Things to do in London this weekend

Best for: Festive pop-ups in London

The vibe: A life-size gingerbread house, with a boozy twist

Need to know: Looking for a Christmas drinks venue with real wow factor? How about a life-size gingerbread house - at one of London's coolest rooftop bars?

Fentimans' enchanting pop-up is found at Tobacco Dock's Skylight bar, overlooking the rooftop skating rink. Sure to be one of the most instagrammed-sights in town this festive season, the gingerbread house's walls are lined with edible sweet treats, and the space can be booked for groups of up to 8, for a really amazing night out. 

To accompany the installation, Skylight's bars will also be serving up winter-warming cocktails, made with Fentimans' Pink Ginger.

When: Thursdays-Sundays until January 2020
Opening times: Thur & Fri - 1-11.30pm, Sat & Sun - 11am-11.30pm
Getting there: Skylight, Pennington St. Car Park Entrance Wapping, London E1W 2SF 
Nearest tube: Shadwell (Overground/DLR)
Price: Free entry to Skylight. The gingerbread house can be privately booked from £100 for 3 hours at skylight.designmynight.com 

Best for: New cocktail menus in London

The vibe: An inspirational flavour journey around the world

Need to know:  Give your taste buds a round the world trip with the St James Bar's new cocktail menu, Passport. 

Showcasing spirits from around the world, the menu includes Shodo - combining delicate Japanese tea flavours of black cherry, green tea and apricot  with Japanese Roku Gin, lemon and egg-white. 5 to 7 pays tribute to the Italian aperitivo tradition with Campari-infused coffee, AmaroMontenegro, pink grapefruit and soda. 1st Step honours the American space race, with grapefruit, strawberry and orange Curacao mixed with Maker’s Mark rich Lunar Bourbon with a twist of black pepper and a puff of edible dark spray. Heaven Howler recalls Iceland’s prohibition period (which only ended 30 years ago), blending Icelandic Himbrimi Old Tom Gin with a pale ale adding refreshing herbal flavours of rhubarb and thyme.

You can explore the world in style too, as the bar - filled with plush velvet and a mix of French and English interior design styles - is found in the elegant Sofitel St James Hotel.

Opening times: 8am-1am Mon-Sat, 8am-12am Sun
Getting there: 6 Waterloo Place,London, SW1Y 4AN
Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus

Best for: Brunch in London

The vibe: Bottomless brunch, with a Venezuelan spin

Need to know: Bored of pancakes for brunch? You need to try a cachapa! The corn pancakes are just one of the Venezuelan-style spins on brunch classics for Bethnal Green restaurant Arepa & Co's new brunch menu, featuring in 'the stack' (where they're served with gouda, raclette, cheddar and ham, sugar cane syrup and a free range egg). Other highlights include Desayuno Criollo - a take on a ‘full English’ (scrambled eggs with sofrito, shredded beef, creamy black beans, ripe plantains, cheese, and a choice ofarepa (a delicious corn bread, which just happens to be gluten-free) or cachapa, or the avocado toast-inspired Avocado Sunrise (an arepa topped with avocado, chilli, spicy salsa verde and a handful of peppery rocket).

There will also be South American-style cocktails on offer, like Guarapita (gold rum, orange liqueur, passion fruit and sugar cane lemonade), and the Caracas Old Fashioned (homemade spiced rum, honey bitters ands yrup). You can even enjoy 90 minutes of bottomless cocktails or bubbles for just an extra £20pp.   

When: Every Saturday and Sunday
Serving times: 12pm-4pm
Getting there: Arepa & Co. 254 Paradise Row, E2 9LE
Nearest tube: Bethnal Green

Things to do in upcoming weekends:

Best for: 80s nostalgia in London

The vibe: The Netflix smash comes to life

Need to know: One of TV's most talked-about shows, meets one of London's most-innovative events specialists. For their latest experience, Secret Cinema are bringing Stranger Things to life.

Set in the 1980s in a rural Indiana town, where things aren't quite what they seem - the show's mix of horror, suspense, sci-fi, comedy and nostalgia (with nods to some of the era's biggest blockbusters) have made its 3 seasons some of Netflix's most streamed content to date. And Secret Cinema's incredible, immersive stagings of everything from Star Wars and Bladerunner to Moulin Rouge! have been hugely impressive, have been some of the coolest nights out in town in recent years.

As ever, details are very much under-wraps to preserve the surprise. But with word suggesting that this is Secret Cinema's most ambitious undertaking to date, you can be sure that it's going to be epic. 

Understandably, tickets are selling fast, so best availability currently starts in January. Make sure you don't miss out by booking now at: https://tickets.secretcinema.org/stranger-things/

When: Until 23rd February 2020
Opening times: Wed-Fri 6-9.30pm, Sat 1.30-5pm (matinee), 7-10.30pm (evening), Sun 5-8.30pm
Getting there: Hawkins, Indiana (AKA a secret location in London)
Nearest tube: Somewhere in travelcard zones 2/3 (approx 20 mins from Waterloo and Liverpool St, 35min from Kings Cross/St Pancras and Paddington)
Price: From £49 (plus booking fees). Matinee tickets for 15-17 year old available from £35 (plus booking fees)

Find more inspiration for things to do in London here.

We've also pulled together a list of the city's best riverside pubs and bars, or for something a little cosier, the best pubs with open fires. (And a list of 28 things to do in London when it rains, just in case).

For all the latest news and travel information, visit the Transport for London website.

If you're planning on spending more than a day in London, then we have plenty of London hotels.

And finally, remember to check out the weather forecast.