Kris Griffiths

When you first arrive at the craft brewpub on Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah island and sit down with a cold IPA among other drinkers chatting and sipping beside bare brick walls and stainless-steel brewing vats, you could be in any number of brewery taprooms around the UK or US. What you might not appreciate at first swig, though, is the significance of this

Our microguides series is inspired by the slow travel movement, encouraging travellers to relax their pace and take a deep dive into one particular neighbourhood in a well-loved city. Rather than a whirlwind itinerary which aims to hit up every must-see attraction, these compact, close-up guides encourage you to zone in, take your time and truly explore like a local

Many restaurant proprietors, whether they admit to it or not, harbour ambitions of expansion – maybe opening a new branch in another town or city, or expanding further into the rest of the country. For one beloved longstanding yakitoria in Tokyo, however, its third-generation owner decided to uproot the venue and reopen it in another country on another continent.
This is the story of

Not only was Absolution Muse’s first UK No.1 album, it hit the top spot in France and top tens across Europe, breaking them fully into the mainstream after the more modest successes of their first two albums, Showbiz (1999) and Origin of Symmetry (2001). But more importantly, Absolution broke them across

August 12 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Metallica’s self-titled fifth LP, known as the Black Album, which was their biggest-selling and transformed Metallica into the stadium band they remain today. But it was also their most controversial—to this day seen as the pivot on which the band’s trajectory forever changed, for better or worse. To mark the anniversary, here

It is a story as old as tourism itself: destinations experience rises and falls in fortune and favour, be they cities, countries, attractions, and even hotels. And it is at one such lone hotel in an untouched corner of the Middle East that we see one of the more dramatic rise-and-falls of the last hundred years. It is also where

If any international city could lay claim to having the richest literary history, it would surely be London. World-famous wordsmiths have called the English capital home for centuries, from Shakespeare and Dickens to Woolf and Orwell. But while there are many literary-inspired pub tours on offer in London, this guide spotlights the best dining spots with

Birthplace of Levi’s, hippies and Chinese fortune cookies and home to cable cars, a notorious prison and some giddyingly steep streets, San Fran is California’s coolest city. We’ve sought out the best recs for a jaunt here, whether you’re a craft beer buff, a vintage treasure trawler, or gaga for

If there’s a silver lining to be found in the stormclouds of national crisis over the ages, it’s the sparks of creativity and innovation emerging from these gloomy periods. Sir Isaac Newton penned the origins of calculus while self-isolating from the plague, while Shakespeare wrote King Lear and Macbeth, scholars believe, after the same pestilence had shut down theatres across

I'm at a poker festival in an east London casino and with more than 300 tournament players around 34 tables the room is thrumming with the muttering of calls and raises. There is a victory whoop here, a groan of defeat there, and the constant clacking of chips riffled by players contemplating their next move...

The singer Joni Mitchell startled her friends by appearing at a Halloween party 40 years ago disguised as a black man in pimp-like garb. It would be unacceptable today but times were different then, her friends argue. Others disagree. Whichever view you take, her black alter ego was a reflection of her intense identification with black music, writes Kris Griffiths.

A product of the British Empire, with a mixture of Western and Indian names, customs and complexions, 2,000 Anglo-Indians are to attend a reunion in Calcutta. But their communities in both the UK and the subcontinent are disappearing, writes Anglo-Indian Kris Griffiths.

Wrote a chapter in 2019 anthology book on David Bowie: a collection of stories and essays by journalists, musicians and those who knew him. Includes contributions from novelist Paul Magrs, Glass Spider tour performer Victor Manoel and musical artists Adamski, Kristian Hoffman and Jessica Lee Morgan.

We think we know what suicidal behaviour looks like when someone is young, but when they are elderly the signs are often quite different. Kris Griffiths never imagined his father would kill himself, but now realises he missed a number of red flags.

The arrival of Abu Dhabi’s first brewery marks an exciting new chapter for the UAE. Kris Griffiths meets the co-founder behind the enterprise, and the expat team behind him.