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Time Out’s Nightlife and Things To Do editors join forces to pick the best places to spend your precious evenings
We've spent enough time inside over the last 18 months – it's time to re-immerse ourselves in all the things London has to offer. From clubbing to craftivism, and kayaking to karaoke, the city’s after-dark activities are more diverse than our pandemic routine of Zoom quizzes and Netflix binges. Whether you want to try something new or reacquaint yourself with an old favourite event, these 50 best nights out in London offer something for everyone.
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Formerly (and still commonly) known as Vogue Fabrics, Dalston disco den VFD hosts drag and spoken word events as well as genre-spanning club nights and parties. Look out for the massive penis mural in the loos.
Price: some events free, some £5 and up.
Open past 2am / vfdalston.com
VFD, 66 Stoke Newington Rd, N16 7XB
London by night bus? No thank you. London by night kayak, however? That we can – quite literally – get on board with. Secret Adventures’ Night Kayak tours allow you to see our twinkling landmarks from a whole new angle. The adventure starts at the beach next to St Mary’s Church, Battersea, and finishes in Greenwich.
Price: around £70
Held every Saturday at the 800-capacity O2 Academy Islington, Club de Fromage is the stuff of London party legend. As its name suggests, the music policy is as cheesy as a quattro formaggi: come for wall-to-wall throwback bangers from the likes of Britney and Bon Jovi.
Price: £8
Open past 2am / wheelchair accessible / clubdefromage.com
16 Parkfield St, The Angel, London N1 0PS
Want to stay up all night watching movies and eating sweets? The only place to do it outside of your own gaff is at a Prince Charles Cinema All Nighter. Bring your best pyjamas, plenty of snacks (and maybe some Pro Plus) as you embark on a dreamy night of themed back-to-back films from 9pm until 9am.
Price: £20 for members; £22.50 for non-members
Open past 2am / princecharlescinema.com
Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Pl, London WC2H 7BY
Spending your night in a multi-storey car park might not sound like the ideal night out, but Peckham Levels isn’t your average motor-filled concrete block. Instead, it’s packed with food vendors dishing up mouth-watering street food from all over the world, including Plantain Kitchen's West African eats, Beza Ethiopia’s vegan smorgasbord and Boxwallah’s twists on Delhi-inspired classics.
Floor 1-6, Peckham Town Centre Carpark, 95a Rye Lane SE15 4ST
Do you believe in the power of pop’s Auto-Tune-loving goddess? If the answer is ‘YES!’, then you’ll be wanting to book tickets for the next I Need to Cher night at The Old Nun's Head. Featuring queens, wrestling (!) and more, it’s a fitting tribute.
Price: £10
15 Nunhead Green, Nunhead, London SE15 3QQ
Here’s how to really embrace the night: try something you literally couldn’t do by day at one of the Royal Parks’ bat walks. A chance to see the nocturnal creatures during their working hours, you’ll even get to use a bat detector.
Price: £10
Wheelchair accessible / royalparks.org.uk
Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens
It’s hard to overstate the influence of Pxssy Palace, which ‘prioritises women and femmes of colour and other queer, intersex and trans POC’. Booking DJs often ignored by the mainstream, PP has shifted the paradigm big time.
After a short break, Pxssy Palace will return on September 3 – keep an eye on @pxssypalace for updates on events and tickets.
Tottenham has become the definitive destination for proper late-nighters. The Cause and its caged DJ booth has led the charge for renegade clubbing. Always meant as an ad-hoc space, the good news is their tenure has been extended to 2020.
Price: Around £15
Open past 2am / facebook.com/thecauselondon
Down Lane Studios, Ashley House, Ashley Road
N17 9LZ
Eyes down for a full house… Dabbers Social Bingo has comics as bingo callers and interactive challenges called things like ‘twerk it out’.
Price: from £13 to £17
18 - 22 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7DB
Sir John Soane’s Museum is always atmospheric, but Soane Lates are candlelit evenings exploring a different aspect of the architect’s collection. Only problem? They’re very popular so you'll have to be organised to grab a ticket.
Price: £20 to £25
13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP
If you want to unleash your creative side but pretty much hate putting pen to paper, Collage Club is for you. Recreate your primary school days with a fun night of ripping, cutting, sticking and gluing with silly speed-collaging sessions and collaborative challenges. All materials are provided.
Price: from £14
We should all be trying to do better by the environment and The Chiswick Cinema make it easy. The area’s first cinema since 1934 is a dedicated eco-friendly space, with not a piece of single-use plastic in sight. Refreshments are all compostable and recyclable, while there’s even a living wall that offers a biodiverse habitat for local wildlife. Leonardo DiCaprio would approve.
Price: From £11.50
94-96 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick W4 1SH
One of the UK’s most vibrant poetry organisations, Apples and Snakes is not so much an intimidating gathering in a bookshop as a place for rallying, edge-of-your-seat performance. From poetry readings to Brexit debates, there’s no fruit that’s forbidden here.
Price: free
Events pop up everywhere from Brighton to Bristol, check out their website for upcoming London nights.
Netflix’s ‘Glow’ might have brought women’s wrestling to the masses, but underground league Eve Wrestling is the real deal. Head to the ring to witness all the sweat, shouting and sick moves, and be ready to get vocal – it might be a spectator sport, but by the end you’ll be a raving super-fan.
Price: £25
229, Great Portland Street W1W 5PN
A true source of Peckham pride, multi-floored concrete hub the Bussey Building continues to thrive as a warehouse-style club at night and a sweet arts venue during the day. Regular weekend parties like The South London Soul Train are joyful affairs, and also rare examples of young and old partying in sync.
Price: from £5
Open past 2am / copelandpark.com
Bussey Building, 133 Rye Ln, Peckham, SE15 4ST
Now seven years old, ‘indie queer dance party’ Debbie loves pop, rock and disco equally, but every song must have a female vocal, which means the DJs will drop everything from Donna Summer to Hole. Wear your sturdiest shoes for this monthly danceathon, held at Eagle London.
Price: £6, free before 10pm
Open past 2am / wheelchair accessible / eaglelondon.com
Eagle London, 349 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SE11 5QY
Shakespeare’s been done every which way, but under the night sky is surely the best. Want to add another layer of madness to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’? Book in for a midnight matinee at the Globe. Drama is guaranteed.
Price: £5 to £50
Open past 2am / wheelchair accessible / shakespearesglobe.com
21 New Globe Walk, London SE1 9DT
Neon paint, UV lights and writhing bodies – no, it’s not something X-rated, this is a legit life-drawing class. Spend an evening creating psychedelic sketches of a life model in body paint at Neon Naked Life Drawing.
Price: from £16
Venues across London, inc The Old Queen's Head and Boxpark Wembley - visit their website for upcoming events.
Rowans Bowling has a deserved legendary rep. There are two floors of lanes, karaoke booths, an arcade, pool tables, boozy slushies and you can even get pizzas at your lane. Plus it’s open until 2am on weekends. Strike!
Price: admission £1-2; bowling from £6.20; karaoke from £25 per hour.
Open past 2am / rowans.co.uk
10 Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park, N4 2DF
For the best legal high in London, head to The Psychedelic Society’s two-hour sound bath. Drink some ceremonial-grade pu’er tea (to alter your body’s energies), get comfy and let the good vibrations from the gongs and singing bowls send you off on a trippy meditative journey.
Price: £15 to £25
Wheelchair accessible / psychedelicsociety.org.uk
The Round Chapel, Lower Clapton Rd, London, E5 0NP
Phonox has the utopian aim of building a welcoming community of likeminded clubbers. No frills, no pretence, just a sound group of people there for the dance. Expect unrivalled DJs and a first-rate sound system.
Price: £5
Open past 2am / wheelchair accessible / phonox.co.uk
418 Brixton Rd, Brixton, SW9 7AY
Do you tut savagely at anyone who puts ‘The’ in front of ‘Pixies’? You do? Then head to Highgate boozer The Boogaloo for its weekly night Who Killed Bambi? – it’s the longest-running music quiz in London.
Price: £2
Wheelchair accessible / https://theboogaloo.co.uk/whats-on/
The Boogaloo, 312 Archway Rd, N6 5AT
No nightlife venue has the wow factor like Printworks. This huge post-industrial space provides a playpen for the world’s biggest house and D&B DJs to get epic on yr ass.
Price: From £17.50
Open past 2am / wheelchair accessible / printworkslondon.co.uk
Surrey Quays Rd, Rotherhithe, SE16 7PJ
Since 2016, PopHorror have been taking pop classics and giving them a spooky makeover at one of London’s premier LGBTQ+ spaces, the RVT. Each night has an always impeccably creative theme, from The Cher Witch Project to Greatest Splits – The Horror Of Break-Up Songs, brought to life through cabaret, drag, games and more.
Price: around £12
facebook.com/PopHorrorUK
Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY
RA Lates isn’t free, but it’s well worth the price for the events and installations (supper clubs, robotic displays etc). Plus, when else can you go around exhibitions in fancy dress?
Price: from £25
Wheelchair accessible / royalacademy.org.uk
Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, W1J 0BD
You’ve tried singalongs, now head to a solve-along. At Solve-Along-a-Murder-She-Wrote, the organisers screen an episode of the classic Angela Lansbury detective show, while you try and solve via games, quizzes, participation and more.
Price: £8 to £13.50
Various venues including Royal Vauxhall Tavern and Prince Charles Cinema.
You won’t find a more glamorous spot to watch a film than under the crystal chandeliers of the Rivoli Ballroom Pop Up Cinema. For a few nights each month, this lavish 1950s-style ballroom screens classic flicks.
Price: From £8
Wheelchair accessible / rivoliballroom.com
350 Brockley Rd, Lewisham, SE4 2BY
For a night of true sophistication, take it old school at South Kensington’s new 1920s-style wine bar. Nocturne boasts incredibly grown-up cocktails, an affordable-but-classy wine list sourced from the best winemakers in France and Italy, and over 70 types of cheese and charcuterie. But what will you do while making your way through the menu? There’s also a blackjack and poker room, or lots of vintage bits and bobs to admire.
Open past 2am, Thurs-Sat/nocturnebar.co.uk
158 Old Brompton Road, Kensington SW5 0BA
On the last Friday of every month, art lovers head to Tate Modern Lates. These giant free parties are packed with performances, music, films, talks and DJ sets. It’s the perfect place to discover London’s hottest new artists and have a cocktail while checking out those tenth-floor views.
Price: free
Wheelchair accessible / tate.org.uk
Bankside, SE1 9TG
If you want to take to the mic at London’s hottest new singing spot Karaoke Hole, you’ll be on the main stage. There’s no other bar in town where you can belt out your favourite tunes accompanied by a crooning drag-queen host.
Price: book a table to secure a spot - £5 pp on Fridays and Saturdays, free on Thursdays.
Open past 2am / thekaraokehole.com
95 Kingsland High St, E8 2PB
Horse Meat Disco is everything a good weekly club should be: friendly, inclusive, not too pricy and playing music that’s defined yet unpredictable. The four DJs behind this Sunday standout at Eagle London revived disco for queer audiences at a time when such silky sounds were dead.
Price: depends on the night, at the Eagle London it's free till 10pm, £5 after.
Open past 2am / wheelchair accessible / @horsemeatdisco
Eagle London, 349 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SE11 5QY
Nipple tassle crafting, belly dancing classes, papier mâché making, calligraphy, Lego robot building, hip flask decorating, throw knitting – if you want a weird and wonderful evening, head to King’s Cross café-cum-bar Drink Shop Do where there’s something surprising happening every night of the week, as well as club nights with cheesy tunes until late each weekend.
Price: depends on the night, from free parties to £26 bottomless brunch to £50 workshops
9 Caledonian Rd, Islington, N1 9DX
Loads of pubs have quizzes, so why should you pick this one? Because this Bethnal Green boozer really goes for it – from sambucca challenge rounds, to dance competitions to crafting. You might even have to bust out an Elvis impression; we're all shook up.
Price: £2 pp
359 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 6LG
Fancy yourself as the next Kate Tempest? Learn the ropes at one of Out-Spoken's masterclasses or head to a live night around London – from its OG home at The 100 Club, to the swankier Southbank Centre – where poetry and live music combine, focusing on highlighting diverse and progressive new voices.
Price: depends on the night, around £10
If you like your movie nights a tad more old-school, you need to check out Ciné Reel – the only film club in the UK that exclusively plays 16mm format films. Each month, the wonderful Umit from the legendary Clapton film emporium Umit & Sons projects a favourite classic round the corner at The Castle Cinema for appreciative celluloid enthusiasts.
Price: £5 to £10
The Castle Cinema, 64 - 66 Brooksby's Walk, E9 6DA
There’s plenty of rooftop bars in London, but where else can you watch a film alfresco or challenge your mates to a game of crazy golf, virtual reality foosball, a spot of curling, jenga or a swing in a batting cage?
Roof East, a complete Stratford stalwart, reopened this year with a load of new street food offerings, drinks menus and playful surprises.
Price: free, with some ticketed pop-up events
Floors 7-8, Stratford multi-storey car park, Great Eastern Way
If you miss childhood bedtimes (and frankly, who doesn't?), then join professional storyteller Vanessa for an evening of magical tales. In 'Portals of London', she'll explore the secret history of the City's forgotten corners, while other nights focus on urban legends, ghostly stories and more; you'll meet in a series of different, atmospheric London locations, but you'll be transported back to who knows where...
Price: From free to £10
Venue locations depend on the event, and some are secret - check the website for more details.
This iconic LGBT+ venue has welcomed everyone from Lily Savage (slaying on stage) to Princess Diana (enjoying a sneaky night out in the '80s). Now Grade II listed and reasonably safe from developers, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern is open seven nights a week for drinking, dancing and drag shows, and queer cabaret platform Bar Wotever has become a Tuesday institution.
Price: free with ticketed events around £10
Open past 2am / rvt.org.uk
372 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SE11 5HY
East London's queer Bollywood night Hungama has given the city's LGBTQ+ scene a friendly shot in the arm. It's taken place at various venues including The Glory and Dalston Superstore, but every Hungama is a super-inclusive mix of Bollywood imagery, hip hop beats and anything-goes gay abandon.
Price: from £5
Venues vary - check the Facebook page for up to date details.
Get yourself down to Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. This East End destination has been welcoming revellers since Victorian times. Sink the Pink began here around a decade ago, and something about its proper old-school working's men's club vibe seems to lend itself to colourful, chaotic and forward-thinking club nights.
Price: depends on the night, around £15
42-44 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB
A flag-bearer for London nightlife’s independent and community-minded spirit, Andy Blake’s WU parties have become a turning point – thanks to their use of renegade spaces, judicious use of smoke machines and an audio aesthetic that words like ‘chugging’ and ‘throbbing’ were made for.
Price: depends on the event, around £15
Open past 2am / residentadvisor.net/dj/andyblake
Want to relax but don’t want to miss out on a great view and (maybe) a gorgeous sunset? Netil House’s saunas allow you to get your fix of both. Go for a soak by yourself or bring your mates and unwind while overlooking east London, then grab a drink at the rooftop bar to continue your zen.
Price: From £30 to £180.
Netil House, 1 Watergate St, E8 3RL
A total, bankable PEACH of a venue, located on a quiet Hackney side street, Moth is a former club for ex-servicemen (Memorable Order of Tin Hats). Luckily for those who haven’t seen action, Moth is open to all and it’s retro chic, breezy vibe and pop/indie-centric music policy means it’s never a downer.
Price: depends on the night, around £10
Valette St, E9 6NU
As trends have come and gone, Heavy Load has repped its niche for a staggering 20 years now. And that niche is: funky retro rock you can properly shake your butt too. Downstairs at the Phoenix near Oxford Street is where it all happens – don check shirts and triple-denim, and enjoy the night’s incredible collection of retro lights too.
Price: £4 before 10pm, £6 after
Open past 2am / facebook.com/heavyloadclub
The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square
So many aspects of living in London aren't the best for your body: tube fatigue, pub culture, all the amazing (but not always healthy) eating out options. Give your body back some vital goodness at Frame's latest yoga offering – with candles for company, no less. Sensual.
Price: £15
25-33 Berners Street, W1T 3LR
Much more than just a running club, Midnight Runners gives you the chance to do something healthy and invigorating with your evening while escaping the confines of your local gym. They're a worldwide movement as well, with clubs in cities across the world such as LA, Sydney, Barcelona and more. Go for it and join in, your body will thank you later.
Price: 3 month membership £36, annual £120, first two events free.
David Lynch fans, gather around. The Double R Club is an evening of mystery and nightmares inspired by Lynch's films - and it's a dark and twisted treat, often groping into territory where other cabaret nights fear to tread.
Price: From £12
Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, 42-44 Pollard Row, E2 6NB
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