It’s often said that Valentines Day is a big one for card makers but now that we're more likely to send a flirty Whatsapp or dirty Snapchat to say ‘I want you’, it's the going-out industry that's really lucking out. This week is full of those extra-‘special’ menus at restaurants (put an oyster starter on, charge £10 extra for some heart shaped chocolates with the coffee), cooking courses catered to couples or on the flip side, anti-valentines club nights. Bounce, a ping pong bar in London are cashing in with Tinder sponsored games while even Battersea Cats home is taking advantage of the 14th being on a Saturday, with their ‘Feline Lonely’ day where you can consider adopting a new cat while enjoying cake and a glass of bubbly.
Here’s what else is on this weekend…
**The event to examine your love/hate relationship with food… **
*Cravings @ The Science Museum, London *
Opens Thursday Feb 12
Fuck Off Valentines Food Slam @ Camp & Furnace, Liverpool
Friday Feb 13
Ever wonder why you love or loathe food the way you do? Why you have cravings for certain things (me - microwave lasagne with supermarket basic white bread to dip in the sauce mmmmm) and not for others (never liked olives)? This new exhibition sheds some light on the science behind food and our tastes, exploring sensory cues that influence appetite, how our senses can warp to make food seem healthier and looking at the future of eating. Alternatively, ditch the romantic meal at Camp & Furnace in Liverpool’s subtly named ‘Fuck Off Valentines’ food slam. Billed a night of ‘Cheap Dates and Heartbreak’ there will be tasty treats served up alongside DJ sets and some romance killing sounding ‘unspeakable circus acts.’
The films that are silly rather than sexy…
Fifty Shades Of Grey
At UK Cinemas from Feb 13
**Grease singalong **
*At Various Cineworld cinemas *
Sat Feb 14
Talking of romance killing… if the early reviews and analysis of the leads' chemistry are anything to go by The 50 Shades Of Grey adaptation isn’t going to be that steamy at all. And, if you’d like your Valentines Day cinema to be 100% silly, then Cineworld cinemas everywhere from Aberdeen to Bolton, Cardiff to Glasgow are hosting a Grease singalong, aka the mothership of ‘change yourself for the one you love’ comedy.
**The evening for broken-hearted Cumberbatch fans… **
*Sherlock @ Museum of London *
Fri 13 Feb
The Museum Of London’s £220 (!!!!) Sherlock themed night featuring a three course meal, film marathon, specialist talks and your own luxurious mattress for the night is somehow sold out but if you still want to treat the Sherlock (or just Benedict Cumberbatch fan…) in your life there are two related events on this weekend. On the Friday the museum ‘embraces London’s bohemian soul’ with a series of installations and discussions on the city’s past (yes, there’s a bar) while during Saturday daytime you can take part in one of the scheduled walking tours that takes in parts of Victorian London that inspired the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books and bits from the TV series.
The ravey love in that’s great whether you’re loved up or not…
** @ Rainbow Venues, Birmingham *
Fri Feb 13
Rainbow venues present a ravey love in across three rooms, meaning for your £15 you’ll be able to get up close and sweaty with DJ One-man (expect sexy R&B to be dropped in liberally), Artwork and New York Transit Authority in the Warehouse. Enei and Mistanoize in the Garden and Brown Bear, Olee & Morri elsewhere.
**The programmes to fill those Sunday nights in… **
*Indian Summers *
Feb 15 9pm Channel 4
The Casual Vacancy
Feb 15, 9pm, BBC1
And if your idea of romance is a night in on the sofa surrounded by now-empty crisp packets, sweet wrappers and half-drunk cups of tea then Sunday night is probably heaven with two new series starting on TV this Sunday. On Channel 4 it’s the ‘most-expensive-ever’ Channel 4 drama Indian Summers, starring Julie Walters, Nikesh Patel and Henry Lloyd-Hughes and set in the summer of 1932 where India is moving towards independence while on BBC One Michael Gambon heads up the adaptation of JK Rowling’s ‘The Casual Vacancy’ with a brand new ending to make it less glum.
**The exhibition to see before the election… **
*History Is Now: 7 Artists Take On Britain @ Hayward Gallery, London *
From Tues Feb 10
And Is there anything less romantic than the General Election? (short answer - no) But it does make for a jumping off point for this new must-see exhibition. Until April 26 - just before the May 7 vote date, make sure you register!, six related exhibitions curated by radical artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah, Simon Fujiwara, Roger Hiorns, Hannah Starkey, Richard Wentworth and Jane and Louise Wilson take up residence in the Hayward Gallery, collecting pieces that study the mood of Britain in 2014 and how we got here.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.