11 Must-Do Acitivities To Add To Your Weekend Itinerary

Book this exclusive Handbook readers’ event

This September, we are teaming up with Motcomb Street to deliver an exclusive ‘After Hours’ event in celebration of our 20th anniversary. Guests can expect exclusive after-hours shopping privileges, drinks and canapés from Le Café Nac and The Peninsula Pitstop Cocktail Truck, and, of course, a curated goodie bag to take home with you.

Shop brands including Réalisation Par and Coco de Mer, while sipping Espresso Martinis and soaking up the September sun in one of London’s most coveted streets. Tickets are selling fast, so make sure to grab yours now. We can’t wait to see you all there.

Where: SW1X 8JU
Book here

Book this sporting event before it sells out

If you’re a tennis fan, this is the one to get in your diary right now. The Laver Cup is returning to The O2 in London for its ninth edition from 25th to 27th September 2026, and the lineup is already seriously impressive.

Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev have confirmed their spots for Team Europe, while Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur are set to represent Team World, captained by Andre Agassi. Keith Prowse, the official hospitality sales partner, is offering premium Legends Club packages that include the opportunity to meet Andy Murray and John McEnroe. Tickets and hospitality packages are on sale now, and this is very much one to book well ahead of time.

Where: The O2 Arena, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX
Book here

Attend the cocktail event of the summer

London’s ultimate open-air drinks festival is returning to Bedford Square Gardens this weekend, and it isn’t one to miss.

Reimagined as a vibrant pop-up village in Bloomsbury’s largest private Georgian garden, Cocktails in the City will bring together twenty of the capital’s finest bars. Running from the 6th to the 8th, guests can look forward to exclusive £10 signature serves, live music, silent discos, and interactive cocktail-making workshops. Given that this sun-soaked celebration sells out completely every single year, you will want to secure your general admission tickets right now to avoid missing out.

Where: Bedford Square Gardens, Bloomsbury
Book here

Grab a free beer at Guinness Open Gate Brewery

International Beer Day lands on Friday, and the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Covent Garden is marking the occasion in the best possible way. The first 100 people through the doors at Old Brewer’s Yard from midday will receive a free pint of their choice, whether that’s a craft beer, a Guinness or a Guinness 0.0, with the offer running until stocks last or 17:59 (a nod to 1759, the year Guinness was founded).

If you want to make an afternoon of it, behind-the-scenes brewery tours are running from 10 am, giving visitors exclusive access to the craft brewing team and a chance to find out exactly what’s bubbling in the tanks.

Where: Shelton St, London WC2H 9JQ
Website: www.opengatelondon.com

Catch The Hundred at Lord’s

For the ultimate weekend day out, London Spirit’s fixtures at Lord’s are hard to beat. The Hundred is back at the Home of Cricket, bringing fast-paced 100-ball action, live music and a festival atmosphere to one of London’s most iconic sporting venues, with matchdays running through to August 9th. Tickets start from just £5 for children and £24 for adults, and crucially, visitors are welcome to bring their own food and drink, including alcohol, making it one of the best value summer days out in the city right now.

Whether you’re a cricket devotee or just after a great excuse to spend the afternoon outside, this is the one to book.

Where: St John’s Wood Rd, London NW8 8QN
Website: www.lords.com

Step inside this unmissable cocktail experience

If you haven’t yet made it to Avora, the theatrical cocktail experience in Hackney, its newly relaunched storyline provides the perfect excuse to go.

Having welcomed over 80,000 guests since it opened four years ago, the experience has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, with guests now recruited as scientists joining a research expedition to an alien world, only to discover the mission is considerably more complicated than they were briefed for. Three unique cocktails are mixed throughout the experience, one of them served using a foraged element from the world itself, and guests interact with CODA, an in-world AI accessed through their own phones, to uncover critical parts of the story.

Where: 5C, 127 Hackney Rd, London E2 8GY
Website: www.avora.com

Sing Your Heart Out at Lucky Voice

If your idea of a perfect evening involves a private soundproofed room, karaoke-themed cocktails and absolutely no inhibitions, Lucky Voice has just made August considerably more tempting.

Throughout the entire month, the original private karaoke destination is offering 25% off all private room bookings across its London locations in Holborn, Islington, Liverpool Street, Soho and Waterloo. Simply enter code SUMMER25 at checkout when booking online, and the room is yours.

Where: Venues across London
Website: www.luckyvoice.com

Visit this soft serve bar

Big Kid Ice Cream is opening its brand new soft serve concept Whippies in Seven Dials Market this Saturday, and the opening weekend deal alone is worth showing up for.

To mark the launch, the first 99 Flake 99s will be sold at just 99p. Every sundae starts with a base of organic brown butter vanilla whippy, before branching out into towering creations like the Solero Knickerbocker (mango, passionfruit and charred pineapple), the Hot Fudge Cookies N’ Cream Supreme and a brûléed banana split finished with peanut caramel and banana chips. Consider your weekend sweet treat officially sorted.

Where: Seven Dials Market
Website: www.bigkidicecream.com

Discover the City’s Most Underrated Lunch Destination

If you’ve never made it to Bloomberg Arcade, tucked between Bank and St Paul’s, this weekend is the perfect excuse to finally go.

Nine independent restaurants sit beneath Bloomberg’s European headquarters, spilling out onto a beautifully designed pedestrian arcade that somehow feels completely calm in the middle of the Square Mile. The lineup is features, Bleecker Burger, Homeslice, Lina Stores, Brigadiers, BAO City, and Koya, which happens to serve some of the best udon in London. Read our full guide to every restaurant in the Arcade and find out exactly where to go depending on your mood.

Where: 1-22 Bloomberg Arcade, London EC4N 8AR
Website: www.bloombergarcade.com

Read our complete guide here

Attend this festival in Norfolk

Curated by DJ and artist Craig Richards, Houghton Festival stands as the UK’s premier boutique electronic music retreat, set within the woodland grounds of Norfolk’s 18th-century Houghton Hall estate.

Renowned for its bespoke sound systems, 24-hour music license, and extended DJ sets, the festival seamlessly fuses underground club culture with high-end countryside sophistication. Beyond the music, guests can tour world-class open-air sculpture installations, indulge in fine dining at the lakeside Turntable & Napkin restaurant, and unwind in luxurious boutique glamping enclosures.

Where: RMH4+F6, Bircham Rd, King’s Lynn PE31 6TY
Website: www.houghtonfestival.com

Explore this sculpture park

Spanning 500 acres of historic 18th-century Bretton Hall estate parkland, Yorkshire Sculpture Park is one of Europe’s most impressive open-air museums, seamlessly placing world-class art within rolling fields, lakes, and woodlands.

Visitors can wander among monumental outdoor bronzes and steel installations by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Ai Weiwei, alongside visiting indoor shows across four light-filled gallery pavilions, including The Weston. The estate offers a tranquil, contemplative day out completed by a James Turrell Skyspace inside a converted deer shelter and refined estate dining at The Kitchen. It stands as an essential destination for modern art lovers seeking an elevated countryside cultural retreat.

Where: West Bretton
Website: www.ysp.com