TonightSaturday 5 SeptemberUpdated Fri 4 Sep, 04:54
What’s on in London tonight: Saturday 5 September
Everything worth going out for this evening: gigs, late openings, comedy, and the things that start after work.
Tonight’s list is below, in time order, and it is rebuilt every day from what we have checked. Anything starting at 17:00 or later is here, plus anything that runs past 23:00.
Prices and start times change on the night. The venue link on each entry is the one to trust.
Saturday
5 September-
Markets Free
Totally Thames: river festival, whole programme
Until 30 Sep
A month of walks, boat trips, art on the foreshore and one super-choir on the river. Most of it costs nothing and needs no booking.
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Food and drink From £5
Late night food: Brick Lane Beigel Bake
Until 30 Sep
Open every hour of every day. Salt beef with mustard and pickle at 03:00 is the correct order and the queue moves fast.
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Comedy From £15
Comedy at the Soho Theatre
Until 20 Sep
Three rooms, most shows an hour, tickets from fifteen pounds. The downstairs bar runs late. Book the 21:30 slot if you want the room that has already had a drink.
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Theatre From £15 Selling fast
Old Vic evening performance
Until 27 Sep
Day seats go on sale at 10:00 online and there are usually returns at the box office an hour before curtain.
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Food and drink From £14
Crazy golf at Swingers, West End
Until 4 Sep
Two nine hole courses under a glass roof with street food traders around the edge. Over 18s in the evening, and booking is effectively required at the weekend.
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Food and drink From £12
Darts at Flight Club, Shoreditch
Until 4 Sep
Darts with the scoring done for you and a camera on the board, booked by the oche rather than the person. Cheaper before six and on a weekday, and it does run late.
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Clubs From £6
Rooftop at the Bussey Building
Until 4 Sep
Peckham's roof bar, up several flights above the old cricket bat factory, looking back at the city from the south. Runs late at the weekend and the yard below keeps going after it shuts.
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Food and drink From £6
The George Inn, the last galleried coaching inn
Until 4 Sep
The only galleried coaching inn left in London, owned by the National Trust and still working as a pub. The yard fills early on a warm evening.
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Free
Evening at the Brompton Oratory
Until 4 Sep
An enormous Italianate interior a minute from the museums, free to walk into, and almost always quiet. Sung services are listed on the door.
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Gigs Free
Southbank Centre: free foyer music
Until 27 Sep
Free live music in the Clore Ballroom most evenings, no ticket, and the bar overlooks the river. Turn up and sit on the steps.
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Sport From £12
Public skating at Queens Ice and Bowl
Until 4 Sep
A full size rink under Queensway, open sessions most of the day and into the evening. Skate hire is included in the session price. Book ahead at weekends, because it fills with birthday parties.
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Free
Evening walk: Kensington Gardens to the Round Pond
Until 4 Sep
The pond sits on the axis of the palace, so the view back at it in low light is the one the garden was laid out to give you. Twenty minutes from the High Street.
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Theatre From £25
Official London Theatre Week
Until 13 Sep
Fixed price seats across most West End houses for the fortnight, booked through the official site with no fee. The cheapest bands go first and the best seats are usually midweek.
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Free
Stargazing in Richmond Park
Until 31 Oct
The darkest sky inside London, far enough from the centre that the Milky Way is occasionally there. The park closes at dusk in winter, so this is a late summer and autumn thing.
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Free
Waterloo Bridge at dusk
Until 4 Sep
The only crossing with both the City and Westminster in one turn of the head. Built largely by women during the war, which is why it is sometimes called the Ladies Bridge.
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Film Late
Rooftop cinema season, last screenings
Until 13 Sep
The last two weekends of the outdoor season. Take a coat, the roof is colder than the walk there suggests.
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Free
Stargazing on Hampstead Heath
Until 4 Sep
As dark as central London gets, which is not very, but Parliament Hill has the horizon and the local society runs public evenings on the hill through the winter. Take a torch and a coat.
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Food and drink From £10
Ping pong at Bounce, Old Street
Until 4 Sep
Tables by the hour in a basement that used to be a ping pong hall, which is a rare thing to be able to say. Loud after nine and quiet before seven.
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Exhibitions Free
Tate Modern: late opening
Tate Modern now stays open to nine every Friday and Saturday, free, which turns the Turbine Hall into the best free evening on the South Bank.
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Theatre From £10
Almeida Theatre
Three hundred seats off Upper Street, and a hit rate that larger houses would like. Day seats go online in the morning.
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Film From £14
A screening at the BFI IMAX
Until 4 Sep
The biggest screen in the country, in a glass drum in the middle of a roundabout. Worth it for something shot on film stock, less so for anything upscaled.
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Clubs From £18
Jazz Cafe: late night session
The club night after the gig, Friday and Saturday, running to three. Camden Town station shuts before it ends, so the Northern line Night Tube from Mornington Crescent or a walk to Chalk Farm.
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Clubs Varies
Dalston late: the Windrush line runs through
Dalston runs later than almost anywhere in London on a weeknight, and the Windrush line on the Overground runs overnight at weekends.
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Gigs From £12
Ronnie Scott’s: the Late Late Show
The late show at Frith Street starts about a quarter past eleven and runs to three on Friday and Saturday. Cheaper than the main sitting: twelve pounds in advance, more on the door, half price for students.
Running late
Everything after 23:00Listings are checked by us before they go in and re-checked when this page is rewritten. Times and prices can change on the night; the venue link on each event is the one to trust. How we choose what goes in.