August has arrived, and we're tantalisingly close to the opening of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Before that gets underway, this week's Sunday Paperweight contains the usual selection of things going on in the next seven days. This week also marks the launch of Paperweight's collection of curated Spotify playlists, beginning with the perfect background when you're hosting a dinner party. Here's what's coming up:
Darkroom: Paddington's duck flotilla
UK Affairs: What we can learn from a pea-throwing contest in Lewes
On the Town: A Michelin star menu for just £35, four London restaurant openings, and the usual selection of what's coming up across the UK
En Route: How to earn Avios easily from your evening out
Darkroom
Photograph of the week, as chosen by Paperweight Magazine's picture bureau:
UK Affairs
The latest from Paperweight's UK Affairs bureau:
Louisa Wells writes of the bliss to be gained from sincere participation in life's smaller things:
Louisa Wells
On the Town
What's happening this week:
Cal Roscow reviews the London restaurant, with the longest-held Michelin star, that's offering a three-course meal for just £35:
Cal Roscow
London
The Waterhouse Project Gabriel Waterhouse and Patricia Wakaimba take their itinerant supper club project to a permanent home, this time with its own kitchen garden and a wine bar coming soon. Reservations accepted soon. 7A Ezra Street, London E2 7RH. Reopens 6th August 2026.
Marrone Another venue 'doing one thing well' is opening in Soho; café devoted almost entirely to tiramisu, in three guises (original, pistachio, chocolate), boozy or not. Opening soon. 15 Sherwood Street, London W1B 5AP. Opens 8th August 2026.
Wagyu Yakiniku USHIO The first UK outpost of a Fukuoka original, cooking every cut of wagyu omakase-style around a counter. Reservation recommended. 12 Charlotte Street, London W1T 2LU. Opened 28th July 2026.
Ebi Wines A new wine bar and shop from Raku Oda, the ex-Fat Duck sommelier, has just opened in Clerkenwell. Reservations recommended. 5a Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4SP. Opened 15th July 2026.
Trent Park House of Secrets London's newest museum inside a 1920s Enfield mansion that spent the war as a gilded cage; high-ranking German officers were kept in relative comfort while MI19 listeners in the basement recorded their every unguarded word. Tickets from £14. Trent Park House of Secrets, Daffodil Crescent, Enfield, London EN4 0PS. Opened 21st July 2026
Upside Down London: a camera obscura at Alexandra Palace Pinhole London has turned a dark room on Ally Pally's Terrace into a giant camera obscura, projecting the live panorama (Shard, BT Tower, passers-by in the park) onto the wall in real time. It is only here for nine days, so this is your last weekend to catch it. Free admission, suggested donation £3, walk-ins welcome. Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY. Until Sunday 9th August 2026.
Routes, Ruins and Reconnaissance A free show on Gertrude Bell FRGS: archaeologist, traveller and eventual British intelligence asset, told through newly digitised images from the Society's own negatives and treasures of her UNESCO-listed archive. Free admission, booking recommended. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR. Opens Monday 3rd August 2026, until Monday 24th August 2026, weekdays only, 10am until 5pm.
The Power of Honey: Food, Finance and the Golden Age of Fraud Bompas & Parr bring a living beehive into the Bank of England Museum, using the colony's habits of vigilance and cooperation to unpick food fraud and financial trust. There's after-hours 'Honey at Dusk' late on Friday 7th. Free admission. Museum Late reservation required. Bank of England Museum, Bartholomew Lane, London EC2R 8AH. Until 28th August 2026.
Bonsai Treehouses The Museum of Architecture has erected 29 architect-designed miniature treehouses in a real, living collection of bonsai trees at Oxford Square, which is not usually open to the public. Tickets from £13.50. Oxford Square, London W2. Until Monday 31st August 2026.
Thamesmead Festival The festival returns to the banks of Southmere Lake with four stages of R&B, soul and rap (headlined by Natalie Williams & the Soul Family Band), plus craft workshops, a market, and even a dog show. It's also a good excuse for brutalist architecture admirers to visit this corner of South East London. Free admission. Southmere Park, Binsey Walk, London SE2 9TU. Saturday 8th August 2026, from 12pm.
Melodies International w/ Mad Professor Dub royalty comes to Hackney Wick as Ariwa founder Mad Professor plays live alongside vocalist Aisha, hosted by the ever-reliable Melodies International crew at Colour Factory. Tickets from £7.47. Colour Factory, Queen's Yard, Hackney Wick, London E9 5EN. Saturday 8th August 2026.
Adriatique presents X: Afterparty The Swiss melodic-techno duo take Fabric through to breakfast for their X afterparty, with more names to be announced. Tickets via Resident Advisor. fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 6HJ. Saturday 8th August 2026, 11pm until 7am, 18+.
Manchester
Reflections: Sangat and the Self Pairing new and recent work by Jasmir Creed and Roo Dhissou with pieces from the permanent collection to explore individuality, kinship and healing through community and spiritual practice. Free admission. The Whitworth, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER. Opens Saturday 1st August 2026.
Gotta Match 'Em All Museum nerdery for the school holidays: using real taxidermy specimens, discover which video-game creatures were pinched from which real animals, then take an activity away to test around the galleries. Suitable for ages 7+. Free admission, reservation required. Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Wednesday 5th August 2026, 1.15pm.
Steve Gunn The former Kurt Vile Violator and cult New York guitarist takes the intimate YES for an evening of winding, hypnotic folk-psych, touring his reflective new album. Tickets from £18.65. YES (Basement), 38 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB. Saturday 8th August 2026, 7pm.
Glasgow
Govanhill International Festival & Carnival The southside's community-run fortnight hits its tenth year on the theme of Solidarity, with more than 70 mostly-free events (puppet-making, readings, walking tours, film, parties) scattered across Govanhill venues. Programme and booking via Govanhill Baths. Various venues across Govanhill, Glasgow Southside. 1st until 16th August 2026.
Summer Nights at the Bandstand: Elephant Sessions The Highland electronic-folk crew bring their bass-and-drum-heavy trad-fusion to the open-air amphitheatre, with neotrad support from Gnoss. Tickets from £43.50. Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre, Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow G3 7TA. Tuesday 4th August 2026, from 6.30pm.
Edinburgh
The Edinburgh Fringe opens on 7th August 2026. Look out for Paperweight's guide to the best of the festival in next week's Sunday Paperweight.
Jasmine Togo-Brisby: Liquid Land The South Sea Islander artist's debut European solo show exploring histories of enslavement and domestic labour, responding to GoMA's own slave trade-built architecture, centred on a full-scale recreation of her ancestral home in Australia housing a crow-feathered oceanic installation. Free admission. Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow G1 3AH. Until 6th September 2026.
Hot Mess: Queer Dance Party at Sneaky Pete's Scotland's longest-running queer clubbing institution, with resident Simonotron running from orchestral disco to high-NRG house all night. Tickets via ra.co. Sneaky Pete's, 73 Cowgate, Edinburgh EH1 1JW. Friday 7th August 2026, 11pm.
Gwen John: Strange Beauties The first major retrospective in over forty years of the Welsh painter, with rarely seen drawings and watercolours across two floors, to mark her 150th birthday. Tickets from £14. National Galleries of Scotland: Modern Two, 73 & 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3DR. Opened 1st August 2026.
Belfast
The Ignorant Art School: Outside the Circle x Belfast A touring show given a Belfast edit, spread across both galleries with archives, manifestos, drawings, paintings, performance and video charging through the punk, queer and feminist tradition of "acting up." Free admission. Golden Thread Gallery, 23-29 Queen Street, Belfast BT1 6EA. Until 29th August 2026.
Susan Hughes: A Feeling in the Blood The MAC hands its galle
Birmingham
Michael Pinsky: The Final Bid An interactive kinetic sculpture where you bid online on donated second-hand chairs, each one rising toward the ceiling as its price climbs, offers a wry meditation on waste and reuse. Free admission, donations welcome. mac (Midlands Arts Centre), First Floor Gallery, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH. Until Sunday 4th October 2026.
Ikon Gallery: Break the Mould / Angela de la Cruz: Upright Two shows running side by side at the canalside Ikon, the ceramics-focused Break the Mould alongside Spanish-British artist Angela de la Cruz's crumpled, broken-canvas paintings that treat the picture as a body under strain. Free admission. Ikon Gallery, 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham B1 2HS. Until Sunday 6th September 2026.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street The Rep's bloodthirsty new staging of Sondheim's masterpiece, with Ramin Karimloo as the razor-wielding barber and cabaret force Meow Meow as Mrs Lovett. Tickets from £26. Birmingham Rep, 6 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 2EP. Until Saturday 15th August 2026.
Brighton
The Snail and the Mannequin, Emma Collins Fabrica's street-facing "In Between Gallery" in the window of a former Regency church, which makes this the easiest art in town to miss and the easiest to catch; a single staged photograph from Collins's series of domestic scenes, where soil, roots and shells creep into ordinary family rooms, and everything sits very slightly wrong. Free admission. Fabrica, 40 Duke Street, Brighton BN1 1AG. Until 30th September 2026.
It Is Still 1985 Now in its 18th year, this weekly Saturday institution is a footloose romp through Patrick Bateman's Walkman and every John Hughes soundtrack going, Wham! and Madonna colliding with The Cure and Kate Bush. Tickets from £5. The Green Door Store, Trafalgar Arches, Lower Goods Yard, Brighton Railway Station, Brighton BN1 4FQ. Saturday 8th August 2026, 11pm until 4am.
Moody Disco: Tee Dee A late-night disco and house session down on Madeira Drive, filling Concorde 2's floor after the live bands have cleared out. Tickets via Skiddle. Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1EN. Saturday 8th August 2026, 11pm.
Bristol
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta Europe's largest balloon meet drifts back to Ashton Court for its 48th year, with ascents at roughly 6am and 6pm. The burner-lit Nightglows on Friday and Saturday evenings are not to be missed. Free admission but check the programme details. Ashton Court Estate, Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9JN. Friday 7th to Sunday 9th August 2026.
Dance Out at the RWA David Remfry and James Russell's celebration of dance from 1980s Black British nightlife (Denzil Forrester's rarely seen Blue Tent) to a haptic Beat Blocks dancefloor mixed by DJ d4rling, and films from Tracey Emin and Gillian Wearing. This will be its closing weekend, so consider it your last call. Admission from free to £11. RWA, Queen's Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX. Until Sunday 9th August 2026.
Nancy Lupo & Tohé Commaret at Spike Island Two free summer commissions in the old tea-packing warehouse: Lupo's oddball "Several Chickens Later" and Commaret's "Mijitas,". Free admission. Spike Island, 133 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UX. Until Sunday 6th September 2026.
50 Years of Aardman: Late Opening at M Shed Although the Wallace & Gromit half-century show ("Cracking Exhibition, Gromit!") is set to attract families of all ages, you might want to head for late opening to see these rarely exhibited models. Tickets from £10. M Shed, Princes Wharf, Wapping Road, Bristol BS1 4RN. Thursday 6th August (and then every week until 27th August 2026).
Rudy's Pizza Napoletana The Manchester-born Neapolitan chain takes over a long-empty former bank on Baldwin Street for its first Bristol pizzeria. Walk-ins welcome friendly. 36 Baldwin Street, Bristol BS1 1NR. Opened 28th July 2026.
Leeds
Rejuvenation Summer All Dayer Rave 2026 Twelve hours of proper 90s warehouse raving across three arenas (old skool courtyard, trance and hard house hall, plus an Italian lounge) at the city's worst-kept underground secret. Tickets from £27.50. Beaver Works, 36 Whitehouse Street, Leeds LS10 1AD. Saturday 8th August 2026, 2pm–2am.
Dishoom Leeds The Bombay-café favourite finally comes to Yorkshire, in a Grade II-listed building, with bacon naans, all-day breakfasts and Leeds-specific specials. Soft launch with 50% off food from 3rd August; grand opening 14th August. 68–78 Vicar Lane, Leeds LS1 7JH. Opens 3rd August 2026.
Liverpool
Rachel Maclean: They've Got Your Eyes Your last full week to catch the Scottish artist's gleefully sinister exhibition, a candy-coloured hall of mirrors about AI, authorship and who really pulls the strings on creativity. Free admission. FACT, 88 Wood Street, Liverpool L1 4DQ. Until 16th August 2026.
Roaming Britain: Gypsy and Traveller Homes While the Albert Dock building is mid-redevelopment, Tate is running a compact, well-chosen programme out of RIBA North, and this free display on how Gypsy and Traveller communities shape their homes (told through art, poetry and objects) is the pick of it. Free admission. Tate Liverpool + RIBA North, Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BP. Until 6th September 2026.
Is This a Garden? / The Perfect Flower Open Eye's twin photography shows for LOOK Photo Biennial 2026 dig into our fussy, colonial, faintly absurd relationship with gardens and cultivated flowers, including Yan Wang Preston's long project tracing the hydrangea's journey into British borders. Free admission. Open Eye Gallery, 19 Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BP. Until 31st August 2026.
Last chance to see:
Dark of the Moon Tickets from £26. Charing Cross Theatre, The Arches, Villiers Street, London WC2N 6NL. Final performance Saturday 8th August 2026.
Arthur Tickets from £10. Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1SB. Final performances Sunday 9th August 2026.
Un ballo in maschera Tickets from £35. Opera Holland Park, Ilchester Place, London W8 6LU. Final performance Friday 7th August 2026.
Die Fledermaus Tickets from £35. Opera Holland Park, Ilchester Place, London W8 6LU. Final performance Saturday 8th August 2026.
Greater Things
1001 ways to live your life greater:
A return to more analogue communication between friends is the theme for this week's Greater Things:
Sunday Paperweight
At Home
The latest from Paperweight's home & lifestyle bureau:
There's nothing worse than the pressure of choosing the music when you have guests over for dinner. So we've curated the best of nu-disco, soul, funk, and gentle house beats for the perfect background playlist:
Cal Roscow
On the Grapevine
Gossip that we've been told this week:
It feels as if there are rumours of new international train routes from St Pancras International almost every other month. Very few seem to materialise. But we can confirm that a new direct Eurostar service from London to Antwerp will "definitely" launch on 14th December 2026. Unfortunately, things aren't set to be quite so smooth in the other direction. The return journey will apparently require considerable faffing, owing to customs and border checks. British exceptionalism, Brexit, and a long-held aversion to Schengen continue to plague travel plans.
En Route
The latest from Paperweight's En Route bureau:
With cash prices for flights heading to the stratosphere, it's becoming far more cost-effective to pay with points. We've compiled a list of the restaurants that earn you Avios:
Cal Roscow
Weather Forecast
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Brighton
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