Hackney Gallery

The current shows at Hackney Gallery will depend entirely on when you visit, but the space itself - a working artist-run venue in east London - feels genuinely lived in. You're looking at contemporary work, often from emerging names, displayed in a way that doesn't feel corporate or remote. Walk in off the street and you might catch sculpture, painting, installation, or video art. Sometimes it's brilliant. Sometimes it's not. That's rather the point.

This is squarely for people who actually like art rather than just Instagram backdrops. If you're into experimental work and don't mind galleries that don't have a gift shop, you'll find something worth your time. Families with teenagers interested in contemporary practice would get more from it than young children would. Expect to spend twenty minutes to an hour depending on the scale of the show.

Admission is typically free, which removes the risk factor entirely. The location - proper Hackney, not the sanitised bits - means it sits alongside independent cafés and secondhand shops, so you can easily fold it into a morning wandering the neighborhood.

If you're based at Lee Valley Camping and Caravan Park up in Edmonton, this makes for a decent reason to head into the city proper. It's not a headline attraction that demands the long journey out, but combined with a walk along the Hackney Downs or a pint at one of the local breweries, it shapes up as a proper east London afternoon.