A weekend in Shoreditch: late April

Shoreditch weekend. The neighbourhood gets a bad rap from people who last went in 2014 and assume it is still all neon signs and bleached trainers. It has matured. The food is better, the gigs are properly programmed, and the Sunday is genuinly nice. Here is a weekend.

Friday — the working night

Friday in Shoreditch starts with dinner. Som Saa is the right answer if you can get a walk-in (you can, before 7), Brawn if you want a quieter wine-list-led evening, Dishoom if you do not mind a queue and want the chai at the end. Hawksmoor Spitalfields is technically Spitalfields not Shoreditch but I will let it slide because the late kitchen until midnight is too good to ignore.

After dinner: XOYO. Lineup is heavy this Friday, the queue starts forming around 10.45 and gets long by 11.30. Doors are at 11. £20-ish. Bring water.

If clubs are not your thing, the Curtain has a rooftop bar that is bookable and reliably pleasant on a warm-ish Friday. Or you can do the slow option: Sager + Wilde for wine, then the Owl in Hackney for a last drink, then home.

Saturday — daytime

Saturday morning in Shoreditch is the best part of the weekend. Get to Dishoom Shoreditch at 9 for a bacon naan and you will dodge the queue entirely. Coffee at Allpress on Redchurch Street afterwards. Walk down to Brick Lane, but go early — by 11 the lane gets thick with crowds and after that it is a tactical decision rather than a pleasure.

Boxpark is touristy by lunchtime but the morning is fine — pop in, grab something quick, leave before the crowds. The vintage shops on Brick Lane are still genuinely good, you just need to ignore the prices on a few of them.

For a structured Saturday, the Geffrye Museum (now the Museum of the Home) is a fifteen-minute walk and is one of the best free museums in London. Their garden is open and lovely once the weather turns.

Saturday night — gig or club

Saturday night options:

• The Shacklewell in Dalston (technically not Shoreditch but a 12-minute walk) has three bands on. £8.
• The Moth Club in Hackney has a sequin-ceilinged disco night that is the right amount of unserious.
• fabric is fabric.

I would do the Shacklewell. Eat at Berber & Q before, drink at the Three Compasses after.

Sunday — flower market and slow

Sunday morning in Shoreditch is genuinely lovely. Columbia Road flower market opens at 8 and is at its best between 9 and 10.30 — get the flowers before the prices drop, but enjoy the falling-prices chaos at 2pm if you want a proper bargain. Brunch at Pophams Hackney (10 minute walk) or the Marksman if you want something more substantial.

After flowers: walk through to Broadway Market for the food stalls. It is not as chaotic as Borough but it has a more east London cast of characters and the queue at the Dusty Knuckle for bread justifies itself.

For Sunday afternoon: a slow pub with a beer garden — the Owl, the Albion, the Royal Oak in Columbia Road. Or, if you want a film, the Curzon Aldgate is a 15-minute walk and has been doing a foreign-language season that has been beautifully programmed. Or the Genesis in Mile End if you fancy a slightly longer walk.

Sunday evening — the wind down

Sunday evening: Sutton House (National Trust property in Homerton) sometimes runs free concerts on a Sunday afternoon, the Bill Murray runs Edinburgh previews on Sundays from 7pm if you fancy comedy, and the Shacklewell does pay-what-you-want gigs on Sunday nights with bookers who have decent taste.

I would probably end the weekend at the Shacklewell with a cheap drink and a band I had not heard of, walk home along the canal, and be in bed by 11 like a sensible adult.

Quick tip on transport

The Overground is doing engineering works most weekends now (genuinly, most weekends, they have not stopped since I moved here), so check before you set out. The 26 and 55 buses cover most of the Shoreditch-Dalston-Hackney axis and are quicker than people think.

For a wider sweep of what is on, the London this-week page covers most of east London and is filterable by postcode.

That is a Shoreditch weekend in late April. Eat well, walk a lot, end at a market, sleep early on Sunday.