ListingsUpdated Sun 25 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.
Showing this weekend. Clear
Sunday
25 October-
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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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.
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Exhibitions Free
The Fitzrovia Chapel, open to visitors
All that survives of the Middlesex Hospital: a gold mosaic chapel standing on its own in a new square. Free, and open on set days in the middle of the week rather than daily, so check before crossing town.
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Theatre From £25
Evening performance at the Apollo Victoria
An art deco cinema turned musical house, and one of the few West End auditoriums where the building is worth arriving early for. Straight across from the station.
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Food and drink From £8
Borough Market, full market days
The full market runs Wednesday to Saturday, and Wednesday is the one where you can actually reach a stall. Monday and Tuesday are limited, which catches people out.
