What a ride it was
Labubus, Dubai chocolate, and AI slop. A jeans advert caused uproar and a holiday jingle was the song of the summer. 2025 may not have been a vintage year for culture, but we all learned about conclave and Zohran Mamdani gave us something to be hopeful about across the pond. And the women did it again, across two sports this year, with the Lionesses winning the Euros and the Red Roses winning the Rugby World Cup. But what made London On The Inside’s year? Let’s take a look.
1. 90,000+ David Bowie Artefacts in One Place
After a year of anticipation, the David Bowie Centre finally opened at the new V&A East Storehouse, offering fans an unprecedented look at the icon’s creative world. The Centre contains more than 90,000 archive pieces – from rare photographs and handwritten lyrics to self-portraits, stage costumes and design sketches – revealing the artistry behind Bowie’s legendary career, as well as special guest curations from the likes of Nile Rodgers and The Last Dinner Party.
2. Indian Food From a Corner Shop
We got a glimpse behind-the-scenes at Stokey’s favourite corner shop, Londis N16, where Anju and her 85 year old mother-in-law make Gujarati food to be sold alongside all your regular groceries and household items.
3. An Open Letter to Rachel Reeves
Following a raft of restaurant closures in the first half of the year, plus the introduction of higher National Living Wage and increased National Insurance contributions as outlined in Labour’s 2024 Budget, we explored why 2025 could be the worst year for the hospitality industry. This spurred us on to work on the #TaxedOut campaign, where we wrote an open letter to Rachel Reeves, signed by 50 chefs, operators, writers and industry voices, calling for urgent government action to save our independent restaurants, pubs, bars and cafés.
4. Wes Anderson Comes to the Design Museum
A landmark exhibition on the director, featuring objects from his personal archives displayed in Britain for the first time, opened at the Design Museum this winter. Wes Anderson: The Archives looks back over his career, from his early experiments in the 90s to his most recent films, with over 600 objects, including storyboards, sketches, polaroids, puppets, models, costumes, notebooks, props and more, on show. They include a pink model of the Grand Budapest Hotel, the fur coat worn by Gwyneth Paltrow in the The Royal Tenenbaums, the vending machines from Asteroid City, and stop-motion sea creature puppets used in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
5. The Real Costs Behind London’s Signature Dishes
As part of our #TaxedOut calling on the Government to cut VAT, reduce business rates, and fix NICs for the hospitality industry, we spoke to a range of restaurateurs, from chefs with their own bricks-and-mortar sites to those running residencies inside other venues, and they revealed the real costs behind some of the city’s most celebrated plates.
6. Mandy Yin Makes No Profit On a £22 Laksa
Mandy Yin was one of those independent operators who broke down the costs of her signature dish, revealing that after labour, overheads, ingredients and VAT, she often makes no profit on her £22 chicken and prawn laksa, and sometimes she even makes a loss.
7. London’s New Wave Grocery Shops
After a grocerant wave in 2023, the result of a pandemic pivot for businesses, the grocery-restaurant hybrid returned in 2025, with retail spaces now adding on the restaurants. As well as offering flexibility and casualness, grocery dining also is a timesaver for busy city folk – eat your dinner tonight and pick up the ingredients for tomorrow without having to change location – so no wonder Londoners lapped it up.
8. We Turned 15!
Older, hotter, wiser….2025 was our 15th birthday and we celebrated with a big blowout, featuring gold leaf hot dogs, a soft serve station, a showstopper birthday cake and lots of drinks at brand new Dalston spot Squeeze. Here’s to the next 15.
9. Practically Giving Away Food at Seven Dials Market
As part of our #TaxedOut campaign calling out the brutal realities of running a hospitality business in the UK, we teamed up with Seven Dials Market by KERB to help expose the razor-thin margins that restaurant operators deal with. A number of traders sold signature dishes at the exact amount they pocket after costs, VAT, and tax, like 71p for a slice of pizza and cacio e pepe for £1.44, with the tiny numbers showing just how broken the current system is.
10. Exploring the Impact of Black British Music
Following its popular exhibition on emo music, the Barbican Music Library hosted a groundbreaking exhibition that showcased the impact that Black British music from the last 100 years has had around the world. Black Sound London covered everything from jazz and lover’s rock to grime, jungle and drill, and explored how artists, ranging from Lord Kitchener to Dizzee Rascal, have shaped the city’s (and the world’s) music scene.
