Things To Do In London: Thursday 11 December 2014

If you’ve not already done so, you can subscribe to these daily listings and have them delivered to your inbox at 7pm each evening, so you have enough time to plan for the day ahead. Alternatively, subscribe to Londonist Daily to hear about events further in the future. And help spread the word to your friends who haven’t discovered us yet!

Enjoy Christmas carols in Bermondsey Square

Listings

CHRISTMAS IS COMING: And we have a bumper page of all the festive goings on in London. We’ll be updating it throughout December, so keep checking back.

COLLEGE SHOP: London College of Fashion’s pop-up retail space returns for a fourth year to a new location - 33 Marshall Street, right in the heart of Carnaby. On offer will be special limited-edition pieces ranging from womenswear, menswear, footwear, accessories and jewellery, to fashion photography and illustration. Free, just turn up, until 16 December

CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL: The annual St John's Smith Square Christmas Festival begins today. Over the course of the festival, 12 concerts performed by various musical groups take place in the square near Westminster, as well as a candlelit tribute to World War One and the annual performance of Handel's Messiah. Full programme here. Various prices, prebook, until 23 December

CHRISTMAS BOOK SHOPPING: Foyles on Charing Cross Road and London Review Bookshop in Bloomsbury both have Christmas shopping evenings tonight. At Foyles, enjoy mulled wine and mince pies whilst you browse the shelves, with customers who spend over £20 receiving an exclusive tote bag inspired by Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North. At London Review Bookshop, the wine flows and customers get 10% off any books purchased. Both free, prebook for LRB, from 6pm

BERMONDSEY CAROLS: Staff and supporters of cancer charity, Dimbleby Cancer Care lead a Christmas sing-along in Bermondsey Square.The choir will entertain you with Christmas classics for half an hour from 7pm before making their way down Bermondsey Street to spread the festive cheer and serenade guests at a variety of restaurants along the road.  Donations to the chairity encouraged, just turn up, 7pm-8pm

VEGAN CHRISTMAS: The second annual Fat Gay Vegan Christmas Dinner takes place at The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green. Ticket includes welcome drink and three course vegan Christmas dinner. Event is repeated tomorrow if you can't make it tonight. £25, prebook, 7pm

OLD AND NEW COMEDY: Sarah Campbell does her Edinburgh show for what may well be the last time, while Mae Martin works on new material in this double header at the Camden Head. £3.30, prebook, 7.30pm

NATURAL HISTORY LECTURE: The Natural History Museum in South Kensington holds its Annual Science Lecture. This year, the theme is Science As Revolution, and the lecture is given by President of the Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse, followed by a Q&A session. £15/£13.50, prebook, 7.45pm

COMEDY: Kerry Godliman, Brett Goldstein and Brian Gittins are at Always Be Comedy in Brixton, proving that the parts of Ricky Gervais’s Derek are very much better than the whole. £10, just turn up, 8pm

LONDON FOLKLORE: South East London Folklore Society takes a look at the origins of Christmas traditions and customs, holding a special Christmas talk at the Old King's Head pub. Expect storytelling, mince pies and festive drinks during the evening. £3/£1.50, prebook by emailing nigelofbermondsey@gmail.com, 8pm

BLOOD: Today’s opportunities to donate blood are at St James Square, The Hop Exchange in Southwark Street, Cathedral Hall in Victoria, Bishopsgate Institute on Bishopsgate, Church of Jesus Christ in Balham, and the usual donor centres. See site for terms and conditions. Scared of donating blood? Watch our video.

Find more London events in our Free & Cheap events listings.Want to see your event in these last-minute listings? Email us at hello@londonist.com at least 48 hours before the event, and we will consider it for inclusion. Note: due to high volumes of email, we can’t always reply.


Give the gift of Pact this Christmas

Want your Christmas to be this animated and joyous? You know what to do

Love coffee? We recommend you try out Pact Coffee. We first met them last year and have since become loyal customers of theirs. This London start-up is on a mission to get the UK drinking better, fresher coffee by delivering it straight to our homes and offices. Now, clearly in the festive spirit, they’re offering new customers their first 250g bag for only £1 with free next-day delivery, just use the code LONDONISTXMAS at checkout. Get yours here, or for more info and T&Cs click here.

They also offer coffee Christmas gift bundles for the caffeine lover in your life, check those out here.

This week’s Things To Do In London is sponsored by Pact.


Good Cause of the Day

Book now for Studio 338's Toy Drum event on 20 December. The Greenwich venue is running an electronic music club night with artists including Cocoon, We Are FSTVL and Sankeys. The event is for Kid's Company to raise £30,000 to allow for 4,000 children to enjoy a magical Christmas day at Studio 338.

From The Archive

Towards the end of 2012, we gave you our quiz of London news over that year. Cast your mind back 24 months and see how many of them you can still answer. Some things (Assange's residence in a certain embassy, for example) remain unchanged from that day to this. Others (such as Her Majesty The Queen's age) have changed.