The welovelocal Blog

Simon Cowell and his motley gang have inspired us to unleash our inner X Factor. Are you game?

Love it or hate it, Saturday night belongs to the X Factor. Call them wannabe muppets or the stars of tomorrow, we’re absolutely smitten by the  dozen hopefuls they’ve amassed for the live shows (it’s down to nine already! NO!). Bonkers John & Edward, lovely Welshies Lucie and Lloyd, Geordie Joe and the controversial Danyl… we think they’re all great. No, seriously.

Don’t read too much into this next segue, but we thought this was a perfect opportunity to big up that much maligned activity of the drunken. Oh yes people, we’re talking KARAOKE. Cha’mone!

Some of you will love it, some of you will think we’ve lost our remaining few marbles, but let us say this: we’ve shed a tear in a very hard East End pub because the landlady, who couldn’t hold a tune in a bucket, sang a massively heart-wrenching version of Elton John’s ‘Sacrifice’. For three and a half minutes, as dogs howled around Forest Gate, she was centre stage and the centre of attention, and we wouldn’t deny anyone that pleasure.

So, climbing down off our high horse, we thought we’d big-up some makeshift arenas where the common man (and woman) become megastars. Just like X Factor.

The Karaoke Box in Frith street is a controversial pick. Daniel C isn’t a fan, and Rob M isn’t a huge convert but, and in true karaoke fashion, “if you don’t have a good time, you’re doing something very wrong”. And that will do for us.

Next up is the Pad Thai Restaurant & Karaoke Bar in Birmingham. Is combining food and tuneless singing a good thing? Russ M isn’t so sure: “My tip - book a room. You can embarrass yourself in private”

And finally, we turn to a big advocate of mic swinging and alcoholic consumption. Theresa from Bristol is a huge fan of Karaoke-Me! “You can choose any song from a huge range, line them up and take it in turns to deafen each other whilst reading the lyrics from the plasma screen”. She wrote this while singing ‘I Will Survive’ and necking a Smirnoff Ice. Possibly.

So where do you go to scream your lungs out and annoy diners? Tell us below. You know it makes sense…

You’ve had a big night, you need to kick start your day. What to do? Where to go? The best local café for a great breakfast, obviously.

We’ve all been there. Eyes widen gradually as a harsh morning contrasts wildly with the previous night’s misadventures, tomfoolery and ill-advised antics. The head is banging, movement is snail-like and painful. The words ‘never again’ are frequently uttered at this point. After another ice age passes, you decide to get out of bed and think about your next move. And it’s an obvious one: you go for a good breakfast.

We’ve all got our favourite cafes, each one filled with hazy memories of a greasy plate bringing you back to life. Egg, bacon, (veggie) sausage, fried tomato, black pudding – what’s your poison?

Welovelocal is stuffed with great places to get an amazing breakfast. We’ve ventured into every single one of the places below and can confidently state that here be the ‘Greatest Hits’ of the breakfast world. If you disagree, you can pop us a suggestion below…

Regency Café, London

Old skool in look, old skool in delivery. It’s likely you’ve seen the Regency in many a fashion photoshoot, but unless you’ve been there, you’re unlikely to have tasted as great a breakfast. Kyra K from Nunhead loves the ambience.

“The most memorable thing about this place is the sheer volume at which the owner/ proprietor, Marco ‘The Voice’ Schiavetti, bellows out the orders to customers as the dishes arrive piping hot from the kitchen”.

Ramon’s, Cardiff

A favourite of the local student population, this is cheap eats served with lashings of grease and a side order of lard. It is amazing. We’ve seen queues snaking out of the door on a Sunday because you just won’t get a cheaper and tastier breakfast anywhere in the UK. Or further afield if you believe Ben: “A Stellar Greasy Spoon without comparison in Cardiff, Wales, UK, Europe, the World, even the UNIVERSE!”

Bunters, Nottingham

Welovelocal has been known to large it at Nottingham’s Rock City on occasion. When we do, and when we’re suffering the next day, we’ll always go to Bunters. Compact and cosy, Bunters has seen many a human emerge from a hungover fug. Sideshow knows exactly where we’re at: “Probably the best greasy spoon in Nottingham. It’s perfect when you’ve nailed 18 pints at Ritzys the night before”. Quite.

City Cafe, Edinburgh

Far more refined is this little eaterie. Between Cowgate and High Street lies a little oasis of calm with the slightest hint of 50s glam. Offering much more than just a breakfast, City Café is a great little place to while away a few hours. According to Alisa it has a “lively atmosphere, pool table and great music”. What else do you need when you’re feeling sorry for yourself?

So that’s our advice. What’s yours? And where else should we visit when we feel like we’re shuffling dizzily off this mortal coil? Tell us below folks, please…

Need some local knowledge? Seen our local guides? There’s no need to be a stranger in a strange city any more…

We’ve been bigging up the businesses on welovelocal for a while now. And why wouldn’t we? They’re all amazing places, frequented by amazing people. Occasionally, however, you just need to blow your own trumpet and, to be fair, we play a pretty good tune here at welovelocal.

You write the reviews, but we lovingly collate them and bung them into what you could crudely call a ‘city guide’. It’s got everything you need to know about everywhere you need to go in the UK. From Ashby De La Zouche to Drumnadrochit to Llanelli, we’ve got the inside track on everything from pubs to florists to, oh yes, funeral directors – it pays to forward plan.

Are you going on a trip? Or do you fancy taking a look outside your local box and using more than five shops? Then take a look at our local guides. They’re at the bottom of our homepage, in a section cunningly titled ‘Most Popular Cities’.

For instance, if you wanted the lowdown on Bristol, we could tell you that Bar 155 is a “fabulous wee local”. If you were making your way across the Severn Bridge, we’d tell you that Nice in Cardiff was the “best gift shop in the city centre”. Off north? The Vinyl Exchange in Manchester is a good place to “while away an afternoon”. See? Great isn’t it? And that isn’t the half of it!

But don’t let us keep blasting forth with a trumpet and our glorious racket. The city guides are there to be explored. So why don’t you make like Captain Cook and get exploring?