Eight fun things to do in London (that don’t involve the pub)

Combine live music with candlelight and something magical happens. In the flickering half-light, the music takes over, whether you’re immersed in a symphony, swaying to jazz standards or revisiting some epoch-shaping pop. All feature on the line-ups at Candlelight, staged in some spectacular spaces, be it hip-hop on strings at Southwark Cathedral, a tribute to Taylor Swift, or a medley of Fleetwood Mac at the soaring Central Hall Westminster. London Concertante also stages candlelit concerts, with a repertoire than runs from Rossini to Radiohead.

Step away from the lime and soda and sample some of London’s greatest zero-proof libations. Sip a signature coriander-seed gimlet at Shoreditch’s Seed Library, or drop by Soho’s Bar Swift, where the Working Holiday is laced with grapefruit sherbet and sparkling green tea. If you’re new to all this, make for the Club Soda Tasting Room in Covent Garden. Every drink is no or lo, from the highball to the dirty martini, while some come with an extra kick of caffeine or ashwagandha.

London’s biggest museums and galleries often keep surprisingly late hours. Spend Saturday evening at The Design Museum, wandering Wes Anderson’s archives, or see what’s on at Tate Modern. It’s open until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 10pm at once-monthly ‘lates’, which generally involve pop-up bars, workshops, musicians and DJs. The V&A also stays open until 10pm – on Fridays at South Kensington and on Thursdays and Saturdays at the V&A East Storehouse – for a thrilling, behind-the-scenes peek at its gargantuan collections.

The best booze-free rendezvous take place over a gelato. Soho’s Gelupo always hit the spot: a charming counter with date-friendly banquettes that stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays (it’s 11pm Sunday to Thursday). Classics include the ricotta sour cherry and Sicilian blood-orange sorbet – served, if you ask nicely, in a gently-toasted brioche. Over in Covent Garden, La Gelatiera is another late-opening parlour. Try a scoop of its mind-blowing sea-salted caramel or chilli-spiked dark chocolate sorbet.

There are saunas popping up in every postcode, perched on rooftops or squeezed into railway arches – and some of the coolest stay open late for after-dark events. They run from sauna raves in Shoreditch, hosted by The Sanctuary, to ‘ambient’ saunas at Peckham’s hip Sauna Social Club, with DJs, an in-sauna sound system and a cool, cushion-strewn lounge, where locals hang out over herbal teas and booze-free Negronis. In Canary Wharf, meanwhile, Arc After Dark feels like a club, with its DJ sets, low-lit lounge and 300-watt sound system.

In King’s Cross, Lightroom specialises in immersive experiences, with wraparound visuals and sound – and there’s no time to pine for the pub if you’re surrounded by baby sauropods or eyeballing a hungry velociraptor. If its dinosaur-themed show doesn’t appeal, try The Moonwalkers instead – the story of the Apollo missions retold by space-geek Tom Hanks. Prefer to be part of the action? Search a hostile planet for a missing space crew at Punchdrunk’s Lander 23, or don a VR headset at the Eclipso Centre, then wander the Titanic’s decks.

A new wave of running clubs is taking a different approach: it’s all about having fun, not obsessing over personal bests. At Friday Night Lights the crew turn up with confetti blasters and speakers for a 6k run that starts at London Bridge. If you can comfortably run 5k, Midnight Runners’ free, friendly bootcamps are another option, while London City Runners set off along the Thames on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The shortest loop is 6.5k, and anyone is welcome to attend.

If you’re not drinking, weekends look very different. Mornings are full of possibility when you don’t have a hangover to nurse, whether you’re rolling up at 9am at a crowd-free Borough Market, racking up the lengths at London Fields’ heated Lido, or getting first pick of the blooms at Columbia Road Flower Market. It’s also a chance to beat later risers to breakfast: think bacon naans and chai at Dishoom, shakshuka at Ottolenghi or honeycomb butter-slathered hotcakes at the no-bookings Granger & Co.