's coals dim to ash. From the window, the old town night is back to its usual quiet. Inside, Nothing Sacred still feels like it's holding its breath – waiting for tomorrow's 10 seats, tomorrow's soundtrack, tomorrow's telling of the same, ever-evolving story. And in a city whose culinary scene is increasingly global, transient and curated for quick thrills, that feels radical. In 10 seats, with charcoal smoke curling over a dish of fermented seafood, and a soundtrack that bends memory and expectation, Nothing Sacred stakes its claim as both sanctuary and stage – a place where Bangkok's noise becomes part of the art, where two creators shape a night that will linger long after the door is closed.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store