Five weekly feel-good highlights, including exclusive offers, great reads, videos and inspiring things to do locally as we 'unlockdown'. Prepared with love by the team at Camdenist

 EXCLUSIVE OFFER: 15% off anything at CMDN store 

Local gig promoters

Camden Live

have a range of streetwear that's perfect for celebrating the lifting of lockdown. We love the limited edition 

2020 Stay at Home Tour

, listing the acts that have appeared on their popular weekly lockdown livestreams, plus the bold CMDN caps, hoodies and tees. The online store is also the place to purchase tickets for their first real world shows, coming up over the next few weeks at St Pancras Old Church and the Dublin Castle, with more to be announced through the summer months.

To get a tasty 15% off any purchase from the CMDN store, simply use the discount code CAMDENIST at checkout. 

 BOOK NOW: Indoor streetfood is back 

With the most bitter irony, streetfood market stall collective KERB had established their first ever

indoor

venue,

Seven Dials Market

, for only a matter of months before the Covid shutdowns struck. Yet despite the huge challenges of mothballing the venue twice, they are reopening excitedly this Monday, and bringing in four new traders too. Look out for Texan BBQ crew Smoke & Bones, Bad Boy Pizza Society, fish specialists BAIT and Filipino-inspired Bong Bong's Manilla Kanteen alongside the established regulars. Book your slot in advance for up to 6 people from mixed households, or eight from just two households. Other similarly new food halls, including the nearby Arcade Food Theatre, Market Hall West End further up Oxford Street, and Goods Way in King's Cross are all yet to announce their reopening, so make sure you enthusiastically support indoor street dining to bounce back after the toughest of times. A great excuse for culinary indulgence, if ever it was needed 🍔

 EXHIBITION: The Covid Letters 

Do you remember the letter Boris Johnson sent to every household last March, requesting that we all stay at home? Subversive fashion designer Jonny Banger invited under 16s to customise it as a way to express their feelings, then send their art in to him. 200 of the works, from supportive NHS slogans to anti-government graffiti, are being exhibited at The Foundling Museum, which reopens on the 21st (pre-booking essential). Watch the video of artist and museum trustee Jeremy Deller exploring the work here.

 INTERACTIVE ART: In the meantime... 

In the meantime... is a new project inspired by how people in Camden have taken solace from art and storytelling during the pandemic. Presented as a microsite and interactive PDF, it's full of writing, recordings and a very detailed directory of local resources and community organisations stretching from Somers Town up to Camden Art Centre. The Centre itself opens this week, with three new exhibitions for the summer, all are free to visit, but you must book a slot.

 WALK: Statues of women 

Camden Guides

are local experts sanctioned by the Mayor of Camden for their knowledgeable walking tours of the borough. Happily small tours are now resuming, but being in lockdown did see a wealth of blog content uploaded to the website. In this week's post, Sylvia McNamara takes us around Camden's squares to highlight the various statues of women, from Virginia Woolf in Tavistock to Patricia Finch's mother and child (pictured) in Queen Square. 

 LAST CALL if you are a local business and want your message to go out to 270,000 local residents this month Find out more  

 THIS WEEK'S ONE-CLICK POLL Now we’ve got to mid-May and can sit inside a restaurant and go to a museum or show again for the first time since last year, what do you think of the pace of the unlockdown? 

LAST WEEK WE ASKED:

Camden has long been a hub for street art, from Banksy originals on the canal to the recent Open Air Gallery project that's brightening up shop fronts on the high street. But what do you think of it?

Our most emphatic poll result to date sees 67% of voters backing street art as a welcome part of our urban environment. With the quality of some of the latest pieces along Camden High Street we're not surprised, and look forward to seeing many more, as the area's reputation for such work only grows.

 CAMDENIST COMMUNITY: Help spread the word 

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50% off joining fee at The Basement LDN

Just use the discount code CAMDENIST when you join in club, by calling 0207 284 4346 or via email. Usual cost £20. Ts&Cs apply. Offer valid on all new memberships until 30th June 2021.

Camdenist is collaborative and transparent by design. We want all locals to participate, so we've built a form where you can send us ideas, propose features, and even contribute your own work.

 Well worth following...