ListingsUpdated Sat 24 Oct
London events today and this week
Every event we have checked and put in, soonest first. Tonight and this weekend have their own editions.
Saturday
24 October-
Food and drink From £11
Bowling at All Star Lanes, Brick Lane
Four lanes in a basement done out as an American diner, which sounds worse than it is. Booked by the lane for up to eight, and the kitchen runs as late as the bowling.
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Food and drink From £30
Bottomless brunch in Shoreditch
Cheaper than Soho and longer sittings, mostly around Redchurch Street and the Boundary. Sundays run into the evening here in a way they do not further west.
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Exhibitions Advance fares vary, kids £1 each with an adult
A day in Margate
An hour and a half from St Pancras. Turner Contemporary is free, the sand is the best within reach of London, and the old town is a short walk from the station.
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Free
Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Free, and busier than anything else on this list. It does not run every day and it is called off in bad weather, so check the Household Division calendar the morning you go.
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Food and drink From £7
Lower Marsh Market
A weekday street market that has been there since the 1850s, now mostly hot food at lunch. Quieter and cheaper than Borough, and five minutes from the same trains.
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Food and drink From £8
Lunchtime in Leadenhall Market
The traders under the roof are mostly food at midday, and the pubs put their tables out under the ironwork. Weekdays only: most of it shuts by early evening and all of it at the weekend.
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Exhibitions Advance fares vary
A day in Oxford
An hour from Paddington or Marylebone. The Ashmolean and the Pitt Rivers are both free, and most colleges let visitors in for a few pounds in the afternoon.
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Theatre From £25
Evening performance at the Victoria Palace Theatre
A Matcham house from 1911, restored to the gilt and then some. Day seats and returns go at the box office in the morning, which is the cheapest way in.
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Exhibitions Advance fares vary
A day in Cambridge
Fifty minutes from King's Cross, which makes it the closest of the university towns. The Fitzwilliam is free and punting is the thing everyone does and nobody regrets.
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Theatre £25 to £74.50, standing tickets 10p
Royal Court Theatre: Man to Man
Man to Man at the Royal Court Theatre. The run is published; the performance times and the prices are on the booking page.
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Comedy £5
Belly Laugh
Until 9 Dec
Comedy in the studio at Underbelly Boulevard, on Walker's Court in Soho. It is a run rather than one night, so there is more than one chance at it. Start time is on the venue's page.
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Free
The Rolling Bridge at Merchant Square
Thomas Heatherwick's footbridge curls up into an octagon instead of lifting. It runs to a published timetable posted at the square, and the whole thing takes about three minutes.
