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55 fantastic things to do in London this June

Written by
Stephanie Hartman
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Say hello to June! This month in the city you can watch dragon boats racing down the Thames, feast your eyes on Great Architectural Bake-Off creations, grab a slice of pizza from Made of Dough’s brand new joint or soak up the sun and some great music at Field Day. Have a majorly fun month with the list below!

THINGS TO DO

June 3 Paper Parties Learn how to create beautiful paper decorations in a series of workshops led by Erin Hung, founder of stationery and paper goods company BerinMade.

June 4 Bust Summer Craftacular The Bust gang are setting up shop in York Hall with a selection of alternative craft stalls, DJs, drinks and DIY workshops.

June 9-11 and 16-18 Cockpit Arts’ Open Studios Support independent designer-makers by having a nose round Cockpit Arts' studios as it opens them up to the public – in Holborn then Deptford.

June 10 World Naked Bike Ride A protest against oil dependency and the way the cult of the car dominates contemporary life, World Naked Bike Ride is also an unfettered celebration of individuality of the bare body.

June 10 The Great Architectural Bake-Off This is your chance to see high-profile architecture firms build some of the world’s most iconic buildings. Out of cake. 

June 10 Island Social Club launches Rotishop It’s launching with a daytime party celebrating Caribbean food, drink and music. 

June 11 SoLo Craft Fair Fill your bags with fashion, homewares and art from more than 30 independent traders at this craft fair housed in Balham Bowls Club’s beautiful ballroom.

June 14 Feminism Late The first National Army Museum Late looks at the evolving experiences of women in the army, and examines how feminist thinking influences their lives.

June 17 Trooping the Colour: The Queen’s Birthday Parade Carried out on Horse Guards Parade by fully operational troops from the Household Division (Foot Guards and Household Cavalry), Trooping the Colour is a military tradition that dates back to the early eighteenth century.

June 25 London Dragon Boat Festival Cheer on dozens of dragon boats racing along the Thames at the 22nd edition of this annual festival.

June 28- September 24 Hella Jongerius: Breathing Colour Dutch designer Jongerius will create an installation-based exhibition that builds on years of her company’s research into how we see, encounter and process colour.

June 29 Marguerite Summer Party 2017 Join members of women’s club Marguerite for their summer party in support of Women for Women International. The bash will take place in the grounds of the Rochelle School, with food, cocktails and fun served until 10pm.

FOOD AND DRINK

Berber & Q

New openings:

Chin Chin Labs Those science-minded sweethearts are coming to central London with a Chin Chin Dessert Club in Soho.  

Neo Bistro New joint from the guys behind critically acclaimed Farringdon restaurant Anglo, who will work with Alex Harper, former head chef of the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms.

Made of Dough The pizza kings are getting a permanent home in Peckham. 

Magpie The team behind pidgin will open a dim sum-inspired restaurant in central London.

Bang Bang Oriental A swish new oriental food hall on Edgware Road.

Coupette Chris Moore, former head bartender at the Beaufort Bar at The Savoy Hotel, is the brains behind this Bethnal Green bar. 

Events:

June 5-26 Berber & Q Mangal Mondays Every Monday in June will see one of London’s hottest chefs taking over the Berber & Q kitchen. 

June 6-July 1 Holy Crêpe Billed as the anti-kebab joint you’ll want to guzzle yourself silly in, Holy Crêpe is a pop-up catering for east London revellers who want something healthier than a post-party doner. 

June 8 London Taco Festival at Brixton Beach Now this is something to taco ’bout: London is getting its first ever taco festival, and it’s going to be rolled out on a rooftop beach in Brixton.

June 10-11 Junipalooza Who needs Lollapalooza when you can meet the makers of more than 40 gins and sample each of their wares, learn the secrets behind a perfect G&T and stock up on the essential ingredients for your negroni needs at this juniper-filled festival?

MUSIC AND NIGHTLIFE

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

June 2 Saint Etienne Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell – seasoned pop chroniclers of London life with a romantic, slightly ’60s bent – return to play their 1991 debut album ‘Foxbase Alpha’ in its entirety.

June 2 Jessy Lanza Cutting-edge electronic soul-R&B from the Canadian DJ, singer-songwriter and music producer on the Hyperdub label.

June 2 Yeezy Does It DJs CJ Beatz, Russ Ryan and Janeen Beanz play hip hop by – and inspired by – Kanye West.

June 2 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary Party The DJs on the night spin a host of pop and rock from the era in celebration, plus a live covers band will play music from the album.

June 2-3 Live on Mars: David Bowie Tribute An evening celebrating the life of Bowie and the glam era.

June 3 Field Day Over the last decade Field Day has become one of London’s very best music festivals, with a consistently excellent booking policy covering the world’s finest alternative acts.

June 9 Julio Bashmore The DJ and producer supplies house music at this intimate all-nighter.

June 9-10 Omar An evening of smooth soul with the singer of ‘There’s Nothing Like This’.

June 10 The Wedding Present David Gedge’s punky indie-pop survivors return to the stage with their scratchy guitars and brilliant, poignant, cynical-romantic lyrics.

June 10 Junction 2 Ravers unite in west London for this new one-day festival.

June 15 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard The Aussie collective explore the outer regions of psychedelic rock, with tasty results.

June 16 Simian Mobile Disco, Lauer, Jamie Tiller (All Night Long) Eclectic duo Simian Mobile Disco perform a DJ set, spinning electronic dance, with support from Lauer and Jamie Tiller.

FILM

June 1 Wonder Woman Against all the odds, Hollywood has not screwed up the Wonder Woman movie. This is the first female-fronted superhero movie in a decade, starring former Miss Israel and ex-soldier Gal Gadot. Funny and watchable, this is exactly the kind of good-old fashioned popcorn movie we want in summer. Think ‘Indiana Jones’.

June 28 Baby Driver Director Edgar Wright hasn’t made a film since 2013’s ‘The World’s End’. So we’re more than ready for ‘Baby Driver’, his new crime comedy about a teenage getaway driver, Baby (Ansel Elgort), who finds himself up to his eyeballs in trouble after a botched bank job. The starry cast is all killer, no filler, with Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx popping up as assorted cops and/or crime lords. 

June 30 Kedi If you’ve been to Istanbul, you’ll know that scrappy stray cats own the city – living in cardboard cat kennels, fed by networks of feline-lovers. This documentary (kedi is Turkish for ‘cat’) traces the thousands of kitties who wander the streets of Istanbul. Catnip.

THEATRE

© Johan Persson

June 3-July 8 Anatomy of a Suicide A new play about three generations of women struggling with their predecessors’ legacies.

June 5-August 5 Bat Out of Hell – The Musical Jim Steinman and Meatloaf’s greatest hits get the musical treatment.

June 14-July 15 Terror This courtroom drama by German lawyer-turned-playwright Ferdinand von Schirach looks at the aftermath of a crisis.

June 15-July 15 Gloria Editorial assistants vie for attention in the offices of a Manhattan magazine in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s satire.

June 15-July 22 Hir Taylor Mac’s drama about a very queer family.

June 17-August 5 Ink The brilliant political playwright James Graham does something either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish with ‘Ink’, a new play about the early years of The Sun newspaper directed by Almeida boss Rupert Goold.

June 17-September 9 Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill The poignant story of chanteuse Billie Holiday’s life, told through the substantial talent of Broadway star Audra McDonald.

Until July 8 Barber Shop Chronicles As this new play shows, an African barber’s shop can be a pretty amazing place: a soapbox, a confessional, a newsroom and a pulpit rolled into one.

Until January 2018 Annie Comedian Miranda Hart makes her stage debut in the classic American musical.

ART

June 2-July 8 Ron Nagle: Amended Testimony The American West Coast sculptor has been creating brilliant, bold, small-scale ceramics as part of the California Clay Movement since the 1950s.

June 2-July 23 Tom Burr The New York-based artist’s work has a curious sleekness that makes as many nods to everyday design as it does to minimalism – and tends to suggest half-forgotten stories and memories.

June 2-July 29 31 Women Something of a long-awaited sequel to Peggy Guggenheim’s seminal ‘31 Women’ exhibition at her New York Gallery in 1943. 

June 6-October 8 Fahrelnissa Zeid Part of the Tate’s ongoing shift towards showcasing artists from outside the well-trodden West, this is a retrospective of a Turkish artist who lived through 90 years of the twentieth century and travelled extensively across Europe, Asia and America.

June 7-July 29 Milton Avery The gallery’s first exhibition of works by the twentieth-century artist, whose colourful, flattened, stylised paintings led him to being widely described as ‘the American Matisse’.

June 8-September 7 Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! Judging by the title of this exhibition, Mr Perry’s feeling mighty full of himself. Or is it meant with a touch of irony?

June 21-September 17 Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent Somerset House will be hosting an olfactory extravaganza this summer, bringing together a number of contemporary perfumiers who are pushing their scents in new, exciting and occasionally rather whiffy directions.

June 22-September 10 The Place Is Here This show takes a look back to the work of black artists during the turbulent decade that was the 1980s.

June 27-July 29 Nathalie du Pasquier This French artist made her name as a founding member of revolutionary design studio the Memphis Group.

ENJOY!

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