Outdoor sports screens in London

The Wimbledon screenings on the faux-grass canalside steps by Granary Square usually get pretty busy as crowds gather with plastic flutes and bottles of Waitrose prosecco, so get there early. And if your fave hits an ace, there are 1,080 choreographed fountain jets right behind to help you cool off. Stick around after the matches for free open-air film screenings curated by Everyman Cinemas. 

You can order drinks to your deckchair during the Wimbledon screenings at Victoria’s spacious rooftop garden and Cardinal Place’s Wagamama will be offering a click-and-collect service. The garden’s website says there will be ‘plenty of surprises throughout the day’. The mind boggles! 

Where better to watch Wimbledon than, well, Wimbledon? This is a ‘no cost, no queue’ shindig, so just pull up a deckchair and catch some rays while you watch tennis titans battle it out about 1.3 miles away on Centre Court. Note that the semis and finals won’t be shown here.

Several grand squares and courtyards in Belgravia and Mayfair, including Grosvenor Square, Brown Hart Gardens, Halkin Arcade and Eccleston Yards, will be screening the tennis. Pick up sustenance from local restaurants and bars, many of which will have special offers running. 

The Happenstance’s Pimm’s Terrace is the place to grab a Wimbledon-inspired cocktail – Murray Smash, anyone? – and settle down to watch the tennis on one of several giant outdoor screens. Booking essential.

Canary Wharf’s Summer Screens in Canada Square Park and Cabot Square show golf, Formula One, cricket and, of course, tennis from Wimbledon (although not the Euros, weirdly). The area’s many restaurants and bars are on hand to keep you fed and watered.

This pretty marina, once one of the UK’s busiest tea ports, is now playing host to a British stereotype of a different kind. That’s right, ‘St Kats’ will be showing Wimbledon on a floating pontoon full of deckchairs, although not over the finals weekend.

Some say Skylight’s rooftop has the best views in London. But, while its panoramic vista is something to behold, you’ll also find a load of urban lawn games, a spread of seasonal cocktails and open-air Wimbledon screenings during its opening hours. The matches will be shown on outdoor and indoor screens.

Westfield’s Bar W12 and Film Club will be showing movies outdoors all summer long, but from July 8 to 11 there will also be screen time for the Wimbledon semis and finals. Make sure you visit the hot-dog truck and ice-cream van on your way to the bar.

If you’re looking for somewhere to catch the latter stages of Euros, the GLA is running a ‘Football Village’ adjacent to the Thames between City Hall and Tower Bridge in Potters Fields Park (hopefully not an omen for the England v Germany game tonight). It will concentrate on the games that are based at Wembley (the semi-finals and the final). 

As well as showing selected Euros action on big screens, the Football Village features live musical entertainment in the form of performers, DJs and buskers, interactive football-themed activities aimed at families, a wide range of food and drink options, and an official Euros 2020 merch shop.

However, the Football Village is NOT showing any of England’s games, which is a bit of a shame, though broadly understandable given that it’s very family- and local-residents-focused (ie it’s not really aimed at beery lads with their pallid moobs out). So if our boys do progress any further, you’ll have to go to the Fan Zone in Trafalgar Square to see the action/make an arse of yourself.

The Football Village is open daily, noon-10pm until July 11. Potters Fields Park.

Where else to watch the Euros.

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