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Kristi Evan Photography

London’s best pop-ups

Looking for pop-up perfection? Find your perfect temporary party

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Whether you want to boogie to Balearic music, eat street food in an abandoned warehouse, lose yourself in a Swedish forest or just rave on a pontoon, London has a pop-up experience to suit everyone. Here’s our pick of London's best pop-ups.

Pop-ups in London

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Things to do
  • Food and drink events
  • Dalston

Immersive dining gurus Gingerline were a major cultural force in London throughout the ’10s but seemingly vanished during the pandemic. As it turns out, the company – the brainchild of producers Suz Mountford and Kerry Adamson – had relocated to Asia for a stretch and simply chosen not to bang on about it to folks back home. Now they’re back, and it’s very much as if they’d never been away: ‘The Grand Expedition’ is literally a remount of their last full show.  A reworked one, mind. The conceit behind the Laura Partridge-directed piece is that we (the audience) are Phileas Fogg-style Victorian explorers, travelling the globe by hot air balloon. The ‘tour’ is to the countries our wind-blown dirigibles land in – which we then sample the cuisines of. It’s a flexible idea: this incarnation of the show simply visits different countries to the original one.  Spoilering the menu or locations visited is frowned upon, but in essence we sit in our balloon gondolas (stylised tables of six) and proceed to ‘travel the world’, which we do via Fred Campbell’s gorgeous projected animations that wrap around the walls of the large room the show takes place in. It’s probably fine to reveal that we start off in London, but it’s very much not our London; rather a twinkling fantasy of an idyllic mediaeval-slash-Victorian city, surrounded by mountains and monoliths. Campbell’s illustrations – beautifully animated by Greenaway & Greenaway – are definitely the show’s most delightful aspect. When our

  • Things to do
  • Food and drink events
  • Chiswick

Presented by Michelin-starred chef and longtime ‘Great British Menu’ judge Tom Kerridge, Pub in the Park is a touring food and music festival that aims to bring a convivial public house atmosphere to the great outdoors with loads of delicious pub grub and equally enticing live performances. This year, it’s back for four weekends in and around London throughout the summer: Marlow (May 16-19), Chiswick (June 28-30), Reigate (July 12-14), St Albans (September 6-8).  So, what’s on the menu? There’s an exciting roster of new chefs, including the likes of Mary Berry, former judge on the Great British Bake Off, Jeremy Chan of Ikoyi, a fine-dining restaurant on The Strand, and Becky Excell aka ‘Queen of Gluten Free’. Michel Roux Junior, Simon Rimmer and Andi Oliver are just some previous celebrity chef guests who’ll be back this year, and popular kitchens such as Kerridge’s own The Hand & Flowers, Angela Hartnett’s Cafe Murano and Riwaz by Atul Kochhar are returning by popular demand, too.  Now for the music. The programme at each weekend includes a cracking line-up with stars such as Scouting for Girls, Paloma Faith, Jools Holland, McFly and Olly Murs. Van Morrison is on the programme, too (check out the full line-ups here!).

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  • Things to do
  • Food and drink events
  • South Bank

A whopping 12,000 pint lovers are set to visit this year’s edition of mega beer festival BrewLDN, which is on the Southbank this year with a slew of craft brewers from around the UK and further afield exhibiting. Plenty of London favourites will be in attendance, including Toast Brewing, Renegade Brewery, Jiddler’s Tipple, Moot Brew Co, Flowerhorn Brewery and SXOLLIE. There’ll also be street food to soak up the pints, and DJs spinning tunes throughout your seshing. Good luck hauling yourself onto the dancefloor after all that boozing.

  • Things to do
  • Food and drink events
  • West Kensington

Dinner theatre specialists The Lost Estate return with a theatrical dining experience themed around classic Sherlock Holmes adventure ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. The company doesn’t allow press in so we’re not entirely clear how storytelling and nosh are integrated – presumably you sit in a fixed place and actors act around you – but the show is set in 1889 at (where else) 221B Baker Street, and the three-course menu consists of duck & egg, followed by truffled chicken and then strawberries & champagne to finish (vegetarian and vegan options available). Dinner is afoot – to those who can afford it.

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