Because it's the Weekend!

Eat: Towpath Cafe

For East Enders, both native and new, Regent’s Canal flows like a vein through the neighborhood, inviting long walks and winding bike rides. While it maintains a year-round appeal, the canal truly comes alive when the evenings are bathed in a balmy glow, and the beloved Towpath Cafe opens its doors for Spring and Summer. Hibernating during winter, Towpath is a canalside eatery that begins service once London settles into warmer weather. Offering mismatched china plates of seasonal produce, the ever-changing menu—scribbled onto a chalkboard outside—features everything from the perfect grilled cheese to plates of brown shrimp and kohlrabi goodness. Combined with delicious food and ample people-watching, hours can slip by unnoticed, and with a glorious weekend ahead, we believe a sunny Saturday afternoon will be best spent at Towpath.

Shop: Perfect Lives

Dividing its wares between ‘paper’ and ‘plastic’, Perfect Lives is a pre-loved record and book shop nestled in an annexe in New Cross. There’s something rewarding about sifting through second-hand stores, and Perfect Lives offers a unique approach compared to your Brick Lane or Notting Hill counterparts. Focusing on the more transient products of music and literature, the shop is curated to spark intrigue and provide opportunities for exploration and discovery. Straddling genres and balancing accessibility with the esoteric, the shop is a treasure trove, inviting a more engaged form of shopping, which, in our view, is always the more interesting way to indulge in retail therapy. Founded by Bruno and Daniel of the NTS show ‘Perfect Lives’ (duh), it’s clear that the pair have infused the space and stock with a spirit that fosters intimacy and a lasting desire to preserve and enjoy physical media. In our (highly regarded) opinion, this is the ideal shop for casual Sunday browsing. 

See: Rebecca Foster-Clarke at Shipton Gallery

Based in Hackney Wick, Shipton Gallery is an intimate exhibition space that has recently reopened its doors for its second year of programming. Offering a new space and an emboldened curatorial attitude in 2024, Shipton’s first show of 2025 is already living up to the impressive inaugural year. Finishing next weekend (12th April), make sure to visit this Saturday or Sunday to catch the final glimpses of Rebecca Foster-Clarke’s show, ‘No Destination’. Described as dangling observers between laughter and screams, Rebecca’s second solo exhibit delves into humor and horror, exploring the filmic genre’s fascination with femininity, specifically female terror and glee. The paintings highlight the most domestic fears intrinsic to womanhood and extrapolate them into shards, producing pieces that draw you in and threaten to haunt you for days afterward. While this is a darker retreat from the shining weekend ahead, with the show closing next weekend, we can’t help but urge you to visit Shipton. 

To Wear

For the first time in ages, our weather apps are showing sun icons across the board this weekend, promising highs of 20 degrees. We’ve curated a little shopping edit to inspire your weekend wanderings and pub garden perches. Short sleeves and skirts are in sight; it’s light jacket weather, ladies! 

Read: Play It as It Lays, Joan Didion

Whether it’s done performatively in a sunny park or a genuine effort to escape the real world, Joan Didion’s ‘Play It as It Lays’ is a short novel you can devour in a weekend, making it the perfect book to accompany the languid spirit that warm weather invites. Published in 1970 and set in the sweltering heat of 60s LA, the book explores the illusory glamour of life in Hollywood, addressing the complexities of mid-century womanhood. Didion conjures drama and boredom within the landscape of unyielding heat, and for those in a reading slump, this could be the perfect rope to climb out of that well. Century-defining authors aside, if you’re searching for some easier yet still entertaining options, check out our newsletter picks here. And if you can’t decide what to read next, the new issue of TANK offers a feast of fashion, culture, critiques, and more. Happy weekend, everybody!