Things To Do In London Next Week
Shining a light on the next 7 days of London life
London Families
Enjoy The Pop Up Choir on Sunday 4th, Sunday 11th and Tuesday 13th December as they take to the stage at the stunning Mercato Mayfair.
Escape the city and go to a carnival! We know Newbury Racecourse is a little bit outside of London but we think it’s worth the trip out of town as it’s the home of the Great Christmas Carnival! Alongside Underbelly, Newbury has transformed the centre of the racecourse into a into a magical, winter experience. The Great Christmas Carnival is the biggest Christmas site this side of England and includes an Ice Rink, Santa’s Grotto, Circus in the Big Top, The Greatest Hits Big Wheel, over 20 rides and games for all ages, plus Christmas markets and plenty of food and drink.
Find some festive cheer under a canopy in Kings Cross. The hugely popular festive edition of Canopy Market, ‘Christmas under the Canopy’, kicks off on 1st of December and runs every Tuesday – Sunday until 22 December. There’s a great selection of street food traders too – grab your lunch while you’re present shopping.
Explore the incredible light installations that will feature at Crystal Palace Parks’ Lightopia. The parks’ famous dinosaurs, have ben illuminated alongside Lightopia’s own fantastical Christmas creatures. You will be amazed by the unique installations, and can learn about their stories as you wonder through the magical wonderland of light. Discover synchronised dancing lights, shining stars as well as music and an unmissable water show.
Experience the Magic of Christmas at London Zoo this year. From 25ft Christmas trees to festive food and drink, including marshmallow toasting around cosy firepits! The zoo’s giant animal advent calendar starts the 1st December and we also heard throughs the grapevine that the man in red will be at the zoo from the 3rd December.
Visit the Chelsea Christmas Grotto situated among the sparkling lights on Sloane Square, with a Bavarian Curling Rink and Winter Terrace open until Christmas Eve. Visitors can meet Father Christmas, listen to his stories and receive a special gift from him during your session.
Take a trip up the Shard which from the 6th December, will become a huge Christmas beacon with a (not yet revealed) light design on its spire. The annual lights will be lit up every day during the festive periodand will last from around 5:30 pm until 1am. Each year, the lights have a different theme. This year, the skyscraper has the theme of ‘London at Christmas time’, and the transformation of this city during the twilight months of each year. The last two years were focused on the pandemic and the idea of reuniting and coming together with loved ones, following two years of isolation.
Art & Culture In London
Bag some tickets to the p-Art Factory | Food for Thoughts exhibition at Mercato Metropolitanoin Mayfair this weekend. p-Art Factory is a London-based duo of curators and fundraisers, and “Food for Thoughts: a Charity Exhibition” will be raising funds for the Trussell Trust, the main UK food bank. tackling the issue of hunger and destitution caused by the rising living costs crisis.The exhibition will feature an eclectic mix of contemporary, colourful, affordable, and fun artworks that will support the community; helping emerging artists and people in need.
Pay a visit to the serenely beautiful Illuminated Remembrance Garden in Grosvenor Square. Open from the 23rd of November to the 20th December, each rose raises funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Party like there’s no tomorrow at the Museum of London which is closing this weekend after 45 years of existence! The museum will mark their closure with a series of weekend festivals including a 24 hour opening (Saturday 3rd - Sunday 4th) and a closing party. The museum website says to expect DJ sets, London’s biggest table football competition, immersive theatre, late-night cinema and more. Once the party is over, on December 4th, the doors will close until 2026 when it reopens in a new location as The London Museum. Its sister location in the Docklands will stay open during its closure but will also rebrand itself and become the London Museum Docklands.
Enter the disorientating and darkly humorous worlds created by multimedia artist LuYang NetiNeti at this intriguing art exhibition in Chalk Farm. Immersed in the cultures of anime, video games and sci-fi, LuYang combines Buddhism, neuroscience and digital technology to investigate the mysteries and mechanics of the human body and mind. This is one you really don’t want to miss!
Embark on a magical Christmas adventure in a National Gallery first, where larger-than-life characters step out of a masterpiece and embark on a magical Christmas adventure. Picture Perfect Christmas is a tale of friendship, mystery and festive spirit set in the 1600s. It’s a family show, suitable for ages 3+ and its opening night is the 3rd of December.
Catch a pantomime at this year’s panto mashup from Battersea Arts Centre! Featuring a brand new superstar cast and a host of exciting surprises, they aim to put an arrow in your bow, a song in your heart and a smile on your face – it’s an unmissable Christmas treat for all the family. Suitable for ages 3+. To make this one all the more brilliant, there’s a pay what you can option on many of the performances.
See the world's greatest space photography at the National Maritime Museum. From shimmering galaxies to shooting stars, the exhibition will transform how you see the night sky, and is the perfect way to brighten up a cold winter's day.
Explore a forest of towering woven sculptures at the Tate Modern. This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to explore an extraordinary body of work. In the 1960s and 70s, the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz created radical sculptures from woven fibre. They were soft not hard; ambiguous and organic; towering works that hung from the ceiling and pioneered a new form of installation. They became known as the Abakans.The exhibition explores this transformative period of Abakanowicz’s practice when her woven forms came off the wall and into three-dimensional space. With these works she brought soft, fibrous forms into a new relationship with sculpture. A selection of early textile pieces and her little-known drawings are also on show.
Take a trip to Old Vic Theatre who are showing a joyous adaption of A Christmas Carol from the 3rd December. The Charles Dickens’ classic will raise money for City Harvest via bucket collections, text to donate and online donations
Explore art, nature and heritage for free on London's public art walk running between the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and The O2. You will find 12 striking sculptures along its route, the art walk is a brilliant way to enjoy an ever-changing roster of pieces from well-known names and up-and-coming talent.
London Eats
Go on a food treasure hunt with Gourmaze. This tempting treasure hunt is part escape room style mystery, part culinary walking tour. Here’s how it works: get a group of 2-6 friends together, pick your maze and head into central London to solve a stream of clues, sent to your phone. Each clue leads to a new mouth-watering milestone, where you’ll find a hidden gem of a restaurant or street food vendor.
Rock around the Christmas tree at Soho Sanctum hotel. Embracing its true rock n’ roll heritage, Karma Sanctum Soho knows what it means to have a good time. Their restaurant Wild Heart Bar & Shokudo offers both a traditional Christmas menu along with a range of Japanese-inspired dishes - and here’s a great tip; they are launching an offer with 2 and 3 course menus, starting from £24.50, on various dates from today! (Friday 2nd December)
Indulge in some fresh made artisanal pasta at newly opened restaurant Officina in Fitzrovia. At the Italian restaurant & pasta workshop, pastas are made daily in-house on a spianatoia (a traditional pastry board that absorbs humidity, giving the pasta an extra adhesiveness to the sauce). The innovative eatery is also installing a smoker, a fryer and a grill to expand the menu’s repertoire.
Dive into some hot sauce at Catalina's located in the heart of Fitzrovia. This restaurant offers authentic Mexican cuisine with Californian influences - think street tacos, nachos, margaritas or mocktails with homemade guacamole, salsa, nacho cheese. During their hot sauce workshop you will be seated in your own personal laboratory station where you can mix different hot sauces to find your perfect combo, and then take home a bottle of your favourite. This is a chance to gain some seriously impressive chilli knowledge!
Eat till you pop at OXBO Bankside’s bottomless brunch which is open every Saturday and Sunday. Voted as one of the top brunches in London 2019 by the Evening Standard and GQ magazine, the Bankside bottomless brunch is a 4-course extravaganza polished off with 2 hours unlimited bubbles for £38. You get UNLIMITED starters with chefs making egg dishes, pancakes and waffles and three massive mains to share plus unlimited dessert.
Catch a film in style. Everyman Cinemas really sets the bar for how we should be watching movies. With super comfy seats and real food and drinks making all the difference, the Flavour of Film brings new pairing experiences that combine the flavours of Green & Black’s Organic chocolate, with the themes of curated upcoming films and Everyman cocktails. The last two pairings to be enjoyed was a Strawberry & Elderflower Fizz, matched with the sweet and saltiness of Green & Black’s Organic Butterscotch flavours, and a rich Espresso Martini, served with complimentary Green & Black’s Organic Milk Chocolate.
Sport in London
Catch the match at Box Park Croydon. They are offering front row seats to the World Cup action at both the Shoreditch and Croydon branches of the shipping container constructed sites. You can even reserve a space ahead of each game.
Experience the game as if you were actually there at this one-of-a-kind viewing experience in the newly built mega-space, Outernet on Tottenham Court Road.
Join the football fans at East London's biggest sports bar to cheer our boys on to World Cup glory! Bat & Ball in Westfield Stratford boasts 25 HD TV screens so you definitely won't miss a single kick, penalty or goal. Plus you can get stuck into a burger, pizza or even a seasonal Christmas menu accompanied by an array of craft beers & signature cocktails while you cheer on your favourite team to World Cup glory.
Get well and truly in the sporting spirit, at South-west London’s red-brick party palace, Clapham Grand. The club is screening all the England World Cup matches on its massive 25ft cinema screen and there’ll be buckets of beer, the venue’s famed ‘Hot Beige’ food selectionand DJs soundtracking the matches with fan anthems.
London Wellness
Join Kate for a Full Moon Ceremony on Tuesday, 6th December, at 7pm, at the otherworldly Mandrake Hotel. Kate will guide you into the powerful deep energies of this Full Moon, using beautiful plant medicine and healing frequencies so that you can let go of trauma or blockages that are holding you back, release and rebalance on a deep cellular level and attune yourself with your higher power and magic.
Book in for a 20-minute face workout at Facegym London. Their express workout condenses a high-intensity warm-up, cardio, sculpt, and cool down in under half an hour. Experience exclusive FaceGym technology with the FaceGym Pro, our EMS device for powerful face sculpting and an instantly more toned appearance.
Play board games in a Banya! According to Banya London in SW1, playing board games or cards at the banya has a long and rich tradition and is a fantastic way of keeping your brain active and your friendships lively. It can help you to improve cognitive skills, to have a great time with entire family and to achieve a natural high.
London has it all - the best nightlife, food, drink, events, markets, everything.
But how do you keep on top of this? By signing up to receive our blog posts straight to your inbox that’s how!
