Thinking about spending a lazy Sunday in Islington?
Your day of rest has never looked so busy.
Because today you’re taking in London’s other antiques street market, feasting on Austrian patisserie, watching comedy in a jaw-dropping chapel, sipping cocktails by the piano, and making the acquaintance of several cows. And while that may sound like a lot, rest assured that you’re going to be left feeling relaxed AF, and without breaking the bank, either.
What follows here is (what we’d consider to be) a perfect day spent in Islington, ticking off the major cultural landmarks and stopping off at plenty of excellent food & drink pitstops along the way…–
MORNING

Ungry Young Man/Flickr
This is a day so chilled that you’re not even rushing to keep a brunch appointment. Instead, give yourself the opportunity to idle a little en route by meandering along Islington’s pedestrianised Camden Passage. This flagstoned street is lined with independent shops, cafés, and – three days a week – an antiques market to rival Portobello. The main flea market days here are Wednesday and Saturday, but on Sundays you’ll still find occasional tables laid out with full sets of Victorian cutlery, vintage cameras and silver jewellery. Along the way, allow yourself to dip into modern homeware stores Haygen and In-Residence; pick up some 1930s sherry glasses in eclectic emporia like Kaveh’s and Modern Times; try on throwback threads from Inca Vintage; and find yourself almost persuaded to take up knitting by the beautiful Loop.
The whole stretch is dotted with cafés that can supply both a quick pick-me-up or a proper, sit-down breakfast. Colourful corner spot Trampoline is an admirable coffee shop that supports refugees as they settle into London life (and it helps that the small-batch coffee is banging). Tea fans should make a beeline for Katsute100, a nostalgic Japanese teahouse with dozens of fragrant loose leaf varieties on offer alongside matcha mille crepe cakes and strawberry daifuku buns.
For something more substantial, though, head to Kipferl. An hour in this Austrian restaurant and patisserie works magic on your soul. The breakfast menu has all the delicious salty stodge you could possibly need to fight off any lingering hangover, including mountain cheese omelettes and stir-fries of potatoes, onions, eggs and bacon. If sugar is more your bag, there’s chocolate Sachertorte, vegan apple cake and plenty more besides from the pastry counter.
AFTERNOON
Newly full of pep, you’ll practically bound back along Camden Passage and down Upper Street towards Chapel Market, where you can browse through Islington’s other market. Taking place every Sunday, Islington Farmers’ Market boasts around 40 stalls, most offering plenty to sample. If you’re not careful, you’ll come away with a bag stuffed with Somerset brie, heirloom tomatoes, vegan muffins, Kent cherries, sloe gin, venison sausages and bottles of hibiscus and lavender kombucha. You know, weekly essentials.
From here, you could take your haul to enjoy in the verdant surroundings of the Culpeper Community Gardens – or if nothing’s caught your eye yet, head to Popham’s for their cultishly beloved bakes, or Jolene on Colebrooke Row for doorstopper sandwiches.
From Jolene, you’re well placed to slip off and join the towpath along Regent’s Canal for a ten minute stroll along the water, lined by ludicrously picturesque houseboats, big fancy houses and weeping willows. Peel off for a pint (or a roast, if you’re so inclined) at The Baring, a handsomely rustic gastropub headed up by a former Dabbous chef.
Alternatively, take a more urban route along Upper Street, and enjoy window shopping for furniture you could never afford along the way. Just a pinch past Highbury & Islington station is Freightliners City Farm, where you’ll discover the truism that time spent with a Kunekune pig is never wasted. The free-to-enter, community-led space is home to a number of rare-breed animals, including cows, goats, sheep and poultry. It’s a lovely little slice of the countryside, just moments from Holloway Road.
The less rustically-inclined should head to the nearby Estorick Collection, a smart Georgian villa whose rooms are filled with midcentury Italian artwork. Aside from the permanent galleries, the Estorick also stages temporary exhibitions throughout the year, spotlighting everything from photography to beat poetry and vintage Campari advertising. The gift shop’s excellent, and there’s even a little café & courtyard where you can knock back a negroni or two as the sun goes down.
EVENING
Highbury Corner must have some kind of magnetic restaurant forcefield around it, because the place is studded with great places to eat. There’s the low-key, Basque nonchalance of Topa, a pintxos bar that pops up in a cheese & wine shop; the pure satisfaction of a steaming bowl of biang biang noodles at Xi’an Impression; the insane, fire-slapped tasting menus at the legendary F.K.A.B.A.M; or the irresistible opportunity to perch up at the bar at Prawn On The Lawn and neck oysters & chablis all night. For our money, though, the best all-rounder is the cult Italian spot Trullo, which effortlessly combines romance, conviviality and an unshakeable ability to replicate mouthwatering regional dishes in their purest forms. And even if you don’t go for dinner, at least stop by for a glass at Trullo Wine Bar next door.
An evening’s entertainment awaits: the historic Union Chapel is a few minutes’ walk away and stages a varied programme of comedy, live music and talks in a grandiose, Grade I listed setting. Live at the Chapel is a particular highlight; a monthly evening of stand-up with some of the biggest names on the circuit, including Tim Key, Nish Kumar and Sara Pascoe.
Another cultural bastion along Upper Street is The Almeida Theatre. They produce all their shows in-house, which are often so highly acclaimed that they transfer into the West End months later. If you fancy all that without, you know, the words, down at the other end of Upper Street you’ll find Sadler’s Wells, probably the city’s most varied dance theatre with everything from ballet to hip hop on the programme. And if you want to do away with the live action all together? Get cosied up at Screen On The Green, one of the original Everyman cinemas set in a 1930s picture house and sporting all the usual mod cons – great cocktails, upmarket snacks, and build-your-own sundaes delivered right to your plush, velvet-framed seat.
Wrap up the evening with a nightcap at one of Islington’s esteemed bars. Cocktail aficionados should make a pilgrimage to The Bar With No Name, which you’ll find at 69 Colebrooke Row. Run by mixology maestro Tony Conigliaro, it’s a wood-panelled, cocooning kind of a space where white jacketed barkeeps rustle up drinks like the Rouge (with whisky, anise, madeira & smoke) and the signature Prairie Oyster, reinvented with a tomato ‘yolk’ and the punch of a Bloody Mary, downed in one from an oyster shell.
Punters have been necking those for over a decade now, but if you want to visit one of Islington’s newer attractions, head to The Dreamery. It’s a wine bar-cum-ice cream parlour; a combination that could only be pulled off by the team behind something wildly successful like Goodbye Horses. Pull up a stool at the steel countertop, spoon scoops of fig leaf into your mouth, and admire the colourful backlit ceiling as you drain the last of your albariño.
It’s what dreams are made of… in Islington, at least.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out the Best Restaurants in Islington.