It isn’t exactly a novel concept. “Soft clubbing”: in the last few years we have seen huge ones prop up, like Yusuf Ntahilaja’s Knights Chess Club fills Café 1001 on Tuesday nights, Tom Ellis’s Soho Reading Series is busy “making books sexy again”, and Social Pottery now operates in five locations and with over 43,000 Instagram followers. So when it takes a minimum of three turns around Hackney to stumble on yet another poster for a sip-and-paint session, the real question becomes: what would it take to surprise you with an activity you haven't already considered?

Whatever's drawing you in, be it a substitute for the pub, an alternative for pres, sobriety, or just an excuse to leave the house, here are the FORE soft-clubbing activities you may not have thought of yet which fit FORE’s community-focused, maverick ethos.

1. Sonderhaus Mario Kart Nights

Did you never complete the Rainbow Road track without falling off the track? Did your older brother never let you be player 1? Or hog Princess Daisy?

Sonderhaus, the east London community space that is already beloved for Cooking On Decks, upcycling workshops and rotating art exhibitions; but one in particular that stands out is their weekly  Tuesday night event where strangers are randomly drawn into a live Mario Kart knockout tournament, where the races are projected on the big screen for everyone to watch. No VIP tables,  no dress code, just the shared,  very human experience of throwing a blue shell at someone you've never met. 

Details:

Every Tuesday 
Sevente, 283 Hackney Road, E2 8NA

Doors: 6pm - 10.30pm
@Sonderhaus.cic

2. Kelechnekoff’s Beginners Pole Dancing


 

I was having a long overdue heavily intoxicated dinner with some girls from my secondary, and while my friend Gigi regaled us with tales of her 3-month situationship who scolded her for failing to reach a 10k daily step count, we laughed. It got us thinking, though, how we ought to be more physically active and when Meelie suggested pole dancing, we all lit up. Kelechnekoff's beginner classes are exactly the kind of low-stakes, high-fun entry point to satisfy such an ambition. What makes it all the more special is that Kelechnekoff wasn't built to fill a gap in the fitness market; it’s built to fill a gap in belonging. Founded by Kelechi Okafor,  actress, director, author and decorated podcaster, the ethos is simple: it’s about how you feel, not how you look. A fun way to build core strength while probably laughing at how goofy you are going to look as a beginner. 

Details:
Class Schedule found on Instagram
Peckham at the Sojourner Truth Centre, 161 Sumner Road SE15 6JL. @Kelechnekoff_studio 

3. Casual Readers Book Club 

As for the freaks and geeks, you may want to take a look at the Casual Readers Book Club. Launched by India Chambers, the book club offers a more sociable way to get through the pile of books gathering dust beside your bed. While it’s run similarly to a traditional monthly book club, that is only one part of it. Organisers choose a title, announce the discussion, and attendees book onto the session. Their current Linktree, for example, lists discussions for The God of Small Things and Smallie. 

The club is deliberately less strict than the average book club; India Chambers insists that it's not a requirement to finish the entire book, as conversation often expands into the book’s wider themes or something happening in the media.

What makes the club even more unique is the numerous events, ranging from book swaps to film screenings, theatre trips and occasional collaborations with Busy Babes Club; 90 minutes of community ice and sauna, where you break up comparing notes on the chapters you have finished, breaking with ice plunges. 

It is less fluorescent-lit school library, more lively discussion with people who actually have opinions. Reading becomes communal rather than another vaguely virtuous activity you promise yourself you will do before bed and then abandon for an hour of Instagram reels. 

Details: 
Substack: @Casualreadersbookclub

4. Exploding Cinema

If you find the average cinema insufficiently chaotic, Exploding Cinema has spent more than three decades doing something about it. Emerging from London’s underground art scene in the early 1990s and building a reputation for screening independent short films, experimental work and artists’ moving image in spaces that feel closer to a party than a conventional cinema.  Live performances, music, raffles and layers of projections covering the walls; the premise is deliberately open. 

Anyone can submit a film. Anyone can get involved with the collective. 

The consequence, though, is that the programme is less polished festival slate and more unpredictable communal experiment. One minute you are watching a strangely beautiful animated short; the next, somebody is setting up a projector in a corner of the room while a band starts playing. It is not exactly a quiet night-in with a film. But it offers the same thing the best soft-clubbing activities do: a reason to leave the house and do something slightly more memorable than ending up at the same pub again.

Details:
Pop-up screenings at rotating London venues
Follow for upcoming dates
@exploding_cinema