MUST DO: Solomons’ Yard

Sequinned tunics at the ready, people. Why? Well, for seven weeks over the hopefully not-too-freezing winter, Camden Market’s cobbled streets are set to be transformed into an “immersive” 1920s-inspired playground of music, food and booze. Yes, really.

It’s all called Solomons’ Yard after Alfie Solomons, a gangster who ‘controlled’ Camden Town in the 1920s (and was admirably portrayed by Tom Hardy in the recent BBC 2 drama Peaky Blinders). But that’s where the “crime” ends, and the hedonism – it would seem, anyway – begins.

So what to expect? Punters will crowd a “stargazing warm marquee”, and sup at three bars, with hot buttered rum cocktails served by flapper girls. Oh, and a sea of, er, very 2015-style craft beers and ales will be in evidence at a nearby hangout called ‘The Garrison’.

Inevitably there’s a ton of the market’s best street food vendors, from the Chia boys serving healthy salad boxes and wraps and Wing It’s crispy chicken to The Frenchie dishing up shredded duck in handmade brioche rolls. New arrival Ghetto Grillz, whose stall is hidden in a most unexpected location deep within the market, will be on hand with hip burgers and yet more craft beer. And Cupcakes and Shhht will be matching the sticky libations with sweet-toothed treats.

Know your musical onions (although not necessarily the hit records of the twenties)? Then you’ll want to get down to festival stalwart Norman Jay MBE, doing his thing on 13th November, and American hip hop impresarios Grandmaster Flash on 20th November.  Also confirmed are noughties superstar DJ Joey Negro, on 14th November, Manchester band and DJ collective Crazy P (19th December), and El Diablo’s Social Club.

Who the devil is behind all this? Solomons’ Yard is the first standalone bash from Joba Events, who run pop-ups in east London. “We wanted to try a new destination and discover a space that fitted with our vision,” says founder Ben Asbourn. “Camden Market provides that perfect location, with its strong musical heritage, historical architecture and incredible variety of street food.”

So yes, the Yard should prove a useful seasonal haunt to down a few festive snifters after work, as well as somewhere you can get ‘ossified’ for an entire night engulfed in all things Roaring Twenties.

As we might well have said back in 1923, it’s the bee’s knees indeedy.