🦊 Things to do this weekend in North London Jan 31- 1st Feb

Bits and bobs worth knowing.

📚 Kilburn Library back next month after £1m fix to crumbling building:
Reopens 2 Feb after closing in July for urgent structural repairs. The Victorian building had large cracks and safety fears over falling debris. £1.1m renovation added community room (bookable for meetings/events), more study desks, computers and Wi-Fi area, and bigger children's section with hands-on activities.

🦆 Can't get a table at Dim Sum Duck? They're opening a second one:
King's Cross dim sum restaurant have expanded to Pentonville Road after being constantly fully booked. Same menu: all-day dim sum and Cantonese roast duck for around £15. Food critic Marina O'Loughlin called everything she's eaten there "astonishing."



🎨 Fancy eating dinner surrounded by art you can buy?
New spot called Chevalet opening on 31 Jan at 235 Upper Street. It’s a french bistro where all the art on the walls is for sale. Run by Daniel Farrow, who used to be a chef, became an artist, now doing both. Art rotates regularly with different artists. Opens above Islington Arts Club which is also getting relaunched.

🏗️ North Finchley's Vue Cinema and bowling alley could become 25-storey tower blocks: Developer wants to knock down Great North Leisure Park (the place with cinema, bowling, and lido) and build 1,485 homes up to 25 storeys tall. Barnet Council said no in December - too high, too crowded. But Sadiq Khan's "called in" the decision, meaning he can overrule them. He's holding a public hearing at City Hall in February before deciding. 8,000 residents signed petition against it. They want a GP surgery, youth centre, and actual replacements for the cinema and bowling (current plans don't include these). Development would include new lido and 25m pool to replace existing Finchley Lido, plus 312 affordable homes.


☕ Keir Starmer wades into Heath café battle after constituents complain: PM wrote to City of London Corporation raising concerns about retendering process that stripped long-standing operators of leases. But told Emma Fernandez and Patrick Matthews he can't actually help because their cafés aren't in his constituency.

🎤 Harry Styles doing 12 Wembley shows this summer - tickets on sale Friday: Started with 6, doubled to 12 after pre-sales sold out. Runs 13 June to 4 July. Shania Twain supporting. Tickets from £279, on sale Friday 11am on Ticketmaster. Fun fact it beats Coldplay's 10-show Wembley record.

The Hidden Heath Walk | 📍Kenwood, NW3 | 1 Feb | Free
Walk Hampstead Heath with historian Michael Hammerson who'll show you archival photos taken from the exact spots you're standing. See how much the Heath has changed over the decades and what's hidden beneath. Two hours. Meet at Kenwood Walled Garden Entrance off Hampstead Lane 10am. Organised by Heath and Hampstead Society.

Fresh: Art Fair | 📍Alexandra Palace, N22 | 29 Jan-1 Feb | (£)
Art fair at Alexandra Palace with 75+ galleries. Paintings, sculpture, ceramics, photography, glass. Prices from £100 to £30,000. Emerging artists and established names like Hockney, Picasso, Chagall. Workshops and artist demos running throughout. Food and drink available. Under-16s free, free return visits all weekend on your ticket. Private view Thursday 29 Jan 5:30-9pm with wine. Public days Friday to Sunday.

Cholera Day Takeover | 📍Wellcome Collection, NW1 | 31 Jan | Free
Wellcome Collection are doing a day on cholera history. Smell recreations of Victorian London streets during the Great Stink of 1858. See historical maps showing how they figured out cholera spread through water. Workshop on toilet history where you make clay poo. Drop-in sessions throughout the day, come and go as you like. Exhibition on 19th-century cholera outbreaks, satirical cartoons from the collection. BSL interpreter available.

Coppicing Workshop | 📍Lordship Rec Orchard, N17  | 1 Feb | (£)
Learn traditional woodland management at Lordship Rec Orchard. Coppice hazel trees (cutting to ground level encourages regrowth), then weave the wood into protective hurdles around young trees. Ancient skill that keeps woodlands healthy. Led by orchard managers Sally Haywill and Mike Downs plus expert tutor Suz Williams. Beginners welcome. Practical green skill you can use. Bring waterproof boots, warm clothes, gloves, packed lunch. Expect mud.

The Great Enfield Fair | 📍St Stephen's Church Hall, EN1 | 31 Jan | £1
Monthly vintage and collectibles fair at St Stephen's Church Hall. Locals selling vintage jewellery, cameras, glassware, records, books, postcards, clothing, knitting. Charity stalls. All-day cafe doing fry-ups, homemade soup and cake. Fully accessible, free parking. First fair of 2026. £1 entry, kids and dogs free.

National Storytelling Week: Dark Tales | 📍Hat & Feathers, EC1M | 31 Jan | (£)
Ghost and horror stories for adults at Hat & Feathers. Amy Douglas and Jason Buck will be sharing dark myths from the British countryside and legends hiding beneath old London streets. Drink included with ticket. Optional £25 dinner from 5pm before the show. 12+.

Ultimate Snowdrop Sale | 📍Myddelton House Gardens, EN2 | 31 Jan | (£)
Snowdrop sale at Myddelton House Gardens. Nurseries selling snowdrops including rare varieties, then walk the eight-acre gardens to see thousands in bloom. First flowers of late winter. Gates open 8:30am for keen buyers, sale 10am-12:30pm. £6.50 entry. Former home of Edward Augustus Bowles, famous Victorian botanist. Heritage kitchen garden and grounds to explore.

Wild Food Foraging Walk | 📍Hampstead Heath, NW3 | 1 Feb | (£)
Learn to forage on Hampstead Heath with wild food expert Heath Bunting. Identify edible plants, trees and fungi. Also covers medicinal plants, which ones are poisonous, bush-craft survival, food processing. Two 90-minute sessions: noon-1:30pm (meet South Hill Park corner and South End Road) or 2-3:30pm (meet Hampstead War Memorial). Under-15s free, dogs welcome.

Winter Intergenerational | 📍Islington Ecology Centre, N5 | 31 Jan | Free
Islington Ecology Centre bringing different generations together for a morning. Grandparents, parents, kids doing nature walks and arts and crafts together. Share experiences, learn from each other.

Stephens House & Gardens Tour | 📍East End Road, N3 | 31 Jan | (£)
Tour the home of Henry 'Inky' Stephens who invented the famous blue-black ink everyone used before biros. Victorian inventor, chemist and ink magnate who lived in Finchley. See downstairs rooms, tower, gardens. Stephens Collection shows how the ink was made and how his company grew. 152 years of history. Spike Milligan memorial in the gardens.

Lunar New Year Goods Fair | 📍St James Catholic High School, NW9 | 31 Jan | Free
Hong Kong-style Lunar New Year fair at St James Catholic High School in Colindale. Lion dance, God of Wealth walking around, K-Pop dance performances, mahjong competition, football booth, kids zone. 70+ stalls selling Hong Kong dry goods and food. Year of the Horse celebration.


Ethical Matters: How Housing Broke London | 📍Conway Hall, WC1R | 1 Feb | (£)
If you're wondering how London became a city where only the wealthy can afford to live, journalist Peter Apps explains. Traces 40 years of policy decisions that turned housing from homes into investment vehicles. Why rents spiraled, why you need £100k+ deposits to buy, why social housing waiting lists are decades long. Apps won the Orwell Prize for Show Me The Bodies about Grenfell. His new book Homesick explores how to fix London housing - turn it back from private profit to places offering permanence and safety. In person or livestream.



50+ Years of Islington LGBTQ+ History Walk | 📍Angel Station., N1 | 1 Feb | Free
Walk from Angel to Highbury Fields learning about Islington's LGBTQ+ firsts. UK's first gay mayor, first LGBTQ+ rights demonstration, first LGBTQ+ MP. See where Derek Jarman lived, hear about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Guided by Karen Lansdown, official City of London Guide. Part of LGBT History Month. Free but book on Eventbrite. 18+.

Most of what we think we know about samurai is wrong. The British Museum exhibition shows the gap between medieval reality and modern myth. Yes, medieval warriors existed from the 1100s. But after 1615 peace began and samurai became bureaucrats, scholars, artists, poets. Women were samurai too. Intellectual pursuits mattered as much as fighting. Then in late 1800s the hereditary status was abolished and Japan invented the bushido myth - honorable warriors who valued patriotism and self-sacrifice - to fuel military expansion. The samurai we see in films, games and fashion is 20th-century creation, not historical truth. Exhibition traces how the myth built through Japan's relationship with the West. See actual armor sent to King James I, incense game showing refined samurai culture, Louis Vuitton armor-inspired fashion, Assassin's Creed game showing modern mythology.

65+ London designer-makers selling samples, trial pieces and slightly imperfect seconds at reduced prices. Jewellery, slow fashion, knitwear you can actually afford from independent makers. One-off pieces that won't be made again. Hand-cast metals, Murano glass, ceramic, freshwater pearls. Hand-stitched clothes, screen-printed gear, knitted jumpers, hand-dyed loungewear, hats, scarves, bags

Brighten up winter evenings with a lights festival at Kilburn Grange Park. Illuminated trails, light installations by local artists, soundscapes transform the park into a magical experience. Second year running, family-friendly, drop in anytime 5-9pm either evening. Also local schools will be contributing artwork to the programme.

Climb Alexandra Palace's roof for views across London. Currently it’s UK's highest roof walk at 130 metres above sea level. Climb steep steps up the pitched roof to the Angel of Plenty sculpture at the top. See 25 miles in every direction.

Charles Dickens loved walking - he'd roam London for miles, often at night and in all weathers, to clear his head. He even wrote about it in his essay "Night Walks."

What most people don't know is how deeply connected he was to North London. Did you know Oliver Twist first met the Artful Dodger while sitting on a doorstep on Barnet High Street? You'll actually see that doorstep on this walk.

Paul Baker (the same guide who led those brilliant Halloween walks through Hadley) is running a special birthday walk on Saturday February 7th (Dickens's actual birthday). You'll hear about the novelist's connections to Barnet, Highgate, Hampstead and Finchley, plus his extraordinary celebrations for birthdays and other special occasions.

It’s a 2 hour walk starting at 2pm outside High Barnet tube station.

Exclusive for My North London readers: £12 adults, £3 under 12s ( usually £15/£5). Just mention My North London when booking

Email [email protected] or call Paul on 07506 761294