Your July Agenda

Get ready for the best July you’ve had all year.

Because this month is ruthlessly packed with events, parties and general shenanigans including – but not limited to – free aerial circus classes in one of London’s biggest parks; a dance-off battle between professional clowns; snail racing in Soho; an opera on a beach (in Deptford); a night of live jazz in a subterranean Victorian tunnel; food festivals; a pop up bar in a Savile Row tailor’s shop; dancing teddy bears; and a trip to Charlotte Church’s late night pop dungeon.

It’s your July agenda…

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POP UP EVENTS
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Campfire Club

Remember when everyone used to huddle around a campfire on school trips while someone played the guitar, and you all told stories, and had a singalong?

Well, this is like that, except instead of your PE teacher, the person with the guitar is a celebrated folk musician, and there’s a full bar stocked with home-made wines, ciders, ales, and mead.

Details: 1st, 8th, 15th & 22nd July | Across London | £15
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ARGComFest

ARG Comedy: most people’s response when you invite them to see some ‘up and coming’ stand-up.

ARGComFest: The ‘Actually Really Good’ Comedy Festival, which is returning to London in July after a two-year hiatus.

The hilarities are being held over the first weekend of the month, with 48 shows from a mix of comic legends and in-demand newcomers readying their best material before Edinburgh Fringe, including Sophie Duker, Phil Wang and Olga Koch…

Psst… if you want more like this, check out The Pleasance Theatre’s pre-fringe line-up.

Details: 1st – 3rd July | Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT | £18-49
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Sunday Papers Live

Sunday Papers Live effortlessly offers you the feeling that you’re going out and doing something productive with your weekend, while also giving you everything you really want: comfy sofas; Bloody Maries; a cracking roast; live music; massages; slippers; a good long walk and a roster of fascinating speakers there to bring the Sunday paper sections to life with talks on politics, sports, literature and more.

Details: 3rd July | Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Road, Camden, North London, NW1 7AY | £20-39.50
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Greenwich Park Bandstand Concerts

If anywhere keeps a good beat, it’s Greenwich. So it makes sense that the stunning Victorian bandstand in Greenwich Park is getting revived over the summer with free jazz concerts popping up every Sunday. A different band will tip up each week (this month includes scheduled appearances by the Kix Jazz Orchestra and Graham Pike Big Band), who’ll serenade you for a couple of hours as you picnic in one of the city’s lushest parks.

Details: Sundays in July, from 3pm | Greenwich Park Bandstand | Free
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BST Open House

It’s British Summer Time in Hyde Park! And everywhere else, in fact. But the reason you should be excited about Hyde Park specifically is that alongside the eponymous music festival (which this year features acts including Adele, The Rolling Stones and Chic), there’s two weeks of totally free events to drop into as well. Events like open-air film screenings, live music, DJs from Soho Radio, aerial circus workshops, street food markets and more…

Details: 4th – 7th July | Hyde Park | Free, just turn up
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Clown Festival at Soho Theatre

The words ‘clown festival’ might sound like the stuff of nightmares. But trust us when we say this is actually going to be fun: it’s a mini series of shows being staged at the Soho Theatre which are based on clowning (basically, being really hilarious, and not involving custard pies and face paint). Acts include ‘a dramatic retelling of the life of Jeremy Segway’ (who invented, and tragically died on, the segway); a collection of clown dance acts inspired by the 1518 Dance Plague; a one-man show described as ‘visiting IKEA on acid’; and a jester battle royale.

Details: 4th – 9th July | Soho Theatre, 21 Dean St, London W1D 3NE | £14
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Idler Festival

The Idler Festival is something of a misnomer. Because far from lolling around doing nothing, you’ll be kept busy listening to speakers like musician Jarvis Cocker, actor Sally Phillips and artist Gavin Turk; going on walks accompanied by musings on philosophy and architecture; foraging for plants; learning the ukulele; dancing to a silent disco in a sunken garden; chilling out in a 17th century attic and sipping cocktails in the orchard of the impossibly bucolic Fenton House.

Details: 8th – 10th July | Fenton House, Hampstead Grove, London NW3 6SP | £40-130
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Fresh Variety Live

Hoxton Hall’s bringing back the ol’ fashioned variety show, but instead of ventriloquists and tap-dancing sailors, they’re putting a whole fresh spin on things. The line-up includes reluctant street performers Grumpy Unicorns; comedians Joe Sutherland, Vikki Stone and Pete Firman (who throws a little magic into his act); a couple of drag compères; and a rousing finale by the one and only Vinegar Strokes, joined by synth-pop band The Morning Afters.

Details: 9th July | Hoxton Hall, 130 Hoxton Street, London N1 6SH | £15+
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Soho Village Fete

What happens when you combine Soho and the typical village fête? Racing snails; spaghetti-eating contests; and a fleet of waiters hot-footing it down Dean Street bearing trays of Champagne, apparently. Oh, and some delightful refreshments courtesy of The French House.

Details: 10th July | St Anne’s Churchyard, 55 Wardour Street, London, W1D 6HW | Free, but pre-register here
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LIFT

Here’s some news that ought to raise the mood – LIFT Festival is back. That’s the London International Festival of Theatre (for those wondering) and it’s one of the oldest, most well-respected, and boundary pushing theatre festivals in the country/western world. And this year, it’s pushing boundaries with a non-stop opera set on a beach; haunted shopping centres; fireside storytelling; and the tale of Pinocchio reframed from a trans perspective.

Details: Until 10th July | Across London
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Spitalfields Music Festival

Spitalfields’ annual celebration of music returns for a fortnight of rare and wonderful performances, including an introduction to the mathematical genius of Bach; an orchestra playing the forgotten music of female composers from the past 400 years; brass quintets in a 600 year-old church; medieval trance music and morris dancing.

Details: Until 13th July | Venues across Spitalfields
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Science Circus

Welcome to the science circus, where you either definitely will, or definitely won’t, see a cat pulled out of a box. What you are guaranteed is an enlightening evening revealing the physics behind tightrope walking, how to see a ghost, why you get candy floss from sugar, and how to scientifically nail hula hooping. And in between all that there’ll be pop up illusions to check out, and circus tricks to try yourself.

Details: 14th July | The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS | £10-16
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DEBUT at Brunel’s Tunnel

Ironically, this isn’t DEBUT’s debut – they’ve been wowing audiences with their intimate pop-up concerts since 2017. It is, however, the debut of their new monthly series at the cavernous Victorian tunnel hidden underneath The Midnight Apothecary in Rotherhithe. They’ll be lavishing you with jazz, classical music, opera & drag in this atmospherically lit setting, while the Apothecary keeps you watered with botanical cocktails plucked from the roof garden above…

Details: 14th July | Brunel Museum, Thames Tunnel Shaft, Railway Avenue, London, SE16 4LF | £25
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Islington Festival

Marc Gascoigne

Islington Festival is back, with 14 events across 10 days in 5 different venues.

Which, for anyone struggling with the maths, equals one hell of a celebration.

Because this year it includes a night of musical still life drawing, photography workshops, al fresco jazz, late-night lute and the evolution of the trombone…

Details: 15th – 24th July | Across Islington
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River Stage

The National Theatre‘s pop-up river stage is making waves again with a programme of free cabaret, drag and music performances, curated by a line-up of visiting companies from Manchester’s HOME to Jonny Woo of The Glory and the Hofesh Schechter Company. And this summer, there are also lobster rolls.

Details: Weekends from 15th July – 14th August | Outside the National, South Bank, SE1 9PX | Free
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Fashion Freak Show

It’s fashionable, it’s freaky, and it’s most definitely a show: designer Jean Paul Gaultier’s celebration of his life and career is a carousing cabaret of giant teddies in Madonna’s pointy bras, voguing, segways and hip-hop dance offs. We’d try explain that further, but that really is as simple a description as we can muster.

Details: 15th July – 28th August | Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH | £15-120
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Bearpit Karaoke

Bearpit karaoke: not just home to Super Furry Animals, apparently. It’s a Berlin tradition that’s been transported over to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in recent years, and makes its return this month. The idea is simple: you get up, belt out your best karaoke song, and hope that the crowd joins in before you need to hit the high notes.

Details: 16th July | Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, Vauxhall Walk, London, SE11 5HL | Free
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The National Geographic Traveller Food Festival

This month sees the long-awaited return of the National Geographic Traveller Food Festival. And if you think that’s a mouthful, you should see what they’ve got lined up for you at the food stalls, tastings and demonstrations in this enormous celebration of global cuisine. There are stands to explore (this year including everything from Moldovan wine to a stall dedicated purely to Parmesan); street food from the likes of Tacos Padre; and the main event – a non-stop programme of talks and demonstrations hosted by big names like José Pizarro; Romy Gill MBE and Jay Rayner.

Details: 16th & 17th July | Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, N1 0QH | £20
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Pop Up Vintage Fair

The exceptionally dramatic Wilton’s Music Hall in Wapping is hosting a vintage night market this month, with dozens of stalls hawking retro fashion, jewellery and accessories; live jazz and blues on stage courtesy of the Miss Jones Trio; and cocktails and nibbles in the theatre’s crumbling old cocktail bars. In fact, the food & drink’s probably the only thing here that’s not more than 50 years old.

Details: 21st July | Wilton’s Music Hall, Graces Alley, London E1 8JB | £5
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Prima Facie at Soho Hotel

If you haven’t managed to score tickets to Jodie Comer’s West End debut as a morally conflicted barrister, there’s no need to wig out – the Soho Hotel will be showing a live stream directly from the theatre in their plush boutique cinema space, and throwing in a cocktail and two-course meal at their restaurant for good measure.

Details: 21st July | The Soho Hotel, 4 Richmond Mews, London W1D 3DH | £60
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Festival14

Susannah Fields

This inaugural al fresco festival in Canary Wharf is putting on a pretty amazing show for free – the main stage will host sets by heavyweights like Grandmaster Flash, Jocelyn Brown, and the Ronnie Scott‘s Jazz Orchestra; as well as workshops; comedy; theatre and cabaret in the atmospheric Crossrail Garden.

Details: 21st – 24th July | Canary Wharf, E14 | Free
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Twilight at London Zoo

London’s Zoo has an impressive 15,000+ animals to see, from pygmy hippos to Galapagos tortoises, including endangered species who benefit from the zoo’s conservation programmes. The only problem? Sometimes it can feel like there are 15,000 other visitors, too, and a lot of them can be quite… screamy. Lucky, then, that they’re opening their doors after hours this summer to let you roam the zoo by twilight. With cocktails.

Details: Until 22nd July | ZSL Zoo, Outer Circle, Regent’s Park, NW1 4RY | £21.50
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Hyper Japan

Hyper Japan does exactly what it says on the tin: a totally non-ambitious attempt to squeeze the entirety of Japan’s multifaceted culture – from unique food and drink and traditional martial arts to anime, cosplay and super kawaii toys and stationery into one building. And then cramming in a sake experience, craft workshops and dozens of live performances into the mix for good measure.

Details: 22nd – 24th July | Evolution London, Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ | £15-45
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Kaleidoscope Festival

Ally Pally’s annual festival is back with the full spectrum of entertainment, bringing you live music from The Magic Numbers and House Gospel Choir; DJ sets from Craig Charles and DJ Yoda; comedy from Dom Joly and Ed Byrne; mystery acts in the Victorian tunnels below; roving magicians; and something called Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon…

Details: 23rd July | Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY | £65.30
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Nocturnal Creatures

The fourth edition of this late night arts programme spills out beyond the walls of Whitechapel Gallery to pop up in various venues in the area – this year, visit something between a meditation tent and a disco in Jennie Moran’s glowing installation; watch a play and eat dinner in a Spitalfields Huguenot house; listen to pop up choirs in Aldgate Square; and more.

Details: 23rd July | Across Shoreditch & Spitalfields | Free
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Dreamachine

David Levene

Dreamachine is basically a communal hallucinatory experience induced only by pulses of light. It probably won’t surprise you at all to hear that it was invented in the 60s. And now it’s been revived for a brief sojourn down in Woolwich, where you’ll be invited to lie down in a giant tent, close your eyes, and let the psychedelic visions form in your mind to the soundtrack of a little ambient music. Oh, and it’s totally free.

Details: Until 24th July | Woolwich Public Market, Plumstead Road, Woolwich SE18 7BZ | Free – ticketed slots have sold out, but you can usually just turn up
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Dragon Boat Regatta

Don’t waste time this month watching boats race that don’t have dragon sculptures attached to their prow. On the 28th, the canals around Paddington will be filled with fearsome vessels duking it out, with crews (and drummers) dressed in various outlandish costumes in the name of charity. Meanwhile you’ll be putting in plenty of work too, sampling the street food stalls, sipping cocktails, building ice cream sundaes, bopping to music, and elbowing small children out the way to get your face painted.

Details: 28th July | Merchant Square (West Plaza), Paddington, London, W2 1JX | Free
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Jay Rayner Quartet at The Crazy Coqs

Jay Rayner – yes, that Jay Rayner – and the other musicians in his jazz quartet are gracing the stage at The Crazy Coqs this month; the intimate cabaret bar attached to Brasserie Zédel, filled with cosy, romantic tables, cocktails and original 1930s decor. He’ll be playing through some of the classics by Herbie Hancock; Dexter Gordon and Leonard Cohen, and peppering them liberally with anecdotes from his career as a food critic.

Details: 29th July | The Crazy Coqs, 20 Sherwood Street, London, W1F 7ED | £30
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Savour Food Festival

Hot on the heels of Taste (and presumably just ahead of Chew), Savour Festival is a new food fest tipping up in Chelsea this month. Held in the palatial grounds of the Royal Hospital, it’ll see more than 30 chefs, 12 restaurants and 15 al fresco bars set up alongside live music stages and cooking tents for workshops and demonstrations. Expect appearances from 10 Greek Street, Legare, and Frenchie, all of whom have been challenged to make £3 signature dishes.

Details: 30th & 31st July | Royal Hospital Chelsea, Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4SR | £25
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Underbelly Festival

Prepare to enter the Underbelly of Earl’s Court.

Turn’s out, it’s actually quite nice.

Last year it was called London Wonderground, but they’ve now reverted to their old moniker of Underbelly Festival – and it promises to be no less wonder-inducing, thanks to the dazzling array of comedy, cabaret, circus, drag and more that they’ll be staging over the next few weeks…

Details: Until 31st July | Earl’s Court & Cavendish Square | Individually ticketed
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Peaky Blinders: The Rise

The people behind everyone’s favourite WWI-era Birmingham gangster show – including Steve Knight, the man who created it to begin with – are putting on an official Peaky Blinders immersive experience this summer. And no, it’s not in Birmingham. You’ll find it in Camden Market. Which will be dressed up just like Birmingham, complete with its own version of the betting shop in Small Heath, The Garrison pub, and the bakery too.

Details: Throughout July | Horse Tunnel Market, Stables Market, NW1 8AH | £52-£72
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Superbloom

It looked a little touch and go for a while there, but the Superbloom has finally… well, bloomed. The moat surrounding the Tower of London has been transformed into a sea of wildflowers to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, and you can check it out from the surrounding streets for free – or, buy a ticket to walk through the meadow itself, with the option to enter via an enormous slide.

Details: Throughout July | Tower of London, EC3N 4AB | £10+
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Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Open air theatre always brings the house down. Especially when it’s got a line-up like this amphitheatre hidden in a pocket of Regent’s Park, which this month is staging a brand new 101 Dalmations musical starring Kate Fleetwood; comedy with Daniel Kitson and Gavin Osborn; and an improvised Jane Austen novel…

Details: Throughout July | Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, NW1 4NU
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Black Chapel

Design critics have been singing the praises of Black Chapel, this year’s Serpentine Pavilion commission by artist Theaster Gates. Drawing inspiration from the Pantheon in Rome, the Musgum mud huts of Cameroon and the pottery kilns of Stoke-On-Trent, it’s a vast, dark cylinder filled with seven new paintings made with roof tar. It’s open til October, and while it’s up there’s a host of events taking place in there, from Japanese tea ceremonies and Gregorian chanting to evening jazz.

Details: Throughout July | Kensington Gardens, London, W2 3XA | Free to visit, some events ticketed
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Summer Lights

In the summer months, the light is mostly provided by the sun. So the Summer Lights displays dotted throughout Canary Wharf are designed to make the most of all that natural light, which allows them to sparkle, glimmer, and throw out many rainbows-worth of colour.

Details: Until 20th August | Throughout the Estate, Canary Wharf, E14 | Free
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Summer by the River

London Bridge’s riverside festival is back to make a few waves this summer. Expect a lengthy calendar of free events including music, movies, theatre, comedy, yoga, you name it – events this month include the likes of euphoric massaoke nights; outdoor tango classes; Dirty Dancing screenings; Dabbers bingo; hip hop karaoke; and a load of live gigs curated by BBC Music’s dedicated up-and-coming artist scouts.

Details: Until 2nd September | The Scoop, London Bridge, SE1 2AA | Free, just turn up
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Carpark Concerts at Bold Tendencies

Unlike at a super-fancy concert hall, there are no barriers to enjoying the music at Bold Tendencies’ concerts. Apart from the very literal barriers on the ground floor that is, but they’re mainly there to keep the cars out. This Peckham multi-storey car park transforms every summer into an open-air arts venue with a difference, inviting artists like the resident Multi-Storey Orchestra and, this year, The National Youth Dance Company and South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, to perform against a brutalist-framed sunset. Tickets start at £6, and Frank’s is quite conveniently upstairs for a pre-show drink…

Details: Until 10th September | Multi Storey Car Park, 95A Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4ST | £6+
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Sculpture in the City

If there’s one thing you can be sure of at Sculpture in the City, it’s that nothing in the show will be a bust. After all, it’s a completely free sculpture trail, with works dotted around between Liverpool Street & Aldgate from artists like Eva Rothschild, Victor Seaward, and Jocelyn McGregor. And if none of those names mean anything to you, it’s because you just haven’t been to a sculpture show yet. Which makes this one all the more convenient.

Details: Until Spring 2023 | Across The City | Free
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Roof East

East London’s finest pop-up activity complex on a carpark rooftop has returned for the summer, bringing with it old favourites like batting cages, crazy golf, outdoor cinema, and bringing in newness in the form of ‘car-aoke’ and archery. Plus, there are street food stalls and pop up bars, who make a great shot – even if you don’t.

Details: Throughout July | Floors 7 & 8, Stratford Multi-Storey Car Park, Great Eastern Way, E15 1XE | Free entry, pre-book activities here
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Kayak to CRATE Brewery

We can name at least one great way of paddling down a canal. Canoe? And apparently so can the adrenaline junkies at Secret Adventures, who’ve arranged a kayaking tour of London’s oldest canal ending at the water-side CRATE Brewery (which is also just below the excellent sustainable fine dining restaurant Silo, and opposite the lovely Barge East, as it happens). And they’re giving Nudge Members a sweet 25% off the experience, too…

Details: Throughout July | Canoe Shed, Limehouse Basin, Limehouse, E14 7JZ | £47 (Nudge Members get an additional 25% off)
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Take In An Exhibition

Eleventh – Lina Iris Victor

This month London’s art galleries and museums are awash with treats for the eyes, ears and mind, including a brand new exhibition exploring Afrofuturism; a walk through a surreal, cloudy dreamscape filled with sculpture; gigantic diamonds; a Munch retrospective (turns out he wasn’t just a one-hit wonder); squashed tubas and a very interactive jaunt into the world of ASMR. See London’s Best Exhibitions
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Check Out An Outdoor Cinema

It’s officially The Summer, which means that all activities must be conducted outside, including sitting watching a film with a bottle of wine. And thankfully, there are several pop-up open-air cinemas where you can do exactly that, from free neighbourhood screenings, to floating cinemas, to films shown in lavish, spectacularly lit settings… See London’s Best Pop Up Cinemas | Or check out The Best Films in Cinemas Right Now
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Go To The Theatre

You may laugh. You may cry. You may throw up, or potentially do all three. London’s theatre scene is back in full swing, and this month you can catch the return of a hugely praised, classic 30s musical; a fascinatingly knotty imagined sequel to A Doll’s House; a subtle rendition of a Tennessee Williams classic starring Amy Adams; a razor-sharp piece interrogating race and racism; and a comic musical based on a real WW2 secret project… See The Best Shows On At The Theatre Now
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Dine Al Fresco

Umbrellas always seemed a little shady. But they really come into their own when you’re dining al fresco in London, where even in the warmest months rain is never truly a stranger to our skies, and where – just occasionally – it’s actually scorchingly hot. So we thought we’d show you round the best places to eat outside… See London’s Best Alfresco Restaurants
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Head To A Rooftop Bar

If there’s one thing that’s better when done on a rooftop, it’s literally everything. And that includes drinking. Which is why we’ve nobly taken it upon ourselves to put together a comprehensive guide to the very best rooftop bars in London for 2022, including a couple of brand new ones… See London’s Best Rooftop Bars

POP UP RESTAURANTS
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Legare X Garden Cafe

Legare is a lovely restaurant, but the big, bright, colourful flavours aren’t quite matched by the space itself. Buuuut they will be on July 1st, when head chef Matt Beardmore comes to The Garden Cafe (which, being set inside the Garden Museum, is quite lush) to cook up a special, one-night-only menu…

Details: 1st July, from 6pm | Garden Museum Cafe, 5 Lambeth Palace Rd, SE1 7LB | Book here
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Palm Greens Supperclub

Palm Greens is a NYC-inspired salad bar by day, and (for literally just one Saturday in July) an all-vegan supperclub by night. Head chef Kali Hamm will put together a multi-course menu starring tomato, watermelon & curry leaf; crunchy seared courgette & radish; Hanoi tofu topped with crispy garlic, dill & coriander salad; sambal aubergine; grilled wedge salad; tahini fudge & black sesame; and a lot more.

Details: 2nd July | 83 Dalston Ln, E8 2NG, UK | £45
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Aquavit New York x London

Meet Emma Bengtsson. She’s the first Swedish female chef to win 2 Michelin stars. Ordinarily, she cooks over at Aquavit New York, but this month she’s hopping across the pond in order to show off her skills alongside Aquavit London’s head chef Jonas Karlsson (who is still feverishly working on his first Star). They’ve put their heads together to create a seven-course tasting menu with signature dishes from each location. And good lord it looks tasty.

Details: 8th July | 1 Carlton Street, St James’ Market, SW1Y 4QQ | £110
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Ferrari Wine Dinner

No, it’s not the car company. Roughly translated Ferarri means Smith, so it’s no surprise that it’s a relatively common surname in Italy, nor that there’s a 120-year old sparkling wine company with the same name. Who probably resent every sportscar they see. And you’ll get to try their finest wares at Eataly this month, in a four-course, wine-paired feast of salmon tartare, seafood risotto, John Dory with vanilla mashed potatoes, creme brûlée with poaches strawberries, and a lot of bubbles.

Details: 12th July | 135 Bishopsgate, EC2M 3YD | £80
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Townsend x Nocturnal Creatures

Okay a little context first: on July 23rd the Whitechapel Gallery are going to be putting on their Nocturnal Creatures Festival. It’s a one-night event with a whole load of art, live music & performances, both in the gallery and the local area. And the venue’s on-site restaurant, Townsend, is putting together a one-night-only, three-course festival menu focusing on locally foraged produce and a selection of natural wines…

Details: 23rd July | 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX | £39
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Rambutan Ice

In advance of the October opening of Sri Lankan restaurant Rambutan in Borough Market, we’re getting a pop up called Rambutan Ice. It’s spending the summer selling all manner of exotic, Sri-Lankan inspired soft-serve flavours, ranging from kithul made with jaggery syrup & cashew nuts; to spiced Ceylon tea with Milo & banana; to alphonso mango (they’re the best mangos); coconut & toasted rice; watermelon & hibiscus, and more.

Details: Throughout July (Tues-Sun, 11am-6pm) |  10 Stoney Street, SE1 9AD
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California Nights

The Disappearing Dining Club’s gotten itself into a hell of a state: California. And to be a little more specific, it’s gotten itself into the place’s extraordinary wines, and has created a series of supperclubs to show them off in all their eminently quaffable glory. Those supperclubs are going to take place every Wednesday night over the course of the next month in the DDC’s own extremely cosy North London gastro-hideaway, The Dartmouth Arms, where you’ll find excellent food, candlelit tables, and the cosy crackle of vinyl underscoring it all…

Details: Wednesdays in July (6th, 13th, 20th, 27th) | The Dartmouth Arms, 35 York Rise, NW5 1SP | £45
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Gordo’s at TT Liquor

If you haven’t heard of World Famous Gordo’s, then a) it might be time for them to change their marketing, but also b) it’s time you got acquainted. The popular Dalston pizzeria is popping up on TT Liquor‘s rooftop all summer, serving top-quality pizzas, fried doughballs, melt-in-the-mouth burrata and more…

Details: All Summer | TT Liquor, 17b Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, E2 8AA
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Beak at The Haggerston

So, the HOT4U guys have been pretty busy. Straight after the Cave Cuvée pop-up they’re taking over the kitchens at The Haggerston pub for their new nose-to-tail chicken concept, Beak. Expect their typical boundless creativity to be unleashed on high-class junk food like oysters with BBQ chilli schmaltz and koji fried chicken.

Details: Throughout July | The Haggerston, 438 Kingsland Road, London E8 4AA
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Tendril

Tendril is a “mostly vegan” dining concept from ex-Chiltern Firehouse and The Dairy chef Rishim Sachdeva, which has yet to plant firm roots – but every time they have a pop up or residency, it ends up with rapturous praise. This time, it’s sticking around for 3 months in a space just off Regent’s Street. You can expect the classics (baked brie with truffle mascarpone & honey) and new dishes (sticky soy beetroot fritter bao, with daikon & sesame scallion), as well as a “mostly vegan” wine list.

Details: Throughout July | 5 Princes Street, W1B 2LQ
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Lucky Buns at Carousel

Carousel’s long-term residency spot at No.23 is about to get Lucky Buns. If you haven’t heard of them, that’s probably because this is their first time in the UK; the brand has spent most of its existence seducing the east coast of America with its fat, patty-stacked burgers, blazingly hot friend chicken, and Hawaiian-style, gravy loaded fries. And now you can get them too…

Details: Throughout July | 23 Charlotte Street, W1T 1RL | Nudge Member exclusive soft launch until 7th July
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The Glass Rooms

Unless you’ve been living in a bubble recently (which is strangely likely, unfortunately) you’ve likely noticed the huge amounts of bubbles, igloos, and domes that have sprung up across the city’s dining landscape recently. The latest? The Glass Rooms; a dozen pods popping up next to the Tower of London for the summer, and serving up a mostly British menu, all tied in with the Superbloom.

Details: Until September | The Tower of London, The East Gate, EC3N 4AB | 2 Courses £60, 3 Courses £75
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Stripes Amalfi Terrace

It’s perfect weather for a nice, summery terrace right now… and as luck would have it, one is about to pop up in Mayfair this very weekend. Specifically in the lovely Brown Hart Gardens, a 10,000 sq ft slice of tranquility sitting on a Portland stone pedestal just south of Oxford Street. There’ll be Italian street food, gelato, and cocktails…

Details: Throughout July | Upstairs, Brown Hart Gardens, W1K 6WP
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Chet’s at Rondo La Cave

Perpetually changing pop up haven Rondo La Cave has bussed a new chef into the kitchen once more – Chet’s comes to us from chef Kris Yenbamroong, who runs a cult Thai restaurant in LA called NIGHT + MARKET. Here he’s decided to create something that combines influences from both those places: American comfort food, with Thai flavours. Call it fusion if it makes you happy. On the menu, you’ll find the likes of fried chicken with red-eye chilli dip, a wedge salad with candied pork jowl, and chiang rai hotdogs with fried shallots…

Details: Throughout July | Underneath The Hoxton, 199-206 High Holborn, WC1V 7BD
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Alex Webb at Number One Park Lane

Chef Alex Webb has moved from his native Essex all the way to the purple squares on the Monopoly board via stints as a pot-washer, a commis chef at The Savoy, a junior at Helene Darroze at the Connaught, and the outright winner of MasterChef: The Professionals. Now, he’s taking on a three month residency at Number One Park Lane, where he’ll cook up smoked beef tartare with caviar; butter-poached lobster with sea herbs; charred English asparagus with lemon dressing; and black sesame cookie matcha ice cream sandwiches…

Details: Until 28th July | One Hamilton Place, Park Lane, W1J 7QY
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Bob’s Lobster at the National Theatre

You’re about to land a big roll at the National Theatre.

It’ll be in their Terrace restaurant, and it’s going to be stuffed with lobster.

It’s all thanks to Bob’s Lobster who’re snapping up the first in a series of residencies within the theatre’s in-house eatery. Well, we say ‘in-house’, but the fact is that the place is called the Terrace restaurant because, believe it or not, a great deal of the space is outside, on a terrace overlooking both the South Bank and the river. You know, hence the name and everything…

Details: Until late August | Terrace at The National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 9PX
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Jamie Smart x P. Franco

When it came to finding their next resident chef, the folks at P. Franco went for the Smart option. The iconic Clapton wine bar has just a pair of induction hobs tucked away at the back, but it’s here that some of London’s top chefs (Anna Tobias, Chase Lovecky, Tim Spedding etc.) have put together their most innovative menus. The incoming Jamie Smart has manned pans at St. John Bread & Wine, Flor, and Auberge de Chassignolles in the south of France…

Details: Thurs-Sun throughout July | 107 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0NP | No reservations
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Jam Delish at the Sun & 13 Cantons

Jam Delish proudly proclaim themselves to be “Soho’s first vegan Caribbean restaurant”, and we’re going to happily assume that they’re right. At least temporarily. Because they’re taking the current shift in the kitchen residencies at the Sun & 13 Cantons, where they’ll be staying for the next few months serving up vegan jerk prawns, plantain fries, and rum-soaked ‘chicken’ wings cleverly wrapped in a sugar cane skewer so that you can eat the ‘off the bone’.

Details: Tues-Sun throughout July | 21 Great Pulteney Street, W1F 9NG | Book here
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Smashed at The Gipsy Queen

Technically speaking, you’ve always been able to get smashed at The Gipsy Queen. But now you can get Smashed – an innovative burger outfit with a decade’s experience behind them. Their M.O. is pounding dry-aged beef into ‘wafer-thin’ patties that get a lacy crust on the griddle; sandwiching them in thick potato rolls; and finishing them off with home-made sauces from blueberry hot sauce to peanut butter mayo…

Details: Throughout July | The Gipsy Queen, 166 Malden Road, London, NW5 4BS | Book here

POP UP BARS
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Main image: Les LaLannes