Unappreciated London Gets Some Love At UnLondon Festival

Ruth Hargreaves
By Ruth Hargreaves Last edited 122 months ago
Unappreciated London Gets Some Love At UnLondon Festival

London bins should be celebrated too, you know.

It’s not often that we like the sound of anything that promotes itself as being “unLondon”, but in this case we think we can make an exception.

UnLondon is a free, one day festival of music, literature and visual art that is all about celebrating the unknown, unloved and more “unLondon” bits of our capital. We all know that the view from The Shard is beautiful, but you know what else can be great? Your local pub, that sneaky shortcut around the back of Kwik-Fit and the library where you first read The Hungry Caterpillar.

Literature dominates the day, with a fantastic line up of speakers all of whom have strong ties to the capital (in fact, most have published books about it): author Ken Worpole, dramatist and poet Bernard Tops, journalist and historian Andrew Whitehead, London writer Travis Elborough and beer writer Des De Moor. Don't just take our word for it, find out more about the contributors here.

A soundtrack of London songs comes courtesy of live performances from The Walk Uprights, Danny Thornton Shaw and The Unfortunates (who are also the hosts of the festival), plus there will be a series of short film screenings, all about the capital. Hot food, wine, cider and beer (locally brewed, of course) complete the day, so why not head over and celebrate the city on a very ordinary, unassuming, unLondon level.

UnLondon takes place at St Mary’s Old Church in Stoke Newington on Saturday 25 January, 2-10.30pm. Tickets are free but must be pre booked via the website.

Last Updated 17 January 2014