Your Sunday morning best-of-Londonist weekly round-up, sponsored by Happn.
London news
- City Hall gives £100,000 in grants to London volunteering organisations.
- There've been almost 80 incidents of exploding pavements in the past five years.
- London's getting the world's first swimming pool in the sky.
- Covent Garden Market's heart is ballooning, literally, in new art installation.
- Best place to spot seals in London? Canary Wharf, apparently.
- London's getting a new 900 seat theatre.
- Demolition is about to begin on London's smallest skyscraper.
Curiouser and curiouser
- The manmade, 22-mile caves in London where Jimi Hendrix played twice.
- A journey through imaginary London, with author Darran Anderson.
- Part two of our hunt into what happened to the best London pubs of 1967.
- We investigate the value of London's night-time economy.
- Phallic amulets to famous couches: five things not to miss at the Freud Museum.
- How the colour purple was invented in London.
- We've mapped London's most profitable speed cameras.
Top reviews
- Japanese patisserie and quirky savouries in Ealing. Our verdict? YUM ★★★★☆
- New book gives a potted history of East India Company and its London connections ★★★★☆
- Interactive mystery game has us solving clues which are entertaining, if not sophisticated ★★★☆☆
- Did you know Wilde, Whistler and Singer Sargent were once neightbours? Gripping new book tells all ★★★★★
- Trollope with a twist, at Park Theatre ★★★★☆
Make your London romance Happn today
Happn is a dating app that starts in real life. Thanks to a combination of hyper-location and real-time, Happn shows you the people close to you and helps you meet up. If you ‘like’ them and they also like you, you can start a conversation. Happn believes that two people who find themselves in the same place at the same time shouldn't have to be strangers.
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This week’s Best of Londonist is sponsored by Happn.
Must-read articles
- We've put together a tube map of London walking routes (and we're pretty pleased with it).
- What is it like to drive an electric car in London?
- This week's London short film shows a marriage proposal getting the selfie treatment.
- London's best charcuterie producers. Because sausage.
- We share our favourite London blogs and websites (y'know, if you're so inclined to click away from Londonist for a moment).
- Eat vegan? Here are our recommendations on the best shops for vegan food.
- Meet Unseen London, the social enterprise employing homeless Londoners as tour guides.
- We met the man who claims he knows who Jack the Ripper is for our podcast, but things didn't quite go to plan...
- Want to know when London's canals were built? We've made an animated timeline for you.
Things to do
- 10 art exhibitions to look forward to this autumn.
- Hungry for knowledge? Get your brain fired up at Curious? next weekend.
- Big kids rejoice, adults can take over the Kids Adventure Playground Hackney on 29 August.
- Get muddy to get clean on 1 September, at The Big Thames Tidy. There's a riverine festival today too!
- The Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival is back for a sixth year.
- Andrew Marr, Sandy Toksvig and Bill Bryson to headline literary festival at Kew Gardens next month.
- Really expensive tickets to the Twin Peaks UK Festival, anyone?
Tickets and offers
Buttons are provided by YPlan.
TALL SHIPS CRUISE: This is special. Be a VIP aboard a beautiful Tall Ship on the Thames during Tall Ships Festival and sail from the Royal Arsenal Pier, through the Thames Barrier towards the O2 Arena from 27-30 August. The cruise ends with fireworks and includes a buffet. Tickets from £99.
WEST END FILM CLUB: Things get 80s-tastic at the Century Club, Soho with a screening of Dirty Dancing followed by an 80s rooftop party on 29 August. Prizes for best dressed, retro cocktail and nibbles menu, dancing till 2am. Tickets £10.
BOROUGH TALKS: Foodies flock to Borough Market to eat: now you can also hear experts talk about the London food scene and taste some beer. How London's Food Scene Shapes What We Eat takes place on 25 August at 7pm. Tickets £15.
KNITTING PARTY: Get your knit on at the Jam Tree in Clapham and make a Tender Loving Clutch bag with help from Wool and the Gang on 26 August at 11am. Tickets £25 (including materials and guidance).
WATCH FOOTBALL: Be assured of big screens, a seat and beer on tap watching Barclay's Premier League Football at Golden Horseshoe Casino in Bayswater. £10 ticket includes beer, burger and a £5 bet on 29 August from 12.45pm.
THE TRUE COST: People Tree have partnered up with Fairtrade Hackney to organise a screening of The True Cost, a ground-breaking documentary featuring the real human rights cost of the fashion industry, at Hackney Picturehouse on 10 September at 8.30pm. Tickets £13.47.
ICE CREAM: Create your own Magnum at the pop up shop in Covent Garden until the end of August for the special price of £4.
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