What we’re about
The Left Culture Club hosts social events, skill-sharing workshops, cultural activities, film screenings, reading groups and games nights for London's progressives, dissidents, and radicals. Everyone is welcome, whatever your politics or your level of political committment.
The Club was created to solve a problem: how do we bring together all people trying to face the political, economic and social challenges of our times and give them a space to understand each other better, without making political parties or activist organisations the starting point? There's nothing worse than trying to get to know people and explore progressive politics when the price of admission to these spaces is making all the right political committments, reading all the right literature, or having the right backstory. The LCC wants to make the political left a welcoming place again, and that means providing a space for progressives and radicals to move together without having to sign up to each others' newsletters from day one.
If you ever wanted to learn more about emancipatory politics, or if you've ever felt like your activist group or political org wasn't providing the social space that every broad movement needs in order to hold itself together, then the Left Culture Club is for you.
We're committed to making every one of our events welcoming and safe for everybody. Our spaces are non-partisan, but not apolitical. Racism, sexism, antisemitism, classism, forms of discrimination based on sexual preference or gender identity: all these are obviously way out of line. If you are a victim of bigotry or harrasment at any of our events, please raise this with an organiser who will act appropriately. We broadly follow this code of conduct https://wiki.dbzer0.com/the-anarchist-code-of-conduct/.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Climb Club: Indoor Rock Climbing @ Aldgate City Bouldering (£16.5 ENTRY)Aldgate City Bouldering, London
Hello verticalists! Join us once more as LCC goes (indoor) rock climbing, aka bouldering. This time, for the first time, we're trying a Monday night time slot. We'll start from around 18:00 and stick around until around 20:00 or 8PM - feel free to join us at any point within the window!
Why climb? This is a surprisingly addictive, fun sport, easy to master and always great for your upper body, core and grip strength, hand-eye co-ordination and general mobility. Indoor bouldering is a great way to get the rush of rock climbing in a safe environment without the need of complex rope and anchor systems.
For this Monday night meetup, we'll be at Aldgate City Bouldering, just next door to Aldgate station (Circle and Metropolitan lines) and around 15 mins' walk from Liverpool Street station. Peak time entry to City Bouldering locations is £16.5 and shoe hire (if you don't have your own to bring along) is £3.
If it's your first time at this location, be sure to fill out the mandatory pre-registration form at this link and find out more about bouldering in general here. You can also do this on-site on the day if you like, but online pre-reg is of course faster.
If you can't make this one, don't worry: check out our events page - we've got plenty more climbs on for other nights and at other locations!
Take care and see you on the walls!
- LCC RUNNERS: Hyde Park Trail Running [~3km] EVENING SESSIONMarble Arch Tube Station Exit 3, London
Welcome back to LCC's Trail Running Club! For our next outing we're heading to Hyde Park in central London for our first experiment in weekday, evening running.
Hyde Park will provide us a nice flat trail run. We'll be looking at roughly 30-45 minutes, covering around 3km at a moderate pace, ideal for beginners and intermediate runners. Whatever your speed, our organisers will always keep you in sight!
Our Hyde Park route will take us from the actual Marble Arch structure, by the Marble Arch tube station (on the Central line), south over the open ground to the long Rotten Row track running west, north and over the Serpentine Bridge crossing the lake, through the Hyde Park forest and finish out the run back at the Arch.
There are toilet facilities in Hyde Park which cost 20 pence (£0.20) to access; contactless payment cards are accepted but cash is not. If you haven't got a card but need the loo, don't worry, the organisers carry cards and will gladly spot you 20p. How generous is that?
I'll also be bringing plenty of water along with me, so if you forget yours, fear not. I've got a few spare bits of kit as well - if you would like a running sleeve to put your phone in or a pouch belt for keys and things, just shoot me a message on here ahead of time!
All are welcome - we're a mix of skill levels and leg lengths, so I'll be maintaining a relatively relaxed pace and will make sure no one winds up too far behind.
Our standard bit of info about our running group and why it's good is provided below:
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Humans evolved to run and sprint; no wonder then that when we do it regularly (within moderation and with plenty of rest days), our brains as well as bodies thank us. Running has recently been shown to improve neuroplasticity, heal brain damage in affected individuals, and foster better mental health including elevated mood at rest and enhanced task-switching ability. Doing all this in nature, as opposed to busy London roads dodging commuters and street cleaners, also helps deliver the well-known benefits of time spent in nature to mood, anxiety levels, cognition and memory. All these things matter a great deal in an age where burnout and exhaustion are a constant presence either in our own lives or those of the people we care about [who you should totally invite along]. It matters especially for people trying to eke out a percentage of their time and mental capacity for transformative social and political organising: the better we feel, the more we'll be able to do.
In a nutshell, running is great for you and you should do it. Trail running is even better. Best of all is doing all this with a supportive group of comrades, especially one which includes knowledgeable folks who can provide some structure to what can be a puzzling sport to get started with if building up to something, like a 10k or half marathon, is your goal. Part of our running group's programming will be building a series of events aimed at building people up, slowly but surely, towards specific goals, using progressive programmes similar to the NHS's Couch to 5k system.
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Take care and see you on the trails!
- LCC RUNNERS: Hampstead Heath Trail Running [4-5km] MORNING SESSIONGospel Oak Overground station, London
Welcome back runners! For our next weekend session of the Trail Running Club, us heathens are heading back to Hampstead Heath. This is a moderately hilly run, but we'll be making for the uplands and forests at the top of the Heath where the terrain evens out and doing most of our run there. We'll be looking at a roughly 45-60 minute run, covering between 4 and 5 kilometres or thereabouts. All are welcome, but this session is best suited to intermediate and experienced runners; check out our other running events for more options!
Our route will take us from Gospel Oak Overground Station (on the Mildmay and Suffragette lines) through the east side of the Heath, up Parliament Hill (at a relaxed pace), around Hampstead Heath Woods and its ponds in the north, and then back down to where we began at Gospel Oak.
All are welcome - we're a mix of skill levels and leg lengths, so I'll be maintaining a relatively relaxed pace. I'll keep an eye out and will be making sure no one winds up too far behind, so don't worry if you need to slow down or stop for a break/water/breather etc!
I'll also be bringing plenty of water along with me, so if you forget yours, fear not. I've got a few spare bits of kit as well - if you would like a running sleeve to put your phone in or a pouch belt for keys and things, just shoot me a message on here ahead of time! There are free toilets at Gospel Oak Station and the Parliament Hill Cafe, close to our route.
Our standard bit of info about our running group and why it's good is provided below:
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Humans evolved to run and sprint; no wonder then that when we do it regularly (within moderation and with plenty of rest days), our brains as well as bodies thank us. Running has recently been shown to improve neuroplasticity, heal brain damage in affected individuals, and foster better mental health including elevated mood at rest and enhanced task-switching ability. Doing all this in nature, as opposed to busy London roads dodging commuters and street cleaners, also helps deliver the well-known benefits of time spent in nature to mood, anxiety levels, cognition and memory. All these things matter a great deal in an age where burnout and exhaustion are a constant presence either in our own lives or those of the people we care about [who you should totally invite along]. It matters especially for people trying to eke out a percentage of their time and mental capacity for transformative social and political organising: the better we feel, the more we'll be able to do.
In a nutshell, running is great for you and you should do it. Trail running is even better. Best of all is doing all this with a supportive group of comrades, especially one which includes knowledgeable folks who can provide some structure to what can be a puzzling sport to get started with if building up to something, like a 10k or half marathon, is your goal. Part of our running group's programming will be building a series of events aimed at building people up, slowly but surely, towards specific goals, using progressive programmes similar to the NHS's Couch to 5k system.
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Take care and see you on the trails!
![LCC RUNNERS: Hyde Park Trail Running [~3km] EVENING SESSION cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/d/4/e/event_527779790.webp "LCC RUNNERS: Hyde Park Trail Running [~3km] EVENING SESSION")
