How To Make The Most Of The 24 Hour Northern Line

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 79 months ago
How To Make The Most Of The 24 Hour Northern Line

Suggestions for how to make the most of  the Northern line during the wee small hours of the weekend.

Tooting Broadway: Let off steam in an old tram shed

Of all the Antic chain's venues, Tooting Tram and Social is the most happening. Friday and Saturday nights feature everything from live bands to rockaoke, and the venue is usually open till 2am. Help make those antique wall tiles sweat.

Clapham North: Scoff dim sum and party in a railway arch

Fu Manchu is not your average dim sum joint. Set in a railway arch round the corner from Clapham North, this place lays on mouth-watering bao and xiaochi, while loading you up on green matcha and gin cocktails — after that you're ready to dance to the DJs playing till 3am.

Party with a belly full of dim sum at Fu Manchu.

Waterloo: Go to the gym

While the world around you staggers around with a kebab in its hand (and you can get a good kebab at Waterloo), feel smug as you pump iron at this round-the-clock gym.

Embankment: Drink in the views

Clear your head from a late night singalong at Players Bar and Kitchen with a circuit across the Thames — over one Golden Jubilee Bridge across to Waterloo, then back to Embankment across the other. Two photogenic panoramas for the price of one.

A night out in Leicester Square: you know you want to.

Leicester Square: Have a flutter at the Hippodrome

Start your night with steak and stand-up at the Hippodrome, before tackling three floors of roulette, blackjack, baccarat and fruit machines — open 24 hours a day. Throw your gambling counterparts by telling them a few secrets about this historic pleasure palace.

Euston: People watch at Euston station

OK, it may be an ugly mortuary of a train station, but Euston is only closed for a few hours every day, and makes for an interesting stage the rest of the time. Take a seat up in the viewing gallery and watch all the dramas and comedies of early morning London play out in front of you.

Watch the world go by at Euston station. Photo: Londonist.

Camden Town: Go out in Camden

Well what else were we going to say? Shake off that long-term-Londoner snobbery and fall in love with this part of north London all over again, thanks to late night venues including The Black Heart, The Jazz Café, Electric Ballroom and The Camden Assembly. Your teenage self will love you for it.

Chalk Farm: Take an early morning stroll in the park

The gates of Regent's Park and Primrose Hill open at 5am every morning. Be there for when very few others are; take an early morning jog around the perimeter of the zoo, then race to the top of Primrose Hill to see the sun rise over London.

Waiting for sunrise on Primrose Hill. Photo: Declan Andrews.

Kentish Town: Let it all hang out at Rio's

London's most famous naturist spa/swingers' club is open till 7am on Saturday and Sunday mornings (6pm-12am on Saturday nights is couples only). Take a bottle of wine, strip off and plunge into one of the Jacuzzis. How naughty you get is between you and whoever you meet.

Golders Green: Get a late night/early morning bagel

Brick Lane isn't the only place to get your fix of late night/early morning doughy joy. Carmelli Bakeries — a stone's throw from Golders Green station — sells filled bagels and other treats until 1am on Saturday nights. And if you're getting home in the wee small hours, you can pick up something from 6am on a Sunday. Beats a McMuffin.

And why not. Image © Google.

Colindale: Do a late night shop

Hang on, there's something to do in Colindale at 4am on a Saturday morning? Well, there is if you fancy whizzing round Asda and getting the grocery shopping done. Your flatmates will love you.

West Finchley: Catch a late night film

Screenings often start around 11pm at North Finchley's Vue cinema (the nearest tube is West Finchley). Now the night tube's running, you needn't worry about settling in and watching a movie that's two hours plus. Look out too for special midnight and early morning screenings.  

Last Updated 21 August 2017