12 Lovely Things To Do In Chelsea
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2 weeks ago
In town for Chelsea Arts Festival? Here's what else you'll find
Beyond pulling on your Chelsea boots and Barbour, wandering down the pretty streets, marvelling at the houses and pretending you’re a local, here are the very best things to do if you find yourself in Chelsea, London.
Chelsea Arts Festival
The streets of Chelsea are being doused in culture, wonder and joy thanks to the second annual Chelsea Arts Festival, which is bringing a plethora of stars from across the worlds of art, literature, theatre and more to the area’s illustrious venues, including the Saatchi Gallery and Cadogan Hall. That includes Bernadine Evaristo, Celia Imrie, Susie Cave, Asa Butterfield, Katherine Rundell and many, many more.
Details: 18 to 21 September 2025 across Chelsea. Here’s a day by day guide to the festival.
Shop On The King’s Road
Connecting Chelsea to Fulham (where you will find Chelsea FC, by the way), it’s no exaggeration to say the King’s Road is one of the world’s most culturally relevant streets. It’s seen punk, Vivienne Westwood and generations of bohemians – and it remains a stellar destination for a shopping trip. Expect everything from GANNI and ME+EM to Trinny London and Moica Vinader. Here’s our complete guide to the famous street.
Anya Village
Speaking of retail therapy, any Anya Hinmarch fans passing through Chelsea simply must stop by The Village, a microcosm of quirky heaven created by Anya herself. Expect a little village of cute shops hidden away from the bustle of the main thoroughfares, featuring Anya’s flagship store, a cafe, a spot dedicated to personalised gifts and more. This is also where Anya’s always-creative pop-ups land – and draw the masses.
Details: Find Anya Village on Pont St, between Cadogan Place and Chesham Lane. Find out more at anyahindmarch.com
Stroll Pavilion Road
Naturally Anya spends buckets of time in Chelsea – so she knows these pretty streets like the back of her hand. When C&TH asked for her top spots in the area, Pavilion Road emerged as a clear favourite. ”Granger & Co. on Pavilion Road is a great spot to watch the world go by,’ she said. ‘And the Pimlico Road Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings. Beeline the wonderful brown shrimp stand – delicious with good bread and butter.’
The Trafalgar
Catch Some Live Music
Halfway down the King’s Road, Grade II-listed music venue The Pheasantry earned a rep in the ‘70s for hosting early gigs from Lou Reed, Queen, Thin Lizzy and Eric Clapton. Now it’s one of three jazz bars run by PizzaExpress, and is a hub for up-and-coming live performers. It’s one of many superb spots in Chelsea for live music. New pub The Trafalgar is another: every Saturday night from 7pm, the Havannah Room welcomes a new vocalist to take on new, old and beloved tracks. Stay until 10pm to enjoy a roster of £5 drinks. Elsewhere, New Forms brings East London’s listening bar scene to SW3, hidden right beside the beloved BookBar. Experimental cocktails are shaken up behind the bar, which is lined with records you can pluck off and purchase, while vinyl-only DJs take over the decks from 7pm Thursday to Saturday. Looking ahead, Endo Kazutoshi – one of London’s greatest sushi chefs – is setting up shop in a Chelsea townhouse. Downstairs, locally caught fish will be served up in interiors inspired by Tokyo’s 1920s and 30s sushi counters. Upstairs, listening bar Moga will present a cocktail menu built around tea and set to vinyl. (Opens October.) Find more of London’s very best music bars here.
Dine In A Top Restaurant
From healthy brunch to cosy pubs, the Chelsea food scene is thriving. These storied streets are littered with top-class eateries, from long-standing institutions to newer establishments making waves. Here’s our pick of the best.
Explore Blue Plaques
Our best advice for London locals and visitors alike? Look up! When you are steamrolling through the streets of London, escaping crowds or rushing to the tube, we forget to absorb the masses of history thumping through the streets and buildings surrounding us. A welcome reminder are the city’s plethora of blue plaques, a marvellous scheme itself dating back to 1866 which links buildings to their historic occupiers. More than 1,000 London buildings don a blue plaque with pride, and Chelsea is home to plenty of these commemorating everyone from Oscar Wilde and George Eliot to Bob Marley and Martha Gellhorn. In fact all four of these famous figures are the subject of Chelsea Arts Festival’s illuminating Blue Plaques Talk Back event at Cadogan Hall, with Sir Stephen Fry, Lyse Doucet OBE, Dennis Morris and Kathryn Hughes breathing new life into their time-worn stories. Get tickets here – or wander around Chelsea and spot them for yourself.
Cadogan Hall
If you miss out on that Blue Plaques event, you’ll have to make another excuse to visit Cadogan Hall, which is a beautifully historic concert hall just steps away from Sloane Square station. Expect choral concerts, author talks, orchestral performances, jazz nights, comedy evenings, speaker panels and more.
Details: Find Cadogan Hall at 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ. See what’s on and book tickets at cadoganhall.com
Chelsea Physic Garden
Chelsea may be renowned for its storied streets and stonking fashion, but it’s also home to one of the city’s oldest botanical gardens. Originally opened in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to cultivate plants to be used in medicine, Chelsea Physic Garden is a four acre pocket of leafy joy in the city with lovely events running year-round encouraging Londoners and visitors alike to learn more about the wonders of botanicals. There are also historic glass houses and more than 4,500 plants to discover.
Details: Open 11am to 5pm Sunday to Friday at 66 Royal Hospital Rd, London SW3 4HS. Tickets start from £5pp and can be booked in advance or purchased on the door.
The Saatchi Gallery is one of Chelsea Arts Festival’s venues.
Saatchi Gallery
While you might know it best as one of the official venues for Chelsea Arts Festival 2025 (wink wink), Saatchi Gallery is one of London’s premiere contemporary art galleries, presenting wonderful exhibitions just off the King’s Road since 1985 (recent blockbusters include street art exhibition Beyond the Streets and Flowers). A frequent host of some of London’s premiere art and book fairs, there’s always something intriguing happening at Saatchi.
Details: Open 10am to 6pm Monday to Sunday. Some exhibitions should be booked in advance.
RHS Letters by Pinstripes & Peonies. (RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024)
Chelsea Flower Show
If you are visiting Chelsea during May, there’s only one thing for it: you must visit Chelsea Flower Show. This royally-attended, internationally-beloved gardening show sees the nation’s top horticulturalists come together to present painstakingly crafted show gardens and gardening advancements, all in the illustrious surroundings of Royal Hospital Chelsea. Meanwhile a sister festival called Chelsea in Bloom takes over the area’s streets and shopfronts, bringing the joy out of the Royal Hospital and spreading it across the whole region for everyone to enjoy.
Details: Chelsea Flower Show takes place at Royal Hospital Chelsea (Royal Hospital Rd, London SW3 4LW) every May, and will next take place from 19 to 23 May 2025. Tickets should be booked online in advance.
The Royal Court (© Helen Murray)
Royal Court Theatre
Another Chelsea staple is the Royal Court Theatre – one of the most radical theatres on London’s globally renowned scene. It is a crucible of modern British drama – a reputation it has been building since the end of the 19th century. Today known as ‘the writer’s theatre’, snap up a ticket and settle in to see agenda-setting and genre-defying shows penned by the stars of tomorrow.
Details: Find the Royal Court Theatre at 50-51 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS. See what’s on and book tickets at royalcourttheatre.com
