Bermondsey Square Jazz Days
Spend your summer chilling out to some smooth jazz: the Bermondsey Square Jazz Days have returned every Sunday until 3 September.
Get down to Bermondsey Square from 2pm each week for the free community event, now celebrating its sixth season.
The organisers said: “Bermondsey Square Jazz Days over the past five years have proudly supported many fine musicians, inviting several students and graduates from London’s leading music conservatoires, including Royal Academy of Arts, Guildhall and Trinity Laban.”
And this year, they have made the event more inclusive than ever with additional seating and a disability-access toilet.
bermondseysquare.net
Bermondsey Square, SE1 3UN
Southwark Playhouse
If theatre is your thing this summer, Southwark Playhouse has you covered.
At its Borough branch, you’ll find Under the Kundè Tree by Clarisse Makundul – showing until 17 June, and at Elephant and Castle, it’s a new musical of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, book and lyrics by Jethro Compton and music and lyrics by Darren Clark – showing until 1 July.
Under the Kundè Tree is set in the 50s during the secret Cameroonian War of Independence. It follows Sara, a young woman, struggling to strike a balance between her heart’s desire and the pressure to fulfil traditional familial obligations.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button sees an individual born in rather unusual circumstances: Benjamin Button is an old man, not at the end of his life, but at the beginning. Locked away from the world and branded a monster, Benjamin dreams of the chance to live a little life. More than anything, he dreams of love. With no hope of finding it, Benjamin resigns himself to a life of solitude, until, one day, a miracle occurs – the local barmaid, Elowen Keene. But as the years come and go, time and tide threaten to tear the two apart.
southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
Elephant and Castle: Dante Place, 80 Newington Butts, SE11 4FL
Borough: 77-85 Newington Causeway, SE1 6BD
Rotherhithe Festival
Head on down to King George’s Fields for the 2023 Rotherhithe Festival on 22 July.
Access through the main entrance on SE16’s Moodkee Street, the festival is on from 11:30am to 8:30pm.
The line-up: Robin BiBi – 2pm to 3pm, Chris Corcoran Band – 3pm to 4:30pm, Paul Cox and the Soul Intention Band – 6:30pm to 8pm.
rotherhithefestival.com
Moodkee Street, SE16 7BJ
The museum for biscuit lovers
The Peek Freans Biscuity Factory is a well-known symbol of Bermondsey’s industrial past. But far from just a manufacturing plant, it was also a place of confectionary creativity, where some of the UK’s best-loved treats got their lucky breaks.
Known for their unique knobbly appearance and “love it or hate it” Marmite-like taste, Twiglets were invented by the Peek Freans Biscuity Factory in 1929.
And now, visitors can learn more about the history of these busy biscuit makers at the Peek Freans Museum. Artefacts include a salesman’s display pack of Peek Freans finest from the 1940s and lots more memorabilia.
@peek_freans_museum on Insagram
To arrange a visit, email: peekfreanmuseum@hotmail.com
100 Drummond Road, SE16 4DG
Southwark Park Galleries
Southwark Park Galleries’ 2023 exhibition programme launched earlier in the year with a new immersive and performative installation by internationally renowned choreographer and visual artist Florence Peake.
Enveloping both galleries, Lake and Dilston, Peake’s major solo commission will present a body of monumental paintings using her distinctive gestural, and movement marking techniques. The exhibition is showing until 2 July.
southwarkparkgalleries.org
1 Park Approach, Southwark Park, SE16 2UA
London’s largest real cider festival is back
Cider Dog Festival is back on Saturday 15 July, from 12pm to 1am, serving all of your cider needs.
At The Miller in SE1, you’ll find live music, DJs, street food and a selection of over 100 ciders to wet your whistle – and they’re only £4 a pint. With free entry! Music to our ears.
www.themiller.co.uk
96 Snowfields Road, SE1 3SS
