What's On in London
Wednesday 12 August 2026 · This weekend · City guide
Wednesday might not shout for attention the way a Friday does, but London has other ideas entirely. From the spin and laughter of a roller rink to the soul-soaked hush of one of the city's most beloved venues, this midweek stretch of August is genuinely worth showing up for.
Highlights
School's Out | Rollernation — Summer holidays call for something a little more thrilling than the sofa, and Rollernation's School's Out session delivers exactly that. From 1:00pm, the rink opens up for families and young skaters to glide, wobble, and disco their way through a Wednesday afternoon in north London's most gloriously retro space. At £16, it's a brilliant way to spend the hours between lunch and dinner, and the smiles-per-pound ratio is hard to beat.
Mavis Staples | Union Chapel — This is one of those evenings you will be telling people about for years. Mavis Staples — gospel titan, civil rights icon, one of the last truly irreplaceable voices in American music — takes the stage at Union Chapel at 7:00pm, and the setting could not be more fitting: all soaring gothic arches and candlelit atmosphere, a venue that feels like it was built for exactly this kind of transcendence. At £52, it is an investment, but watching a legend perform in one of London's most intimate and beautiful spaces is about as good as live music gets.
