What’s hot and new in the UK and Ireland in 2025

If the UK and Ireland are on your agenda next year, you'll want to add these highlights to your notes.

Kerry Parnell

@KerryParnell

less than 2 min read

October 7, 2024 - 2:38PM

Escape

1/10

Manchester rocks to Oasis

With the news Oasis is playing sell-out reunion gigs in their hometown in July, Manchester is officially rocking. One of the hottest cities in Britain, the northern city has been undergoing a metamorphosis of redevelopment and proof of its style status comes with the opening of the first Soho House in the north of Britain, next year. Located in the old Granada TV studios, its rooftop pool and bar will become the place to be. It shares the building with hip new hotel Mollie’s Manchester and is one of multiple new hotel launches in the city, including Malmaison Deansgate and Treehouse Manchester, sister to the cool London branch.

2/10

Austen power hits Bath

From bucket hats to bonnets - next year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen and literary landmarks around the UK will be celebrating the milestone, especially in Bath and Hampshire. Activities are taking place all year, including at Jane Austen’s House museum, in her last home in Chawton, Hampshire. In Bath, the Jane Austen Centre has a programme of events, culminating in the popular Jane Austen Festival in September.

3/10

London’s luxury hotel boom continues

You would think the British capital couldn’t accommodate many more luxury hotels, but you’d be wrong, as the next swathe of high-end hostelries open their doors. The most-anticipated is the Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch, in its incredible location overlooking the Mall. Another heritage building being turned into a hotel, is the old Whiteleys department store in Bayswater, which houses the new Six Senses London (pictured above), opening 2025. The Chancery Rosewood also opens next year, in the former US Embassy building in Mayfair.

4/10

England’s coast path opens

Fancy a long walk? The King Charles III England Coast Path will fully open in 2025, joining up the coastline of England and becoming the world’s longest continual coastal walking route, at 4,498km. It’s surely set to motivate author Raynor Winn to undertake her biggest challenge yet. To inspire you to pull your boots on and get moving, watch the new movie version of Winn’s best-selling memoir, The Salt Path, starring Gillian Anderson as Raynor and Jason Isaacs as her husband Moth. You can follow in their life-changing footsteps along the glorious South West Coast Path, which runs from Somerset to Dorset.

5/10

The train turns 200

Next year is the bicentenary of “the birth of the modern railway”. The date marks the historic event in 1825 when George Stephenson’s Locomotion No.1 travelled 26 miles, in the north of England and UK museums are getting on board to celebrate, with events planned all year. Whether you visit the National Railway Museum in York, or catch the luxury Belmond Royal Scotsman from Edinburgh to Fort William on its Wild Scotland trip, there’s never been a better excuse to see the country by rail.

6/10

Scotland’s most spectacular journey meets a milestone

From rail journeys, to one of Britain’s best road trips - the North Coast 500 turns 10 in 2025. This dramatic 500-mile route around the northern Highlands starts and ends in Inverness. Wilderness Scotland has self-guided driving tours along the route, or, for the more energetic, cycling. It’s proved incredibly popular since launch and brought increased tourism to the region, which means there’s plenty happening in the Highlands in 2025. Inverness Castle launches a new interactive experience, and the Cabot Highlands golf course and luxury lodging opens in the former Castle Stuart.

7/10

Northern Ireland hosts The Open

Still on golf, Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland hosts The Open in July, 2025 and is set to showcase its sweeping Atlantic coast-setting to the world. Dungeons and Dragons and Game of Thrones fans will recognise the dramatic, ancient, landscapes used to film the fantasy shows, including Carrickfergus, Giant’s Causeway and the Causeway Coastal Route.

8/10

Non-stop flights from Sydney to London are on the horizon

While you can already fly non-stop from Perth to London, Qantas’ much-anticipated new fleet of A350 aircraft, part of its Project Sunrise, will mean the national airline will soon be launching non-stop routes from Sydney to London. It will be a game-changer for anyone wanting to visit Britain, as the journey promises to knock off up to four hours travel time, and although long, will be so much simpler and shorter, without the stopover. Qantas says it’s been delayed by a few months, but is now expected in 2026.

9/10

Restaurant royalty expand their London empires

Greater London is already home to 80 Michelin-starred eateries, but that hasn’t stopped culinary royalty launching more exciting new restaurants. Jeremy King – the restaurateur who brought London hot spots including The Ivy, Le Caprice and The Wolseley – has opened grand café-style The Park, on the edge of Hyde Park, relaunched Le Caprice as Arlington and, most excitingly, is re-opening landmark restaurant Simpson’s in the Strand, in 2025. Meanwhile, Gordon Ramsay is opening no less than five restaurants in skyscraper 22 Bishopsgate next year, including a 14-seat chef’s table called High, run by the team from his triple-Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

10/10

Museums move to new venues

Kensington’s V&A museum continues to host its world-class exhibitions – look out for its Cartier show next year – but it also opens the new destinations V&A East Storehouse and Museum in east London, next year. These venues in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park East Bank development, aim to open up the vast collections of the museum’s archives and celebrate the process of design. The immersive Museum of Shakespeare also opens in Shoreditch next year and further beyond, the much-anticipated new London Museum will open in its new home in the City of London, in 2026.

Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/whats-hot-and-new-in-the-uk-and-ireland-in-2025/image-gallery/a0df7e5c1bc7465c38cf647319387f5b