Patrick Duroy writes about technology, software, digital products, startups and business for LocoWeekend, with a focus on how products are built, bought, funded and improved.
A researched 2026 guide to UK AI app development companies, comparing production AI capability, LLM and RAG experience, agentic workflows, product engineering, pricing transparency and the kind of buyer each team is best suited to.
A researched 2026 guide to UK custom software development companies, comparing bespoke software capability, public pricing, delivery models, real case studies and the kind of project each team is best suited to.
A researched 2026 guide to UK SaaS development companies, comparing multi-tenant architecture, billing, product capability, public pricing, delivery models and the type of SaaS business each team is best suited to.
A researched 2026 guide to UK web app development companies, comparing real product capability, custom software experience, public pricing, delivery models and the kind of web application each team is best suited to build.
A researched 2026 guide to choosing between freelancers, a product agency and an in-house team for MVP development in the UK, using current contractor rates, salary data, employer costs and public agency pricing.
A researched 2026 guide to MVP development timelines in the UK, comparing current agency delivery windows and explaining how scope, user types, integrations, mobile review, compliance and decision speed affect launch time.
A researched 2026 guide to SaaS MVP development costs in the UK, using current published agency prices and real infrastructure fees to explain what founders should budget at each level.
A researched 2026 guide to AI app development costs in the UK, using current agency pricing and live model infrastructure costs to explain what different AI products actually cost to build and run.
A researched 2026 guide to choosing between a proof of concept, prototype and minimum viable product, explaining what each validates, when to use it, typical UK delivery windows and the mistakes founders make by building the wrong thing first.
A researched 2026 UK guide to software ownership when an agency builds your app, covering copyright, IP assignment, source-code access, hosting, open-source dependencies, design files and practical handover rights.
A researched 2026 guide to app development companies serving London, comparing mobile and web capability, product design, pricing signals, technical approach and the kind of client each team suits best.
A researched 2026 guide to UK marketplace development companies, comparing two-sided product expertise, payments and payouts, vendor tooling, pricing, timelines and the marketplace models each team suits best.
A researched 2026 guide to UK MVP development companies, comparing public pricing, delivery timelines, product capability, code ownership and the type of founder each team is best suited to.
A researched guide to 11 UK digital product companies for MVPs, apps, software platforms, product redesigns and modernisation projects in 2026.
A researched 2026 guide to MVP development cost in the UK, with current public pricing, realistic product bands, timelines, hidden costs and a framework for comparing quotes.
A researched 2026 guide to app development cost in the UK, covering realistic build ranges, mobile versus web, hidden running costs, timelines and how to compare agency quotes.
Placebo have announced a worldwide 30th Anniversary Tour titled Re:Created, and Spain gets two dates in October 2026. You have time to decide how you feel about that.
From London and Florence to Monte-Carlo, these are the hotel lobby bars in Europe that still feel worth dressing for.
From Lisbon and London to Barcelona, Copenhagen and Berlin, these are the natural wine bars in Europe worth travelling for.
These are the Lisbon bookshops worth your time right now: places with atmosphere, history, taste and enough identity to justify a proper detour.
From all-day egg places in Santos to specialty-coffee mornings in central Lisbon, these are the breakfast spots in Lisbon worth getting out of bed for.
From specialty-coffee spots in Chiado to calmer corners for a notebook, a draft and a long morning, these are the Lisbon cafés worth disappearing into.
From Príncipe Real and Chiado to Graça, Santos and Cais do Sodré, these are the Lisbon neighbourhoods that make the strongest weekend sense right now.
From parking-garage sunsets to polished hotel rooftops and castle-facing terraces, these are the Lisbon rooftop bars worth your time right now.
From low-intervention pours in Praça das Flores to polished bottles in Chiado, these are the Lisbon wine bars actually worth your time right now.
From antique-lined stretches in São Bento to nightlife arteries near Cais do Sodré and the quieter elegance of Príncipe Real, these are the streets in Lisbon worth walking properly.
Lisbon still does weekends better than cities with more money, more openings and more noise. The reason is not hype. It is rhythm.
From Somali remittances to Afghan markets and Western terror investigations, hawala operates as the world's oldest parallel financial system — informal, resilient, and still moving billions outside the view of modern banking.
Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has collapsed by more than 98%, banks have frozen savings, electricity has largely vanished and yet daily life persists. How does a country absorb economic freefall and keep moving?
From £22 smash burgers to £8.50 chocolate strawberries at Borough Market, simple food is becoming algorithmic spectacle. When did lunch turn into performance?
From Shoreditch to SoHo to Le Marais, technical outerwear became the urban uniform. But every aesthetic cycle peaks. The outdoor-luxury moment is flattening — and workwear is waiting.
Greenland is discussed in Washington, Copenhagen and Beijing as a strategic prize. But beneath the Arctic rhetoric lies a quieter question: how does a nation of 56,000 build independence without becoming someone else’s asset?
From Amsterdam to Shoreditch to SoHo, the hotel lobby has quietly become the most valuable square footage in the building — monetising remote workers, freelancers and locals who never book a room.
Budgets keep climbing, yet the work feels flatter: safer scripts, noisier spectacle, rushed finishing and fewer films that genuinely divide opinion. Streaming didn’t kill cinema outright. It rewired what movies are for.
From streaming platforms to razor blades and AI tools, recurring billing has reshaped spending habits. Convenience became commitment. Commitment became default.
From sovereign wealth funds to Golden Visa investors, control of Mediterranean coastlines is shifting through balance sheets rather than flags. The sea remains open. Its most valuable edges do not.
After the streetwear decade, menswear is shifting from logos to language: cut, fabrication, restraint, and ideas. The money is moving too — and the creative director chairs suggest this isn’t a trend but a structural reset.
Residency visas, tax arbitrage and mobility incentives have turned nationality into strategy. In 2026, where you live is less about identity and more about optimisation.
Shoreditch didn’t collapse. It professionalised. The numbers, the language, and the leases explain why — and what ‘cool’ costs once attention turns into yield.
Every new opening looks the same: fluted panels, terrazzo, oat milk on tap. We walked twelve cafés in Zone 2 and couldn't tell them apart. Here's what happened to personality.
No sign, no Google listing, no influencer has ever posted it. The bartender knows your name by your second visit — if you can find it again.
The worst advice about eating in Madrid is to avoid anywhere tourists go. It would rule out a cod tavern from 1860, a cider house in a former railway depot, and several very good lunches. The useful question is what to order when you get there.