The Summer Sessions | Partner Content
Picture this: a leafy, sun-dappled stretch of the Thames riverbank strewn with pop-up bars, street food, events, and an air of absolutely top-tier relaxation.
The scene you’re currently imagining? That would be the Summer Sessions at Barking Riverside.
It’s a series of weekends until mid-September involving all manner of activities, events, and pop-ups, showing off the best of Barking Riverside’s 2km stretch of prime riverbank. If you haven’t come across it yet, Barking Riverside is a new London neighbourhood the size of Hyde Park, rapidly cementing itself as one of East London’s most up-and-coming residential districts.
For the Summer Sessions, they’ve got quite a lot lined up across each weekend, but here are a few of the highlights:
Mobile cocktail bar Meetini – regulars on Broadway Market, Meetini are a zero-waste, carbon-neutral mobile cocktail bar (the UK’s first, FYI) who’ll be shaking up their signature Aged Negronis, Old Fashioneds, Espresso Martinis, Passionfruit Martinis, and more regularly through the summer.
Emerge East – a community festival that was first held last year, Emerge East is back, and it’s bringing with it DJs, a craft workshop, nature walks, an outdoor sauna experience, and a fairly unique ‘home cooks’ offering, featuring local residents who have been supported to become food entrepreneurs. Check out the full lineup here. (Saturday 16th September)
J.Lee
The Boathouse – The independent Boathouse Café & Bar is a cornerstone of the local area, and here they’ll be popping back up on the riverside with a Portuguese inspired party, featuring live music by Bongoman and Filipe, DJ sets and good vibes all around. Plus, guests can enjoy a specially designed BBQ menu to keep them grooving throughout the evening. (Saturday 19th August, Sunday 20th August, Saturday 9th September and Sunday 10th September).
NUGS – apparently NUGS is actually the UK’s first ever chicken nugget shop. We know, we couldn’t believe it either. But, they exist, and they’re popping up at the Summer Sessions to bring us all their range of Southern fried, Korean, Jerk, Buffalo, Katsu, BBQ and even all-vegan Cauli-Power nuggets. Oh, and they do burgers, wraps, and loaded fries too. (Saturday 2nd + Sunday 3rd September)
But that’s not all – the Sessions also boasts fitness & yoga classes every weekend (book your slot here), a huge family rave from the folks at Big Fish Little Fish (you’ll also need to book tickets for this one, so do that here), a rotating programme of street food vans, annnnd loads more. Head down on Saturday 2nd September and see for yourself…
…You’ll soon be, ahem, Barking mad.
NOTE: The Summer Sessions is on now, running every weekend until September 17th. You can reach Barking Riverside via the Overground line from Gospel Oak, which also connects to the Hammersmith & City line, District line and c2c line at Barking Station, or by water using the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers pier. You can find out more, and see the full calendar of events at the website right here.
The Summer Sessions | Barking Riverside, IG11 0YP
Want to know what else is going on this summer? Check out our latest Agenda….