London this weekend: what to actually do, mid-April 2026

Mid-April is the London weekend where the terraces are open, the Easter weekend tourists have gone home, and the city briefly feels like its best self for about 72 hours before the next cold snap. Use it.

Friday night

The new season at the Bush Theatre is on, and the upstairs studio show is the one — it is a 70-minute thing, around £18, the kind of evening you talk about on the bus home. Almeida in Islington is also strong this season if you want a longer sit.

For gigs: The Lexington has a packed Friday — it is one of those weeks where every small venue in north London is booked tight. Moth Club in Hackney is doing a properly good live music run.

Dinner: Akoko in Fitzrovia is taking late walk-ins again. Brawn in Bethnal Green for the natural wine and a small plate menu, Quality Wines on Farringdon Road for the bar seats, Smoking Goat in Shoreditch for the fish sauce wings.

Saturday daytime

Free thing of the week: Whitechapel Gallery has the new spring show open, free entry, and the cafe is lovely. The Barbican also has a free architecture-archive thing on the ground floor that is properly interesting if you are into that sort of thing.

Markets: Columbia Road flower market is full peak in mid-April — get there at 9 or after 1, not in between. Broadway Market for lunch, Maltby Street if you want fewer prams.

If the weather holds: walk Hampstead Heath from Gospel Oak up to Kenwood House. Free, the views from Parliament Hill are the best in London, Kenwood does a decent coffee.

For something different: Hackney City Farm has a proper spring weekend on, lambs and pigs and the works. The kids love it, the adults secretly love it more.

Saturday night

For a big night: Phonox, fabric, or XOYO depending on your taste. Phonox is the smartest sound system, fabric is fabric, XOYO has been booking sharp. The Pickle Factory if you want a smaller room with proper bookings.

For something quieter: Ronnie Scott's late show at 11:15pm — usually around £30, the best room in London for jazz, and the late set is when it gets properly loose. Soho Theatre late comedy at 9:45pm always rewards.

Dinner: Sessions Arts Club for the room alone. Brutto for £14 pasta and a Negroni. Mountain in Soho if you want to make a night of it and book ahead. The food at 40 Maltby Street is the best in London under £40 a head, in my opinion, and they take walk-ins.

Sunday

Roasts: The Camberwell Arms is currently the best Sunday roast in south London. The Cadogan Arms in Chelsea if you want it posher. The Pelican in Notting Hill, The Marksman in Hackney for the classic east option.

After: walk Regent's Canal from Angel to Broadway Market, that is the canonical London Sunday. Or a long sit in Victoria Park with a coffee from Pavilion Cafe.

For the actual list of what is on, the London this-week page is the one — it is genuinely accurate, updates through the week, and the nightlife events page catches the late stuff.

Skip

Anywhere on a rooftop with a 90-minute time slot. The Shard. The London Eye. Any restaurant that has hired a "social media chef". Any "secret" pop-up that has 14k Instagram followers — it is not secret, mate.

Have a good one.