If the thought of yet another exposed brick and bare bulb restaurant interior sends you running for the hills, Circolo Popolare is here to give you a gigantic, Italian-nonna-on-steroids hug. The second Big Mamma restaurant to open in London (after the wildly popular Gloria in Shoreditch), Circolo Popolare is huge, with space for 280 diners and a further 60 on its Sicilian-esque terrace. 

From the 20,000 spirit bottles lining the walls (there’s a ladder to access them, old-school-library-style) to the veritable forest hanging from the ceiling, there is nothing subtle about this joint. Fun is the name of the game here – with pillowy-crusted metre-long pizzas, Insta-baiting carbonara served in a wheel of cheese and a lemon meringue pie as OTT as the decor. But it’s the atmosphere, the effervescent all-Italian staff and the unbridled joy of the place that has seen queues since it opened. For a birthday or raucous night out with friends, there’s no better place in London. 40-41 Rathbone Place, W1T ● Words by Jenny Tregoning 

The place: the Big Apple, 1966. The dress code: short skirts, flares and beehives. The soundtrack: Marvin Gaye and The Velvet Underground. As artists, drag queens and intellectual types descend upon The Silver Factory, you’re rubbing shoulders with a host of Warhol superstars from Edie Sedgwick to Paul America. No, you’re not dreaming – this is City Nights, a new experiential theatre production popping up in Peckham next week (25-27 July; tickets from £26), where your choice of ticket dictates just how involved in the party you get.

Go even further back in time at Lost Love Speakeasy’s sinfully seductive 20s experience, featuring wild dancing, prohibition cocktails and food by Neil Rankin (sign up for the email to nab the latest tickets). Not quite louche enough? Get a taste of 90s New York hedonism at The Wolf of Wall Street when it lands in Soho this September. You can either become an illicit trader or join the FBI – the moral dilemma is yours.