# What's Going On - London Events Discovery Platform (Full Reference)

> London's most comprehensive events discovery platform. Tens of thousands of events aggregated from 20+ sources onto one interactive map, updated daily.

## Overview

What's Going On is a free, independent events discovery platform for London. We aggregate publicly available event listings from over twenty independent sources and present them on a single interactive map. We do not sell tickets, take commissions, or accept payment for placement. All ticket links go directly to the original source.

## How it works

Our system runs 22 automated scrapers daily at 2am UTC. Each scraper collects event data from a different source, then:
1. Matches events to verified London venues using multi-strategy venue matching (exact name, postcode, geographic proximity, fuzzy matching)
2. Categorises events into 12 main categories and 126 subcategories using keyword-based classification
3. Detects and removes duplicates where the same event appears across multiple sources
4. Groups related showtimes and ticket links into unified listings
5. Validates all locations are within Greater London bounds

## Event Categories (12 main, 126 subcategories)

### Music
Subcategories: concert, dj-club, jazz, classical, rock-indie, folk-acoustic, hip-hop-rnb, electronic, latin-salsa, world-music, open-mic, karaoke-music, festival, opera, musical-theatre, choir-singing, album-launch, music-workshop, ambient-drone, funk-soul, reggae-ska

### Food & Drink
Subcategories: food-festival, wine-tasting, beer-tasting, cocktail-event, cooking-class, street-food, supper-club, brunch, afternoon-tea, coffee-event, whisky-spirits, pop-up-dining, food-market

### Arts & Culture
Subcategories: comedy-standup, comedy-improv, comedy-sketch, theatre-play, theatre-musical, art-exhibition, gallery-opening, film-screening, dance-performance, museum-late, cabaret-burlesque, poetry-spoken-word, book-event, photography, craft-workshop, immersive-experience, magic-circus, storytelling, lecture-talk, design-architecture, history-heritage, literary-festival

### Nightlife & Social
Subcategories: pub-quiz, trivia, bingo, drag-show, speed-dating, singles-event, social-mixer, watch-party, game-night, themed-party, rooftop-event, boat-party, silent-disco, day-party

### Networking & Professional
Subcategories: tech-meetup, business-networking, conference, workshop-seminar, startup-event, creative-industry, career-fair, panel-discussion, hackathon, coworking-event

### Sports & Fitness
Subcategories: football, running, cycling, climbing, tennis, swimming, martial-arts, dance-class, gym-fitness, volleyball, basketball, cricket, badminton, table-tennis, squash, rowing, skating, boxing, rugby, golf, archery, fencing, horse-riding, water-sports

### Wellness
Subcategories: yoga-pilates, meditation-mindfulness, sound-healing, holistic-healing, spa-beauty, ceremony-ritual, retreat

### Family
Subcategories: kids-activity, family-show, baby-toddler, teen-event, family-workshop, outdoor-play

### Markets & Fairs
Subcategories: craft-market, farmers-market, vintage-fair, art-market, flea-market, christmas-market, night-market, car-boot

### Community
Subcategories: charity-fundraiser, cultural-celebration, pride-lgbtq, local-festival, volunteer, faith-spiritual, environmental, neighbourhood

### Tours & Experiences
Subcategories: walking-tour, food-tour, ghost-tour, boat-tour, bus-tour, escape-room, adventure-activity, nature-wildlife, brewery-distillery-tour

### Other
Subcategory: other (catch-all for events that don't fit elsewhere)

## Data Sources

| Source | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| Eventbrite | Ticketing platform | Major ticketing platform with thousands of London events |
| Dice | Ticketing platform | Music and nightlife-focused ticketing |
| Resident Advisor | Music platform | Electronic music and club events |
| Songkick | Concert tracker | Live music and concert listings |
| Skiddle | Ticketing platform | UK events platform |
| Ticketmaster | Ticketing platform | Major ticketing marketplace |
| Meetup | Community platform | Groups and meetup events |
| DesignMyNight | Discovery platform | Bars, restaurants, and nightlife |
| Chortle | Comedy listings | UK comedy events guide |
| Fever | Discovery app | Curated experiences and events |
| Luma | Event platform | Tech and professional events |
| London Theatre Direct | Theatre ticketing | West End and London theatre |
| WeGotTickets | Independent ticketing | Independent venue ticketing |
| Fatsoma | Student/nightlife | Student and nightlife events |
| Universe | Event platform | Various event types |
| AllEvents | Aggregator | Global event aggregation |
| Ents24 | UK entertainment | UK entertainment listings |
| Eventim | Ticketing platform | European ticketing marketplace |
| Official London Theatre | Theatre | Official SOLT listings |
| parkrun | Running events | Free weekly 5K runs |
| Thursday | Dating app | Social and dating events |
| Venue Websites | Direct scraping | AI-powered extraction from 1000+ venue websites |

## Venue Types

pub, bar, club, theatre, cinema, arena, stadium, gallery, museum, park, market, community-centre, restaurant, hotel, rooftop, warehouse, place-of-worship, education, studio, sports-centre, other

## London Borough Coverage (33)

Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster

## API Reference

### List Events
GET /api/events

Query parameters:
- category: EventCategory (music, food, arts, nightlife, networking, sports, wellness, family, markets, community, tours)
- subcategories: comma-separated subcategory slugs
- startDate: ISO 8601 date string
- endDate: ISO 8601 date string
- searchQuery: text search across title, venue, category
- isFree: boolean
- borough: London borough name
- wards: comma-separated ward names
- bounds: map viewport bounds (sw_lng,sw_lat,ne_lng,ne_lat)
- limit: number (default 500)

### Get Single Event
GET /api/events/{id}

Returns full event details including:
- title, description
- start_time, end_time (ISO 8601)
- category, subcategory
- is_free, price_min, price_max (GBP)
- source, source_url (link to original listing)
- image_url
- venue: { name, address, latitude, longitude, borough, type }

### Get Venue
GET /api/venues/{id}

Returns venue details including:
- name, address, postcode, borough
- latitude, longitude
- type (pub, bar, club, etc.)
- website_url, social links
- description, capacity
- upcoming events list

## URL Structure

### Event Pages
/events/{uuid} — Individual event with full details, JSON-LD Event schema, ticket links

### Venue Pages
/venues/{uuid} — Venue with upcoming events, JSON-LD LocalBusiness schema, nearby venues

### Browse Pages
/browse — Index of categories, subcategories, venue types and boroughs
/browse/events — All events
/browse/events/today — Everything happening today in London
/browse/events/this-weekend — Events this Friday, Saturday and Sunday
/browse/events/trending — Most-viewed events in the next 14 days, ranked by recent views
/browse/events/{category} — Category page (e.g., /browse/events/music)
/browse/events/{subcategory} — Subcategory page (e.g., /browse/events/pub-quiz)
/browse/events/{borough-slug} — Borough page (e.g., /browse/events/camden)
/browse/events/{category}/{borough-slug} — Category + borough (e.g., /browse/events/music/hackney)
/browse/events/{subcategory}/{borough-slug} — Subcategory + borough (e.g., /browse/events/pub-quiz/camden)
/browse/venues — All venue types
/browse/venues/{type-slug} — Venue type (e.g., /browse/venues/pubs)
/browse/venues/{type-slug}/{borough-slug} — Venue type + borough

## Structured Data

All pages include appropriate Schema.org JSON-LD:
- Homepage: WebSite (with SearchAction), Organization
- Event pages: Event (with location, offers, organizer), BreadcrumbList
- Venue pages: EventVenue + LocalBusiness (dual-type), BreadcrumbList
- Browse pages: ItemList (with Event items), BreadcrumbList
- About page: FAQPage

## Technical Details
- Built with Next.js 14 (App Router) with ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration)
- Homepage revalidates every 5 minutes; today/this-weekend/trending pages every hour
- Individual event and venue pages revalidate every 24 hours
- Sitemap revalidates every 6 hours
- All pages are server-rendered for SEO
- Dynamic Open Graph images generated for events and venues

## Contact
- Email: hello@whatsgoingon.london
- Website: https://whatsgoingon.london