What’s on in London this week: 11- 17 August 2025
Discover our pick of events in London this week: 11- 17 August 2025.
All Points East
All Points East / In The Neighbourhood returns this week to Victoria Park, running across the next two weekends. The festival features headline shows from Cleo Sol, Chase & Status, Barry Can’t Swim, RAYE, and a special reunion by The Maccabees. Between the weekends, the free In The Neighbourhood programme offers film screenings, talks, family activities, and much more throughout the park.
Date: 15 to 24 August 2025. Location: All Points East, Victoria Park, Grove Road, London E3. allpointseastfestival.com
Anoushka Shankar: Chapters
Multi-Grammy-nominated sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar returns to the Proms for the world premiere of music from her three ‘Chapter’ albums, performed with the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Robert Ames. This special concert at the Royal Albert Hall explores her musical and geographical journeys through new orchestral arrangements from the trilogy Forever, For Now, How Dark It Is Before Dawn, and We Return To Light.
Date: 12 August 2025. Time: 7pm. Location: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AP. Price: from £26 to £86 (plus booking fee). Book now
All Points East. Image credit Lou Morris.
Sparkling Dinner featuring Ferrari Trento
Petersham Nurseries will host a Sparkling Dinner featuring Ferrari Trento, offering guests an elegant evening of fine food and wine in the beautiful Kitchen Garden Greenhouse. Ferrari Trento, Italy’s leading sparkling wine made from organic Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grown in Trentino’s mountain climate, will be showcased. The wines, produced using the Traditional Method and aged up to ten years, have received top accolades, including a perfect 100 points from Decanter for the 2009 Riserva Lunelli. Private Sales Manager Tariq Khan, formerly a sommelier at The Fat Duck, will guide a tasting paired with a special menu created by Petersham Nurseries’ executive chef.
Date: 14 August 2025. Time: 7- 9pm. Location: Petersham Nurseries Richmond Church Lane Off Petersham Road Richmond TW10 7AB. Price: £120. Book now
John Edwards – Three-Day Residency
Join renowned London-born double bassist John Edwards, a leading figure in creative free jazz and improvisation since the 1980s, for a special three-day residency at Cafe OTO. Edwards, celebrated for his collaborations with top improvisers across Europe, brings together a lineup of innovative experimental musicians. The residency features performances by Khabat Abas, Caroline Kraabel, John Edwards with Lee Patterson, Sharon Gal, and solo sets by Edwards himself.
Date: 15 - 17 August 2025. Location: Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL. Prices: Single event: £17 (standard), £15 (advance), £10 (members); Pass for all three events: £40 (standard), £25 (members). Book now
John Edwards – Three-Day Residency. Photo by Sean Kelly.
Girl from the North Country
Final weeks to see the award-winning Girl from the North Country at The Old Vic, which runs until 23 August 2025. Set in 1934 during the Great Depression, the story follows a group of wayward travellers in Duluth who find love, loss, and hope in a local guesthouse filled with music and soul. Featuring 23 actors and musicians, playwright Conor McPherson incorporates Bob Dylan’s iconic songs into a powerful and moving production.
Date: 24 June – 23 August 2025. Location: The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8NB. Price: from £15. Book now
King’s Cross Summer Sounds 2025
This week also marks the final days of King’s Cross Summer Sounds 2025, the free music, dance, and performance festival celebrating its 10th anniversary at Coal Drops Yard, running until 17 August. From 11–15 August, the line-up includes Yshee Black with Rosa Cecilia, Barbs, and APW (11 Aug); singer-pianist Joe Stilgoe (12 Aug); the high-energy Brass Rascals (13 Aug); Triptic & Guests mixing tango, klezmer, folk, jazz, and Latin grooves (14 Aug); and double MOBO Award-winner YolanDa Brown with a Bob Marley tribute (15 Aug).
Date: 7–17 August 2025. Location: Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, London. Price: Free. kingscross.co.uk
King’s Cross Summer Sounds 2025. Image credit: John Sturrock
Emma Holten in conversation with Melissa Hogenboom
Daunt Books Notting Hill will host an evening with prominent feminist activist and author Emma Holten, in conversation with award-winning journalist Melissa Hogenboom, this Tuesday. The discussion will centre on Holten’s groundbreaking book Deficit, which challenges traditional economic thinking by exposing how women’s work and acts of care have been undervalued from the Enlightenment to the present day. Drawing on history, analysis, and wit, Holten reframes the role of care in building a fairer society. Winner of the Politiken Literature Prize 2024, Holten is recognised as one of the most important feminist voices of the 21st century.
Date: 12 August 2025.Time: 6:30 pm. Location: Daunt Books Notting Hill,21 Kensington Park Road, London, W11 2EU. Price: £6. Book now
Afternoon tea week
Afternoon Tea Week returns to the city this week, with hotels, cafés, and restaurants celebrating the tradition with themed menus, discounts, and inventive twists on sandwiches, scones, and pastries. Many venues are offering 25% off throughout the week, making it the perfect excuse to indulge. Click here for our guide to afternoon teas to check out this week, along with the great art exhibitions you can see near those locations.
Date: 11–17 August 2025. Location: Multiple venues across London (e.g. Mayfair, Covent Garden, Southbank). Price: Typically £29–£115+ per person (many offer 25% off during the week).
Sketch London, Mayfair. Image courtesy of Sketch London
The Camden Disco Festival
The Camden Disco Festival returns to KOKO this week, featuring an impressive line-up including Chicago disco legend Sadar Bahar, Yukari BB, Marvin Jupiter, Sunni D, MiNNA, Conrad Lee, and Noble & Heath. MiNNA will also host a special NiGHT OWL party takeover in a second room.
Date: 16 August 2025. Time: 10pm – 5am. Location: KOKO,1A Camden High Street, London, NW1 7JE. Price: from £7.25. Book now
Wellness
Reiki Healing and Sound Bath
The Mandrake will host a Reiki Healing and Sound Bath, combining gentle Reiki with the calming sounds of crystal singing bowls for a relaxing and restorative experience. Guests will lie on soft futons as sound and Reiki at the crown chakra help release stress, clear the mind, and balance energy. Led by House of Moon facilitators, the session offers a calm space to unwind and restore well-being.
Date: 16 August 2025. Time: 11am – 12pm. Location: The Mandrake, 20–21 Newman Street, London, W1T 1PG. Price: £35. Book now
Cinema
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is an evocative 75-minute film by multidisciplinary artist Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich that explores the life of Martinican writer and activist Suzanne Césaire. Shot on 16mm film amidst the lush landscapes of Martinique, this debut feature brings to life Suzanne’s role as a pioneer of Afro-Caribbean surrealism, feminist, anti-colonialist, and co-founder of the influential cultural journal Tropiques. The film seeks to redress the historical overshadowing of Suzanne’s achievements by those of her husband, poet and political leader Aimé Césaire, using her writings and family testimony.
Dates: 13 August 2025. Location: ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH. Price: £10. Concessions available. Book now
Arts & Culture
The Royal Society of Sculptors’ Summer Exhibition 2025
The Royal Society of Sculptors’ Summer Exhibition 2025, curated by Polly Bielecka, Gallery Director at Pangolin London Sculpture, is currently on at Burgh House in Hampstead. With the theme ‘Sculpture in the Home’, the show explores how sculpture interacts with and enhances domestic spaces.
Date: 17 July – 21 September 2025. Location: Burgh House, New End Square, London NW3 1LT. burghhouse.org.uk
The Royal Society of Sculptors’ Summer Exhibition 2025 at Burgh House.
Art exhibitions ending this week
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style
This week is the last chance to see Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style at The Design Museum. The exhibition showcases 100 years of swimwear history and cultural impact. Highlights include Pamela Anderson’s iconic Baywatch swimsuit, a 1924 Olympic gold medal, and evolving Speedo designs. With over 200 objects, the show explores swimwear’s evolution, design innovations, and themes like leisure and bodily autonomy. It offers a fresh look at swimming’s place in society.
Date: 28 March - 17 August 2025. Location: The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG. Price: £14.38/ £7.19 adult/child. Under 6s go free. Book now.
Pamela AndersonZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo.
Kathleen Ryan: Roman Meal
Roman Meal at Gagosian, Davies Street, presents two new large-scale sculptures by Kathleen Ryan in her solo debut at the gallery. The works, Fender Bender and Sliced Bread (Golden Hour), continue her ongoing Bad Fruit series, featuring oversized, decomposing food items encrusted with semi-precious stones. Ryan explores utility, excess, decay, and beauty through surreal, often humorous reinterpretations of everyday discarded objects.
Date: 5 June - 15 August 2025. Location: Gagosian, Davies Street, London W1K 4BJ. Price: Free.
Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer’s exhibition at White Cube Mason’s Yard features recent works inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s landscapes, reimagining motifs like sunflowers and wheat fields through materials such as ash, gold leaf and dried vegetation. Infused with poetry, myth and history, the pieces reflect on cycles of life, decay and renewal. The show coincides with Kiefer/Van Gogh at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Date: 25 June – 16 August 2025. Location: White Cube Mason’s Yard, 25–26 Mason’s Yard, London SW1Y 6BU. Price: Free.
Click here for more art exhibitions to see in London this autumn.
Anselm Kiefer, Raben 2019. Emulsion, oil, acrylic, straw and gold leaf on canvas 280 x 760 cm | 110 1/4 x 299 3/16 in. © White Cube
Art exhibitions around the UK
Stephen Cox: Myth
We were recently at the Houghton Festival and, during the sculpture tour of Houghton Hall’s gardens, caught a glimpse of Myth by Stephen Cox, a retrospective spanning more than four decades of the British artist’s monumental stone sculptures. The works are thoughtfully placed throughout the parkland, with smaller pieces displayed inside the historic State Rooms and a contemporary gallery. The exhibition, Cox’s largest and most ambitious to date, is on view at Houghton Hall until 28 September 2025.
Location: Houghton Hall & Gardens, Houghton, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE31 6UE. Price: from £22. Concessions available. Book now
#FLOFavourites: Pick of the Week
Free event of the week
Circus Flavours: Aerial Performances
Circus Flavours: Aerial Performances
The Barbican will showcase Circus Flavours: Aerial Performances, featuring thrilling aerial acts by the award-winning company Upswing. Taking place in the Barbican Conservatory, the shows combine storytelling with impressive physical skills in a family-friendly, 30-minute performance. Shows start four times daily; it is advised to arrive at least 15 minutes before the start time. Children must be accompanied by a guardian.
Date: 14–16 August 2025. Location: Barbican Conservatory Terrace, Barbican Centre, London EC2Y 8DS. barbican.org.uk.
Bookshop of the week
The Gilded Acorn
The Gilded Acorn
Our Bookshop of the Week is The Gilded Acorn, a quaint bookshop located on Portsmouth Street, just off The Strand, that has a stellar selection of books. Don’t miss their Book of the Month, featuring specially chosen reads each month. Recently, the shop faced challenges with Westminster City Council, who removed some outdoor book displays due to permission issues. The Gilded Acorn is working with the council to resolve this.
Location: The Gilded Acorn, 1 Portsmouth St, London WC2A 2ES. Website: bookshop.org Instagram: @thegildedacornbookshop
Interview of the week
In conversation with Dr Lana Locke
Lana Locke. Image by Charlotte Warne-Thomas
Dr Lana Locke, Senior Lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work spans sculpture, painting, drawing, video, and performance. Self-taught for over a decade before gaining postgraduate qualifications, Lana’s practice focuses on sustainability, materiality, and community engagement.
Click here for the full interview.
Food of the week
Platapian
Platapian by Patara, Soho. Image credit Steven Joyce
A new Thai restaurant, Platapian, has opened on Greek Street in Soho, bringing family recipes to a spacious, thoughtfully designed space. The menu offers a great variety for both vegetarians and meat eaters, with dishes including tofu in garlic and chilli, crispy chicken skin, jumbo crab with crispy lard, and a Southern-style vegetable curry.
Click here for our full review.
Location: 15 Greek Street, London W1D 4DP Website:pataralondon.comInstagram:@platapian_soho
Cause of the week
Breadwinners
Breadwinners
Breadwinners is a charity that has supported young refugees and asylum seekers since 2015, growing from a bike delivery service to market stalls and wholesale sales across London and Brighton. They run two key programmes, Risers (for asylum seekers) and Breadwinners (for refugees with work rights), offering work experience at weekend markets and weekly mentoring to develop employability skills. Volunteer mentors guide young people through these opportunities, requiring just enthusiasm and basic knowledge of working in the UK. Mentors commit to weekend market shifts and one-hour weekly mentoring sessions, helping participants build confidence, skills, and community connections.
Click here to discover more about volunteering at Breadwinners.
