Things To Do Editors

Tired of Trafalgar Square? Already seen Buckingham Palace? It’s true that London has many wonderful landmarks, sights and attractions – but let’s face it, most of the world knows about them. And most visitors to the capital will be flocking to them. So, why not forego the over-subscribed usual suspects and check out our run-down of the quirky, the weird, the offbeat, cool and countrified? In a nutshell: these are places that are a little below-the-radar, but no less for it. They’ll have you adventuring into pockets of London that you didn’t even know were there. From a Jack the Ripper walking tour to a medieval palace, go forth and start exploring the best alternative attractions in London!   Updated May 2025: Whether you're into rock music or rom coms, there's a walking tour for you. Walk in the footsteps of move stars and musicians while snapping photos of famous locations and hearing all the best stories about the area.  RECOMMENDED: 🏙 Check out these essential sightseeing tours in London🚌 See our editor's pick for the best London bus tours  For the most up-to-date recs, check out what's on in London this week. This guide was recently updated by London-based content executive, Talia Stanton. 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. While we might not stay in every hotel featured below, we've based our list on top reviews and amenities to find you the b

City life can be expensive, but exploring all the sights and experiences that London has to offer doesn’t have to make your bank account weep. There are always free events taking place in the capital, ready to make your weekend a memorable one without leaving you cash-strapped. Consult our guide to free things to do in London this weekend and ensure your Friday, Saturday and Sunday are chock full of fun. If that’s got you excited to get out and make the most of our great city, check out our events calendar to help you plan even more banging days and nights out. RECOMMENDED: Save even more dosh by taking a look at our guide to cheap London.

Bank balance looking a little bleak? A free lunch might be hard to come by, but there are plenty of things to do in the capital that won’t cost you a penny. If the weather’s on your side, you can explore the city’s best green spaces. And if it’s raining? Seek refuge indoors at London’s world-class free museums, brilliant free exhibitions and attractions. Whatever you fancy doing, we’ve put together a list of excellent and totally free things to do in London this week.  RECOMMENDED: The best free things to do in London

We know what you’re thinking, but November isn’t just a non-month sandwiched in between Halloween and Christmas. Despite the long dark evenings now the clocks have gone back, November is sparkling, and not just because of all the Diwali celebrations, Bonfire Night antics and Christmas light switch-ons that happen around the city at this time of year.  And that’s just some of the exciting stuff happening throughout November 2024 in London. For more ideas on how to spend the early part of the festive season, check out our full roundup of the best events and things to do in London this November.  RECOMMENDED: The definitive London events calendar.

If, for whatever reason, you’ve ever found yourself wandering around London on Christmas morning you’ll know exactly what we mean when we say the whole place has a distinctly post-apocalyptic vibe. The Piccadilly Circus billboards flash ads to no one. Oxford Street is deserted, with nothing but the aura of last-minute London shopping anxiety lingering in the air from the day before. The City, bereft of taxes and besuited bankers, is uncharacteristically peaceful. All that remains are a few one-legged pigeons, gobbling up the last Pret sandwich crumbs on the pavement.  London empties out around December 23. The morning commute thins out, and Londoners start strutting through empty tube carriages like free-range hens. To see London on top ‘28 Days Later’ form, you’ll need to go outside late on Christmas Eve, or early Christmas Day. But there are pockets of quiet to be found over the holidays. The capital doesn’t fill to its bulbous, overworked capacity again until the first week of January. Want to make the most of the Christmas abyss? We have a few ideas. RECOMMENDED: Our complete guide to Christmas in London.

London is blooming with conservatories that bring a whole new meaning to the term ‘urban jungle’. It’s easy to enjoy the great outdoors inside these glassy constructions that most DIY nuts could only dream of. As well as being perfect pockets of leafy calm in the city, these magnificent conservatories house exotic plants, sun lounges and top-class restaurants, so whether you want your cappuccino with a side of cactus or a romantic dinner in an orangery, you’re sorted. Many of the conservatories below are asking visitors to pre-book a time slot now that they’re open to the public again. And you’ll have to wear a mask. But it’s all worth it to get down with nature without a thing like unpredictable weather getting in the way. If this is what a gardener’s world looks like, you can count us in. RECOMMENDED: The best outdoor spaces in London.

Being stuck indoors self-isolating doesn’t mean the fun of going out has to stop. London has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, with big institutions and independent venues closing and events being postponed and cancelled to ensure event-goer safety. While you may not be able to go out, London’s brilliant and ever-resourceful artists, performers, experts and craftspeople are now bringing the fun to you. Scores of live-streaming events, workshops and festivals have been launched in the last few days, with more and more being announced. These streamed events are also a great way to support and donate to people in the entertainment and hospitality industry who are facing very uncertain times.   As ever the Things to Do team aim to bring you the best of London, and so we’ve picked the very best events that will be streaming into your homes over the coming days.

Right now, we’re all finding new ways to keep occupied. Playing board games, staring at our toes for undetermined amounts of time, and ordering in new piles of reading material. But we all have that one book on our shelves we always meant to finish, and somehow never got around to it. Maybe it was too dense to carry to work that week, or someone distracted you with the new Zadie Smith, and so it got put to one side, with a bookmark on page 20. But if there was every going to be a time to read that book that got away, this is it.  Here, we ask nine writers tell us what they’ll be picking up again in self-isolation. Find more ideas for keeping yourself entertained indoors here. 

Spring in London is finally on its way. The days are getting warmer and lighter, people are starting to smile occasionally and Londoners are beginning to inch away from cosy pub fires and venture into the great outdoors. Plus, the city is coming to life with events and activities from March through to May 2020.  Whether you’re after the latest art exhibitions, new theatre shows, the best gigs, restaurant openings or other great things to do in London, our spring round-up will keep your social calendar as fresh as a daisy.  RECOMMENDED: Your ultimate London events calendar

Spring is in the London air, and there's nothing more seasonal than feasting your peepers on a bunch of fluffy, newborn animals. Whether you’re looking to clap eyes on a bunch of tiny kids (we mean baby goats, not small humans) or get involved with some lamb-feeding, London has got you covered. The city is peppered with loads of fabulous urban farms and wildlife-filled greenery, which are all gaining new arrivals this spring. Here’s our guide to the best places in the capital to see this year’s new crop of little lambs, chicks, kids, piglets, goslings, calves and peachicks (aka baby peacocks). Get ready for a serious cuteness overload!  Also recommended: The best city farms in London.

Whether your lounge looks like a shrine to Stan Lee or you’re dipping your toes into comic book stores and graphic geekery for the first time, go boldly with our pick of the finest shops for new and vintage comics, games, graphic novels, art and memorabilia. And, if you need more inspiration, check out our list of the 50 best comic book movies of all time. 

Apart from Banksy’s graffiti rats, the odd urban fox and the food-thieving pigeons of Trafalgar Square, London’s not really famous for its wildlife. Sure, we’ve got the London Aquarium, the London Zoo and some cute city farms, but much more of the animal kingdom exists beyond the M25. With that in mind, we’ve collected some of the best day trips from London for animal lovers. Love all things great, small, exotic and fluffy? Here’s are the wildest attractions near London that are worth leaving your natural habitat for. RECOMMENDED: the best day trips from London

Programmed by the Barbican and Create London in partnership with Waltham Forest Council, the Walthamstow Garden Party is a free two-day festival in E17 that combines a cracking music line-up with plenty of family fun: theatre, dancing, comedy, circus, art activities and a designers’ market. This year you can catch fly husband and wife duo Amadou & Mariam, Brazilian songstress Tassia Reis, Colombian salsa band LA-33 and jazz singer-songwriter Zara McFarlane on the music stage. Plus readings from the Barbican Young Poets, pop-up performances from Drum Works, shreddings showcases from Skatepark Jam and a bar from Wild Card Brewery. Well worth venturing up the Victoria line for. Walthamstow Garden Party set times: Saturday2.15pm - Renegade Brass Band3.30pm - Tassia Reis4.45pm - The Bongo Hop6.15pm - Mayra Andrade7.45pm - La-33 Sunday2pm - Zara McFarlane3.15pm - Carleen Anderson4.45pm - Orquesta Akokan6.15pm - Amadou & Mariam 

The moment the UK roadmap for lockdown was announced, the internet homed in on one extremely important detail: if all goes to plan, nightclubs will be allowed to open on June 21. The news sparked lots of excellent memes about the possible return to the clerb. Now that that date is getting closer, we can practically taste the bass. There’s even news of a new nightclub opening in London. Or at least, new-ish.  Soho club Orange Yard had a fairly short-lived opening when it launched in November 2019, but it has had a major refurb during lockdown, including a new outdoor terrace, so it will look even shinier when it relaunches on May 22 – hence the ‘new-ish’. With a dancefloor that holds a max of 300 people, it’s aiming to create a boutique clubbing venue that has an ‘intimate feeling with a big club sound experience’. The main focus is on the fancy Funktion One sound system, which will mostly be blaring house music.  From May 20, Orange Yard will be having ticketed socially distanced events in the club basement, which allows the venue to reopen to the public before the expected June date. The club has already scheduled a full line-up of club nights that run right up to October 9, with sets from Chicago house legend Mike Dunn, Ibiza producer Chelina Manuhutu and DJ Viken Arman.  Gianpaolo Fiore, booking manager for Orange Yard, says that the main challenge in getting the club off the ground, aside from adapting to changing safety rules, has been ‘breaking into a new neighbourhood

Yesterday the Romford Recorder reported that the family-owned east London bakery chain Percy Ingle is going to cease trading. The bakery closed in response to the lockdown in March, but reopened a number of its locations across London and Essex on May 13.  The bright orange-and-green Percy Ingle bakeries are known for affordable produce, with window displays full of glazed doughnuts (6 for £1), bright pink tottenham cake, viennese chocolate fingers, and belgian buns smothered in thick, white, sugary icing. Last year, the company began a rebrand. Some of its stores were redecorated with a dark green frontage and renamed Ingles. They had also adopted a more environmentally friendly focus by reducing plastic usage and switching to biodegradable cups. Percy Ingle has been operating in east London since 1954, but the bakery’s history goes all the way back to 1910, when Joseph and Kathleen Engel (who were both of German descent) opened a German bakery on Clarence Road in Hackney. The Engels’ business was later destroyed not long after the First World War, as a result of hostility towards the German community in London.  Joseph and Kathleen changed their last name to Ingle, and it was their son, Percy, who launched the first of the eponymous bakeries, again on Clarence Road in Hackney, in 1954. Another side to the bakery’s history was recently raised on Twitter, pointing out that Percy Ingle was brought to court in 1983 over an investigation involving its racist hiring practices. S

Things are a little different this May bank holiday. We’re not just talking about the obvious lockdown element. For 2020, it will take place on a Friday instead of the usual bank holiday Monday to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of VE Day, a celebration of wartime victory following the surrender of German forces in May 1945. The Royal British Legion had a number of events planned, but has since overhauled the schedule with live-stream activities that will allow people to participate from home.  On Friday, there will be a two-minute silence at 11am to honour the service of the Second World War generation. And at 9pm, the Legion is inviting the whole country to join a mass singalong of ‘We’ll Meet Again’, a 1939 song made famous by ‘the Forces’ Sweetheart’ Dame Vera Lynn. During the war, Lynn travelled the world to perform the song in her outdoor concerts for troops. In 1941, she had her own radio programme, ‘Sincerely Yours’, where she and her quartet would sing requests sent in by soldiers.  Lynn is now 103, and still popular – when she released a compilation album in 2017, it went to Number Three, making her the first centenarian to have an album in the charts. ‘We’ll Meet Again’ might be dripping in sentimentality, but right now, its lyrics hit a little too close to home: ‘We’ll meet again/ Don’t know where/ Don’t know when/ But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.’  The Royal British Legion’s assistant director of commemorative events, Bob Gamble, said: ‘There are ma

People seem to have this idea that trains are romantic. But when you’re debating whether to sit on the Northern line tip-up seat that’s encrusted with black petrified chewing gum, that notion feels like total nonsense. London Transport Museum’s Art Deco Special journey, however, might just prove their point. For one weekend in April, you can ride the Piccadilly line on a restored 1938-stock tube train. It has wood panel flooring, wobbly light-bulb shaped grab handles, lampshades, old-school moquette seating fabric and advertising posters from the period. Basically, it’s a nostalgia trip on what was once the most advanced electric tube train on earth. The journey runs between Northfields, Heathrow Terminal 4 and Acton Town.   Photograph: Courtesy of London Transport Museum   The Art Deco Special trips take place on the LTM’s Depot Open Weekend, a chance to see the museum’s not-so-secret store of 320,000 artefacts, which is usually closed to the public. At the Acton depot, you’ll find disused London Underground ticket machines, vintage posters, maps, station signs, plus actual buses and tube trains.  The Art Deco price tag (£45) might make you reconsider those gum-encrusted seats, but for proper London Underground nerds, riding this time portal to the days of elegant 1930s tube travel will be worth every penny.  The Art Deco Special takes place on Saturday April 25 and Sunday April 26. Find out more here.  For more modern tube news: check out this tube busker leading a conga

How do you get new stuff yet create zero waste? Get yourself to a sustainable swapshop  For do-gooders Events don’t come much more wholesome than a swap saving clothes from landfill that’s also raising money for a charity pairing young professionals with pensioners to combat loneliness. At Sip & Swap – run by North London Cares – you can bring up to ten good-quality pre-loved garms or accessories and exchange them for ‘new’ pieces. Thank God there’ll be bubbles and Bloody Marys there to stop us feeling too worthy. Camden Collective. Tube: Camden Town. Mar 1. £6, £12-£16 including food and drink. For bikers London Velo is Deptford’s first and only bike café. It even has its own onsite mechanic. So little wonder then that at Clothes Swap at London Velo they’re looking for helmets, cycling gloves and skin-tight Lycra cast-offs along with the usual threads. Grab one of Velo’s Union Coffee brews while you’re there and see if the café’s french bulldog Maurice will submit to a pat. London Velo. Deptford Bridge Overground. Thu Feb 20. Free. For upcyclers As well as letting you trade your unwanted clobber for something that feels new, the Swish & Style swap will teach you how to give your battered wares the Fairy Godmother treatment at an upcycling-by-embroidery workshop – so you get to stick it to fast fashion in the process. St Mary Magdalene. Enfield Chase rail. Sat Feb 22. Free. For designer label lovers Rifle through the stylish wardrobes of influencers, designers, models a

Professional clown Smartii Pants (aka Ian Williams) tells us why Hackney’s annual tribute to original clown Joseph Grimaldi is more than a laughing matter It looks back at the roots of clowning ‘Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837) didn’t invent clowning, but he was the first to paint his face and wear vibrant costumes. He performed in pantomimes, which back then were like variety shows. The service started so traditional circus players could get together off-season, it was a big social event. It’s still full of hundreds of clowns and there’s a real camaraderie. ’ It shows how diverse clowning can be ‘Everyone has an idea in their head of what a clown is – the guy who makes balloons or wears a red nose and big shoes. We want people to see there are lots of different styles and it’s not always what you’d think of. We have circus clowns, people who studied under Jacques Lecoq [founder of Lecoq physical theatre school] in Paris, and performers who are more burlesque-leaning.’ Photograph: David Tett It’s a time of reflection ‘My father was a clown, that’s how I got into it. He first put make-up on me when I was eight. We lost him in November 2018, so last year was very special for me because I carried a candle for him to the altar [at the service] and I felt a real connection. It’s sombre when you hear names of people you knew that have been taken too soon, but it means you want to put your heart and soul into your performances.’ It’s full of community spirit ‘This year we’ll be pe

Support the bushfire relief efforts from London by donating money or attending one of the dozens of fundraising taking place across the city A bushfire disaster on an unprecedented scale has unfolded across Australia in recent months. As the hot weather continues, the devastation caused by uncontrolled blazes is predicted to carry on, threatening thousands of Australian people and millions of animals and other wildlife.  You can support the bushfire relief efforts from London by donating money to registered charities or attending one of the many fundraisers happening in London. We've listed a few of our favourites below. If you can't make it to any of the events, check out the links to Australian charities below to see where you can donate or offer support or services.  The Lounge Down Under: Benefit for Australia's Wildlife Archway’s Nightclub Kolis has put together a solid line-up of bands and DJs to raise money for Australia’s Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (Wires) which is working to protect wildlife affected by the bushfire crisis. There’ll be music and other kinds of performances, and all of the people on stage have agreed to be there for free. One hundred percent of all donations will go to charity. Nightclub Kolis. Tube: Archway. Jan 24. Donations on the door, £10 suggested.  Australia Day Fundraiser PartyThe Church, a club night loved by Aussie and Kiwi ex-pats, has been a sordid part of London’s Sundays since 1979 (though it has moved around quite a bit).

Not quite ready to face 2020? Wring out that last mulled drop of Christmas cheer with the remaining ‘seasonal’ things to do in the city. Go to Skate Lates at Somerset House Never made it to the big shiny, showy ice rink at Somerset House? Then see it at its best with Skate Lates, a club night on ice with a very decent line-up of DJs – strictly no cheese. Try not to fall arse over tit as you slide around to dark trap and grime from London clubnight Night Dreams, and a set from Girls Can’t DJ founder Jordss. A whizz around the ice and a rinkside hot chocolate should help feed that ‘it’s still Christmas’ denial. Somerset House. Tube: Temple. Fri Jan 10. £17.  Photograph: Courtesy of Eccleston Yards Have a look at the last of London’s Christmas lights  Most of London’s major Christmas light installations will be packed away into their giant boxes by January 6. But like a visiting uncle with no self-awareness, the ‘Wave’ installation in Belgravia will be sticking around just a few days longer than normal. Made up of 500 colourful glowing orbs, ‘Wave’ is loosely inspired by the concept of chromotherapy, with lights that are designed to make visitors feel more energised and at ease. Eccleston Yards. Tube: Victoria. Until Sat Jan 11. Free.  See festive films on the ice at Queens Watch classic movies from a deckchair that’s plonked on an actual ice rink at Queens in Bayswater for the last ‘festive’ cinema pop-up. Catch screenings of ‘Wall-E’, ‘The Greatest Showman’ or ‘Dirty Dancin

Forget having a quiet one this Christmas Eve. Get to the Royal Albert Hall to belt out a chorus of ‘Silent Night’ with thousands of strangers, or quote along to the best lines in ‘Elf’ at the Prince Charles Cinema. And if you’ve yet to turn veggie, don’t miss the Harts of Smithfield Meat auction, where you might just win a hunk of meat for free.  1. Harts of Smithfield Meat Auction One of London’s greatest Christmas traditions, this annual meat sale lets you bag prize thighs for bargain prices. Get the time-honoured coin toss right to win a free hunk of flesh.Harts of Smithfield. Tube: Farringdon. Tue Dec 24. Free entry. 2. ‘Elf’ Quote Along The best way to spread Christmas cheer is quoting loud for all to hear. Shout your fave lines from the film at this screening. You’d be a son of a nutcracker to miss it.Prince Charles Cinema. Tube: Leicester Square. Tue Dec 24. £13.50. 3. Carols at the Royal Albert Hall Live out your stage superstar fantasies by belting out tunes at the famous venue accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  Royal Albert Hall. Tube: South Kensington. Sat Dec 21-Tue Dec 24. From £20. 4. Museum of Architecture Gingerbread City Check out a sweet biscuit metropolis as the Museum of Architecture’s annual exhibition visits Somerset House. Pop your head through a dome in the centre of the sculptures so you can gaze out over the tiny gingerbread cities. Somerset House. Tube: Temple. Until Jan 5. £9.   5. Choose Love pop-up shop Going shopping in central L

Fed up with all this festive cheer? Swap Christmas markets for a Satanic Fayre  See a spooky light installation in a cricket ground Waltham Forest is marking the end of its reign as the first London Borough of Culture with an ethereal installation that will make Leyton’s cricket ground look like it’s sprouted a haunted urban forest. The ‘tree-like structures’ of light will appear this Friday for Forest Uprising – which launches with a night of live music and theatre performance – then shine on for three days. It’s designed by Block9, the same people who created the jaw-dropping IICON stage at Glastonbury, so you can expect them to go big or go home. Leyton Sports Ground. Tube: Leyton. Fri Dec 13-Sun Dec 15. 5pm-10pm. Free. Photograph: Courtesy of the Satanic Flea Market AntiChristmas Fayre Have a browse in a satanic market The Satanic Flea Market AntiChristmas Fayre is taking Christmas back to its pre-Christian roots with a Saturnalian Saturday inside the Electrowerkz nightclub. Shop from stalls filled with taxidermy, pentacles, B-movie posters, Japanese kaiju toys, tarot, retro smut, jewellery, witchy vintage clothes, handknitted skulls and other macabre merch. According to the organisers, it’s ‘suitable for open-minded adults, children with old souls and well-behaved dogs’. The only satanic panic you have to worry about here is the rush of last-minute Christmas shoppers. Electrowerkz. Tube: Angel. Sat Dec 14. £3 entry. Photograph: Geraldine Swayne/Goth Shop Get a goth

Brexmas Election Viewing Party Ramp up the competitive atmosphere by watching the election results live and playing politically themed games at Catford’s cultural community space. Once you’ve smashed ‘pin the manifesto on the leader’, grab a Bojo Mojo or Cointreau Corbyn cocktail, depending on your allegiance, and get ready to see the night through. Catford Mews. Catford Bridge rail. Thu Dec 12. Free. Election Night Live Peckham bar Copeland Social is staying open into the wee hours to beam the election results via its big screen. Vegan Sichuan pop-up Send Noods will be manning the kitchen all night for sustenance, and if things go badly, we suggest a strong drink to lessen the blow. Copeland Social. Peckham Rye Overground. Thu Dec 12. Free. Election Night Results Party Old reliable Dalston bar The Three Compasses will be screening the early exit polls and results as they come in. The place will be packed with Hackney Labour activists after a long day of canvassing, so don’t expect to see too many blue rosettes. If you need to comfort eat, the kitchen is open until 11pm. The Three Compasses. Dalston Junction Overground. Thu Dec 12. Free, but register in advance. Election Night Gingo! Gingo = gin + bingo, and there will be plenty of both at this politically charged night of laughing and ranting inside Walthamstow’s gin-palace-in-a-car-park, Mother’s Ruin. Live election updates will be brought to you by ‘news correspondents’ and self-proclaimed ‘professional knobheads’ Liza Val

Lazy Sundays are great and all, but that doesn’t have to mean doing nothing. Today, you can watch a screening of ‘The Greatest Showman’ on a big beanbag inside a gin distillery at Hayman’s Ginema, or have an easygoing wander around a Christmas market in Primrose Hill. Want more? Read on... 1. Hayman's Ginema Screenings Hayman’s of London is opening its distillery for this gin-themed pop-up cinema. Watch top flicks like ‘When Harry Met Sally’ and ‘The Greatest Showman’ while sipping fine gins and getting cosy on giant beanbags. Tickets include two gin cocktails and a goody bag with a distillery tour voucher. Hayman’s Distillery. Tube: Balham. Wed Nov 13-Sun Nov 17. £37. 2. Growing Up in Britain Weekender See photos, flyers, films and ephemera submitted by the public at this exhibition celebrating youth culture over the last 70 years. Along with thousands of images, there’ll be projections, vintage motorcycles and a soundsystem pumping out tunes.Ugly Duck. Tube: Bermondsey. Thu Nov 14-Sun Nov 17. Free. 3. #LoveNotLandfill The clothes at this pre-loved pop-up have been picked from charity shops by style-savvy influencers. Expect labels and one-offs at low prices. All proceeds go to charity.47-49 Neal St. Tube: Covent Garden. Thu Nov 14- Sun Nov 17. Free entry. 4. Tits pop-up The breast pop-up shop in London is back championing female designers and giving 10 percent of all proceeds to the CoppaFeel! breast cancer charity. Pick up cards, clothing, ceramics and more. 188 Shoredit