London’s best pop-ups

Take the minds of 100 incredible bartenders (according to the Diageo World Class GB cocktail competition 2024), pour in 20 destinations from across the UK, chuck in some ice, give it a good ol’ shake and bam – you’ve got yourself a World Class Cocktail Festival. That’s right, magnificent mixologists from across the country are stirring, shaking and mixing it up throughout March and April to bring cocktail-sippers a seemingly-endless menu of limited edition bevvies. More than 30 bars in the capital are taking part, including The Connaught, American Bar at The Savoy and F1® Arcade, and lucky Londoners will even have the chance to try out a cocktail masterclass for free. Cheers!

Dinner theatre specialists The Lost Estate return with a theatrical dining experience themed around classic Sherlock Holmes adventure ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. We’re not entirely clear how storytelling and nosh are integrated – presumably you sit in a fixed place and actors act around you – but the show is set in 1889 at (where else) 221B Baker Street, and the three-course menu consists of duck & egg, followed by truffled chicken and then strawberries & champagne to finish (vegetarian and vegan options available). Dinner is afoot.

A whopping 12,000 pint lovers are set to visit this year’s edition of mega beer festival BrewLDN, which is on the Southbank this year with a slew of craft brewers from around the UK and further afield exhibiting. Plenty of London favourites will be in attendance, including Toast Brewing, Renegade Brewery, Jiddler’s Tipple, Moot Brew Co, Flowerhorn Brewery and SXOLLIE. There’ll also be street food to soak up the pints, and DJs spinning tunes throughout your seshing. Good luck hauling yourself onto the dancefloor after all that boozing.

Immersive dining gurus Gingerline were a major cultural force in London throughout the ’10s but seemingly vanished during the pandemic. As it turns out, the company – the brainchild of producers Suz Mountford and Kerry Adamson – had relocated to Asia for a stretch and simply chosen not to bang on about it to folks back home. Now they’re back, and it’s very much as if they’d never been away: ‘The Grand Expedition’ is literally a remount of their last full show.  A reworked one, mind. The conceit behind the Laura Partridge-directed piece is that we (the audience) are Phileas Fogg-style Victorian explorers, travelling the globe by hot air balloon. The ‘tour’ is to the countries our wind-blown dirigibles land in – which we then sample the cuisines of. It’s a flexible idea: this incarnation of the show simply visits different countries to the original one.  Spoilering the menu or locations visited is frowned upon, but in essence we sit in our balloon gondolas (stylised tables of six) and proceed to ‘travel the world’, which we do via Fred Campbell’s gorgeous projected animations that wrap around the walls of the large room the show takes place in. It’s probably fine to reveal that we start off in London, but it’s very much not our London; rather a twinkling fantasy of an idyllic mediaeval-slash-Victorian city, surrounded by mountains and monoliths. Campbell’s illustrations – beautifully animated by Greenaway & Greenaway – are definitely the show’s most delightful aspect. When our

You’ve seen ‘The White Lotus’, and now you want to live the sweet Sicilian life yourself. This May, you need not leave the capital to get a slice of the iconic Italian coastline, as SicilyFEST is back taking over the Business Design Centre. Learn your cannoli from your arancini at the pop-up Sicilian food market – stands will be lined with gelato, pizzas and pretty desserts that will make your mouth and eyes water. Sicilian artists will be filling the air with quintessential performances, so you can completely absorb the spirit of the stunning island, and there’s a chance to get stuck into interactive classes led by some cracking Italian chefs, too.

Presented by Michelin-starred chef and longtime ‘Great British Menu’ judge Tom Kerridge, Pub in the Park is a touring food and music festival that aims to bring a convivial public house atmosphere to the great outdoors with loads of delicious pub grub and equally enticing live performances. This year, it’s back for four weekends in and around London throughout the summer: Marlow (May 16-19), Chiswick (June 28-30), Reigate (July 12-14), St Albans (September 6-8).  So, what’s on the menu? There’s an exciting roster of new chefs, including the likes of Mary Berry, former judge on the Great British Bake Off, Jeremy Chan of Ikoyi, a fine-dining restaurant on The Strand, and Becky Excell aka ‘Queen of Gluten Free’. Michel Roux Junior, Simon Rimmer and Andi Oliver are just some previous celebrity chef guests who’ll be back this year, and popular kitchens such as Kerridge’s own The Hand & Flowers, Angela Hartnett’s Cafe Murano and Riwaz by Atul Kochhar are returning by popular demand, too.  Now for the music. The programme at each weekend includes a cracking line-up with stars such as Scouting for Girls, Paloma Faith, Jools Holland, McFly and Olly Murs. Van Morrison is on the programme, too (check out the full line-ups here!).

Whether you’re a fan of mega sourdough sandwiches crammed with burrata and prosciutto or a lover of the classic jam between some budget white bread, pretty much everybody has their idea of a perfect sarnie. And here to slice up the sandwich scene this spring is Sarnie Party, a sumptuous celebration of all things between bread. It’s set to take over Camden Town Brewery Bar for a weekend in May, with 20 chefs creating 20 unique sarnies. London heavyweights like Doms Subs and Mondo Sando as well as UK kitchens like Picnic Margate and Big Deal Bodega are on the roster, and your ticket will get you three servings plus a Camden Town beer on entry. Yum. 

Way back in 1980, the first ever Laithwaites Wine Festival was held at Olympia in Kensington, and for 2024 it’s returning to its OG venue, for the biggest wine show in its history. This show features more than 350 wines from the 100 winemakers set to make an appearance, so there’s plenty to fill your glass and the 4 hours tasting time with. For a mini-masterclass (which will be included in your ticket price), head to the Taste Theatre, and for a little extra, there’s a Fine Wine Room upgrade as well.