Bastille Day celebrates a key date in the French Revolution and, today, July 14
Bastille Festival, Bankside
The heart of Londons Bastille Day celebrations will be on Bankside this Sunday, where the citys largest free Bastille Day festival takes place in and around Borough Market. Food and drink will, quite rightly, play a large role in the festivities and French traders will be selling delicacies from across the channel, to be accompanied by a selection of vin Français. During the day, entertainment will be provided by wandering artists, musicians and performers, a traditional 14th July Waiters Race and a market selling vintage items and books. Gastronomic screenings and workshops will also take place. In the evening, the tempo will up with a traditional open-air party, live music, DJs and theatricals.
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Awaken by Call My Agency, DAB club
A club night with a French, girl-centric twist, in honour of Bastille Day. The all-female DJ line-up flying in from France includes Paris-based Lisa Moon who has explored electro genres in clubs across Europe, Kritzkom, also from Paris, who has released under a number of French labels and Milka, who mixes 80s vinyl, 45s and 33s. The night will include a surprise interactive art project, which promoters are keeping under wraps, saying only that everyone will become an actor for the night and that human revolution is the theme. Visuals will be provided by VJ Mouseonthetelly, who has created a Bastille-meets-pin-up-girls display.
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Bastille Day at the Midnight Apothecary, Brunel Museum
The gorgeous Midnight Apothecary pop-up bar, on the roof of the Brunel Museum, is the flower-filled creation of cocktail gardener Lottie Muir who tends the gardens by day and, by night, blends alcoholic delights using home-grown and foraged plants (think honey and basil dacquiris, whisky mint juleps, blackberry martinis, maple martinis and gin and lavender fizz). The Midnight Apothecary is celebrating Bastille Day with bespoke French cocktail creations which will exist for one weekend only. Sit in the roof garden, overlooking the Thames, amid fairy lights and flares as you toast marshmallows over a fire-pit.
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French films at Institut Francais
Alongside the Wallace Collection exhibition, The Discovery of Paris, Watercolours by British Artists, Ciné Lumière is screening a series of films revealing new sides to the City of Lights. As part of this season, theres a Bastille Day 2pm matinee screening of Hôtel du Nord, a 1938 classic set in a seedy district of Paris, telling the story of two pairs of lovers. The film will have an introduction and will be followed by the Cine Salon, a casual discussion with film writer Nick Walker. If you miss this, there are later screenings of Les Invisibles at 6.15pm and romantic comedy Paris-Manhattan at 8.40pm.
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Absinthe and French wine Masterclass, Vinopolis
Begin your Bastille experience on Friday with a class in Absinthe, the bohemian French spirit so beloved by Parisian artists and writers of the 19th and early 20th century it was duly labelled a dangerous psychoactive drug and banned. After being proved no more harmful than regular tipples, Absinthe has seen a revival and, at this Vinopolis masterclass, George Rowley a pioneer of modern-day Absinthe drinking will guide you through the history and tasting of Frances Green Fairy. On Bastille Day itself, you can polish up your knowledge of French wine with a class that promises to leave you knowing the difference between a Bordeaux and a Côtes du Rhône.
Inspired by Bastille in London? Try five of the best burgers in the capital
Creator of AHotelLife and Williamsburg resident, Ben Pundole talks us through his NYC weekend
