🎵 Bah-da bah-da-da-da... Monday Monday... 🎵
For many of us, Mondays are a time to put a wash on, bung some fish fingers in the oven and catch up on who's been chucked out of Pottery Throw Down. In fact it's easy for Londoners to forget that even though it's a Monday, they still live in the greatest city in the world.
Once in a while, then, it's your goddamn duty to throw caution to the wind — and get involved in some of the marvellous things going down at the business end of the week.
Walks, talks and tours on a Monday in London
- City of London Guides do their London's Burning walking tours on Mondays, charting the city's unfortunate tendency for going on fire through the centuries.
- The Footprints of London guides really know their London onions, and sometimes run Monday tours.
- London Walks' Monday programme of guided tours includes Darkest Victorian London and Old Westminster by Gaslight.
- The Royal Society hosts fascinating lectures on everything from astronomy to microbiology, sometimes on a Monday.
- Gresham College often runs Monday lectures, spanning a diapason of subjects, at the historic Barnard's Inn Hall.
- Blackheath Halls sometimes runs lecture series on Mondays; at the time of writing, Matthew Taylor is speaking in a nine-part series on Bach, Handel and Scarlatti.
Live music on a Monday in London
Many music venues have Monday as their night off, though plenty of others start the week as they mean to go on. Here's our pick of the latter:
- Soho jazz nirvana Ronnie Scott's usually has two shows on a Monday: one downstairs, one up.
- There's more Monday jazz to be had at New Orleans-inspired haunt, Plaquemine Lock.
- Windmill Brixton couldn't give a hoot that it's Monday, putting on a steady stream of thrilling music acts.
- Putney's Half Moon pub gets the week off to a gentle start, with a chance to discover new music by candlelight.
- (Literal) toilet bar CellarDoor hosts the smashing God Save the Queen cabaret night every Monday.
- Crush that case of the Monday blues, with free entry to Ain't Nothin' But - the Blues Bar every Monday.
- Cafe OTO (right next to Hackney Central) has voguish music acts on tap, and that includes Mondays.
- VICE's boozer the Old Blue Last is known for its Monday showcases — sometimes they're free too.
- Head underneath the arches on a Monday to discover cool musical acts at OMEARA — a stone's throw from London Bridge.
- Camden's legendary Green Note doesn't take a day off, and its Monday shows include the monthly Gutter Street Nights, where six talented acts perform a song or poem based on a given theme.
Comedy and cabaret on a Monday in London
Many of London's comedy clubs fling open their doors on a Monday, and let loose with the laughs. Here's our pick:
- Jester Jesters take over Farringdon's Betsey Trotwood every Monday, for an evening of material from comics who want to hone their material in front of an intimate audience.
- Happy Mondays does what it says on the tin — laying on the laughs, with a roster of talented comedians at the Amersham Arms in New Cross every Monday.
- Get an early dose of laughs at Museum of Comedy's weekly Monday Club, where top-notch comedians try out fresh gags in this doozy of a central London venue.
- Camden Comedy Club puts on stand up shows some Mondays — note, these are at the Camden Head pub in Camden Town.
- Meanwhile, at the Camden Head pub in Angel, Mondays are reserved for Raw Comedy Nights, where you'll catch newer acts making a go of it, and established acts testing the waters with fresh material.
- Vauxhall Comedy Club puts on a slew of hilarious acts every Monday night, with tickets including a free bevvy.
- Top Secret Comedy Club in Covent Garden will sometimes have multiple shows on a Monday evening, with both WIPs and fully-developed stand up on the cards.
- The king of comedy venues, Soho Theatre obviously doesn't rest on a Monday, plying the audience with an ongoing deluge of Edinburgh-quality talent (and surely one of the busiest bars in town).
- The legendary Comedy Store keeps itself busy on Mondays, with various shows, including Old Rope (New Material), and the infamous King Gong show once a month.
- There's almost always something going down on a Monday at Leicester Square Theatre — could be a Richard Herring podcast, could be a Tony Blair rock opera, could be something totally different.
Pub quizzes on a Monday in London
Monday's a good night for pub quiz freaks, with a raft of places to flex your pop knowledge. Here's a selection:
- Every Monday at the Lexington, Paul Guided Missile hosts his super-fun legendary pop quiz, which is lapped up by musos and the pop-curious alike.
- Monday nights are quiz nights at the White Horse in Wembley, with a £50 bar tab up for grabs.
- The Arnos Arms, next to the magnificent Arnos Grove station, has a pub quiz on Mondays, with a £50 bar tab prize.
- Get your noggin round general knowledge, picture rounds, puzzles, creative challenges and music rounds at the Strongroom's weekly Monday quiz.
- The Fence in the City invites you to gather your brainiest friends together every Monday, in a bid to scoop the bar tab and cash rollover prize.
- Contemporary Docklands pub the Windjammer hosts its pub quiz on a Monday, with a £40 bar tab in the offing.
- Finchley's Elephant Inn is know for its authentic Thai cuisine, but did you know it also hosts a Monday pub quiz too? Well you do now.
Special Monday deals in London
Numberless London bars boast weekday happy hours, and we can't list them all here. But here's a selection of food and drink deals that are there for the taking for those who venture out on a Monday:
- All vegan food is half price on Mondays at the Camden Eye.
- Do Monday in style by diving into oysters for £1 a pop (3pm-6pm) at branches of Wright Bros (Battersea Power Station, South Kensington and Borough Market).
- Monday Club at Tequila Mockingbird (Brixton, Covent Garden, Clapham Junction, Putney, Tooting, Shoreditch, Wimbledon) offers 2-for-1 cocktails, plus the opportunity to play away the evening on retro games like Jenga and Connect 4.
- While you have to fork out to play on Bar Kick's foosball tables six days of the week, on Mondays, it's totally free to use 'em. Back of the (tiny) net!
Other things to do in London on a Monday
Obviously we're not going to say stuff like 'go for a pint' or 'visit the British Museum', but here are a few more things you can keep yourself busy with at the business end of the week:
- The Social — not far from Oxford Circus, and best known for its live music — often puts on talks and poetry nights on a Monday.
- Big Penny Social in Walthamstow puts on its parent and baby film club on Mondays, and it's free entry too.
- Get active in a pub, with Zumba and salsa classes at the Bedford in Balham every Monday.
- Many theatres and pub theatres open on a Monday (Sunday is the West End's traditional day of rest) so you won't have a problem getting your fix of drama, musicals and the like.
- Go see a film in one of London's spiffing indie cinemas.
Got a regular Monday event in London that you think should feature? Email [email protected]
