By Charlotte Cox
Drink cocktails from portholes, dine in a disused petrol station and dance like it’s the 1920s. Who wants an ordinary weekend anyway?
EVENT: Pupaid
Dog shows just got stylish. That's right - forget crusty Crufts, because there's a way more fashionable (and fun) canine pageant in town. Held at London's Primrose Hill, this open-to-all charity event features categories including prettiest bitch, most handsome dog and dog that looks most like a celebrity. It's all to support anti-puppy farming campaign Pup Aid, so get down there to check out JK Growling, Diggy Azalea or even Bark Obama (we hope).
Pupaid, 5 Sept; 11am – 5 pm, Primrose Hill, spectators free; competitors £3, registration from 10am
NIGHTLIFE: RetrolicIious at Barrio East
It’s back: Barrio’s electro-swinging, rock ’n’ rolling, quiff-wearing celebration of 1950s cool. And it’s bringing with it a suitably hip-shaking soundtrack featuring classic funk, soul, reggae and swing, plus cutting-edge electro to bring us right up to the modern day. Throw in retro Latin-inspired cocktails and a vintage caravan where you can get dolled up in full flicked eyeliner and victory rolls, and it’s bound to be a helluva night.
Sept 5; £5 141-134 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6 JE, barrioeast.com
FOOD: Boneyard
And this week’s Best Use Of Unlikely Space award goes to… Boneyard, Shoreditch’s new US-style diner in a disused petrol station, narrowly beating out a superclub in an old Ikea showroom. OK, we made that second one up, but Boneyard – the new joint from the folks behind Beach Blanket Babylon – shows that very cool things can indeed be done in less than promising places. With rough ‘n tough Route 66-style décor and a meaty menu to match, you can feast on buttermilk-fried chicken and bourbon-glazed ribs, before heading out to the cactus-filled courtyard bar for alcoholic slushies.
168 Shoreditch High Street E1 6HU, pumpshoreditch.com
NIGHTLIFE: Prohibition
Fashion may be all about the 1970s right now, but when it comes to partying, there’s an era that could teach even the disco divas of Studio 54 a thing or two. The 1920s, obviously. This is a decade that ROARED – sticking it to Prohibition by dancing the Charleston till dawn. And now, here’s your chance to party like it’s 1929, because for one night only cocktail connoisseurs Bourne & Hollingsworth are setting up a decadent den of gramophone DJs, dance troupes and roulette tables. Expect big bands, bootlegged booze, flapper costumes, (faux) furs, tassels and plenty of pearls. In short: all manner of fabulosity.
Sept 5; £25, Secret east-end location, prohibition1920s.com
FILM: Me, Earl and the Dying Girl
You might not think that a film about cancer SOUNDS like a whole lot of laughs – but then, you haven’t seen this one yet. Mashing live action and animation, we follow teen film-makers Greg and Earl as they befriend leukaemia-sufferer Olivia. But don’t be fooled into thinking you’re in Fault In Our Stars territory here – the stream of smart, insightful jokes keeps things the right side of sentimental, while the deft plot and excellent cast make you really care about the characters. Heartfelt but not cheesy, and mercifully free of grand romance, it’s that rarest of things – a coming-of-age movie that actually reflects what it’s like to, well, come of age. See it.
At cinemas nationwide from Sept 4
DRINK: The Jones Family Project
Now, we can all agree that negronis are great, right? Gin, vermouth, Campari – how could they possibly be any better? Well, Old St bar The Jones Family Project has an idea: they’re serving theirs in a porthole. Yes, as in the window of a ship. Only that porthole is filled with grapefruit, raspberries and lemon, which a) look super-pretty, but more importantly b) diffuse into the drink for a whole new zingy experience. Nifty. And even better still, you can knock it back amid eclectic, cool-but-not-TOO-cool décor, while enjoying gourmet bar snacks such as truffled mac and cheese and spicy squid. Suddenly all other negronis aren’t looking so great, after all…
78 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3JL, jonesfamilyproject.co.uk
FESTIVAL: Festival No6
There are festivals, there are boutique festivals, and then there is Festival No6 – which is SO boutique it makes all others look like mud-spattered, slovenly and just plain uncivilised. Held in the pastel-painted, gloriously manicured Welsh seaside village of Portmeirion, it describes itself as a ‘bespoke banquet of music, arts and culture’. Which translates as feel-good electro from Metronomy, arty rock from Belle & Sebastian and who-can-even-guess-what from Grace Jones (Grace Jones!). Plus, there are top-name DJs, poetry, spoken word, theatre, discussions and even long-table banquets. Because burgers just aren’t boutique, darling.
Sept 3-6; from £60 Portmeirion, Wales, festivalnumber6.com
ART: Alaric Hammond: Caustic Windows
The everyday can be beautiful, don’t you know. This new show by young British artist Alaric Hammond is proof of that in spades. Drawing inspiration from city life in London, he’s filling the Saatchi Gallery with huge etchings that depict such mundane items as mobile phones, product packaging and spam emails, brought together in geometric patterns that give them new meanings and associations. And as if that wasn’t impressive enough, all the works have been created by corroding zinc plates with acid – with not a single drop of paint used. Who’d have thought corroded metal could be beautiful? Point made, Mr Hammond.
Sept 2 - Nov 1 The Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4SQ, saatchigallery.com
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