The 6 best free things to do in London this weekend

Now that July has come to a close and payday has landed, it’s going to be all too tempting to splash out in London over the next few days. We wouldn’t blame you, of course – there are all sorts of fantastic festivals, shows and events happening across the city this weekend that are absolutely worth spending your hard earned cash on. 

But in the event that you’re trying to keep spending to a minimum – maybe you’re saving up to splurge on one final summer holiday, or so that you can go ham at one last day fest later in the month – we’ve got your back. Being frugal doesn’t have to mean days spent idle and bored in your bedroom. Here are great six things you can do to fill up your weekend in London without spending a penny. 

📍 Things to do in London this weekend.

The best free things to do in London this weekend, August 1-3

1. Head to Soho for a street party hosted by Ronnie Scott’s

Legendary Soho jazz club Ronnie Scott’s knows a thing or two about staging a good party, so this summer it’s making use of the (hopefully!) sunny weather and taking things outside for a good old-fashioned street party Visitors will be regaled by a stellar line-up of UK jazz acts including tuba virtuoso Theon Cross, genre-blending band Cosmic Fusion and pioneering mento, ska, reggae, and jazz collective Jazz Jamaica. None other than Time Out’s reigning Londoner of the Year, DJ AG, kicking off proceedings, and visitors can also take part in a host of family-friendly activities, with outdoor bars and street food vendors on hand to keep them fed and watered.

Frith Street, W1D 4HT. Sat Aug 2. Free.

2. Settle down for an open-air movie

With the sun set to make a glorious return this weekend, get your hands on some picky bits and a couple of tinned cocktails before making a beeline for one of London’s two free outdoor cinema pop-ups. This weekend there’s the family favourite Inside Out 2 and life-affirming Bollywood hit ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ at Canary Wharf’s Summer Screens and over at Everyman on the Canal at King’s Cross, there are 12 movies being shown from Friday to Sunday, including Finding Nemo, Encanto, Roman Holiday and Little Women. No need to book, just turn up early to bag yourself a decent seat. 

Various locations. Throughout summer. Free. 

3. Stomp your feet at the Southbank Centre’s summer festival

‘Dance Your Way Home’ is the Southbank Centre’s big festival of the year and it’s all about the type of ordinary, messy dancing we do in kitchens and bars rather than the rarified kind that happens on the stages of the Royal Opera House. That means that there’s a big focus on getting normal folk on the floor, but if you’re feeling shy there’s plenty of stuff you can watch, too. On Saturday there’s a free programme of classes, performances and DJ sets based around Brazilian and Afro-Cuban dance. Then on Sunday there’s the Tomorrow’s Warriors Extraordinary Summer Showcase, a line-up of London’s finest up-and-coming jazz artists from the same programme that nurtured the likes of Ezra Collective, Moses Boyd and Nubya Garcia. 

Southbank Centre, SE1 8XX. Sat Aug 2-Sun Aug 3. Free.  

4. Discover the Future of Food at the Science Museum

Food is an unending feature of our day-to-day lives. But how often do you stop to think about how radically different our plates look to those of our ancestors, or how climate change will force us to eat differently in the future? This new free exhibition at the Science Museum looks food’s past, present and future, featuring artefacts like a 3,500-year-old loaf of bread and fascinating projects like Norway's ice-cold seed vault and the first beef steak to be grown outside a cow. It also showcases community-led sustainability projects going on around the world and it invites visitor to get involved themselves, with a multiplayer game where you can cook up your own future for food.

Science Museum, SW7 2DD. Until Jan 4. Free. 

5. Honour National Spritz Day at Big Penny Social 

Winter has Christmas and New Year, spring has Easter and summer... has National Spritz Day. The day dedicated to all of our beloved fizzy cocktails, which falls on August 1, has only been a thing since 2023 but bars all over the capital are on board, with many selling spritzes at dirt cheap prices to mark the occasion. Walthamstow’s Big Penny Social, has teamed up with Aperol to mark the occasion with a free party featuring a golden hour DJ set at its outdoor urban beach, Walthamstow-on-Sea, merch giveaways and a two-for-one deal on Aperol, Campari, Sarti, Limoncello and Nectarine spritzes all day and night.  

1 Priestley Way, E17 6AL. Fri Aug 1. Free entry. 

6. Explore contemporary beauty standards at Somerset House

This Black Mirror-esque exhibition at Somerset House examines ‘Instagram face’, CGI influencers, AI sex dolls and more in its exploration beauty in the digital age. Expect more than 20 works of sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance art.  Highlights include ORLAN’s Omniprésence (1993), a groundbreaking performance in which the artist live-streamed her own facial aesthetic surgery, and AI-generated portraits by Minnie Atairu, Ben Cullen Williams, and Isamaya Ffrench. Our staff writer India Lawrence went to check it out and called it ‘unsettling and sometimes beautiful’. 

Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA. Until Sep 28. Pay what you can.