Bits and bobs worth knowing.

🎸 Famous nightspot is coming back to Camden: this live music venue has had Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Amy Winehouse and The Cure all play before they were famous. It’s called the Barfly and it’s reopening 22 June on Chalk Farm Road.


🌳 Paradise Park Nursery in Islington facing closure: Islington Play Association runs the nursery and four adventure playgrounds off Mackenzie Road,(N7). Charity can no longer afford to keep going. Council proposed taking on the playgrounds but letting the nursery close. Around 30 staff facing redundancy. Local families losing childcare in an area where nursery places are already hard to find. Parents and workers say there was no proper consultation and other options weren't fully explored. Council has committed to keeping the four playgrounds open.

🐱 Barnet cat named blood donor of the year by Royal Veterinary College: Harriet, an eight-year-old tabby from Barnet, has made 12 blood donations since 2021 helping critically ill cats get transfusions at the RVC's animal hospital. Owners Nick and Anne say she's taken it all in her stride.


🎬 Hollywood is coming to Kentish Town: Camden Film Quarter on Regis Road got planning permission after a tied vote, with the chair using his casting vote to push it through. It will have 11 sound stages (the team behind Star Wars, Mission Impossible and James Bond will run them), 485 homes with 50% affordable, film schools, 3,000+ jobs. Up to 24 storeys. Not everyone's happy though, residents raised concerns about homes built above a recycling centre and the height.

East Finchley Festival | 📍Cherry Tree Wood, N2 | 21 June | Free
East Finchley Festival has been going since 1972, when locals marked the first one by parading a whole roast sheep down the High Road to Cherry Tree Wood. It's a free all-day community festival in the park and it's still going strong. Two music stages, street food, licensed bars, over 100 local makers, sports, laser tag, storytelling and Lego. 12pm to 6pm.


Red Bull Soapbox Race | 📍Alexandra Palace, N22 | 20 June | (£)
Teams build their own homemade carts and race them down the hill at Alexandra Palace using nothing but gravity. No engines, no fuel. 60 teams judged on speed, creativity and showmanship, with costumes, stunts and general chaos along the way. Doors open 11.30am, racing starts around 2pm. Tickets from £23.50, no tickets on the door so buy in advance.


Hampstead Summer Festival 2026 | 📍Keats House and Heath Street, NW3 | 21 June - 5 July | Free/(£)
Keats House in Hampstead is where the Romantic poet John Keats lived and wrote in the 1820s. It's now a museum, and every summer its garden becomes the setting for a community festival that has been running since 2011. This year there are five events: an Art Fair on 21 June, open air performances of Northanger Abbey from 25 June, a Family Garden Party on 28 June with birds of prey, ballet and a magician, and the Big Fair on Heath Street on 5 July with 110 stalls, a funfair and live music. Art Street in Keats Grove runs throughout. Theatre tickets from £20, everything else free. All proceeds to Hampstead School of Art and Keats Community Library.


Kingsgate Workshops Open Studios | 📍Kingsgate Road, NW6 | 19 - 21 June | Free
Kingsgate Workshops is a community arts building in Kilburn housing working artists and makers. This weekend their studios open to the public — ceramics, jewellery, textiles, painting, sculpture and more, with workshops and exhibitions alongside. Opening evening Friday 19 June, 6.30pm to 9.30pm. Saturday and Sunday noon to 6pm.


London Gaming Market | 📍Royal National Hotel, WC1H | 21 June | (£)
The gaming market is back in its 11th year. London's only dedicated retro market, with hundreds of dealers selling vintage games, consoles, merchandise and artwork.

Regent's Park Music Festival | 📍Regent's Park, NW1 | 21 June - 20 September | Free
Every Sunday all summer, there's a free band playing in Regent's Park. Jazz, brass, steel and concert bands, with swing dancing on five Sundays and jazz on selected Saturdays. Now in its tenth year. Ticketed events in the Secret Garden at St John's Lodge on 10 to 12 July, including musical theatre, opera and a Magical Musical Evening with festival patron Sir Karl Jenkins. Secret Garden tickets from £15.

Waterlow Park Geotrail | 📍Waterlow Park, N6 | 21 June | Free
Guided walk through Waterlow Park with Diana Clements of the London Geodiversity Partnership, looking at why the park's hills, ponds and terraces are where they are. Meet at the Highgate High Street entrance. Some inclines. 3pm to 4pm


Makers & Indies Summer Market | 📍Ye Olde Mitre Inn, EN5 | 20 June | Free
Go support small business at the Makers & Indies Summer market at Ye Old Mire Inn pub in Barnet. You'll see handmade goods, Vintage Clothing, Tarot with a Twist, Crochet, Bakes and Cakes and many more. 11.30am to 3pm.

Canal Boat Tours: Little Venice to Camden | 📍Little Venice to Camden Market, W9/NW1 | Until 30 June | (£)
Travel between Little Venice and Camden Market by narrowboat along Regent's Canal. Choose between a historic narrowboat with live commentary or a comfort cruiser with a bar. 45 minutes each way. Book at the London Waterbus Company.

Hackney Flea Market | 📍Abney Public Hall, N16 | 20 - 21 June | Free
The kind of market where you don't know what you're looking for until you find it. Forty traders on Church Street in Stoke Newington with furniture, records, salvaged French homeware, Danish decor, textiles and kitchenalia. Dog friendly. 10am to 5pm both days.

Last Yarn Fabric Sale | 📍Crawley Road, N22 | 20 June | Free
Last Yarn rescues unused surplus fabric from fashion mills and sells it on to designers and makers. Their Wood Green showroom opens this Saturday with fabrics, luxury leather, shearling and yarn at discounted prices. Book a free slot in advance. Free parking. 1.30pm to 5pm.

Taste of London | 📍Regent's Park, NW1 | 17 to 21 Jun | (£)
Taste of London takes over Regent's Park every June and it's exactly what it sounds like: over 30 of the city's best restaurants set up in one place so you can eat across all of them in an afternoon. This year new additions include Harry's, Hakkasan and Mexican spot Ixchel, alongside festival favourites Roti King and Los Mochis. Chef demos and masterclasses are included in the ticket price, with Big Zuu and Melissa Thompson hosting the Fire Pit stage. Five days, 130 dishes, 160 artisan producers.

Kilburn Grange Park Funfair | 📍Kilburn Grange Park, NW6 | 19 - 28 June | (£)
A funfair in Kilburn Grange Park over two weekends. Rides for all ages, £2 entry. Both Fridays are half price, and booking tokens online before noon saves 20% on other days. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, 10am to 5pm.

Amwell 200 | 📍Various venues, EC1 | 19 - 28 June | (£)
Amwell is a quiet Georgian neighbourhood in Clerkenwell that describes itself as a village within the vast city. This ten-day festival marks 200 years of the area's history with talks, walking tours, outdoor sketching, an a cappella concert at St Mark's Church on Myddelton Square, radical history at the Marx Memorial Library and a closing picnic in Wilmington Square Gardens.

Stoke Newington Early Music Festival | 📍Various venues, N16 | 18 June - 1 July | (£)
Two weeks of medieval, Renaissance and baroque music in Stoke Newington's churches and chapels. This year the programme travels to the Mediterranean through the music of France, Spain and Italy.

Make Your Own Plush Doll Charm Workshop | 📍Luna's Yarn Studio, N7 | 20 - 21 June | (£)
Pick your animal, sew it, take it home. Luna's Yarn Studio in Holloway runs this beginner-friendly workshop where you make your own small fabric charm — kitty, bear, bunny, elephant and more. All materials included, no experience needed. Suitable for adults and families with children aged 10 and up.



Cromer Road Primary School Summer Fair | 📍Cromer Road Primary School, EN5 | 20 June | (£)
Summer fair in New Barnet with games, stalls, food and a bar. Furry and Scaly bring animals to meet — pre-book tickets for this in advance. Dance performance from Reynolds Dance Academy at 3pm, school choir at 3.30pm. Adults £2, children free. 1pm to 4pm.


Shōtengai Pan-Asian Market | 📍Lower Stable Street, N1C | 18 - 21 June | Free Shōtengai are the local street markets found across Japan, and this monthly version at King's Cross brings together pan-Asian food, homeware and independent retailers. Japanese bread, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, homewares, fashion and more. Thursday to Sunday.

Catch them while you can.

Crouch End Festival: Barn Dance | 📍Hornsey Parish Church Hall, N10 | 20 June | (£)
The festival goes on this Saturday with a barn dance at Hornsey Parish Church Hall. Live band Stokey, caller Katherine Ward, light supper included and a licensed bar. Adults £12.50, children £5, concessions £9, family ticket £30. Doors open 7pm, dancing from 7.30pm.

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.