EDITOR'S NOTE
A hot start and a big finish. Monday to Wednesday sit at 30–31°C, which is proper Lido weather. Then on Saturday the High Street is given over to the town's biggest free day of the summer — with one significant catch, which is that the trains aren't running.
FEATURED THIS WEEK
The Big Free Fringe Weekend — Guildford High Street, Sat 15 August
Free family entertainment from 11am to 4pm: street theatre, live music, arts and crafts, face painting, drama workshops, plus Anton and the Bubble Bees. Then at 6.30pm, West End group The Barricade Boys play a free concert from the Guildhall — Les Misérables and Jersey Boys numbers alongside pop, rock, swing and Motown. Bring a picnic blanket and get there early. It's the curtain-raiser for the Fringe Festival proper in September.
BEST FOR KIDS
Pop Up Play at the Yvonne Arnaud's River Room — free weekly drop-in sessions for pre-schoolers, running every Friday through to December. One of the better-kept secrets for anyone with a toddler and a baking afternoon to fill.
NEW THIS WEEK
The Guildford Institute has just published its October–March programme — more than 100 courses, talks and workshops, open for booking now. If you've walked past the Ward Street building for years without going in, this is the moment.
HEADS UP
Buses replace trains between Guildford and both Surbiton and Leatherhead all weekend on Sat 15 and Sun 16 August — the same Saturday as the Fringe day. If you were counting on the train into town, don't.
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Pop Up Play — Yvonne Arnaud River Room, Fridays. Free drop-in sessions for pre-schoolers. See Best for Kids above.
Fringe Family Fun Day — Guildford High Street, Sat 15 August, 11am–4pm. Free. Street theatre, live music, crafts, face painting and drama workshops.
Edo Pop: Japanese Prints 1825–1895 — Watts Gallery, Artists' Village, to Sun 31 August. Woodblock prints from the last decades of old Edo, plus the free trails and playwood across the site.
Bandstand concert — Castle Grounds, Sun 16 August, 2–4pm. Free, bring a rug.
Adults · Date Night
Our Man In Havana — Yvonne Arnaud, Tue 11–Sat 15 August. Theatre Royal Windsor's take on Graham Greene's comedy of a vacuum-cleaner salesman who accidentally becomes a spy and starts inventing his own intelligence. Book at yvonne-arnaud.co.uk →
Sunlifter — The Boileroom, Mon 10 August. Tickets →
Prima Queen — The Boileroom, Wed 12 August. Transatlantic indie duo, all harmonies and friendship songs. Tickets →
Danny & the Champions of the World — The Boileroom, Thu 13 August. Tickets →
Weekend Events
Fringe Family Fun Day — High Street, Sat 15 August, 11am–4pm. Free.
The Barricade Boys — the Guildhall, High Street, Sat 15 August, 6.30pm. Free. See Featured above.
A Celebration of Placebo — The Boileroom, Sat 15 August. Sucker Love, marking 30 years of the debut album. Tickets →
Jenny's House Band — The Boileroom, Sun 16 August. Tickets →
Bandstand concert — Castle Grounds, Sun 16 August, 2–4pm.
Looking ahead: the Yvonne Arnaud's main house turns over to Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape (20–23 Aug); The Princess Proms lands at G Live on Fri 21 Aug; and Stoke Park has a run of three — the Ibiza Orchestra Experience (21 Aug), the Sausage and Cider Festival (22 Aug) and Summer in Nashville (23 Aug).
🏙️ What's New in Guildford
Plans in for the old Baptist church on Chertsey Street. An application has been lodged for the part demolition, extension and refurbishment of Grace Church and the adjacent office building at the Chertsey Street Old Baptist Church site. It's one of the more substantial town-centre schemes to come forward this summer, on a building most people walk past without registering.
The Guildford Institute's new programme is out. More than 100 courses, talks and workshops across October to March, published this week and bookable now — the Institute's biggest push of the year.
🚧 Useful Guildford Updates
Roads — a clear week, then a big one. National Highways updated the Dennis Roundabout schedule on 3 August, and there is nothing listed for the coming week. Worth putting in the diary though: an A3 northbound weekend closure from 9pm Friday 21 August to 6am Monday 24 August, Stoke Interchange to Dennis Interchange, with a 40mph limit southbound, plus overnight closures on 20, 24 and 25 August. The standing 24/7 lane closure on the roundabout's west side continues until December. Check the scheme page before travelling →
Trains — the big one is this weekend. On Sat 15 and Sun 16 August all lines close between Guildford and both Surbiton and Leatherhead. Buses replace trains on both routes, and they will be busy — this is the same weekend as the free Fringe day on the High Street, so allow serious extra time or drive. Official notice →
Planning. A busier week on the register than of late: 53 applications validated, 51 decided. Beyond the Chertsey Street scheme above, conditions are being discharged on the North Street regeneration site — surface water drainage, drainage and, tellingly, a wind mitigation strategy — which is the sort of paperwork that only appears when a scheme is genuinely moving. There's also an application to retrofit and extend the office building at 1 Farnham Road, near the station, with roof-level plant. The decided list was almost entirely householder extensions, tree work and certificates of lawfulness.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 10 Aug: Sunlifter, The Boileroom
Tue 11 Aug: Our Man In Havana opens, Yvonne Arnaud
Wed 12 Aug: Prima Queen, The Boileroom
Thu 13 Aug: Danny & the Champions of the World, The Boileroom
Fri 14 Aug: Pop Up Play, Yvonne Arnaud River Room
Sat 15 Aug: Fringe Family Fun Day, High Street, 11am–4pm · The Barricade Boys, the Guildhall, 6.30pm · Our Man In Havana's final night · A Celebration of Placebo, The Boileroom · rail replacement buses all day
Sun 16 Aug: Bandstand concert, Castle Grounds, 2–4pm · Jenny's House Band, The Boileroom · rail replacement buses continue
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
The Undercroft. Thousands of people walk over it every Saturday without knowing. Beneath 72–74 High Street is a stone-vaulted semi-basement dating from the end of the 13th century — almost certainly a wealthy merchant's shop, selling wine or silk to a town that was then getting rich on wool. It is one of the finest surviving medieval undercrofts in the country, it is free, and it is open on Wednesdays 2–4pm and Saturdays 12–4pm through to September. Both of which fall in this coming week — and Saturday is the Fringe day, so you can drop 700 years underground and be back up for the Barricade Boys. Steps down from street level, and no step-free access.
The Undercroft © Guildford Town Guide
WEATHER THIS WEEK
Hot and dry to start: 30°C on Monday, 30°C again Tuesday and 31°C on Wednesday, with rain chances under 10% throughout and nights staying muggy at 17–18°C. Thursday onwards is beyond reliable forecast range at the time of writing, though the regional outlook has it staying largely dry. Worth checking again before Saturday if you're planning to spend the day on the High Street. For context, the Met Office has just confirmed July 2026 as an exceptional month nationally — records challenged or broken for dryness, sunshine and warmth.
👀 WORTH KNOWING
The Guildford Institute is open for enrolment. Its new October-to-March programme went live this week with more than 100 courses, talks and workshops — everything from languages and history to art and wellbeing, in the Victorian building on Ward Street that's been doing this since 1834. Membership isn't required to book most things, which is the bit most people don't realise.
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Published by Getbrief, a trading name of RJP Group Ltd