please empty your brain below
I feel a bit sad about this. Though I moved out of London a few years ago, in my 20s time out was invaluable. I never paid for it but as soon as it went free I’d read it every week and loved the live music, exhibitions and food sections. Was by far the best of the free magazines; I presume they’ve all stopped now.

David | 21.06.22 - 7:47 a.m. | #

Time Out was instrumental in my moving to London in 1998 - copies were available (a day later than in London) in the WH Smith’s in my small town. I used to devour the listings, imagining what book readings, lectures and films I would go to if I lived here. I’m sure this isn’t an unusual story

Once I moved here I also had a Time Out diary, which I remember using all the time.

The only copy I kept was the 2008 ‘40th anniversary’ issue. I suspect I’ll flick through that today.

Mike on a bike | 21.06.22 - 7:50 a.m. | #

A photograph of myself and my husband appeared in Time Out many years ago, we had no idea it had even been published and only became aware of it because I happened to be stood next to a man who was reading that weeks copy whilst travelling on the underground and I just happened to be taking a sneaky look at the content over his shoulder.

fishislandskin | 21.06.22 - 7:51 a.m. | #

Remember the Time Out strike and the arrival of City Limits. I think that was the moment the original Time Out really died.

ap | 21.06.22 - 7:52 a.m. | #

That team photo, so as London became ever more diverse Time Out didn't. Who were they producing it for?

Still Anon | 21.06.22 - 8:05 a.m. | #

I was a loyal reader of Time Out every week from around 1975 through to the late '90s. It made me aware of things, people and events that I'd never have otherwise discovered and helped enrich my life. RIP.

Waterhouse | 21.06.22 - 8:15 a.m. | #

I was going to say the same thing as ap, my dim recollection the news section at the front never recovered after the strike and the subsequent split between Time Out and City Limits. (And who remembers Richard Branson's 'Event' I think it was?)

John Styles | 21.06.22 - 8:27 a.m. | #

I miss the Classifieds more than anything. Flats, Jobs, bits and bobs for sale..

Alex McKenna | 21.06.22 - 8:49 a.m. | #

I'll miss Time Out - or i would if I was still living in London. It was an essential companion when I lived there from '84 to '00.

As well as fighting for TV listings, Time Out was also defiant in continuing to publish frequency listings and other details for the offshore pirates Caroline and Laser during the 1980s - it was taken to court for doing so by the DTI (which had that time had the radio enforcement responsibility).

The personal ads were also fun reading - I remember innocently wondering what GSOH was, and why it was so important that everyone needed to have it :-)

Steve

Steve Conway | 21.06.22 - 8:54 a.m. | #

For many years, I thought that "GSOH" was "good state of health".

MartinG | 21.06.22 - 9:04 a.m. | #

I'll join in the 'it was best when I was in my early twenties and then stopped being good because X' thread.

I used to subscribe from 2005-2009 I'd guess. Yep, it used to try too hard to be hip - the bars they raved about the most always somehow involved two hours journey from anywhere else in London and then turned out to be rather grubby and mediocre, the club nights they highlighted only seemed to have ten people at them, and the art exhibitions they loved seemed to have no depth... but it was the only way you'd ever hear about these places, they regularly wrote about genuinely great things, and it really did broaden horizons.

I think I stopped subscribing when the articles seemed to get less interesting (listing were easy enough to get online), and I remember being disappointed when they launched a DVD review section (there were already enough quality places to read about those).

By this point I was already regularly reading lots of London blogs to find out about interesting things, and Londonist at its peak really was giving Time Out a run for its money.

Since then I've seen sponsored content from Time Out that appears to support all the things they used to rail against - expensive corporate promotions, gentrification etc.

Still, can't help but feel sad there's not an opportunity for other generations to get swept up in its infectious joy for seeing and doing as much unusual or weird things as possible. Also sad I won't be able to grab a last physical copy today.

Peter of London | 21.06.22 - 9:14 a.m. | #

...and thanks to the late Tony Elliot for having the idea in the first place.

Frank | 21.06.22 - 9:50 a.m. | #

A fitting way to mark the passing of a London icon. On my arrival in 1980 it was the means par excellence of ensconcing onself in the throbbing life of the capital.

cau1khead | 21.06.22 - 10:04 a.m. | #

My routine on arriving at Heathrow was always to collect my luggage, pass through customs, buy Time Out at Smith's, then buy a ticket into London, then sit on the bus/tube, planning which concerts/gigs I wanted to see.

A sad day, but one that felt inevitable even in 2005

Simon | Homepage | 21.06.22 - 10:23 a.m. | #

Thanks for this DG. Time Out was a huge part of my life and although it hasn't been the same since January 2010, when I left, I am sad to see it go.

Peter Watts | 21.06.22 - 1:02 p.m. | #

n.b. Due to the tube strike physical copies of the final Time Out won't be available until Thursday.
(and also Friday and Saturday).

diamond geezer | Homepage | 21.06.22 - 1:37 p.m. | #

Buying Time Out was the first thing I did whenever I planned a trip to London, and having worked for WHSmith in the late 90s and early 2000s I'd always flick through it and imagine how exciting it must be to have all these things going on on your doorstep. Sad that its gone and I wish I'd kept some of the old editions from its heyday.

Anders | 21.06.22 - 1:46 p.m. | #

I really valued it back in the day for the gay listings. I felt at the time it was quite forward thinking to have such a section in a mainstream publication considering some of the socio-political issues going at the time. It was a subtle nudge to be more out'n'proud myself. Now it's probably more expected that the LBGTQ events are listed without a dedicated section, though it did make it easier to quickly look at what of interest was going on.

NickW | 21.06.22 - 2:10 p.m. | #

The separately-published Eating and Drinking Guide was invaluable in searching out new cuisines in the early '90s.

David | 21.06.22 - 2:57 p.m. | #

Really missed the sports section when that stopped. When I worked as a librarian one of the people using the library was the man who wrote the football and basketball previews. Used to enjoy talking to him about the upcoming fixtures.

Tones | 21.06.22 - 4:43 p.m. | #

Might be worth checking your local supermarket - my local Morrison (Holloway) have an outside rack full of Time Outs.

Toni | 21.06.22 - 5:26 p.m. | #

Thanks to this issue of Time Out, I now know that the night train from Paris to Vienna is running again (and has been since December already). I can probably hear it when I step out onto my balcony after 1am and listen carefully ...

Joachim | 21.06.22 - 6:19 p.m. | #

Further to Tani's comments, some large Sainsbury's also have it in a rack near the checkout. My local one has a large pile of the latest (last) copy..

Jeremy | 22.06.22 - 3:18 p.m. | #

Having just got my last physical copy, I rather like the "54 years of Time Out through a Transport for London lens" wraparound that doesn't appear in the Pdf version. A much more appropriate final cover. The tube zones have become decades.

ap | 23.06.22 - 3:21 p.m. | #

...although they have taken enormous liberties with the map - adding stations, removing stations, ignoring interchanges - to the extent that it's fundamentally flawed throughout.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 23.06.22 - 4:07 p.m. | #











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