The City is slowly waking up after pandemic. Shops, restaurants, bars and exhibitions have started to re-opening with safety measures.
Here are a couple of shops, ships, cafés, antient temples and more you can either visit now or worth to put them on your list.
God’s Own Junkyard
God’s Own Junkyard is an Instagram heaven. The neon sign jungle is actually a family business. They collect and manufacture neon signs even for Hollywood super productions such Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise or Avengers. (remember the neon “STARK” sign from the film. That’s it.)
Perfect Instagram backdrop.
To make this hidden gem even more extraordinary, I tell a secret: the place is regularly hired for filming and by magazines like Vouge for photo shoots. So, if you want photos of yourself like a star, God’s Own Junkyard is the place. Cool, huh?
The Rolling Scones Cafe
When you are there, please, make sure you support this extraordinary local business by buying a café or a yummy cake at their cool café, The Rolling Scones.
Alternatively, you can now order their recently launched book, Steel Dogs which is about “a family memoir, a journey in neon, from the seedy Soho sex shops to the movie industry.”
Opening Hours:
Friday – 11am to 9pm
Saturday – 11am to 9pm
Sunday – 11am to 6pm.
The Rolling Scones Cafe is open for food and drinks all weekend.
Gods Own Junkyard, Unit 12 Ravenswood Industrial Estate, Shernhall Street, London, E17 9HQ
Take a Virtual Ride in a McLaren
Did you know, you can sit into a blue McLaren and take it for a virtual ride in Microsoft Oxford Circus shop? All for FREE. And you will even get a “driving licence” to help you preserve the memory.
If you arrive alone but want a photo or video of your ride, don’t be shy, just ask a staff member. They are happy to capture your special moments.
253-259 Regent Street, London, England W1B 2ER
Japan House
Japan House is a cultural home of Japanese culture, heritage, art, technology, gastronomy and design.
Japan House constantly hosts events, FREE exhibitions, talks and immersive experiences.
AKIRA Restaurant & The Stand
While there, why not drink a matcha tea at The Stand or try one of their authentic dishes at AKIRA Restaurant.
Doughnut Time World
A quirky colourful doughnut themed playground for adults. Doughnut swing, ball pit, neon wall, sun bed and more.
306 High Holborn, Holborn, London WC1V 7JY
London’s Oldest Church that Survived the Great Fire
London’s oldest church was founded in the 7th century It witnessed the Viking invasion and the Great Plague, watched the Tower Bridge and The Tower of London being built and survived the Great Fire and two world wars.
Samuel Pepys the famous writer, thank to whom we have detailed information about the period of 1660s, stood on All Hallows by The Tower’s stairs, watching the deadly flames.
Under the antient staircase there is a crypt museum with a perfectly preserved Roman pavement, a wooden barrel used by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his last Antarctic expedition, documents of marriage and burials including names of well-known people and a three chapels with coffins from the Saxon period buried under them.
Entry in FREE to both the church and the crypt museum
Byward Street, London, EC3R 5BJ
The Golden Hinde
Although, stepping on the board is not free, The Golden Hide is definitely a unique place to visit.
Admission fee is as little as £5
Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the planet in a similar ship like this between 1577 and 1580. The ship’s name originally was Pelican, Drake ordered the ship to be renamed in honour of his patron Sir Christopher Hatton (the golden hind was a feature of Hatton’s family heraldry).
Sadly, The Golden Hide was destroyed 300 years ago. A replica was constructed in the 1970s and has had likewise adventurous life its original twin. The replica itself has sailed round the world and even appeared in movies such as Swashbuckler (1976) and Shogun starring Richard Chamberlain (1979).
St Mary Overie Dock, Cathedral Street, London, SE1 9DE
While restaurants, pubs, cafés and clubs might be able to re-open on 22nd June, many of them are struggling to figure out and maintain social-distancing solutions to fulfil the new PPE regulations.
Most of the restaurants, bars and cafés use plastic shields and floor stickers or remove tables and chairs to help their customers keeping the safe distance.
Following and maintaining strict social-distancing guidelines, however, might mean less customers, thus less profit for hospitality venues.
But not for everyone!
Inception Group has elevated social-distancing to the most creative artistic level and showed how to growth advantage over a difficult disadvantageous situation.
Mannequins, Bee Suits and Theatrical Masks
Inception Group that owns such bars like Mr Fogg’s, Cahoots, Bunga Bunga or Maggie’s Club has come up with the most creative ideas to set out social-distancing measures and maintain staff and customer safety.
Fitting perfectly the theme of the venue, staff at Mr Fogg’s House of Botanicals might wear bee suits to provide a quirky PPE solution.
Cahoots, a 1940s inspired post-war underground themed bar might provide gas masks to their customers, while at Barts, staff may wear dramatic theatrical masks to enhance mixologists’ safety.
The 1980s inspired nightclub, Maggie’s Club may provide Club Tropicana style inflatable rubber rings and litter pickers to thier customers to keep the safe distance.
So, quarantine is finally eased and here we are, let’s confess, with low budget but finally free from home prison. And desperately want to visit some cool places and finally feed our Instagram.
Where to go? What to do?
Here is a collection of cool and completely FREE things to do in London.
Scenes in the Square
Celebrating a century of cinema, bronze sculptures were unveiled in Leicester Square this February. You can find Bugs Bunny, Laurel & Hardy, Batman, Wonder Woman, Mr Bean, Paddington Bear and other iconic film characters from the past century to take cool selfies with. To make sure you don’t miss any of them, click here for a map.
Don’t forget to bring some matching accessories with you to make your photos even cooler, for example, a sandwich to eat with Paddington Bear or Mr Bean’s shabby Teddy Bear.
And if it’s not enough, just wait until dark because come of the sculptures come to life after dark.
Want more? Here’s a tip: if you click on each sculpture on the map, you can listen to related songs on Spotify.
Graffiti Tour
Put on a fancy dress, blow up some shaped balloons, make a crazy make-up and head to London’s coolest graffiti spots, and blow up your Instagram feed.
So, what are the best graffiti spots?
Camden Town
No need to search for street names. Just click hereand find all street names with amazing street art, plus some useful tips.
Shoreditch
OK, but where exactly? Click here and let yourslef guided.
Waterloo Graffiti Tube
Waterloo graffiti tube is right next to Waterloo station and perfect scene for epic photo shoots.
Psst…for hidden graffiti gems all over in London, head to photos_from_london on Instagram.
Visit London’s Most Colourful Streets
London is a beautiful city full of colours. There are streets in the city worth to visit for their rainbow terraced houses. Here is a list of London’s most colourful streets:
Bywater Street, Chelsea
Chalcot Square, Primrose Hill
Kelly Street, Kentish Town
Bonny Street, Camden
Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden
Conduit Mews, Paddington
Notting Hill (From Farmer Street to Kensington Road, from Ledbury Street to Hillgate Street)
Godfrey Street, Chelsea
St Dunstan In The East Church Garden
The Church of Dunstan was originally built around 1100 AD. It has been severely damaged by The Great Fire of London as well as in the WWI and the WWII. After severely damaged by air raid during the WWII, St Dunstan was decided not to be rebuild. Instead, the remains of the church were reopened as public garden in 1970.
Today, the ruins of the medieval church and its walls and windows grown with plants looks nothing like London. It’s an unusual spot in the heart of the city and a charming scene for photographers.
Opening hours
Open all year round from 8am to 7pm or dusk, whichever is earlier.
St, Dunstan’s Hill, London EC3R 5DD
St Katharine Dock
St Katharine Dock’s history goes back to the 10th century, when King Edgar rewards his 13 knights with lands that would later become St Katharine Dock.
In 1940 St Katharine Dock becomes famous by its valuable cargos such as wine, tea, perfume, indigo, spices, marble and more.
Today St Katharine Dock is a hidden gem and a heart-warming contrast of the nearby attractions.
Walking through the maze of the dock admiring the old and new ships and yachts and discover the nearby cozy restaurants and bars is really a great way the spend the day.
Don’t forget to visit (once it’s reopened) The Dickens Inn, a traditional English pub that was a warehouse long time ago, in the 18th century.
Abbey Road
As a positive result of quarantine, the iconic zebra crossing on Abbey Road has been repainted. The cover of The Beatles’ famous album, Abbey Road, was shot in 8 August 1969.
Now Abbey Road zebra crossing is refreshed and ready for you to take marvellous photos.
The Clink Prison dates back to 1144 and is one of the oldest prisons in England.
Clink not only witnessed remarkable changes in history, but also saw famous historical people being imprisoned within its walls: Sir Thomas Wyatt The Younger (son of the famous Renaissance poet), imprisoned for rebelling against Queen ‘Bloody’ Mary I, John Rogers who was responsible for translating the English Bible from Latin to English or John Duke, a famous actor, imprisoned for a debt of £8.
Maybe you didn’t know but Clink Prison Museum is a family owned museum and 100% of their income come from ticket sales, school booking and gift shop sales.
To keep local history alive, Clink needs your help. They have started a campaign on Crowdfounder to be able to stay alive and avoid permanent closure.
Please donate and help the oldest tourist attraction of Bankside survive.
Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine moved to 48 Doughty Road, London just before Queen Victoria begun her reign in 1837.
Dickens and his wife raised three of their eldest children there, and the famous storyteller wrote Oliver Twist, Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby within those walls.
Before Coronavirus pandemic outbreak Dickens Museum was about to announce the acquisitions of Dickens rarities, install a ‘lost portrait’ of Dickens following its disappearance of 170 years and open a new exhibition.
Due to the fact that Dickens Museum has been operating as a self-founding charity (they rely on visitors) since its foundation (95 years ago), the museum is not receiving funding from the government. This means, Dickens Museum has lost almost all of their income after Coronavirus outbreak.
Work at the museum, however, cannot stop. They have to continue to take care of their precious collections.
They need to raise £30,000 every month to cover the basic cost of looking after and take care of the house itself and the collections in it.
How to Support?
Use this link to learn how you can donate (every penny counts)
Visit Dickens Museum and enjoy their amazing collections
Pop in for a coffee and a slice of cake or a light lunch to their Garden Café. The café is FREE to visit. NO admission fee to pay.
Consider hiring one of their beautiful rooms in the historical building for either formal or informal event
Participate in a ‘Dickens Walk’ and discover streets Dickens knew intimately, follow Dickens to streets he often passed as a child and visit a secret garden which the adult Dickens influenced.
God’s Own Junkyard
This absolutely wonderful neon sign jungle has the largest vintage neon sign collection in Europe. In addition, God’s Own Junkyard is the oldest neon signmaker in London.
You probably didn’t know but their neon signs have appeared in Hollywood super productions such as Avengers, or Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. God’s Own Junkyard has been hired by the most famous magazines for photo shoots (e.g. Vouge) and by singers to record video clips.
Hire their neon signs (prices are vary depending on style and size)
Once lockdown is over…
Buy a nice coffee and a slice of cake at their lovely café: The Rolling Scones Café (Psst…their carrot cake is legendary)
Café Van Gogh
Café Van Gogh is a not for profit social enterprise and they are working together with three charities to run an on-the-job training programme for people with disabilities or mental health problems.
In addition, Café Van Gogh is a zero-waste business and 100% vegan. Oh, and dog friendly. Wow!
Tobo Café is a family run café with three shops in London.
They offer healthy authentic Japanese food and drink in a modern accessible way. They believe in the health benefit of green tea. That’s why we can recognise the influence of green tea in their entire menu.
Tombo is the first Japanese kawaii character themed café in London.
How to Support?
Purchase tea selections, teaware and Sanrio themed goodies online
Once lockdown is over…
Order sandwiches, wraps, treat boxes or hot food for small meetings or home
Try their delicious character themed Japanese sweets or desserts
Choose from their wide variety of soups and dishes (their katsu curry is an absolute winner)
Purchase some exclusive Sanrio and Hello Kitty goodies from the shop
Attendant
Attendant is a small business with three shops each of them offering different experience and focusing on local community.
They offer delicious seasonal menu and coffee all from sustainable and ethical source.
Probably their quirkiest shop is in Fitzrovia where they renovated a disused Victorian toilet. They preserved the original green Victorian style tiles and restored the Victorian style urinals to make your café experience as quirky and unique as possible.
How to Support?
Support their awesome team by purchasing gift card from as little as £5
Orderexclusive coffee blends or reusable stylish ceramic coffee cups online
Once lockdown is over…
Choose one from their endless coffee menu. They have such specialities like Babyccino, Turmeric Latte, Matcha Latte or Chai Latte
Have your breakfast or lunch at a Victorian style urinal
Hire the place for private or corporate events
Crypt Café
Located under the ground near Trafalgar Square, Café in the Crypt is a unique place with historic tombstones and brick-vaulted ceilings.
All profit from Café in the Crypt go to St-Martin-In-The-Fields church.
How to Support?
Donate online to help the homeless, the church services in the future or to help providing safe and secure place to the vulnerable
Once lockdown is over…
Pop in for a coffee or a meal and enjoy the thrillingly unique atmosphere of the crypt café
Make a booking and enjoy the company of cute rescue cats with a coffee, afternoon tea or choose something yummy from their al a cart menu
Private hire the café or part of the café
Adopt a cat
Participate in their Pet First Aid Course
The Knot Churros
The Knot Churros is located in South Kensington and has only one but truly extraordinary shop with giant gummy bears, floral ceiling and a swing chair and pinky flamingos.
They sell beautifully designed themed ice creams, hot churros, cotton candy burritos and much more.
How to Support?
Visit their physical shop between and order something yummy from their full menu list for takeaway
Once lockdown is over…
Drop by and try one of their Disney themed ice cream creations and don’t forget to take a selfie with it while sitting in the swing chair surrounded by flamingos
Book for a Dumbo inspired magical afternoon tea
Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream
London’s first Filipino ice cream parlour, Mamasons has two tiny yet Insta-worthy shops in Kentish Town and China Town.
They sell traditional Filipino ice creams, shakes and hot and cold drinks.
How to Support?
Pop in for a delicious Filipino ice cream to their Kentish Town store. Now open Mon-Thurs 1pm-10pm and Fri-Sun 12pm-10pm
Know an awesome small business in London? Share it! #CountOnMeLondon
Who said lockdown has to be boring? You can still be part of something big from your sofa.
Join NASA for a space themed concert or Lady Gaga for a world-shaking virtual event. Find yourself in Lapland watching Aurora Borealis live or lose yourself within the red rocks of Petra in a virtual guided tour.
The best part is: All FREE
One World: Together At Home
globalcitizen.org
#TogetherAtHome
When: 18th April 2020 (you have to sign up to be part of it)
Together At Home is a series of virtual concerts, curated in collaboration with Lady Gaga. It’s aim is to inspire people to stay at home and to support healthcare workers and WHO during these difficult unprecedented times.
Celebrities who take part in:
Andrea Bocelli, Adam Lambert, Alicia Keys, Rita Ora, Samuel L Jackson, Jack Black, Jennifer Lopez, Camila Cabello and the list goes on.
National Symphony Orchestra’s Space-Themed Concert with NASA
pixabay.com
#NASAatHome #Apollo50th #NASA60th
When: Friday, April 24, 2020 at 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Participate in National Symphony Orchestra’s space-themed concert. The large-scale concert will be taken place in collaboration with NASA at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Meet (virtually) such stars like will.i.am, Natasha Bedingfield or astronaut Michael Collins.
The concert will include Apollo 50th and NASA 60th celebrations.
Visit the Museo Ferrari
#MuseoFerrari
Museo Ferrari takes visitors on a magnificent journey. Discover the most famous and successful F1 cars, legendary prototypes and GTs, and, the road cars that have set the benchmark for the entire car industry.
Discover every corner of the rose-red city through a narrated online tour. Visit all the destinations on the map and enjoy a 360-degrees view while listening about interesting facts about Petra.
Since you cannot go and visit Churchill’s war rooms these days, the museum goes to your living room. Enjoy an amazing VR experience and explore Churchill’s secret war rooms, he used during WWII. If you have seen The Darkest Hour movie, Churchill’s war rooms will definitely be familiar.
Click “play” button on the button left corner for an automated tour or discover the rooms by yourself using “dollhouse” or “floorplan” mode.
18 gallery rooms and more than hundreds of paintings to be discovered virtually at National Gallery. Use a VR head set and lose yourself in the gallery’s unique collection or simply take 360-degrees VR tour using smartphone, laptop or desktop.
Go behind the scenes and discover why the creatures of Kubo and the Two Strings were a huge challenge for the team, how they designed miniature costumes for the puppets in Box Trolls, how stop-motion technique actually works and learn fascinating little-known facts about Coraline.
Live Streams from Around the World: African Animals, the Maldives, the Northern Lights, Alaska and More
Holiday Pirates collected 21 fab live streams from around the world to keep you entertained during lockdown.
Check a choice of beach in the Maldives, join the elephants in Africa, admire snow covered mountains in Alaska, see how a polar bear family lives in Denmark or lose yourself under the Northern Lights in Canada.
The Sun is shining but we are sill forced to stay at home. Nice weather or not, Easter or not as we are responsible adults, we stay at home.
Many of us have been spending their days at home for nearly a month now and, let’s face it, we are so fed up with this.
Let’s escape! Let’s go outside virtually now and visit the world’s most beautiful botanical gardens.
The Garden of the Palace of Versailles
The history of the unique geometrical garden of the Palace of Versailles dates back before the reign King Louis XIV. The garden was developed by André Le Nôtre who renovated it and dug the Grand Canal. The works on the garden started in 1661 and took over 40 years!
Today, thanks to modern technology, we can discover every corner of the garden virtually.
Sao Paulo Botanical Gardens are the last remaining examples of Atlantic Rainforest. The 89-acre (36-hectare) grounds preserve and protect Brazil’s western coastal environment and home about 380 species and native trees. Among the branches a large population of birds and mammals are living.
The Inhotim gives home to one of the largest foundations of contemporary art in Brazil. The 500,000-acre (202342.8-hectare) of botanical gardens are one of the largest outdoor art centres in Latin America.
Inhotim is a botanic garden which combines modern art with botanical garden.
Choose which part of the garden and the museum you want to explore. Indoor and outdoor tours are available.
Located in the neighbourhood of Central Park, these botanical gardens are the oldest in the USA.
There are indoor and outdoor gardens to visit. There are plenty to explore: from exotic palm trees and fruit trees to aquatic garden, Asian rainforest, water lily, bonsai collection and more.
The Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle is located in Merano (Meran) in northern Italy. Discover colourful plants from all over the planet and explore more than 80 garden landscapes.
During your virtual visit, you can not only enjoy all the beauty of the exotic garden, but also admire the capturing view of the surrounding mountains.
And the best part is: you can choose in which season you want to explore the garden during your tour.
We stuck at home during COVID-19 lockdown. Many of us living alone and running out of things to do at home.
By now we have deep cleaned the whole flat, re-organised our stamp, coin and anime figurine collections and watched a ton of movies.
So, what now?
I collected 12 cool things to keep yourself entertained while self-isolated. All FREE.
1. Participate in Composing Contest
Tarento Productions is running a contest: ‘A Song for Our Time’. Participants have to compose an original song to be recorded by West End stars and a virtual choir.
Anyone can participate with any background.
The winner song will be chosen by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown.
Although the deadline is a bit tight, why not give it a go?
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles challenge their Twitter followers to choose 3 things at home and recreate a famous artwork using those 3 items only, and share the photos with them on Twitter.
Find an artwork – a Romanian sculpture or a famous painting – recreate it and have fun: http://www.getty.edu/art/
To help creative people inspired and engaged with photography, Nikon has made ALL of their online photography courses for FREE for the entire month of April.
Normally those courses cost between $15-$50. Each class are held by professional photographers to give in-depth knowledge of the best practices from landscape photography to children photography.
8. Take Swing Dance Lessons and Blend Your Own Cocktail
Cahoots is an underground themed bar, bringing their visitors for a time travel to the 1940s. While the bar is closed, they cannot serve you their delicious signature cocktails, like Vera Linn but they still can show you how to prepare the homemade version of them.
Step into Tutankhamun’s tomb and enjoy the London exhibition virtually on YouTube. While the exhibition is closed till the end of April, they created an amazing virtual tour video to showcase the best parts of the exhibition.
Amblin Entertainment has collected more than 100 videos of Oscar Galas from the past five decades. Watch the best moments of Jurassic Park, E.T., Jaws and Gladiator stars winning Oscar.
12. Go for Virtual Tour to NASA, Van Gogh Museum or San Diego Zoo
No need to step outside. Visit the best museums, galleries, zoos and more online. Go for an incredible virtual tour to Van Gogh Museum to Netherlands, take a look into the animals’ everyday lives in the San Diego Zoo or go extra-terrestrial tour and visit NASA.
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