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Make the most of the three day weekend with a look round the David Robilliard exhibition at ICA, a meal on the City Barge, Chiswick and much, much more...
Words by Nusa Bartol-Bibb
SHOPPING: Browns Labels for Less Pop Up Sale at The Music Room
Get set to leave the office at five on the dot come Friday because the Browns sample sale will be all wrapped up by 8pm and if ever there’s a shopping event you can’t afford to miss, it’s this.
Discounts are up to 80% and the stock is incredible. Keep your wits sharp and your elbows even sharper, and you could be leaving The Music Room with both a positive bank balance and a capsule wardrobe of Dior, Christopher Kane, Balenciaga and label du jour Celine.
26 South Molton Lane, W1K 5LF
FOOD AND DRINK: BB bakery Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
A charmingly irreverent variation on a very British theme, this recently launched concept bus tour is an original, utterly decadent way to see the city's sights.
Over the course of ninety minutes, passengers are offered fantastic views of such landmarks as the London Eye, Big Ben, and Marble Arch as they work their way through multi-tiered cake stands and endless pots of the finest tea.
Places on the tour are limited so book ahead to avoid disappointment.
6-7 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HU
FOOD AND DRINK: The City Barge, Chiswick
Refurbished but retaining many of the period features it has picked up throughout the centuries, the ultimate Thames-side pub is back.
The views are simply delectable: the food lovingly crafted from locally sourced, seasonal ingredients.
And with prosecco on tap alongside seven hand-pulled local ales and ciders, it shouldn’t be hard to find the perfect drink to wash your meal down with.
27 Strand on the Green, W4 3PH
EXHIBITION: RHS Chelsea Flower Show
That ultimate botanical display, the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show, has long been referred to as London Fashion Week for flowers but never has that comparison rung as true as it does this year.
The 2014 show is shaping up to be a playful, almost carnivalesque celebration of both the pretty and the practical and young, burgeoning designers take centre stage with places on the covetable main avenue.
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, SW3 4SL
FILM: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Part prequel, part sequel, the third film in the X-men series shifts exhilaratingly between two temporalities and stays in top action gear the whole way through.
But this is no simple montage of sci-fi fight scenes. Our mutant heroes are complex characters whose exploits raise important philosophical questions.
Brilliant performances from a stellar cast of Academy Award winners, knights of the realm, and all-round Hollywood greats cement its status as one blockbuster worth the hype.
THEATRE: Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies at the Aldwych Theatre
What do you get when you add one of the world's best known theatre companies to two prize winning historical novels?
Why, just under six hours of simply unmissable theatre, of course.
With ample character development, narrative progression and strength of spectacle, each of the plays can stand quite comfortably alone but spectators will be thankful for the double-bill format. After a first foray into Mantel's seductively dramatic Tudor world, the urge to return is irresistible.
49 Aldwych, WC2B 4DF
FESTIVAL: Hear No Evil, London Fields
With a day-long festival that's positively teeming with life, the team behind Hear no Evil take on their nemesis on more than one front.
Most significantly, by donating all profits to Macmillan Cancer Support, they join the battle against one of the today's foremost forms of suffering.
But at the same time, with the provision of great beer, hours of live music, and plenty of comedy, the organisers of Hear No Evil make a powerful stand for joy.
London Fields Brewery, E8 3RR
ART: David Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams
Described during his most productive years as 'the new master of the modern person' by art world heavyweights Gilbert&George, the late Robilliard is survived by a series of touching, deceptively deep paintings currently on display at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Stylistically naif studies overlaid with Robilliard's poetry, They offer a glimpse into queer London as it was in the 1980s and a cognisant but upbeat commentary on the human condition.
The Mall, SW1Y 5AH
EXHIBITION: Futurismo Ancestral, Somerset House
Hosted in Somerset House’s hidden underground spaces, Futurismo Ancestral is acclaimed graffiti artist Sixe Paredes’ ode to Peruvian culture.
Daily events will be taking place alongside the exhibit, including DJ sets from London radio station NTS on Friday 23 May, a pop-up from Michelin-starred Peruvian restaurant Lima on Saturday, and live Peruvian music on Monday.
Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA
FOOD AND DRINK: Le Tea en Rose at The Rose Lounge
If an afternoon of quiet, luxurious retreat is just your cup of tea, you’ve got to make it down to the Rose Lounge, newly decked in floral finery, this weekend.
Inspired by the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014, Sofitel London St James’ elegant tearoom has just started serving an impossibly pretty take on afternoon tea.
The specialist teas on offer are mostly floral blends and the pastries call to mind an English country garden.
Hotel Sofitel London St James, 6 Waterloo Place, SW1Y 4AN
SHOPPING: Soho Flea Market
To mark their third birthday this Sunday, City Showcase Markets are bringing London its first designer flea market.
Its stalls, lining the history-laden Dean Street, will be offering up the wares of the capital’s up-and-coming creative talent.
We’re talking fabrics, ceramics, jewellery, framed art. In short, anything and everything you need to style yourself a quirkily beautiful life.
Dean Street, W1D
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