I'm assuming you've never been before so here's a Truly Basic walk around central London that hits most of the major historical spots. All the big museums are free so if you pass one that looks interesting, go check it out, and some might be open late on Friday.
Sep 4, 2024
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-arancina (notting hill) - casual pizza and arancini etc.
-mayfair mercato - food hall in a former church
-spitafields market - another great food hall! I recommend you combine this activity with some vintage shopping on brick lane!
-regency cafe - can get a great full english
-walk along the South Bank - fun energy lots of bars right along the Thames
-Holland Park - there are peacocks in the Kyoto Garden!
-SoHo to go out if you want really crazy going out vibes in the center of things
-Heaven (night club)
-The Social - go see local bands, London has a good music scene
- Borough Market
-Good neighborhoods for going out: Shoreditch, Camden, Hackney
-Tate Modern
-Victoria and Albert museum (free and in a good area)
Mar 11, 2025
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Soho is a wonderful place for a lot of things you've mentioned! You could spend weeks i just that area honestly... To start you off, you might want to check out what's on at the Photographer's gallery when you're in town. They have some great exhibitions sometimes!
Hard not to recommend the natural history, science, and V&A museums, which are all in Kensington and easy to get to from Soho. They are all free entry and often have great free exhibitions alongside some paid optional wings. You can take a walk through Hyde Park while you're there, too! Personally, though, nothing beats the Tate Modern which is also super easy to get to from Soho, and again has free entry to almost all of it.
Soho obviously has a big reputation for queer history in London — there's plenty of hotspots and bars worth looking into in the area.
Thrifting, you might have more luck in north and east london. If you just want the highlights, it's hard to go wrong shopping and a bagel in Brick Lane.
Bonus — Flat White in Soho has my favourite coffee in London :)
Dec 30, 2024
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get the overground around Hackney ! It’s pretty!
most of the museums/galleries have free collections (both Tate modern & Tate Britain, national gallery, V&A as already mentioned — V&A definitely worth a visit) . i also love the museum of the home, the photographer’s gallery, & the ICA (ICA has a cinema and brilliant bookshop also, & it’s v near Trafalgar Square so you can combine classic tourist activity with Something more obscure lol!).
I am a big shopping gworl so i actually love dipping around carnaby street and libertys (which is so beautiful inside!).
depends where youre staying etc and if it stays sunny but honestly the quintessential summer thing to do would be : Sit in a pub with a garden !!!!!
& again - as it’s summer - highly recommend finding a gross little club or gig to go to. if I’m bored I just check resident advisor or dice and see whats coming up.
if you’re comfortable sharing which area you’re staying in then I can send more specific recs hehe
Aug 5, 2024
Top Recs from @iconicindex
Finally saw this for the first time (on 35mm thxx Prince Charles Cinema) and wow. Jonathan Glazer and co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière spending all of pre-production re-writing the script without informing the studio… DP Harris Savides pushing the boundaries of underexposed film and getting the craziest deepest browns and purples out of Kodak stock… Alexandre Desplat starting with what seems like a very polite classical score and then gradually bringing in heavy synth bass… and of course Nicole Kidman throwing herself headlong into an insane role (and apparently bullying the producers for more $$$ when they finished under budget)
Nov 10, 2024
The less you read about it (or look at maps) the better. Just enter via Haight Street, turn your phone off and wander 'til you reach the ocean. If you go on a Sunday afternoon and you didn't already come across it, proceed to turn your phone back on and track back to the 6th Avenue Skate Park to check out the roller disco party 🛼🔊😎
Mar 3, 2024
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Because of the extensive tradition of pirate radio in the UK (from Radio Caroline on down), London probably has the most insane landscape of 24/7 internet radio in the world. I've tried to rank these in terms of approximate popularity ranging from NTS (as mentioned) on down to purely DIY weekend-only amateur collectives like LWSTD. If you don't know the stations in your city, just have a quick google and do some Instagram "Following" list exploration and it should be pretty easy to find more (e.g. in Amsterdam check out Echobox, Radio Tempo Não Pára, RRFM, etc...)
- NTS (Dalston) https://www.nts.live/
- Rinse FM (Hoxton) https://rinse.fm/
- Worldwide FM (Islington) https://worldwidefm.net/ (currently mostly on ice but great archive)
- Balaami (Peckham) https://www.balamii.com/
- Soho Radio https://sohoradiolondon.com/
- Reprezent Radio (Brixton) https://www.reprezentradio.org.uk/
- Netil Radio (Hackney) https://www.netilradio.com/
- Subtle Radio (Hackney) https://www.subtleradio.com/
- Voices Radio (Kings Cross) https://www.voicesradio.co.uk/
- Aaja (Deptford) https://aajamusic.com/radio/
- Do You!! Radio (Hackney) https://doyou.world/
- LWSTD https://www.lovewillsavetheday.fm/
Apr 4, 2024