Kensal, London: Things to Do and What's On: 1013 events this week (18 Aug to 18 Aug)

Kensal sits in that quiet band of northwest London between Queen's Park and Notting Hill, split across Kensal Rise, Kensal Green and Kensal Town, and it rarely gets the attention Portobello Road pulls a mile south. That's part of the appeal. You get canal towpaths, a genuinely good stretch of independent restaurants, and pubs that feel like local secrets rather than destinations, without the crowds.

Chamberlayne Road is the spine of the place. It's a short walk lined with cafes, wine bars and restaurants that punch well above a residential high street, and it's where most people start an evening here before drifting toward the canal or one of the pubs nearby. Kensal Green itself, further south toward the cemetery, has a slightly different character, quieter, more residential, with the Grand Union Canal cutting through it.

The Grand Union Canal is worth building an evening or afternoon around on its own. The towpath runs from Kensal Green down toward Little Venice and up toward Wembley, and it's the kind of walk that changes character block by block, narrowboats and waterside pubs giving way to warehouses and then back to green space. Paradise by Kensal Green, right by the canal, is the area's best-known venue for an evening out, a rambling pub with a strong track record for live music, comedy nights and quizzes, plus a beer garden that fills up fast whenever the weather allows.

Kensal Green Cemetery, one of London's original 'Magnificent Seven' Victorian cemeteries, is the area's other real landmark. It's open to the public and worth a slow walk even without a tour, though guided tours run periodically and go deep on the Victorian history and the notable names buried there. If you're picking what to do in Kensal on a given night, the honest advice is to anchor around Chamberlayne Road or the canal and let the rest follow, this isn't an area with one big draw, it's an area that rewards wandering.

Getting here is straightforward: Kensal Rise and Kensal Green both have their own stations (London Overground and Bakerloo line respectively), so the two ends of the neighbourhood are easy to treat as separate stops on the same evening. Expect a mostly local, unhurried crowd rather than a nightlife circuit, this is a place for a good dinner, a canal walk and a pub with character, not a big night out.