My #1 Recommendation

• Novelty Automation
  • Imagine if Monty Python made satirical, borderline communist, arcade (”carnival midway”) games, but also it was run a beloved (now grandfatherly) British science educator (think like the guys from Mythbusters)
  • Takes about an hour to play all the machines, costs ~$25

Museums & Art & Culture

• V&A - specifically the Cast Courts
• Tate Modern always leaves me feeling a little cold but it’s great
• Serpentine
• Barbican
• There are some good galleries - check out
  • https://www.galleriesnow.net/exhibitions/london/

Music

• Cafe Oto
  • Wonderful cafe/store during the day, has nightly experimental / jazz / avant garde music. Great vibes

Parties

• Unfold at FOLD
  • Monthly sunday queer day-rave in Canning Town that has immaculate vibes. There is a queer vibe check at the door, don’t necessarily need the outfits but do need the vibe.
• Grow Hackney
  • Went once, got a good vibe. I get the sense this is the kind of club that’s good if there are five people on the dance floor.

Theater

• Soho Theater
  • A lot of Edinburgh Fringe stuff is incubated here and also returns to here. A lot of light comedy and clowning, some heavy stuff. Cool space. Would go here even pretty much sight unseen if someone said they were interested in seeing something. Multiple shows a night.
• Southwark Playhouse
  • They incubated Operation Mincemeat which is now in West End / Broadway. Like their space, trust their curation.
• National Theater
  • I’ve somehow never been but it’s world renowned and a beautiful space.
• The Globe Theater
  • This is a bit like if Lin Manuel Miranda got a budget to do Shakespeare in London, but somehow it works.
• https://cptheatre.co.uk/ - incubates weirder smaller stuff

Queer

• Bethnel Green Working Men’s club - https://www.instagram.com/bgwmc/?hl=en - all I know is that this is the center of London’s most inclusive drag shows/scene
• Hear good things about this queer/kinky sunday day rave https://www.joyriderave.com/

Shopping

• Fortnum & Mason
  • 200 year old fancy department store that sells nothing but teas and cookies basically
  • This is what a chocolate shop for the noble elite in Harry Potter would look like
  • Okay that’s basically what it is
• Harrod’s
  • If Macy’s was Fortnum & Mason. The food hall is a beautiful shrine to gluttony.
• Vintage shops
  • London has infinite ‘charity shops’ - Oxfam, CRUK, Shop from Crisis, etc etc https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/best-charity-shops-in-uk

Magic!

• https://www.magicianstablelive.com/?gad_source=1 - heard good things about this from both magicians & immersive theater people

Bars

• London has SO many bars
  • Many of them are good
• Bar with shapes for a name
• Viktor Wynd
• idk there’s a million don’t think too hard about it they like cocktails, they like to drink

Avoid

• Phantom Peak - mediocre immersive thing
• Viola’s Tale - ditto
• Nightjar - did not like the vibe at this bar even though I like their other spaces like Oriole
• Fabric - was once the most important techno club in the world. The vibe here is awful, the queue feels like airport security, the dance floor is tiny.