This week, as our collective heels are dragged sluggishly back towards ‘normal’ life and its routines, Camdenist brings you a brace of nice things to look forward to over the year ahead.

The current dire state of global politics, conflict and climate may or may not improve dramatically in 2024 (and either way it’s sure to be exhausting), but closer to home, good people are busy doing all sorts of great work that will bring you moments of joy, relaxation and stimulation, too.

The arrival of Mare Street Market at Cubitt Square in the spring (the London Fields original is pictured above) probably best epitomises this spirit, with their proven eclectic mix of eating and drinking alongside a lush mishmash of antiques, grooming, flowers, vinyl and coffee outposts.

It should bring a bit of bustle to the often barren back-end of Coal Drops Yard, particularly with seating spilling out into the square, and open up even more of King’s Cross to anyone looking for an accessible/affordable all-day hangout.

For updates on what you’ll find there and when it all plans to open, just keep reading Camdenist each Friday… 😉 

EVENTS

Earth Fest sets the tone for an exciting year in local-global festivals

🌍 Our friends at Camden Clean Air Initiative are aiming to draw 100,000 people to King’s Cross this spring for the debut edition of Earth Fest. It’s a free festival to inspire positive climate action that will run for 4 days (18th-21st April) in multiple locations across the area. Highlights include an electric vehicle showcase, a sustainable fashion hub and clothing repair shop, plus an eco innovation world and sustainability expo in the heart of Coal Drops Yard and Cubitt Square.

🎛️ AVA London is a 3-day celebration of electronic music and digital art that will be taking over multiple venues across Camden from Feb 29th-Mar 2nd. Daytime seminars and panels will happen at The Standard hotel and the British Library, with night time showcase parties going off at the likes of KOKO and HERE at Outernet. Hailing from Belfast, the London edition of the festival moves here following previous successful events at now-closed Canada Water mega venue Printworks, so expect a strong programme, day and night.

💡For three weekends in February, Light Up Kilburn aims to animate the High Road with a free festival of colourful illuminations celebrating local creativity. This includes the promise of huge projections onto buildings, twinkling lanterns in Kilburn Grange Park, local history tours and talks plus plenty more free stuff to enjoy.

LOCAL PARTNERSHIP

Love a pub quiz? Upgrade for 2024 with a visit to Quiz Boxing

The local gaming and experiences fanatics at Kentish Town’s popular Mission Breakout have unveiled their latest challenge, based just a short distance away from their abandoned tube station home - this one’s under the railway arches at Royal College Street.

Quiz Boxing sees you enter a hi tech ‘boxing ring’ more akin to a TV game show set, to pit yourself against friends/rivals in a fierce 60-mins of non-contact ‘fighting’ on the topics of music, sports, movies and other trivia.

Find out more about the world of Quiz Boxing in this week’s Camdenist feature.

2 free tickets to Good News/Bad News

If quitting doomscrolling is one of your new years resolutions, get things off to a cracking start by laughing at a bin fire of recent media stories at new local monthly comedy night Good News/Bad News.

The next installment is this Tuesday (9th) at Tufnell Park’s Aces & Eights, with Jen Ives headlining a bill of top draw comics, all hosted by BBC comedy writer Suchandrika Chakrabarti.

The first person to email us on [email protected] with the subject line ‘great news!’ will win 2 free tickets to the show. 🥰

FOOD & DRINK

Big new beer halls, terraces and rooftops are incoming

🖤 2024 sees the long-awaited arrival of the vast £73m Guinness at Old Brewer’s Yard microbrewery in Covent Garden. It will stretch across Mercer Walk, Langley Street, Neal Street and Shelton Street, and offer tours, tastings, trainings, merch, limited edition brews and special events, complete with a 360-degree glass rooftop restaurant, too.

🍻 It follows the arrival of German beer hall Bierschenke in a none-too-small site just across the road last summer, and established mega-beer cathedral Porterhouse just across the main market square, making Covent Garden a veritable beer hall district these days.

🍺 And yet there’s still more beer hall business on the way, with the imminent arrival of Northern ‘bier palace, cook haus and bakery’ Albert’s Schloss, currently preparing to take over the former Rainforest Cafe site at the Trocadero on Shaftesbury Ave from the spring.

🔓 Meanwhile, as we recently reported, you can look forward to no less than four proper local boozers reopening across Camden in the coming months, from the canalside Constitution to the backstreet Lord Southampton.

🪟 With so many new boutique hotels opening offering rooftop bars and restaurants, we’ll also be keeping an eye on the endlessly-postponed Zedwell Skybar and redevelopment of the rooftop above smash hit gastropub the Devonshire Arms, both down at Piccadilly.

🍰 Patisserie Mille have just opened a branch this week at the Brunswick, expanding their acclaimed French-meets-Asian bakery over from West London. Look out for the signature 20-layer crepe cakes alongside moon cakes and delectable slices of other colourful fruit-laden creations daily.

🌤️ Parisian restaurant Mimosa is going to be opening a London branch of the restaurant at The Langham hotel this year, bringing the flavours of the Côte d'Azur with them. Snag yourself a spot on the hidden garden terrace when the weather warms up, too.

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MUSIC

New Year’s gigs are always a bit special

💃🏼 A free afternoon of music tomorrow (Sat 4th) at the Balkan and Roma Jam sees tunes from the former Yugoslavic countries led by Sarah Sljivovica and friends, at King’s Cross backstreet venue Jamboree.

🎷 The Legend of William Onyeabor, the mysterious Nigerian synth-funk whiz, is celebrated by afrobeat maestros Bukky Leo & Black Egypt on Wednesday (10th) at The Jazz Cafe.

😈 Kicking off the New Year is style, Russia born, Florida based band, Slaughter to Prevail confidently bring their sonic onslaught of deathcore and blackened metal to the 02 Forum Kentish Town across two nights, on Wed and Thurs this week.

🎤 Ramsgate’s folk and country boy, Josh Flowers, is back for his third cosy annual New Year gig at The Green Note on Thurs (11th), playing new and classic material with a trio.

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CAMDEN DIARY

The weekly column about living, working and playing in the borough will be back next week

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