Lucas Oakeley

London

Editor and Writer at Freelance

Editor, writer, author. Nearly Departed (August 2025) Words in GQ, Vogue, National Geographic, The Economist, Eater, Esquire, VICE and more.

Articles

The best steak restaurants in London

2 weeks ago | gq-magazine.co.uk | Lucas Oakeley

Vegans, look away. Protein is having a moment – and London’s best steak restaurants are welcoming newfound carnivores with open arms. The city has long been known for its wealth of blood-red options, and our steakhouses are so beloved that one (Hawksmoor) has made the jump across the Atlantic to go up against New York’s finest. But it’s hard to know what’s truly worth your money and what’s fodder for the expense account crowds.
The king of all London caffs: an oral history of E Pellicci

3 weeks ago | timeout.com | Lucas Oakeley

Image: E Pecllicci / Jamie Inglis Image: E Pecllicci / Jamie Inglis Now an East End institution, the Britalian café has kept customers queuing for more than 125 yearsFriday 16 May 2025FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailWhatsAppAdvertisingThere’s no place like E Pellicci. Stepping through the doors of the iconic Bethnal Green caff is like stepping through a portal into the past.
The Butcher’s Almanac

1 month ago | toa.st | Lucas Oakeley

Henwen’s opened in Forest Hill the day before Halloween. Opening up in the run-up to Samhain might be considered bad luck by some, but for south London butcher shop Henwen’s, it was perfectly aligned with founder Charlie Smith and Sweyn Hall’s approach. When I visit on a Tuesday, one of the shop’s two days off, linocut paper hearts are festooned across the window. Bay leaves hang on the wall, fluttering in the wind like cherry blossoms whenever the door swings open.
The best smashburgers in London

2 months ago | gq-magazine.co.uk | Lucas Oakeley

Great burgers, it turns out, are simple creatures. In recent years, we’ve seen a shift away from the traditional thick hunk of beef with towering layers of onion rings, relish, and cheese, and in its place, the nimble smashburger has risen. These trimmer patties are made by crushing balls of ground beef into thin discs that form caramelised edges when cooked. Then the stacking begins. Two, three, four, or an ungodly five layers of crushed meat make for a protein lover’s dream.
Bedford Square Publishers | Nearly Departed

2 months ago | bedfordsquarepublishers.co.uk | Profile Page |Lucas Oakeley

Joel Foster is a hapless twenty-something. His girlfriend, Beth Lewis, would likely have been a hapless twenty-something, too, had she not been obliterated by a very large cement truck. Some time after Beth’s tragic death, Joel is still trying to juggle grief with the world of modern dating. And while he still feels like a widower, he has to find a new love before three years is up. The catch? Just as Joel thinks he’s finally falling for someone, he starts getting haunted by Beth.
West Ham & my girlfriend’s dad

Jan 29, 2025 | goal.com | Lucas Oakeley

Men making friends with other men is hard. It usually involves a weird bullfight stand-off where both of you try to feel each other out—shaking hands a little too firmly, unsure whether obscure references to late-nineties WWE storylines will go down a treat or crash the momentum of the friendship like a cement-filled zeppelin. It’s even harder to make friends with a man when you’re sleeping with their daughter. That tends to put up a bit of a barrier. It creates a splash of friction.
Why It’s Time To Bring Back Messy Dinner Parties

Dec 4, 2024 | service95.com | Lucas Oakeley

By Lucas OakeleyDec 05, 2024 Lucas Oakeley is a writer and journalist who has written for a range of publications including VOGUE, GQ, The Independent, National Geographic, The Guardian, The Economist, Esquire and Time Out. He loves long walks on the beach but hates getting sand in his shoes. His debut novel, Nearly Departed, will be published in summer 2025.
Empty Orchestra

Oct 31, 2024 | the-fence.com | Lucas Oakeley |Ella Fox-Martens |Lauren Bensted |Claudia Cockerell

A short story in a pub. Deep breath now. Don’t move a muscle. Four glasses float by your head and you don’t quite know how the man caressing them like bowling pins in his wide hands hasn’t managed to spill a drop. You’d have been impressed at the dexterity of his movement – which was deft, almost Biles-like – if he hadn’t looked down the front of your top as he pliéd by. There was a hush before the music. Before the band really started to blow.
Will I Ever Stop Obsessing Over My Skin?

Oct 22, 2024 | bylinebyline.com | Lucas Oakeley

You can’t avoid your skin. But you can learn how to live with it. Sort of. "Young man with acne" by Sergey Sudeykin, first half of 20th centuryPublished As I stared in the mirror at the bathroom sink, I tried to be thankful for what I had. A loving partner. A roof above my head. A family who were so unflinchingly supportive they would have thrown me a party if I told them I wanted to quit my job and become a circus clown. Despite all that, I didn’t like what I saw. I hated the face looking back at me.
The Reading List: 5 Books Redefining Modern Masculinity

Oct 21, 2024 | service95.com | Lucas Oakeley |Francesca Reece |David Szalay |Olivia McCrea-Hedley

Kintzing/Oscar Bellville The Reading List, Culture, Books | By Men should read more books. Specifically, books that aren’t called Rich Dad, Poor Dad or The Diary Of A CEO. When it comes to fiction, the ‘gender gap in reading’ is consistently widening, with surveys indicating that women account for 80% of fiction sales in the UK, US and Canada. Yet there is so much excellent fiction that explores the male experience, waiting to be discovered.