Things To Do In London This Weekend April 20-22

Ditch your downloads, step away from your Spotify. Because this Saturday, it’s all about the joys of the record store. Yup, it’s a whole day of revelry across London celebrating independent labels, which are having quite the renaissance thanks to the vinyl boom. Here are our highlights by area: NORTH: Les Aldrich Music in Muswell Hill has recruited blues hero David Robinson for a live show, plus there’s be free Fred Perry totes for the first 20 in the queue.
SOUTH: Head to Peckham for The Run Out 2018 at Copeland Gallery, an outdoor record market with DJs and street food, followed by a huge hip-hop party starring Beatrice Dillon, Tyree Cooper, Minimal Violence and more.
EAST: Hackney Wick record store Vinyl Pimphosts a DJ line-up including Dan Beaumont, Raime and London Modular Allowance, along with booze from The Gipsy Hill Brewing Co.
WEST: Rough Trade West is putting on live shows by the likes of Haley and The Members. YES.
21 Apr
Various locations

Bandits! There’s bandits in town! Only this is, let us assure you, an excellent thing. Because these bandits come from Liverpool by way of Central America – and they’re bringing mescal. Back after a successful pop-up last year, Merseyside cocktail maestros El Bandito are staging a one-day takeover of Portobello Tiki haven Trailer Happiness, hosting mescal masterclasses, and serving up a specially curated menu of agave-based concoctions. ‘There will be Tiki,’ they promise. ‘There will be mescal. It will go off.’ Consider yourself warned…

22 Apr; free

El Bandito x Trailer Happiness, 177 Portobello Rd, W11 2DY

Looking for the biggest restaurant opening of the year so far? It’s Hide you seek (boom, boom). The new opening from chef Ollie Dabbous – of Barnyard and, um, Dabbous fame – this couldn’t be more hotly anticipated if it was dressed in Meghan Markle’s wedding frock. Overlooking Green Park and with interiors seemingly carved out of wood, three floors of foodie goodness feature a formal dining room serving a six-to-nine-course tasting menu (think raw tuna with prickly ash and Exmoor caviar; slow-roast goose with birch sap and kale), a more casual all-day dining space (grilled langoustines with rosemary and sea truffle? Yes, please) and, best of all, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar, Below. About which, we shall leave you with just four words: World’s. Largest. Wine. Selection.

Now open

Hide, 85 Piccadilly, W1J 7NB

Imagine, if you will, what Spring Break (which, as anyone who saw MTV in the ’90s will know, is a time when ‘the kids’ partay hard, wear denim cut-offs and drive around in open-top cars whooping a lot) would look like in Neverland. That’s right: Neverland. And you’re some way to getting an idea of what this immersive party, taking over Park Village Studios this Saturday, is all about. Recreating Peter Pan’s patch right here in central London, you’re in for hipster Lost Boys, geezer Pirates, a trustafarian Tiger Lily, a tattooed Tinkerbell, a gangsta-rapping Croc… plus street-food eats, party beats AND – whisper it – a dance off. Fair to say, a standard night out, this is definitely not.

19-21 Apr; £40 including one cocktail, two street-food tokens and all entertainment

Neverland Spring Break, Park Village Studios, NW1 7PX

This week, if it's not the world's largest, we're just not interested. Which brings us to London's latest pop-up speakeasy, The Espresso Martini Society, armed with the world's largest menu of... oh, you can guess. Open for six weeks on Soho's Moor Street - right where the espresso martini was first invented - book a slot for £10 and you'll get a welcome drink, then 1hr 45mins to put a dent in the 20-strong menu, which includes the Royal Mint, the Peanut Butter, the Big Cheese(cake) and the A-list Avocado. Tip: make plans for after. After this much caffeinated boozy goodness, an early night is not going to be an option.

Until 27 May; £10

The Espresso Martini Society, Moor St, W1D 5NG

Yes, it’s that day of the year again: the one where mere mortals get to feel incredibly lazy/unfit/ashamed of their Sunday-morning hangovers while watching godlike beings in Lycra (or Disney costumes) run 26.2 miles around London. Godlike beings: the very best of luck to you. Mere mortals: see you at one of these well-situated drinking spots to watch from. Warning: the more wine you drink, the more convinced you’ll become that you’ll run it next year…

22 April; free

Various locations

With 40% of London’s clubs having closed in the past 10 years, the reopening of cult 80s Indie venue Subterania in Portobello this weekend is something to celebrate. Music mogul Vince Power, whose Mean Fiddler group hosted the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pulp and Primal Scream, is celebrating the relaunch of the 600 capacity venue with a live performance from legendary Glastonbury veteran Van Morrison. West London- we’re coming for you'

Subterania, 12 Acklam Road, Portobello, London W10 5QZ