Journal23 pieces
Journal
Short pieces: things announced, things changed, things worth knowing before the weekend.
Everything in London that costs nothing, and the small print on the things that are free but still need a ticket. The largest single thing this paper covers.
A whole London evening for nothing
View, exhibition, walk and a place to sit, without paying for any of it. London is unusually good at this and hides it badly.
Free, but you still need a ticket: the London catch
A dozen of the best free things in London will turn you away at the door without a booking that costs nothing. It is the single most common way to waste an evening here.
Free London with children, and the bit nobody mentions about fares
The museums, the playgrounds and the city farms cost nothing. So does getting there, which is usually the largest number on the day.
The free views of London, and which of them need booking
Two of the highest viewpoints in the city cost nothing. Both need a ticket you do not pay for, and both run out. The hills need nothing at all.
The free museums, and the hour to arrive at each one
All of them are free and none of them are the same at eleven on a Saturday as they are at six on a Thursday. When you go matters more than which you pick.
Free London: what actually costs nothing, and what only looks like it does
The museums, the views, the parks and the markets are free. The confusion is everything around them: the timed ticket that costs nothing, the exhibition that does, and the difference between the two.
What is open when everything else has shut, where the late licences actually are, and how to get home once the last tube has gone.
Soho after eleven, street by street
A square half mile that holds most of London's late licences, and behaves differently on each of its streets.
Getting home after midnight in London
The night tube runs on five lines and only at weekends. The buses run every night and go everywhere. Knowing which is which saves a fare and an argument.
Where to eat late in London, when the kitchens have shut
Most London kitchens stop at ten. A few streets do not, and knowing them is the difference between dinner and a bag of crisps.
The museum lates, and how to do one without queueing
The best evening in London costs nothing and happens once a month per museum. The only hard part is the door.
London after dark: what stays open, and until when
Eleven is the licence most pubs hold. What happens after that is a matter of which streets, which night of the week, and knowing before you set out rather than at one.
It rains here about a third of the year. The indoor half of London, which is also mostly the free half.
London on a Sunday, which is not the dead day people think
The markets are better, the museums are the same, and the only thing that genuinely closes early is the shopping. Sunday is underrated here.
The small museums nobody queues for
South Kensington on a wet Saturday is a scrum. These are free, indoors, and never are.
Where to go in London when it rains
It rains here about a third of the days in the year, which is not a reason to stay in. The indoor half of London is also the free half.
London’s covered markets, for the days it does not stop
Four markets with roofs on them, so you can spend an afternoon walking and buying without ever being rained on.
What is worth planning around rather than deciding on the day: the weekends when the city opens things it usually keeps shut.
September in London, and what is actually worth turning up for
The month the city gets its buildings, its theatres and its galleries back from the summer. Three things are worth planning around and the rest can be decided on the day.
Open House and the London Design Festival land on exactly the same nine days
Two of London's biggest free weeks, entirely overlapping.
October in London: the three weekends worth planning around
Frieze, Halloween and the clocks going back. One of those needs booking, one needs a plan, and one just needs you to notice it is dark at five.
What to book weeks ahead in London, and what to leave to the day
Almost nothing in London needs booking a month out. The handful of things that do are worth knowing, because they are the ones that disappear in an afternoon.
Openings, closings, new hours and corrections. Short pieces about things that have moved since the last time you checked.
The London Cycling Festival returns, with free rides in 19 boroughs
RideLondon is still paused. This is not that, and it is free.
Tate Modern is now open until nine every Friday and Saturday
Not monthly. Every week, and still free.
Hampton Court’s Halloween is included in admission, and it is not a scare event
A correction, and a useful one if you have children.
London Theatre Week has nine days left, and the cheap band is mostly gone
Seats from £15, but not the ones you want.
What the Journal is for
The listings say what is on and when. The Journal is where the things that do not fit a listing go: why a date moved, what a price actually covers, which of two similar evenings is the better one, and the practical detail that decides whether a night out works. Each piece sits in a cluster above, and every claim in it points back at a page that carries the dates.