Things to do in London this week

London’s cultural institutions are having a love affair with the New Romantics this year. Now it’s the Design Museum’s turn to direct its attention towards the most flamboyant subculture of its era, via this exhibition on the Blitz club, the iconic (and we really don’t use that word lightly) Covent Garden nightclub where New Romanticism was born in 1979. Forty years after it closed, the trailblazing club’s atmosphere will be recreated through a ‘sensory extravaganza’ incorporating music, film, art, graphic design and some very ostentatious outfits. This will include several items that have never been on public display before, while some of the scene’s key figures have been involved in the development of the exhibition. Time to liberally apply the kohl eyeliner, fish out your frilliest shirt and whack on some Spandau Ballet: the 80s are back, baby!

Kerry James Marshall is an artist with a singular vision. He has become arguably the most important living American painter over the past few decades, with an ultra-distinctive body of work that celebrates the Black figure in an otherwise very ‘Western’ painting tradition. This big, ambitious show will be a joyful celebration of his lush, colourful approach to painting.

Fashion lovers will lose their heads over the V&A’s big autumn exhibition, focusing as it does on the sartorial tastes of one of history’s most notable bonce droppers. Marie Antoinette Style will look at the ill-fated French queen’s enduring impact on fashion, design and culture, as well as ‘the origins and countless revivals of the style shaped by the most fashionable queen in history’. The V&A’s art collection features two portraits of Antoinette by Jean-François Janinet and François Hubert Drouais which we’d imagine will feature in the exhibition, while visitors can also expect to get up close to some serious couture pieces too; Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Moschino, Dior and the exhibition’s sponsor Manolo Blahnik have all created past collections inspired by the guillotined French Revolution monarch. Let them eat ’fits!

Stationed at the Pembury Tavern since 2018, Ace Pizza has long been in Time Out’s good books thanks to their giddy, stonebaked ‘London-style’ pizza, which combines the crispy-bottomed New York slice with the slow-fermented, bubbly crusts of the Neapolitan original. This is their first stand-alone restaurant and there’s more than just pizzas in store here. Small plates include crispy fried artichokes, salty anchovies draped on a gooey slide of pan con tomate, paired with a Parmtini - a pleasingly depraved take on the classic martini made with cheese-infused vodka. The pizzas are just as good as their Pembury counterparts. It’s all enjoyably, fantastically fun.  

The great avant-garde director Katie Mitchell directs this virtuosic foley performance in which a quartet of actors (Pandora Colin, Tom Espiner, Tatenda Matavai and Ruth Sullivan) deploy a colossal array of objects – from hay bales to hot water bottles – to create the sounds of a cow and also a deer. They’re augmented by sound design from co-creator Melanie Wilson that is heavy on animal noises and a script from Nina Segal that imposes a degree of discipline and direction and ultimately a rather haunting ‘story’ about humanity’s disruption of ordered nature. It’s a dazzlingly coordinated exercise in pure artifice, a sort of vindication of human ingenuity. The four actors are in constant, fluid motion as they fiddle with everything from glittery pom poms to what looks like bundles of herbs to conjure the beasts and their world. Nobody makes theatre like Mitchell, and this is an audacious technical exercise the likes of which you’re unlikely to ever see in a theatre again. 

Looking for a wholesome, creative night out that doesn’t involve a hangover (unless you BYOB)? Token Studio in Tower Bridge offers relaxed, hands-on ceramics classes where you can spin, shape and decorate your own pottery piece. Whether you fancy throwing a pot on the wheel (£32) or painting a pre-made mug or plate (£23), it’s the perfect mix of fun, mindful and surprisingly therapeutic. And to top it all off, you can sip while you sculpt as it’s BYOB and super chill.

Buy a Token Studio session from just £23, only through Time Out Offers. 

Ever looked in the window of a commercial gallery in Mayfair, and found it completely empty save for a lone curator at desk, surrounded by expensive art on impossibly white walls? Imagine the exact opposite of that, and you’ve got the Art Car Boot Fair, one of the most madcap, entrancing art events in London, where big names flog their work from little stalls or the boot of a car. And this year, things are getting even more eccentric thanks to this edition's theme, Comedy and the Comic. Celeb stallholders include British comedy legend Vic Reeves, Instagram star Mr Doodle, Scottish fashion designer Pam Hogg, Modern Toss, Dion Kitson, Camille Phoenix, and photographer Rankin, who'll take portraits of punters at the fair. Go along and you'll find an egalitarian mix of big names and emerging artists, all flogging work at knockdown prices and cracking jokes with passers by. 

Its been nine long years since Brick Lane last hosted its Curry Festival, but E1’s curry houses are coming together again for this free festival taking over Brick Lane and nearby streets with the aim of reestablishing this East End neighbourhood as the curry capital of the UK. The main event is on Sunday 21, when visitors can expect street food stalls and chef demonstrations outside the stretch of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani restaurants on the corner of Brick Lane and Hanbury Street, alongside a host of family-friendly fun including DJs, stilt walkers, magicians and live graffiti presentations, plus some opportunities to get stuck in at henna and bangla dancing workshops. 

Yep, this is a live recreation (you could call it immersive theatre if you wanted) of the smash BBC game show The Traitors. As much as anything, this adaptation from Immersive Everywhere is extremely well organised. Clearly, you can’t make a note-perfect recreation the show, but what they’ve done captures a sense of it very nicely. In this much shorter format, a large number of participants book in for a given time slot and are then divided into groups of around 12. Each is spirited away to their own round table, which comes complete with its own Claudia Winkleman-substitute host. The thrill is in the psychology of it all: overanalysing everyone else’s behaviour and body language as we complete a series of puzzles. It’s possible to be eliminated relatively early, but rather than being booted out of the building, ejectees are set up in a comfy room with screens relaying the rest of the game live, and a couple of tasks to complete, which I won’t spoil. Overall: it’s a bloody good laugh.

London’s festival scene caters to just about every kind of music fan, and that of course includes metalheads. After debuting in 2022, this three-day black metal bonanza returns to the O2 Academy Islington for its fourth edition this September. Curated by London-based metal label Cult of Parthenope, its line-up promises to showcase ‘some of the finest, rarest and most transcendental’ bands in the genre. The lineup includes Ritual Death, Bewitched, Kall, Necrophobic, Splendidula, Dark Sonority, Alkhemia, Negative Plane, Shardana, Blood Countess and The Kovenant.

Hidden somewhere between a theme park, an escape room and a real-life video game, Phantom Peak isn’t just your average day out. This open-world adventure based in Canada Water invites you to explore a fictional steampunk town at your own pace, chatting to quirky characters, uncovering mysteries and slowly piecing together your own story.

With 11 unique trails, a rotating calendar of seasonal storylines, and a cast of live actors guiding your experience, no two visits are ever the same.

Get discounted adult tickets exclusively through Time Out Offers

You don't see many festivals billing themselves as a blend of ‘philosophy and music’ but that's exactly what you get at HowTheLightGetsIn. Over 300 talks, discussions, debates, musical performances, comedy sets and documentary screenings are on the bill this year. Alain de Boton, Brian Cox, Ash Sarkar, Mary Trump, Cathy Newman, Alastair Campbell, Roger Penrose and John Gray are just some of the thinkers on the line-up, while performances come from the likes of Alex Farrow, The Orb, Lucy Beaumont, Deptford Northern Soul Club, Alexandra Harrow and Kadialy Kouyate on the entertainment bill. Your centrist dad will love it.

Ever wanted to have a nosy around some of London’s coolest private buildings? Open House London gives guests free access to architectural wonders that are not normally open to the public – from schools and offices to places of worship. It’s an often rare chance to explore iconic or just interesting buildings that make up the capital’s storied history, while the programme usually includes tons of workshops, exhibitions and more, as well as the usual tours.

The annual Future Of Food Festival, hosted by the culinary hotspots of Regent Street and St James’s, has got events galore that are all about the newest, most exciting, and most sustainable bits of the restaurant industry. Join panel talks with industry experts to get some insight into where food is heading in the coming years, tuck into some unique dining experiences and meet some of the most innovative chefs, restaurateurs and suppliers in the country. This year, there’ll be exclusive dining experiences from chefs, masterclasses from sustainable booze brands and On-Street Feasts where you can dine outdoors. 

Cheesier than a wheel of Stilton and about as edgy, Downton Abbey bows out with a cosy but loveable final instalment that will leave few dry eyes among long-time fans of Julian Fellowes’ British TV thoroughbred. It’s a third big-screen instalment that’s one long ending: to the characters, to the house, to the certainties of Edwardian England. It’s mostly soirées and teas and trips to the theatre, though there is a vague gesture at a plot. A handsome American (Alessandro Nivola) with Wall Street airs arrives in Blighty to stir things up; a prospective visit from Noël Coward gets everyone in a flap; and a prize or two needs giving out at the county fair. The headline news is that Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is now divorced from her feckless husband, which gets her rudely booted out of polite society. It’s a touching but low-key ending that gathers all your faves together for a last supper.

If you fancy switching things up a bit and find yourself near Borough, why not roll up your sleeves at Comptoir Bakery's London Bridge workshop space? Choose from sessions where you’ll learn to craft buttery croissants and pain au chocolat, the cult-favourite Brionuts, or delicate tartelettes. Expert bakers—trained under culinary legends—will guide you through every step, from mixing the dough to perfecting the fillings. You’ll also nab a slick £20 apron to keep and plenty of fresh pastries to take home. Starting at just £69 per person or £118 for two, with over 30% off, it’s a delicious way to spend a few hours.

Get discounted workshop sessions, only through Time Out Offers

After four years of exciting performances, free music and dance festival Urban Elephant has grown into one of Elephant and Castle’s best loved cultural events, and for good reason. From classic Indian dance to Spanish flamenco, the weekend-long festival is a real showcase for the local area’s vibrant multicultural communities. Look out for Grupo Lokito bringing Congolese grooves and Cuban rhythms, Ivorian drumming and dancers from Kaagô, the IRIE! Dance Theatre Youth Company performing West African folktale ‘Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom’  and a celebration of Colombia and Latin America from dance group Yuruparí Grupo Folclórico. 

Walthamstow's Big Penny Social has only been on the scene for three years, but it's made a name for itself as a fun, down-to-earth spot for locals to hang out and party. Now, it's throwing a mammoth birthday bash that'll be its biggest knees up to date, with a festival feel. Big Penny's Biggest Ever Party will unfold across six different spaces, including new arts venue Big Penny Studio. There'll be a mammoth line-up of over 100 performers, including wrestlers, circus acts, a full orchestra and more, with tons of opportunities to mingle, chat and dance.  

London is widely recognised as one of the design capitals of the world. Cementing this title is the annual Design Festival, a colourful and thought-provoking celebration of some of the world's best designers, who interrogate the boundaries of design through events, exhibitions and installations. This year, the fest will showcase how contemporary design intersects with technology, sustainability, and our shared cultural heritage. Phew. Look out for landmark projects including What Nelson Sees by Paul Cocksedge, which will let you see London from Nelson’s vantage point on top of his Trafalgar Square column and Beacon by Lee Broom, a site-specific sculpture at the entrance of the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, inspired by the area’s Brutalist architecture that will illuminate when Big Ben strikes. 

The late Peter Jones’ labyrinth of polychromatic tunnels is returning for another UK tour, stopping in Clapham Common this September for a 36th year. Never been to Colourscape? Self-described as ‘Europe’s most unusual festival’, you wander around its big inflatable neon maze to see what musicians you can find inside. You might happen upon a flautist, a classical guitarist or, new this year, a Balinese gamelan accompanied by a troupe of Indonesean dancers. Who knows!? Those kaleidoscopic innards are designed to surprise.