Rosie Hewitson

Sure, summer might not technically start until June 21. But spiritually speaking, by the time the second May bank holiday rolls around, most Londoners are ditching their winter coats and switching their internal settings to summer mode. There’s at least a reasonably good chance that the sun will be out, turning the city into a bright, beautiful land of fun once more. So consider these three days off work your chance to be reunited with Summer in the City™. Make the most of them and make a beeline to one of the capital’s best beer gardens, cool off with some outdoor swimming, dine alfresco, explore London’s lush green spaces or browse one of the city’s bustling markets.  Check out our guide to the best events and things to do across London for the Bank Holiday weekend falling betweeen Saturday May 24 to Monday May 26 2025.  RECOMMENDED: Read our full guide to the bank holiday in London

Once, wild swimming was for hardy health nuts who'd rise at 6am and take an icy dip before their sugar-free granola. But now, a new generation is discovering the sheer pleasure of swimming in lakes and rivers: the ducks bobbing by, the reeds gently waving in the breeze, the lure of squishy your toes into the mysterious mud below. You can go cold water swimming to your heart's content at London’s lovely outdoor pools and lidos, but you wouldn't get to go head-to-head with a swan, would you?   This city's most famous wild swimming spot is the Hampstead Ponds, but its lakes get seriously busy the second temperatures start to rise. So why not go a bit farther afield, and make a day of it? There's an abundance of opportunities for wild swimming near London where you can swim as nature intended, with stunning scenery to drink in with each stroke. For maximum summer vibes, bring a post-swim picnic to enjoy as you dry out in the sun, then decamp to a good old country pub. RECOMMENDED: 12 flower-filled day trips from London NOTE: Wild swimming can be dangerous. It’s best not to try if you’re not a strong, experienced swimmer. Please check for potential hazards before you swim and be mindful of cold water shock.

Tuesday May 20: The second of May’s two bank holidays is on the horizon, but there’s plenty of fun to be had before we make it to the long weekend, regardless of the slightly overcast few days we have in store. Today’s top pick? The follow-up to uber-talented comic Jordan Grey’s award-winning 2022 show Is it a Bird? at Soho Theatre. Keep scrolling for more details.  Got a few hours to kill today? You’re in luck. London is one of the very best places on the planet to be when you find yourself with a bit of spare time.  In this city, you’re never too far away from a picturesque park, a lovely pub or a cracking cinema, and on any given day, you’ve got a wealth of world-class art shows, blockbuster theatre and top museum exhibitions to choose from if you’re twiddling your thumbs. Use your spare time wisely with our roundup of the best things happening in London today, which gets updated every single day and includes a specially selected top pick from our Things to Do Editor seven days a week. Bookmark this page, and you’ll have absolutely no excuse to be bored in London ever again! Find even more inspiration with our curated round-ups of the best things to do in London this week and weekend

Why not enjoy your dinner with a side of strange? London is home to hundreds of amazing restaurants, but sometimes everyone hankers for a talking point with their tapas. We’ve rounded up a serious bunch of entertaining eateries: oddball decor, kooky culinary concepts and – yes – cats. Our list of unusual restaurants will delight animal lovers, garlic fans, and yodellers and more. You’ll find these joints in venues as varied as a boat, a prison and a church crypt. This is dining with a difference.  RECOMMENDED: The best weird bars in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

You’ve decided you’re travelling to London. You’ve booked your transport and downloaded a tube map, but where to stay? You’ve probably clocked that London is one massive, sprawling city, made up of neighbourhoods that each have their own unique character. Resist the urge to panic-book a fancy hotel in London’s West End – there’s plenty more out there, we promise. Dive into the real London by branching out from the well-trodden tourist path. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells of somewhere totally new. Whether you’re after lively nightlife, easy access to gorgeous green spaces, culture on your doorstop, or serious dining, you’ll find it here. Ready to get booking? Read on for our guide to the best neighbourhoods and places to stay in London.  📍 RECOMMENDED: Ultimate guide to the best hotels and Airbnbs in London Ella Doyle and Rosie Hewitson are editors at Time Out London. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.

We’re about to be treated to another of those sweet May bank holiday weekends, and it’s the last one for a little while, so best make the most of it. Thankfully, if you’re in need of things to do, music festival season has officially started in London. Despite the recent court ruling which brought legal action against Lambeth council over the use of Brockwell Park for festivals, all the music planned in the park over the summer is due to go ahead, which means the London outdoor music season kicks off with big-hitters Wide Awake and Field Day, as well as many more in other green spaces in the capital. There’s more for music lovers as the Barbican Centre’s new venue-wide exhibition Feel the Sound begins this week with immersive exhibitions exploring the power of noise, performances and underground club nights in the centre’s basement. There’s also fantastic new theatre from Ava Pickett, who’s written the funny, perceptive, whip-smart drama 1536 about three young Tudor women who deal with the news of Henry VIII’s arrest of Anne Boleyn. Or, celebrate Crystal Palace’s FA Cup victory by heading to the club’s Selhurst Park ground for a big ol’ boozy beer festival. What’cha waiting for?  Start planning: here’s our roundup of the 25 best things to do in London in 2025 Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.

We’ve got another treat in store for us this weekend. Another of those sweet May bank holiday weekends is on the cards, and it’s the last one for a little while, so best make the most of it. Thankfully, if you’re in need of things to do, music festival season has officially started in London. Despite the recent court ruling which brought legal action against Lambeth council over the use of Brockwell Park for festivals, all the music planned in the park over the summer is due to go ahead, which means the London outdoor music season kicks off with big-hitters Wide Awake and Field Day, as well as many more in other green spaces in the capital. There’s more for music lovers as the Barbican Centre’s new venue-wide exhibition Feel the Sound begins this week with immersive exhibitions exploring the power of noise, performances and underground club nights in the centre’s basement. There’s also fantastic new theatre from Ava Pickett, who’s written the funny, perceptive, whip-smart drama 1536 about three young Tudor women who deal with the news of Henry VIII’s arrest of Anne Boleyn. Or, celebrate Crystal Palace’s FA Cup victory by heading to the club’s Selhurst Park ground for a big ol’ boozy beer festival. What’cha waiting for?  Start planning: here’s our roundup of the 25 best things to do in London in 2025 Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.

There are plenty of reasons to get excited about August in London, but, the main one? It}s the month of Notting Hill Carnival – the biggest festival of its kind in Europe that takes over the streets of west London for the bank holiday weekend.  When you’re not having a riotous time dancing to tinnitus-inducing dance hall with a pocket full of Red Stripe, there are plenty of other ways to get your fill of live music this month. All Points East, Body Movements and Boiler Room Festival are just a few of the festivals pitching their tents and blasting music across various parks in London. UK Black Pride is also back for its 20th anniversary this year, with what promises to be its biggest and boldest event yet.  Before September hits, let’s hope there’s enough sun for a London lido swim, lazy days in the city’s parks, beer-garden pints, outdoor-cinema sessions and all the other alfresco pleasures that summer in London has to offer.  Plan your whole year with our BIG London events calendar.

As anyone who has ever rode a fixie bike, sported horn-rimmed spectacles or waxed lyrical about coffee’s ‘fourth wave’ will tell you, Shoreditch is a part of London that seems to be in constant evolution.  Over the years, its local scene has gradually transitioned from art school kids and fashion gays to tech bros and Essex estate agents travelling into Liverpool Street station for a big one at XOYO. It has been home to both a ball pit bar and a cereal-themed café (RIP to a real one), but these days it seems to be all about small plates and ‘lifestyle’ stores. The roster of reformed hipsters that comprise Time Out’s editorial team have been there to witness it all, and we’d like to think that we know a thing or two about what’s good in the area.  🏘️ Ultimate guide to where to stay in London A weekend wandering round these parts still always has to include a stroll down Brick Lane, long home to great Bangla curry houses, rival bagel institutions and vintage shops stuffed with treasure. For a wholesome vibe, the blooms of Columbia Road Flower Market should always be on your radar, as should the hidden gem that is Dennis Severs’ House.  There’s also plenty on offer for those on the hunt for a party, as you’d expect from biggest London’s hen/stag party hotspot; you’ll find top bottomless brunches and brilliant after-dark fun in the ramshackle bars around the rough triangle made up by Old Street, Great Eastern Street and Shoreditch High Street. Or for a bit of culture, head to

Marylebone has been a fashionable area in London since at least the seventeenth century – as its catalogue of famous residents both real and fictional attests. The likes of Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Adam Ant have all called Marylebone home, as well as English literature’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes.  Today it’s a world-famous shopping destination. Skip Oxford Street and instead amble along the much quieter and elegant Marylebone High Street, home to the famous Daunt Books. The area is also a first-class foodie destination home to some of our favourite London restaurants, from St John’s newest outpost to Michelin-starred fusion spot AngloThai and world-famous celeb hangout Chiltern Firehouse (which is currently closed for refurbishment after the fire got a bit out of hand). 🏘️ Ultimate guide to where to stay in London This being central London, there are plenty of historic attractions to check out too; tourist trap Madame Tussauds, art museum the Wallace Collection and concert venue Wigmore Hall all draw big crowds. Mostly, though, people come here to wander the gorgeous Georgian streets, soak up the classy vibes and do a bit of browsing around the neighbourhood’s many chic boutiques. Now, isn’t that just as refined as it gets.  RECOMMENDED:The best restaurants in MaryleboneThe best hotels in MaryleboneExplore London by area

Once a byword for raucous nightlife, flamboyant fashion and a rough-and-ready kind of cool, Dalston has grown up quite a bit since its hipster heyday. Having lived in and around Dalston for the past seven years, I’d say it’s definitely still edgier than its chichi Islington neighbours Newington Green and Canonbury, more youthful than the young parent-filled Stoke Newington to the north, and grungier than Hackney Central and London Fields on its eastern border. But for the most part, it’s much like any other decent neighbourhood: home to a hugely diverse mix of multicultural communities who all find it a bit too expensive, plus an excellent offering of bargain shops and cheap eats that sit between an ever-growing number of natural wine bars and luxury boutiques.  🏘️ Ultimate guide to where to stay in London Long home to a strong Turkish community, it’s one of the best places in London to get a kebab, a crispy fade or a hammam scrub. And while the area’s once-legendary nightlife isn’t what it used to be – pour one out for our dearly departed Power Lunches, Plastic People and Alibi – its high street remains one of east London’s go-to destinations for after-hours fun, especially for Hackney’s large queer community. And that’s before you even start exploring the area’s lovely cultural offerings, or its residential streets dotted with great pubs and cafés. Read on for our guide to Dalston’s best bits, and get to grips with an area that’s a glorious blend of London’s many tastes an

Few areas of London are quite so steeped in history as Soho. There are cultural institutions on practically every corner of this bustling central London neighbourhood, from historic drinking dens frequented by famous artists and writers to iconic gay bars, hallowed music venues that have played host to countless jazz, blues and rock’n’roll icons to relics of the area’s seedy past as London’s primary red light district. These days, Soho is equal parts edgy and sexy, polished and chic; a glorious mélange of cheap and cheerful gay bars, sleek restaurants, swanky designer boutiques, legendary old cafés and delis, tourists stopping by on the way to a West End show, office escapees necking post-work pints and gleeful teens gliding by on rickshaws blasting the latest chart hits.  🏘️ Ultimate guide to where to stay in London Time Out’s offices are located just a short walk down the road in Covent Garden, which means our editors have spent many lunch hours browsing our way down Carnaby Street, and even more Thursday evenings stopping by the Coach & Horses for ‘a swift one’ before stumbling home via the Cambridge Circus McDonald’s after four pints and a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch. As such, we’re extremely qualified to tell you what is good in this colourful, hectic and quintessentially ‘London’ part of town. So here are 20 of our absolute favourite things to do in the area. We’ll catch you ‘Going For Dinner With Billie Piper’ soon (if you know, you know!) RECOMMENDED: The b

Founded during the Arab Spring in 2011, biennial festival Shubbak has become one of London’s largest celebrations of contemporary Arab and South West Asian & North African (SWANA) culture. Engaging with the hopes, ambitions and artistic excellence of this part of the world, the 2025 edition of Shubbak (which means ‘window’ in Arabic) features a plethora of performances, exhibitions and community-driven events scheduled over three weeks across a diverse array of venues, including the Southbank Centre, The Place, Battersea Arts Centre, The Garden Cinema and Mimosa House. This year’s festival launches at the Southbank Centre with The People’s Catwalk (May 23), a powerful and inclusive showcase of SWANA fashion modelled by models of all shapes and sizes. This is followed by the largest Palestinian theatre production staged in the UK for 25 years, as Palestine theatre collective Khashabi Ensemble performs striking visual theatre piece MILK (May 24-25).  The plight of Palestine features heavily across the rest of the programme too. Camden’s Theatro Technis plays host to a week-long programme of Palestinian theatre curated by PalArts (May 26-Jun 2), while P21 Gallery hosts an exhibition on The Art of the Palestinian Poster (May 23-Jun 14),  the New Cross Inn hosts the latest edition of fundraising gig series Punks For Palestine (May 26) and the Barbican stages Music For Palestine (June 6) featuring a trio of Palestinian acts.  These are just some of the 40+ events encompassing theat

Greenwich Peninsula’s free family festival Urban Village Fete returns this May, offering a stellar lineup of DJs, live music, markets, creative workshops and street food on the banks of the river Thames. Look out for headline DJ slots from 6Music’s Gilles Peterson, vinyl disco DJ Jack Hemingway and London station LOOSE.FM, find a creative new hobby at workshops on dog training, pottery making, basket weaving and mushroom growing, or drop in to cultural talks hosted by BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms, who’ll be chatting about education and AI, street style, and collective action with a host of interesting panellists. There’ll also be an Independent Traders Market with baked goods, handmade crafts, and a smörgasbord of streetfood. Be sure to check out the schedule online and register for some bookable (but free) events to be in with a shout of winning one of 130 brilliant food, fashion and entertainment prizes provided by local businesses. 

We all know a diva who loves to make her birthday into a month-long series of events featuring several different locations and multiple guestlists. And Dalston Superstore is that kind of diva. The legendary LGBTQ+ club on Kingsland High Street might have already celebrated its sweet sixteen with a huge party earlier in the month, but it’ll also be hosting a massive daytime party round the corner in Gillett Square over the late May bank holiday. It’s a free entry affair (she’s a generous queen!) featuring a secret line-up that will no doubt feature the great and the good of east London’s queer party scene. Category is: queer excellence, all day long! Guarantee entry by reserving your ticket here.   

Munch your way through dishes from the great and the good of the capital’s restaurant scene at this sprawling culinary festival in the picturesque surroundings of central London’s Regent’s Park. Guy Ritchie’s gastropub Lore of the Land, Japanese-Korean joint Akira Back and masters of Pan-Pacific cuisine Los Mochis are among the restaurants peddling plates and appearing at the event for the first time this year. If you’re not in a food coma by the end, there’ll also be kitchen masterclasses, chef talks and tastings to get involved with. Our advice? Have some Rennies on hand. 

A quarter of a century ago, Tate Modern opened its doors for the very first time. In the intervening years, it’s become a bastion of modern art in the UK, continuously hosting thought-provoking, eye-opening exhibitions and supporting artists from around the world. It would be remiss, then, not to celebrate such an icon’s birthday and, luckily, the celebrations are going to be plentiful. Across one long weekend in May, the institution will mark its anniversary with a series of workshops, talks, tours, free experiences, live music performances, DJ sets and food and drink offers.  Witness live tarot reading as part of Meschac Gaba’s ‘Museum of Contemporary African Art’ exhibition, or watch a specially commissioned performance by Abbas Zahedi in ‘Gathering Ground’, which explores ecological crisis and social justice. Over in the Tanks, Lawrence Lek will build a near future shaped by sentient AI using live gameplay and cinematic footage, while Marîa Magdalena Campos-Pons will lead a new performance responding to the history and architecture of the Tate Modern’s former power station shell. There’ll be some blasts from the past, too, like Louise Bourgeois’ giant bronze spider ‘Maman’, which once greeted visitors when the gallery first opened in 2000. A new trail of 25 key works will take art lovers through the Tate’s collection and introduce them to important pieces by renowned stars like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalî, plus artists with less household name status, such as Outi Piesk

Roll up ageing ravers, curious young clubbers and anyone who just fancies hitting a dance floor and still being home in time for Emmerdale. This hour-long virtual reality experience promises to transport you back to the height of the Acid House era during 1989’s Summer of Love. Having premiered at the London Film Festival back in 2022, the hour-long experience takes over the The Pit at the Barbican for ten weeks this summer. The handiwork of filmmaker Darren Emerson and is soundtracked by some of the era’s biggest bangers, from Joey Beltram’s ‘Energy Flash’ to Orbital’s ‘Chime’. Sadly, there’s no discount for anyone old enough to remember Shoom. 

Fifteen years after it was first mooted, Soho Theatre’s Walthamstow outpost finally opened in the spring of 2025. The 970-seater venue takes over a former Granada Cinema built in 1930 and closed in 2003, restoring the Grade II-listed property to its former glory with a £30 million building project. Like the original Dean Street venue, there will be a focus on comedy in the programming, with visitors also promised an annual panto, film screenings, theatre and community-focused education projects. 

An expansive pub on the corner of Clissold Park, sporting a huge beer garden that gets sun throughout the day and fills up with sports fans on sunny weekends. On the bar you’ll find a solid mixture of local craft beers and commercial brews, while the kitchen serves up solid pizzas and a small menu of snacks and sharing platters, with a decent roast on Sundays.

London’s current infatuation with all things agave has spawned dozens of new bars specialising in the Mexican spirits du jour. But while you might find more extensive collections of tequila and mezcal elsewhere, few agave-focused bars can match the sophistication of this elegant Latin American-themed spot in the Grade II-listed former Police Station that now houses the NoMad hotel.  There’s an old-school gentleman’s club kind of grandeur to this low-lit space, decked out in dark wood booths, green leather seating, an imposing marble-topped bar and walls covered in vibrant photographs taken on the streets of London and Southern California. On the menu, you’ll find a seasonally-changing menu of half a dozen takes on the margarita, plus six bar classics and another dozen or so drinks categorised as ‘refreshing’ or ‘spirit forward’. Most cocktails are agave-based, but the menu also incorporates a host of trendy ingredients from across the globe, from yuzu and white miso to pandan and cachaça. And for beer drinkers, there’s the hotel’s own Mexican Sour, a collaboration with King’s Cross-based brewery Two Tribes. Alongside this, the bar serves up a solid menu of mostly Mexican bar snacks; zingy guac is served with a hefty pile of crunchy tortilla chips, creamy prawn croquettes come topped with salty, umami shavings of bonito and churros are accompanied by thick chocolate sauce and fudgey dulce de leche crema.  Order this On our visit, the star of the show was a chocolate mole marga

Austin’s music, film and media festival SXSW is renowned across the world for being the place to discover the next big thing. In previous years, superstars like Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Chappell Roan have all given early performances at the Texas event, while the likes of Steven Spielberg, Barack Obama and Malala Yousafzai have appeared at the conference arm of the festival. And now, following the festival’s expansion into Sydney, the week-long, multi-venue event is coming to London for the first time.  The inaugural SXSW London will take over various venues around Shoreditch – including Shoreditch Town Hall, XOYO and the Village Underground – over a week in June, and the line-up is absolutely massive. Conference attendees can take their pick from 420 talks and panels delving into the most pressing issues across business and tech, with keynotes delivered by everyone from actor Idris Elba, comedian Katherine Ryan and footballing legend Cesc Fàbregas to the CEOs of massive companies like OnlyFans, Monzo and Twitch. The film festival will feature 250 film screenings, including a whole bunch of international premieres, cutting edge ‘Expanded Reality’ work and debut screenings of some huge new TV shows.  And then there’s the music festival, featuring headline sets from Tems, Mabel, Sasha Keable Alice Glass and Nao, alongside more than 500 gigs. These featuring a whole bunch of emerging talents across just about every genre of music you can imagine, and tipped for success by mus

Outdoor spaces are big business come summer, and this seasonal pop-up between Waterloo and Westminster bridges is one of the biggest and best in London. Returning for its summer season from Thursday April 17, it boasting lovely views over the Thames and an eclectic programme of entertainment encompassing drag shows, DJs, live performances and themed club nights. What’s on at Between the Bridges? This summer’s events programme includes plenty of tried-and-tested favourites, from Barrioke with EastEnders actor Shaun Williamson (Friday May 9) and Taylor-themed party Swiftoggedon (Sunday May 25) to the Old Dirty Brasstards performing Abba (Friday June 6), Motown-themed immersive dining experience Soul Supper (various dates) and weekly bottomless brunches themed around everything from Whitney Houston to Dirty Dancing.  There’s plenty of free entertainment on too, including after-work drinks on Thursdays soundtracked by old-school hip hop and RnB from resident DJs, Friday night’s Dock Discos featuring contemporary house and disco tunes, and Guilty Pleasures featuring nostalgic 90s and noughties pop bangers every Saturday evening.  What food vendors are at Between the Bridges? The South Bank has long been a hub of great street food, and this year Time Out is getting in on the act, partnering with Between the Bridges to launch Time Out Eat Street, a mini food market featuring some of our favourite street food vendors from around the city, as selected by our Food & Drink Editor, Leoni

If you tend to find swanky gyms and personal training a bit intimidating, The Foundry’s community-focused atmosphere might be the solution to your anxieties. Founded in Vauxhall in 2016, the small company prides itself on being able to deliver a friendlier, more personal experience than large chains. Core to the gym’s approach is access to small group personal training, delivered in 50-minute sessions with a maximum of six attendees. Promoting teamwork and togetherness over competition, the gyms motto is ‘no mirrors, no posers, no egos’, and these sessions are friendly and encouraging.  Memberships cost between £300 and £500 a month, depending on how much personal training you want (choose from 1, 2, 3 or unlimited sessions per week) with sessions taking place every hourly to enable you to fit them around a busy schedule. Members also get unlimited access to fitness classes designed to complement their personal training, with two kinds of sessions available; cardio focused ‘Sweat’ classes, and ‘Hybrid’ ones combining movement and strength training.  Keen to see what it’s all about? The Foundry offers a discounted 21 day challenge for newcomers so you can suss out whether it’d be a good fit for you before committing to a longer membership. 

The eyes of north London (or at least the Lilywhite half of it) will be on Bilbao this Wednesday evening (May 21), as the second-biggest competition in European club football reaches its conclusion with an all-English final between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.  Naysayers argue that nobody cares about the Europa League, but it’s a crunch game for both of the ‘Big Six’ teams. With the pair looking set to finish in the bottom quarter of the Premier League, victory is their only avenue for securing European football in the 2025/26 campaign, and allows one of them to salvage something from a torrid season.  For Spurs, it would also mean securing a first piece of silverware since 2008, and the club’s first European trophy since 1984, ending a trophy drought that weights more heavily on the storied club with each passing season.  Many local fans will be heading to the boozers and beer gardens of north London to watch Ange Postecoglou’s team face the Red Devils. Looking for a lively atmosphere in which to catch all the nail-biting action? Look no further than our roundup of London’s best Spurs pubs. RECOMMENDED: London’s best football pubs. The Bluecoats Once home to the Bluecoats School for Girls, this quaint Jacobethan building was built in the mid-1830s, but has more recently been the site of solid match day boozing thanks to its proximity to the Spurs stadium. You won’t need a reservation for the big match, but you will need to head down early as the place will be op

It’s mid-May, and London is in for another pretty balmy weekend. But if you’re anything like me, a week of (mostly) gorgeously sunny evenings has seen you spending plenty of time outside the house, tapping your credit card with reckless abandon as you treat yourself to mid-week beer garden sessions, alfresco dinners with friends, and a few new bits for your summer wardrobe.  But don’t resign yourself to a weekend on house arrest just yet. There’s all sorts of wallet-friendly fun to be had around the capital this weekend, including a whole host of freebies on offer, from pints to haircuts. Give your wardrobe a free makeover at Westfield Good Festival Photograph: Westfield Planning a big old wardrobe clearout? You’ll love Westfield’s free festival of pre-loved fashion. The world-renowned shopping centre has teamed up with pre-loved fashion marketplace Depop to stage a series of experiences that will inspire you to embrace embrace sustainable shopping habits. Head down early doors this weekend to shop a curated edit of second-hand threads at an IRL Depop Marketplace, take part in free styling workshops, enjoy free skincare consultations from Kiehl’s, and even nab up to £40 of free clothing alterations courtesy of door-to-door repair business Sojo.  Westfield London, W12 7GF. Fri May 16-Sun May 18. Free (first come, first served). Get a free trim from celebrity barber A Star Fancy getting a trim to rival Jack Grealish’s or Jude Bellingham’s? To mark Mental Health Awareness Week

The Hackney Half Marathon is arguably the most fun of London’s running events (if you can imagine that running for 13.1 miles straight can actually be fun). This Sunday, bands and DJs will be on duty all over the course, keeping more than 20,000 participants energised with pumping beats and classic motivational tunes, and thousands of spectators will line the streets to whoop and cheer their loved ones on. But the vibes won’t stop once you cross the finish line. If you can muster up enough energy and are still able to put one foot in front of the other, don’t miss out on the atmosphere of celebration throughout the borough post-race. There’ll be a bunch of afterparties ready to welcome runners and their supporters all afternoon and into the evening. And make sure you keep that medal around your neck – you could be awarded with a freebie or two.  These are all the best runner freebies, perks and afterparties you need to know about ahead of the Hackney Half this Sunday.  RECOMMENDED: Hackney Half Marathon 2025 – route, start time and everything you need to know. The best Hackney Half freebies and perks 2025 These are all the discounts and free stuff on offer for Hackney Half finishers that we know about so far. (Spoiler: it’s mostly booze.) UBA What you get: A free Hugo spritz and a taco of your choice from Shoreditch’s pan-Asian restaurant, UBA. Your options include salmon ceviche, beef, artichoke, tuna ceviche or hamachi ceviche.  How to claim: Turn up to dine-in at UBA with

There’s nothing quite like the FA Cup. The oldest competition in football reaches its conclusion this weekend, as Crystal Palace take on Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Crystal Palace will attempting to win the competition for the first time in their history, having lost in the final in 1990 and 2016, while seven-time winners Manchester City will be hoping to salvage a disappointing season which has seen the club suffer its earliest exit from the Champions League in twelve years, and miss out on the Premier League title for the first time since 2020. RECOMMENDED: How to watch the FA Cup final on TV this weekend: channels, pundits, kick-off time and more. Who are the favourites to win the FA Cup 2025? The sky blues are still the bookies’ favourite to lift the trophy on Saturday afternoon, with bookies giving them around a 73 percent chance of winning, but with Pep Guardiola’s team having struggled for form all year, there’s every chance the south Londoners could cause an upset.  When is the FA Cup Final 2025 and what time is kick-off? The FA Cup Final takes place on Saturday May 17 at the home of English football, north-west London’s Wembley Stadium. The match kicks off at 4.30pm and should be finished by around 7.30pm at the latest, even if it ends up going to extra time and then penalties. Keen to catch the big match but not got a ticket to Wembley? London’s pubs and bars will be stepping up to the occasion with all the giant screens and pub grub you could hope for. Her

Reckon you’d make a good 007? Always thought you’d ace that bit in Mission Impossible where Tom Cruise abseils into the CIA headquarters? Then you’ll welcome the opportunity to test out your espionage skills at a new immersive experience arriving in London later this month.  Opening on Friday May 30, SPYSCAPE London is described as a ‘pioneering interactive museum and social gaming experience’ where visitors are able to take part in a range of challenges designed with the help of experts from the fields of intelligence and espionage. The Covent Garden location will be the first overseas outpost for SPYSCAPE, which originally launched in New York in 2018, where it has welcomed over one million visitors to date. Designed specifically for London audiences, the 25,000 square foot venue promises to offer ‘a new take on immersive activities, seamlessly blending the history, the art, and science of espionage and psychology in the modern world.’ Created with the help of real life spy trainers from British Intelligence, psychology professors from Imperial College London and specialists from the CIA and Special Ops, the venue offers two experiences featuring a range of high-tech challenges designed to test players’ mental and physical capabilities.  SPYSCAPE is a narrative-led challenge where players get to crack codes, run surveillance and conduct lie detection tests all while learning about real hackers and spies throughout history and exploring rare gadgets. At the end of the 90-mi

How did you celebrate your 25th birthday? If I recall correctly, mine involved half a dozen pints, a couple of shots, a drunk Maccies on the night bus home and a monumental hangover the next day.  But the Tate Modern is a hell of a lot more sophisticated that I was at 25, and its quarter-century celebration this weekend knocks my little pub gathering out the park. Featuring four days of free workshops, talks, participatory performances, live music and late night DJ sets, the massive weekender starts tomorrow, and the gallery has just announced yet more cool stuff happening across the weekend.  Alongside already-announced DJ line-ups curated by some amazing London crews and collectives the gallery has revealed two huge headliners. Friday’s late opening spotlights south London’s vibrant creative communities, and will feature a headline set from The xx member turned solo artist Romy, who will be taking to the decks for a 2-hour DJ set from 10pm-midnight, with earlier sets curated by the likes of Peckham listening bar Jumbi and British Caribbean festival Radiate.  Saturday night’s festivities will see the gallery taken over by yet more cutting-edge artists and collectives, including a rare London set by Afrobeats station Cultur FM in the Tanks, featuring a headline set from BBC Radio 1 DJ Jaguar. Other DJs throughout the evening have been curated by South Asian creative collective Daytimers, female-fronted Peckham station foundation.fm, Afro-Caribbean LGBTQ+party Queer Bruk and a

Opened in 1992 in an old branch of Barclays bank, Camden’s Jazz Cafe has long since established itself as a legendary London music venue. Over the years, the 450-capacity spot has played host to some truly iconic acts from the world of jazz and soul music, including D’Angelo, Bobby Womack, Gil Scott-Heron, Pharoah Sanders and local legend Amy Winehouse. The venue’s inaugural Jazz Cafe Festival was a hit last summer, and will return to Peckham’s Burgess Park this August. We’re therefore expecting big things from the Jazz Cafe’s new project, which was announced this week. Jazz Cafe owner the Columbo Group has been granted planning permission to transform a disused theatre into an east London outpost for the Camden institution. Built in 1896, Stratford High Street’s Rex Theatre has gone through multiple iterations over its 130-year history, initially hosting theatre and opera before being converted into a cinema in 1933, a bingo hall in 1969 and later a nightclub. After being repossessed by Newham Council in 2013, the building has been largely vacant since, but will finally reopen as Jazz Cafe East after the council accepted a bid for the venue.  Operating since 2006, the Jazz Cafe group owns several other major London venues alongside the OG Jazz Cafe, including nightclubs XOYO and Phonox, music venue chain The Blues Kitchen and north London pubs The Parakeet and The Old Queen’s Head. The business’s foray into Stratford has been enthusiastically welcomed by the local community

May is turning out to be a big month for famous singers turning their attentions towards visual art. Just days after Mr Robbie Williams opened an exhibition of his ‘radically honest’ art at Mayfair tourist hotspot the Moco Museum, some guy called Bob Dylan is exhibiting his paintings at Bond Street’s Halcyon Gallery.  Opening on Friday May 9, Point Blank will feature 97 original paintings on paper, created between 2021 and 2022 and based on quick sketches that were then painted over.  The isn’t the first time the 84-year-old Nobel Prize-winning songwriter has swapped his guitar for some paintbrushes; Dylan has been working with the gallery for almost two decades, having staged several previous exhibitions at the space, including 2021’s Deep Focus, a series of works mostly created during the 2020 lockdown. The freewheelin’ musician – who was recently introduced to a new generation of fans via Oscar-nominated biopic A Complete Unknown – has also been the subject of several international exhibitions, including a major 2019 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai. Speaking of the latest show, Halycon Gallery founder Paul Green said, ‘It is nearly 18 years since Halcyon first started working with Bob Dylan and it has been an extraordinary experience to watch this cultural icon develop into such a critically revered and important visual artist so closely. This latest body of paintings feels like a more intimate connection to the artist than in any of his previous work

If you’ve seen the American Crime Story series on his assassination, you’ll know something of the story of Gianni Versace, the socialite, businessman and fashion designer who founded one of Italy’s most respected luxury fashion houses.  Born in Calabria in 1946, Versace worked in his family’s tailor shop before moving to Milan to establish his eponymous label in 1978. Over the following two decades, he became one of the fashion industry’s most powerful and influential figures before his untimely death in 1997, dressing everyone from Liz Hurley, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss to Princess Diana, Elton John and George Michael.  Some of those iconic looks will feature in a major retrospective of the designer arriving in London this summer. Opening at The Arches in London Bridge on Wednesday July 16, Gianni Versace Retrospective will feature over 450 items, including original garments and accessories, personal sketches, interviews and photographs, many of which have never been displayed in the UK before now.  Photograph: Gianni Versace Retrospective Central to the exhibition is a vibrant chronology of looks charting showcasing Versace’s craftsmanship, innovation and immediately recognisable aesthetic across 21 collections, from Spring/Summer 1988 to Autumn/Winter 1997-98, the last show before Versace was murdered in 1997. Amongst there pieces on display will be examples of the designer’s most iconic motifs, from daring designs referencing bondage, to the opulent baroque-inspired p

It’s crunch time in the Champions League, and the eyes of north London will be on Paris tomorrow evening (Wednesday May 7), as Mikel Arteta’s plucky young Gunners travel to the Parc des Princes for the second leg of their semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain. Arsenal will need to overcome a one goal deficit if they want to make it their first European final since 2009. An underwhelming first leg performance at the Emirates saw the north Londoners go 1-0 down early in the fixture to a goal from Ousmane Dembélé.  Many local fans will be heading to the boozers and beer gardens of north London to watch Rice, Saka and Ødegaard battle it out for a place in the final, due to take place in Munich at the end of the month. Looking for a lively atmosphere in which to catch all the nail-biting action? Look no further than our roundup of London’s best Gooner pubs. RECOMMENDED: London’s best football pubs. The Drayton Park A bar stool at the Drayton is basically as close as you can get to pitchside without a ticket. You can see the stadium from the window, and you’ll certainly hear the roar from inside if the home team score. This place has a pretty strict home crowd only policy, and predictably gets insanely busy before kick-off, before quieting down as the lucky ticket-holders head inside.  66 Drayton Park, N5 1ND The Tollington Arms Another lively spot within shouting distance of the stadium itself, the Tolly also attracts a huge pre-match crowd that spills out into the fenced off po

May is a landmark month for the capital’s key cultural institutions. Alongside the opening of Soho Theatre Walthamstow and Tate Modern’s huge 25th birthday celebrations, the month sees the opening of another major new venue, the V&A East Storehouse, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.  The purpose-built space housing over half a million artefacts from the V&A archives is due to open at the end of the month. It just announced further details of its inaugural displays and some of its first events, alongside sharing the first pictures from inside the building. V&A East promises to be ‘a new kind of museum experience’ offering visitors an insight into the workings of a major museum, letting them explore how objects are curated, acquired and cared for. Alongside storage space for over 1,000 individual archives, 250,000 objects and 350,000 library books, the space’s central Weston Collections Hall features over 100 mini displays that have been hacked into the ends of its storage units.  Further details of the artefacts that will feature in these displays have just been revealed. Highlights include works by Hew Locke and Zaha Hadid, a model of the London 2012 Olympic cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick and several new aquisitions, from the likes of Cameroonian designer Imane Ayissi, Lebanese-French artist Najla El Zein, and London-based Zimbabwean ceramicist Xanthe Somers. One particular highlight is the 11-metre-wide stage cloth Pablo Picasso designed for the Ballets Russes’ 1924

iAle, London! Cinco de Mayo is back for another year. If you weren’t aware, May 5 commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over France at the 1862 Battle of Puebla (not to be confused with Mexican Independence Day on September 16). More than 160 years later, it remains a major day in the Mexican calendar and is the ultimate opportunity to relish in the best of the country’s culture and heritage, in case you needed an excuse.  So, this early May bank holiday, be prepared for more tacos and tequila than you can shake a maraca at, and then some. These are some of the best Cinco de Mayo events happening across the city this month. Keep an eye out for special May 5 deals at our favourite Mexican restaurants, too.  RECOMMENDED 🌵 The best mezcal bars in London Cinco de Mayo at the Standard Ascend to the 10th floor of the Standard for a 48-hour fiesta. Sweeties will be hosting a Cinco de Mayo soiree in collaboration with famous Parisian taqueria Candelaria, promising DJs and ‘bar classics with a twist’, then celebrations will continue into next day at Decimo’s boozy brunch with an offering of the tequila-based ‘Bloody Maria’ to soothe the hangover. Once that banging headache has passed, head back across the corridor to Sweeties to do it all over again.  10 Argyle Street, WC1H 8EG. May 2-3. Book online here.    Hackney Church Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Sounds of salsa, bachata and reggaeton will be floating out of the arches of Hackney Church Brewery from noon till midnight for Mexico’s b