Reach 4,400+ engaged North Londoners. Partner with My North London.
Hey Neighbour,
Turns out it's not coming home, but that doesn't mean we can't still make the best of our weekend.
There's the usual top picks below, and this week there's also a button to see more weekend events if you want to dig deeper.
See what catches your eye.
PS - if you attend any events listed, feel free to tag on Instagram stories and share how it's all going.
-Maryam
Plan Your Weekend:
👀 Spotted
📋 Round Up
Bits and bobs worth knowing.
🚶Camden High Street has been partly car-free for a year - now they want to make it permanent: council consulting on keeping the change and possibly expanding it.
Source: Camden Council
☕Aussie café chain Daisy Green opening at Parliament Hill Fields: The Aussie café chain took over from D'Auria Brothers who ran it for 45 years before retiring in January. 25,000 people signed petition calling for the cafés to stay independent, including James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch. Three other Hampstead Heath cafés Daisy Green was awarded are still in legal dispute over the tendering process. Daisy Green has promised to keep existing staff, pay London Living Wage and keep the pasta vongole on the menu.
🎬 Finchley residents writing to Arnold Schwarzenegger to help save Vue Cinema: Did you know Schwarzenegger opened the Vue Cinema at Great North Leisure Park in 1996 for the premiere of his film Eraser? (Neither did I.) Now residents are asking him to come back and help save it from demolition. The Mayor of London approved plans to demolish the Leisure Park for tower blocks despite Barnet Council refusing it and 15,000 signatures against. Campaign asking Arnie to speak up for the cinema on social media.
🛍️ Meanwhile Locals are also petitioning to save M&S Swiss Cottage from closing: M&S reportedly closing its Finchley Road branch. Residents started petition saying the store is vital for elderly and less mobile locals who rely on it for food and essentials.
🕰️ Highbury Barn's historic clock tower being restored: the tower was removed and taken to a specialist facility in Derby for a 7-month restoration. They're also analysing layers of paint to find the original 1897 colour so it might look different when it returns.
🗳️You Decide
You want to support local businesses but also peaches are £2 per peach? What do you do?
⭐️Top Events
Vinyl & Vino | 📍The Cellars, N8 | 18 July | (£)
Wine, pizza and records in the garden at The Cellars in Crouch End. Mark Burgess from Flashback Records and Needle Bob from Bona Rays take over the decks from 7.30pm, pulling 60s to 00s vinyl from the Flashback racks, psychedelic, punk, new wave and indie. Pizzas firing alongside the Cellars' wine list. Your £8 ticket gets you in and includes your first glass, from 5pm.
A Day for Amy | 📍Camden Market, NW1 | 19 July | Free
Amy Winehouse died fifteen years ago this month, a mile up the road in Camden Square. Camden marks it with a concert in the Stables Amphitheatre, Lucy Randell and her band singing her songs, with donations going to the foundation set up in her name. Before that, a free afternoon around Hawley Wharf: canalside music, a DJ set from Jazzie B, and things for the kids. Free, from 2pm, Amy at 5pm.
Open Garden at 24 Twyford Avenue | 📍24 Twyford Avenue, N2 | 19 July | (£)
Rachel and Jeremy open their garden in East Finchley for the afternoon, a sunny 120-foot plot packed with cottage-garden borders, a herb garden, a greenhouse and plenty of corners to sit and doze. Local beekeeper Miel de Lucie will be there with East Finchley honey, and there's a plant sale and home-made teas. Dogs welcome. £5 adults, children free, and it goes to the National Garden Scheme's charities. 2pm to 6pm.
Calthorpe Flea Market | 📍Calthorpe Community Garden, WC1X | 19 July | (£)
Rummage for secondhand clothes and bric-a-brac in a community garden off Grays Inn Road. £5 gets you in first at 10, £1 from 10.30, free from 11.30. Runs to 2pm, third Sunday of every month.
Source: 📸 @londonpubmap - The Marquess Tavern, ( on Thursday obviously…)
Crafty Fox Summer Market | 📍The Crossing, N1C | 19 July | Free
110 independent makers under one roof at The Crossing in King's Cross, by the entrance to Central Saint Martins. Jewellery, ceramics, prints, textiles, candles, homeware and the kind of one-off pieces you won't find on the high street. Crafty Fox have been running these since 2010, so they know how to fill a room. Indoors, dog friendly, free entry, 11am to 5pm.
Pothole Summer Exhibition | 📍The Viaduct, N10 | 18 - 19 July | Free
Pothole is an artist-run pottery studio tucked under the Parkland Walk arches, where people aged 5 to 88 come to learn the wheel. For a weekend they're opening up to show what everyone's made, with throwing demos, a clay photo booth and cake, and it's a good chance to see the place if you've ever thought about giving it a go yourself. All welcome, no booking. 11am to 2pm.
Hot Lemon Vol.5 | 📍De Beauvoir Road, N1 | 18 July | (£)
Summer disco in De Beauvoir with the DJ decks moved outdoors for the first half of the night, so you can drink natural wine in the sun before it moves inside. DJ sets from Val Fritz, Marla Kether and others, toasties and cocktails from Batch Baby, and a tattooist working from 7pm if you fancy leaving with more than a hangover. Arrive before 9pm for a free welcome drink. 7pm to 1am.
🥧 Grand opening, grand closing
Source: Danny, N1 (facebook)
74 Chapel Market, the “reimagined” pie and mash shop inside the old M. Manze site, has shut less than a month after opening. The owners blamed issues outside their control, while locals are debating the £12.50 pies and whether it strayed too far from tradition. Do you know why they closed?
👀 Spotted
Caught our eye, might catch yours
📺 Ever wondered why there are book clubs but no TV clubs? Same. The Telly Club meets monthly at The Scolt Head to chat about what you've been watching. Next one is Tuesday 21st July, 7.30pm. On the agenda: Alice and Steve (Disney+) and ELLE (Amazon Prime). Free, just reserve a spot.
🎨 Cass Art is opening at King's Cross. New store on Stable Street with paints, brushes, sketchbooks, spray paint, the lot. Opening weekend is Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July. 14/15 Stable Street, N1C.
🌸 Barnet residents: the Mini Meadow Movement wants to plant 600 mini-meadows across the borough. Sign up for free wildflower seeds, collect them from your local library after 1st August, sow in September or October. No gardening experience needed.
☀️ More outdoor space is coming to Blackstock Road: Islington Council has secured funding for a new outdoor hospitality scheme, designed to create more public space and help local businesses serve customers outside. More details are expected this summer.
🌙 Fancy late-night shopping with a free glass of prosecco? North Yard Night Markets at Camden Market runs every Thursday until 27th August, 5pm to 9pm. Book a free ticket for the prosecco.
🎥 A film crew is recording what Tottenham thinks about the climate crisis, and they want you on camera. Drop in at The Trampery (10am to 2pm) or Unit 3 on Markfield Road (2pm to 4pm) this Saturday. You'll be part of a community archive.
🌱 Got ideas for Roundwood Park? There's a drop-in this Saturday 18th July, 10am to 2pm at the bowling green. They're planning a new community hub and want your input. Free seedlings from LetsGrowBrent. Longstone Ave, NW10.
🔧 Enfield Tool Library is turning one. If you've never heard of it, it's exactly what it says on the tin: a library, but for tools. They're celebrating on 30th July, 4pm to 6pm at Palmers Green Library. Tool demos, refreshments, family stuff. Sign up on the day and get 10% off membership. Email: [email protected] for info.
🍋 Meet young North London entrepreneur Antonia, who has set up a homemade lemonade stand on Hornsey Park Road, complete with a hand-built stall and some very happy customers. Keep an eye out and show her some love. (Thanks for sharing, Pamela, N22.)
Source: Pamela, N22
💼 Museum of Youth Culture is looking for five Outreach Champions to collect stories about growing up in Barnet. Nights out, hanging out after school, old photos. It's a paid gig (£2,000), they'll train you, and the stories will be part of an exhibition at Light + Flight festival in November. Deadline 26th July.
🥐 Sourdough Sophia has opened a new, bigger bakery in Crouch End (N8). It's about 10 doors down from where they started.
🍰 The English Cheesecake Company is bringing its bright pink dessert van to Hampstead Heath and Primrose Hill this weekend, handing out free frozen cheesecake on 18 and 19 July while stocks last.
☕ When's the last time you paid £1 for coffee? Dirt Coffee Co. has just opened on Hornsey High Street (N8) and are offering £1 coffee for the rest of opening week.
🎬 Phoenix Cinema is doing a kids' summer movie challenge. £4 tickets, a family film a week from 31st July through August (Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters, The Magic Faraway Tree, Animal Farm). Collect a passport, get all four stamps, and the little ones get free popcorn and juice.
🚲 This Sunday, you can get unlimited 60-minute Santander Cycles rides, including e-bikes, with a free Day Pass. Enter CYCLEJULY19 in the app or at a docking station. The offer continues next Sunday too, using code CYCLEJULY26.
Got something your neighbours should know about?
Opening or launching something? Noticed a change in your neighbourhood? Got a local story, observation or point of view worth sharing? Reply to this email. A photo, link or a few lines is plenty.
🌳 Trees get thirsty too
Source: Islington Council
If you see a young street tree with a green watering bag around its base, pour water into the top of the bag to help it through the hot weather. Rainwater or leftover bath or washing-up water will do.
🎟️ Heads up
Upcoming events you should consider booking in advance or planning ahead for. In and out of North London. Events marked with (£) require a ticket in advance.
Reggae Chef Free Caribbean Cooking Classes | 📍Camden Market, NW1 | 26 July | Free
They're setting up a community kitchen at Camden Market to teach people to cook proper Caribbean food on a small budget, jerk chicken, curry goat, saltfish fritters, rice and peas, vegan yam curry. It started because of the cost of living, so nobody goes without a decent meal, but the classes are free and open whatever your situation. You cook, you serve what you've made, and you take the rest home. This date is the induction, and places are limited. Sign up if you want in.
Islington Boot Fair | 📍Vittoria Primary School, N1 | 26 July | Free
New boot fair is opening in Islington, in the school playground on Treaty Street by the canal, and running every other Sunday from here on. Vintage clothes, books, records, homeware, toys, plants, tools and whatever else the sellers have turned out, from a family running it as a preloved and vintage market. Come early for the good stuff. 9am to 4pm.
Pick Your Own Flowers at GROW Farm | 📍GROW Farm, Totteridge Academy, N20 | 25 July | Free
Cut your own flowers on a working farm in Totteridge, fill a jar and take them home, from £4. One woman who went last year said she felt she was in a little bit of heaven, and would have enjoyed it even without the flowers, just walking round, sniffing, being among them. Sunflowers, cosmos, snapdragons, all grown without chemicals, and what you pay helps teach local young people to grow. Book a free place, 10am to 2pm.
Ronnie Scott's Street Party | 📍Frith Street, Soho, W1 | 1 Aug | Free
Getting into Ronnie Scott's usually costs you. For one day the music comes outside instead, free, on the Soho street where the club has stood since 1959. Two stages on Frith Street with Blue Lab Beats, Guvna B and the club's own gospel choir, plus DJs and bars. They're doing it to raise a flag for the small grassroots venues where artists get their first break. 11.30am to 4.30pm.
THANKS FOR READING!
While you're here:
Here's your guide to North London Summer Festivals & Fairs. Want to plan ahead? Your excuses to leave your house this July is right here too.
Share this with someone who's still asking 'what's happening this weekend'
Someone thought you'd like this? They're right. Join 4,000+ neighbours here.