Peckham London: what's on and things to do

Peckham does the late end of London better than almost anywhere, and it does it without the prices of the centre. The Bussey Building is the anchor: a Victorian factory holding a club, a cinema, a theatre and a rooftop bar in the same building, running from the afternoon to six in the morning at weekends.

Daytime

Rye Lane is the reason to come in daylight: a market street that has resisted becoming a version of itself, with Caribbean and West African grocers alongside the newer places. Peckham Rye and Nunhead are five minutes away and are proper parks rather than squares. Nunhead Cemetery, one of the Magnificent Seven, opens its chapel a few times a year and the view of St Paul's from the top path is the best-kept secret in south London.

Evening and night

The rooftops run through the summer, with cinema on top of the Bussey Building and bars on the multi-storey car park. Both are colder than you expect and worth a coat. In winter the same building keeps going indoors. The restaurants along Rye Lane and Bellenden Road are where the neighbourhood eats, and they fill from seven.

The clubs start later here than in central London, which is the point: nothing much happens before eleven and the good hours are between one and four.

Getting home

There is no Night Tube in Peckham, which is the one real drawback. The Overground and the trains to London Bridge and Victoria stop around half past midnight. After that it is the night buses, which are frequent and go everywhere: the 12, 36, 63, 171 and 343 all run all night. Plan for that before you commit to a four in the morning finish.