The best London pop-ups: autumn 2018
When it comes to pop-ups, if you snooze you lose. Be ahead of the curve and plan ahead for the new season's best blink-and-you'll-miss-it experiences
Oded Oren, Borough Wines and Beers
Celebrated Israeli chef Oded Oren has hosted residencies all over London, receiving wholehearted praise for his inventive take on Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. This year, he's serving up small plates and sharing dishes at Borough Wines & Beers in Kensal Rise. Head over and sink your teeth into ox cheek and hummus, lamb sweetbreads with za'atar and lemon, as well as plenty of vegetarian and vegan offerings.
A famous New York show tunes bar comes to London
Far off the beaten tourist trail in New York city is a show tunes bar that’s legendary among locals. Tucked away on a quiet street in Greenwich Village, Marie’s Crisis is a late night bar that sees bartenders and punters alike cluster round a piano to sing along to their favourite Broadway hits, and drown their sorrows in feel-good, musical merriment. For one week only this autumn, the cabaret bar is voyaging across the pond to set up shop in London’s oldest LGBT venue: Marylebone gay pub City of Quebec. No tickets required, just turn up ready to gather round a piano and belt out your favourite musical hits.
Read more ...Clumsies at Blind Spot
Tucked away behind the facade of a tea counter in the St Martin's Hotel is Blind Spot, a late-night speakeasy serving up internationally-inspired, bespoke cocktails. If this alone wasn't enough to tempt you, for just four evenings at the end of this month it's being taken over by The Clumsies, Greek mixologists who featured in the top ten of the World's Best Bars. On the menu is a 'Hippocampus Summer Edition' – a medley of Bacardi Heritage, kiwi, mango and, in a strangely appealing twist, 'sunscreen aroma'.
Read more ...RANDE's Cena Subterránea
An event where you're given the address of the secret location just hours before it starts – and the location turns out to be an abandoned warehouse. No, it's not an illegal rave but a Mexican pop-up supper club, taking place in all manner of locations from laundromats to Victorian boiler rooms transformed into temporary restaurants by London's best graffiti artists. Expect an innovative four-course menu and plenty of tequila cocktails.
Read more ...Oktoberfest
Don your dirndl, bag yourself a bratwurst and head to London's take on Bavarian 'culture'. This year, Oktoberfest's London offering will take place in two installments – in Finsbury Park and Canary Wharf – so die-hard fans will be able to experience the beer-fuelled debauchery without having to travel too far across the city.
Read more ...Deptford X
A slightly different pop-up: the contemporary art festival Deptford X will be taking over Deptford, south east London, for 10 days only. To counter the likes of Frieze, the festival aims to promote young, up-and-coming artists by installing their visual arts projects in a wide range of venues and sites across the local area.
Read more ...Livia's Kitchen vegan ice cream pop-up
One for vegans with a sweet tooth: entrepreneur and cookery author, Olivia Wollenberg is hosting a vegan ice cream pop-up store under her brand ‘Livia’s Kitchen’ in London this October. The millionaires ice-cream bar will celebrate the launch of her latest free-from product, Salted Peanut Butter Raw Millionaire Bites. Running 11–13 October, the Marylebone pop-up will offer visitors the chance to customise their very own millionaire vegan ice-cream bowls, all with 100% natural, gluten free and vegan ingredients.
Read more ...Camden Rooftop Cinema Club
Although Camden's rooftop cinema offering has been open throughout the summer, we admire it for standing its ground into the autumn season. Throw on a jacket and return to Chalk Farm for some cult movies including Tarantino classics Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill.
Read more ...HarvestFest, Skylight at Tobacco Dock
If you enjoyed partying at east London rooftop Skylight this summer, you'll be pleased to hear the team are back with an autumnal offering. They'll be swapping the Aperol and rosé for harvest-inspired cocktails featuring apples and pears, and replacing croquet with haystack skittles and pumpkin draughts. We can safely say this will be nothing like the harvest festivals of your primary school days.
God's Own Junkyard at Selfridges
From October to December, the Bracey family will be bringing a taste of their east London Aladdin's cave of neon signs to Selfridges on Oxford Street. Anyone looking for some 70s and 80s nostalgia will be able to pick up one of their iconic signs, this season inspired specifically by pop, rock n' roll, and disco.
Read more ...
Harbour Nights at The Anthologist
Until the end of November, Bank restaurant and cocktail bar The Anthologist brings a taste of Cornwall to the capital. In partnership with craft beer brand Harbour Brewery, the venue is serving Cornish-inspired food and bar snacks, all paired with individual beers. Pork from the brewery's farm is freshly brought in each week, serving as a tasty centrepiece to the two four-course pairing dinners The Anthologist is hosting on the 7 and 14 November.
Read more ...58 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7BB