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 Friday, August 22nd as LCC goes (indoor) rock climbing, aka bouldering. We'll start from around 17:30 and stick around until around 8PM - feel free to join us at any point within the window.
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 safer environment without the need of complex rope and anchor systems.
For this inaugural 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.
In future, we'll check out other locations across London and experiment with non-peak times if there's sufficient demand.
Take care and see you on the walls!
- COLD SWIMMING @ Hampstead Heath Mixed Pond [£4.80 MORNING SESSIONS]Hampstead Heath Mixed Bathing Ponds, NW3
🌊 LCC COLD SWIMMING:
⏱️ MORNING SESSION (10:00 AM)
📅 SATURDAY AUGUST 16th 2025
📍 HAMPSTEAD MIXED POND (FIND IT HERE)
💷 COST: £4.80 (NO PRE-BOOKING REQUIRED)
Supplies to bring:
- Swimming costume
- Towel(s)
- Something warm to throw on after getting out
- Flip-flops or slip-ons recommended
- A hot drink!
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Swimming as an act of defiance: Britain's wettest capitalists (Thames Water, Severn Trent, etc) may have set their hearts on turning our waterways into one great solid mass of waste. But the bond between the people and the water refuses to break, with wild swimming clubs booming since the pandemic. Per the BBC:
"Swimming has always been a popular sport in the UK, with accounts of 16th-century knights struggling to paddle in full armour and Victorians embracing dips in the sea. But [since] the pandemic, the hobby of outdoor swimming has been rediscovered. Public swimming pools closed, and people could not travel, so they looked closer to home for opportunities to swim, creating a spike in interest and soaring club memberships."
Across the country access to this ancient, popular, indeed working-class pastime is under threat. Here in London we have options. Wild swimming at Hampstead Heath's Mixed Bathing Ponds is a great way to get your wild aquatic fix, set back in the Heath's lush forest.
Why wild swim? Swimming is one of the best low-impact full-body workouts you can do, and it requires almost nothing in terms of gear or equipment - just a piece of swimwear. Forget the Lidos (manmade pools) with their jostling crowds and pre-booking: adult access to the Mixed Pond is just £4.80, payable on-site without advanced booking during morning and evening (off-peak) sessions. The Hampstead ponds (non-mixed ponds are also found elsewhere on the Heath) feature all the essentials found at a Lido including lifeguards, changing areas, showers, toilets, and stepped access into the water via ladders.
What about cold swimming? Unlike a Lido, these ponds ain't heated or treated. Expect the shock upon getting in the water. Cold swimming and cold plunges however aren't all pain, no gain: cold therapy has been shown to help fight inflammation, improve metabolism, regulate stress hormones like cortisol, improve rest and recovery, promote the immune system, and of course provide an endorphin rush that needs to be experienced to be explained. Hampstead's ponds aren't icy obviously so they present the opportunity for some light, easy cold therapy that won't send shivers too far down your spine.
The waters at the Mixed Pond are deep and dark, so swimming ability is a must! Find out everything else you need to know here:
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/hampstead-heath/where-to-go-at-hampstead-heath/mixed-pond
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampstead-mixed-pond-tues-29-jul-mon-04-aug-tickets-1510081236629
These events will run on weekends throughout August, September and possibly, per demand, beyond. Take care and see you on the water!
- LCC Nature Walks: RICHMOND PARK & Wimbledon Common (SW LONDON)Richmond Station, London
Hello comrades! LCC's nature-walking series continues with another Tube-accessible gem for Londoners in search of wild, green spaces. For this weekend's outing, we're down in near-south-west to take on Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common, two of the capital's biggest green spaces. This will be a mostly flat hike with a fair amount of dirt trails, so good hiking shoes are recommended but not potentially a deal-breaker. Richmond Park is accessible from Richmond station on the Mildmay, District, and National Rail lines.
The first thing that stands out about Richmond Park is the deer. Created in the 17th century by Charles I as a deer park for royal hunting parties, Richmond's is the largest of the Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation.
Some deer parks were established in the Anglo-Saxon era and are mentioned in Anglo-Saxon Charters; these were often called hays (from Old English heġe (“hedge, fence”) and ġehæġ (“an enclosed piece of land”). After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, William the Conqueror seized existing game reserves. At their peak at the turn of the 14th century, deer parks may have covered 2% of the land area of England.
Historically, local commoners had the right to gather wood, pannage and other amenities from the forest free of charge; these rights were restricted in 1872, although a full right of public access to the park was confirmed by Act of Parliament in the same year.
Richmond Park is also the birthplace of radio astronomy. During WWII, the park hosted a research site of the Army Operational Research Group (AORG), where Stanley Hey researched anti-aircraft radar. During these investigations, Hey semi-accidentally discovered that the Sun is a source of radio waves, and he began to experiment with radio reflections from meteor trails and other noise from cosmic sources. In 1946 Hey's group discovered Cygnus A, later shown to be the first radio galaxy. The Richmond Park installation thus became the first radio observatory in Britain.
Our route will take us around Richmond Park south and then east into Wimbledon Common, where we'll loop back to our starting point from the north. Keep an eye out for deer along the way! We'll end with a pub session somewhere in Richmond town.
- Distance/Time: About 13km, making for a roughly 4-4.5 hour walk, depending on our speed
- Terrain: Mostly flat; mix of paved paths, dirt tracks, and grass.
- Supplies: Bring 3L water, snacks, and a packed lunch if desired
- Weather: Check forecasts; we're likely to have sun, but bring a windbreaker and/or rain layer ideally.
![COLD SWIMMING @ Hampstead Heath Mixed Pond [£4.80 MORNING SESSIONS] cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/5/d/f/event_529354271.webp "COLD SWIMMING @ Hampstead Heath Mixed Pond [£4.80 MORNING SESSIONS]")
