Urban Junkies London | Weekend Guide August 14-16

SEE PREVIOUS WEEKEND GUIDE

GUIDE

EAT & DRINK

NIGHTLIFE

Two distinct themes running through town this weekend to interrupt the usual glorious blur of our vibrant social calendars:

1) Parks. Finally folks other than the usual festival fun/nonsense (delete as appropriate) are making use of them. (See Milk and Poker in the Park below.)

2) Jumble sales. Seriously. Everywhere. Take Saturday afternoon at the Andaz in Hoxton. Eating + drinking + shopping under one convenient and stylish roof = heaven.

Other than that, we recommend this weekend takes a bit of a cultural turn. Remember: there’s a mammoth bank holiday in a few weeks. Time to start stashing that energy…


• SAT Milk In The Park • SUN RA Summer Exhibition

FRIDAY

Birthday Party at Hoxton Pony
If you used to go giddy on lemonade and get a kick out of popping other people’s balloons, you’ll fit right in. Taking the traditional children’s party to alcoholic heights, The Birthday Party promises silly hats, a ‘crap’ raffle and glitter bombs. At midnight everyone gets together to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles, and nobody leaves empty handed, as goodie bags get dispensed on exit complete with a slice of cake. Better than pulling any day.

Time:		8pm-2am
Place:		Hoxton Pony, 104-108 Curtain Road, EC2A 3AH
Cost:		Free
Info:		Hoxton Pony

Poker in the Park
Poker faces at the ready readers, as the biggest and best outdoor poker gathering hits London this Thursday and Friday with no-holds-barred tournaments and giveaways, lectures and lessons. Card sharks and bluffers watch out – everyone’s got an ace up their sleeve here. Did we pack in enough poker-related word-play there? Do you believe a thing we say anymore? Tactics kids, tactics…

Time:		12-9:30pm
Place:		Leicester Square Park
Cost:		Free
Info:		Poker in the Park

SHOP
Limited Edition Bistrotheque 5th anniversary tea towels

If anything’s going to make washing up a bit glamorous (fluffy rubber gloves aside – loves it), it’s these limited edition tea-towels. Created by 5 artists including Will Broome, House of Holland, Giles and Rory Crichton to celebrate perennially cool Bistrotheque’s 5th birthday, they’ll make a nice change to Cath Kidston kitsch.

£30 for 5 including a printed shopper.

SATURDAY

Live Vibe
It’s easy to get a glimpse of the best upcoming artists and newest fashion designers around – but where the hell’s the PR machine for the kids getting their groove on, hmm? Providing a platform for young dance artists in the early stages of their careers, Live Vibe offers a casual setting combining newbies, established acts, and an after-show free-for-all karaoke sesh to get everyone involved.

Time:		8pm-late
Place:		Lilian Baylis Studio, Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN
Cost:		£9
Info:		Live Vibe

Milk In The Park
Lactose-intolerants be warned, this massive LGBT-fest is not for the faint of heart. Celebrating several anniversaries of important events in the fight for equal rights, today’s shindig features Horse Meat Disco, Candi Staton, Jonny Woo, and The Readers Wifes, with a good dollop of Tranny Net Ball and a Carpet Burn Tent on the side. Hmm. Got milk?

Time:		1-9pm
Place:		Vauxhall Spring Gardens, Tyers Street, SE11 5HS
Cost:		£15
Info:		Milk In The Park

BOOK AHEAD
Boujis Ibiza Beach Party

If you made it to Boujis’ Ibiza party at Sol den Serra last year, you’ll remember just how special it was: the stunning cliff top location, the crashing waves below… And this year, it’s set to be just as atmospheric with Boujis taking over the newly managed El Chiringuito in the beautiful cover of Cala Grassionetta. Expect top Euro totty, flowing drinks, and cracking beats. Sounds like it’s time to plan a sick day.

Monday August 31, 4pm-1am, at El Chiringuito
Click here for booking info and details of our UJ subscriber ticket offer.

SUNDAY

Hoxton Grill
If you needed a reason to tumble head over heels with this East-end institution, how’s the fact that it’s now been brought into the welcoming embrace of the Soho House Group? Fall in love with the new £15 lunch menu and the ‘Bring Me Food’ set-up, which offers 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts at a fuss-free £25. If you can’t bear the trip out East, check out the group’s Cowshed Carnaby upgrade, which now includes a bona fide treatment room alongside the usual speedy stations.

Time:		Brunch 12-4pm; Lunch Special 12-3pm.
Place:		81 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HU
Cost:		N/A
Info:		Hoxton Grill

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
It’s your last chance to catch the RA’s Summer Exhibition, featuring some of the best of British art and sculpture. This year’s stand-out pieces include the new video room, Bryan Kneale’s vast stainless-steel sculpture, Triton III, and a hauntingly weird portrait of the supermodel Lily Cole. Bringing together the great and the small, the famous and the anonymous, the exhibition is a chance to see a fantastic and eclectic collection of works all in one space.

Time:		10am-6pm
Place:		Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, W1J 0BD
Cost:		£7
Info:		Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

COMPETITION
Picnics and Plays on The Deck

The Deck at The National Theatre opens to the public for the first time this Summer with a series of rooftop picnics followed by performance of either ‘England People Very Nice’ or ‘Time and the Conways’. Urban Junkies still have 1 pair of tickets for the performances on the 15th & 16th of August to give away. Tell us a joke (come on now, we’re still needing that giggle), to be in with a chance of winning.

Tickets £40 per person

Wild Berry Bombay Sapphire
Created by Flavio Lorenzo, Nobu Berkeley

Muddle 8 juniper berries in the bottom of a cocktail shaker
Add 50ml Bombay Sapphire
10ml fresh lemon juice
20ml rhubarb liqueur
15ml lemongrass & ginger cordial
1 coriander leaf and plenty of cubed ice
Shake well then strain into a tumbler glass filled with ice
Garnish with 2 short straws and some coriander leaves

Available exclusively at the Bombay Sapphire Dusk Bar from Friday 7th August - Sunday 16th August.

Bombay Sapphire Dusk Bar, River Terrace, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA

Ten exquisitely crafted cocktails have been created by leading mixologists from some of London's most fashinable bars, inspired by dusk from the countries in which the ten exotic botanicals in Bombay Sapphire are sourced.

Weekend guide by AC & MaM

(c) 2009 Urban Junkies. All rights reserved.
Reproductions of any portion of this website only with our express permission. Urban Junkies is a free daily mailer. All listings and features are editorial: We do not receive any payment from venues, artists or promoters. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of information listed but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions.