All weekend
HALLOWEEN 2026: Things get spooky in London this weekend, with Halloween itself falling on Saturday. Check out our guide to the best Halloween events for both kids and adults, as well as scary film screenings around town. If you fancy venturing further afield, get your wellies on and visit one of these pumpkin patches near London.
KATE'S KNITALIAN: A new Italian deli opens in Soho... but we hear the food's a bit woolly. Kate's Knitalian is an art exhibition by Kate Jenkins, who has used crochet, knit and embroidery to transform Air Contemporary Gallery into a detailed Italian trattoria and deli counter. Tables are laid with hand-knitted feasts: (literal) strings of salami, woven wheels of parmesan and tangled spaghetti. 30 October-5 December 2026
AGATHA CHRISTIE: 50 years since the death of novelist Agatha Christie, the British Library opens a major exhibition on her life and work. View notebooks, personal letters, early manuscript drafts, dictaphone recordings and personal objects belonging to Christie, and find out how her work shaped the entire crime writing genre. 30 October 2026-20 June 2027
RADIOHEAD + SHAKESPEARE: Shakespeare's Hamlet accompanied by reworked songs from Radiohead's Hail to the Thief is the unlikely flavour of a new crossover show at Barbican, opening today after sell-out runs elsewhere around the country. 31 October 2026-January 2027
WEST END ICE RINK: Don't shoot the messenger, but the first ice rink of the 2026 winter season opens today. Take to the ice in the West End as Skate Leicester Square gets going, centred around the Shakespeare statue, with market stalls nearby. From 31 October 2026
TACO FESTIVAL: More than 15 taco traders return to Signature Brew Blackhorse Road for The Tacover, serving tacos alongside Signature Brew beers, margaritas, micheladas and tequila-based drinks. The Mexican Beer Hall programme includes mariachis, roaming luchadores, folk dancers, the Tortilla Slap Challenge and Hot Taco Challenge, with tacos capped at £4 each. 31 October-1 November 2026
WARTIME LONDON: Closing on Sunday is Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art, the Imperial War Museum's exhibition showing how artists depicted the Second World War in the capital. 45 paintings, drawings, photographs, film, objects and oral histories combine to tell the story of a city facing loss, displacement, overcrowding and shortages — and often meeting these with resilience. FREE, until 1 November 2026
DARBAR FESTIVAL: Barbican hosts Darbar Festival, a celebration of Indian classical music, throughout this week. The programme includes performances and talks, as well as an Indian bazaar and a yoga class this weekend. Until 1 November 2026
ROOM 13: Following the Battersea Arts Centre fire in 2015, builders uncovered a sealed chamber in the original stone structure. When they opened it, what they found was so disturbing that the renovation came to an immediate halt. That's the premise of spooky theatrical experience Room 13, which takes place on site at BAC until this weekend. Until 1 November 2026
ROYAL OBSERVATORY: This week is your last chance to visit the Royal Observatory in Greenwich before it closes for refurbishment as part of the ongoing First Light upgrade. Areas including the Prime Meridian Line and Flamsteed House will be closed to the public, with a staggered reopening from summer 2027. Until 2 November 2026
NOVEMBER PLANS: With November getting under way on Sunday, browse our pick of the best events, exhibitions, shows (and, yes, Christmas events) happening in London over the coming month.
Saturday 31 October
RUBIK'S CUBE: Learn to solve the Rubik's Cube at Dugdale Arts Centre in Enfield. The beginner-friendly workshop is for anyone age seven+ and should help you to improve your memory and patience, and keep your mind active... as well as earning you bragging rights, of course. 10.30am
LANDSCAPE PAINTING: Explore the colours and atmosphere of an autumn landscape in a relaxed oil painting workshop at Bell House Dulwich. Alexandra Oliver guides you through composition, tone, depth and colour using water-based oil paints, with demonstrations, individual guidance and all materials provided. Suitable for beginners and those with some painting experience. 10am-1pm
HALLOWEEN GOTHIC TOUR: Enter Horace Walpole's Gothic castle at Strawberry Hill House & Garden in Twickenham for a spooky guided tour themed on death, dreams and the supernatural. Explore the house's shadowy chambers and theatrical interiors while hearing about The Castle of Otranto, ghosts, omens, ancestral curses and mysterious apparitions. 11am, 1pm, 2.30pm or 3pm. It also opens for a Halloween late tonight.
WATERLOO IN FICTION: Explore Waterloo through the novels that have shaped its literary image on this guided walk from Lambeth North station. The route takes in Victorian stories by Tracy Chevalier, Michael Sadleir and Renton Nicholson, alongside Sam Selvon's postwar classic The Lonely Londoners. 11am-1pm
DAY OF THE DEAD: Mexico's Día de Muertos traditions take over the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill for a Day of the Dead family festival. Expect Aztec dancers and musicians, mariachi, folkloric dance, mask-making, storytelling, face painting, a community ofrenda, Mexican food and a market of crafts and design. 11am-4pm
TALES OF THE WEIRD: Strange, uncanny and chilling fiction takes centre stage at the British Library's annual Tales of the Weird day, which is fortuitously scheduled for Halloween. Writer and comedian Robin Ince hosts a day of readings and conversations featuring a number of writers and 'connoisseurs of the weird'. 11am-6.30pm
COMIC DAY: Spend the day at the Cartoon Museum, browsing comics from every era, from first appearances and key issues to graphic novels and affordable finds. Comic Day also includes a seminar on buying and selling comics, plus appraisals for visitors bringing along their own collections. FREE, 12pm-5.30pm. Fan of comics? Clerkenwell's Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration holds a Halloween comic fair tonight, 5.30pm-8.30pm
MAESTRO OF THE MOVIES: John Williams' best-loved film scores come to life at the Royal Albert Hall in a concert tribute featuring music from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park and more. The London Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Anthony Gabriele, with Edith Bowman presenting, and specially edited film clips shown alongside the live music. 2.30pm
NORTH SEA: Dive beneath the cold, grey waters in North Sea, Nature Untamed, a documentary screening at Bertha DocHouse in Bloomsbury. Peter van Rodijnen's footage travels from the Scottish islands to the shallow delta of the Low Countries and the Norwegian fjords, revealing a rich world of marine wildlife. 3.30pm
HALLOWEEN FIREWORKS: Enfield Town Park's fireworks event returns with a spooky Halloween theme, promising dazzling displays, eerie entertainment and family-friendly thrills. It's the first of many fireworks events in London over the coming weeks (Herne Hill Velodrome also has a fireworks display tonight). 4.30pm
SILENT DISCO: Dance among historic trains, vintage buses and iconic vehicles at London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, which becomes an adults-only party for a Halloween silent disco. Choose between 80s, 90s and 00s singalong hits or an indie-focused Propaganda channel, with bars and a ghoulish craft activity on site. Age 18+. 6.30pm-9pm/9.30pm-12am
DISNEY LOVE SONGS: Not a fan of Halloween? Dodge the spooky altogether and have a romantic evening instead, with a candlelit concert of love songs from Disney films, inside Southwark Cathedral. Familiar songs from the likes of the Lion King, Aladdin, Frozen and the Little Mermaid are performed live. 7pm/9pm
MOZART PIANO GALA: Five pianists come together at Kings Place for a programme of Mozart for four hands and two pianos. Charles Owen, Katya Apekisheva, Junyan Chen, Martin James Bartlett and Tom Poster perform works including the D major sonatas, the Adagio and Fugue in C minor and the Andante and Variations in G major. 7.30pm
NEON FRIGHTS: Soho Theatre Walthamstow turns spooky for Neon Frights With Lou Sanders, a comedy showcase headlined by Sanders and featuring Two Hearts, Dan Tiernan, Frankie Thompson and Sam Eley as Basil Crumbwick. Ayoade Bamgboye hosts. 8pm
LULU PIERRE: Vocalist Lulu Pierre joins the Alex Webb Trio at Toulouse Lautrec in Kennington for a Black History Month celebration of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter. Expect expressive ballads, irresistible swing and a few personal favourites as Pierre brings her own voice to the songs of three influential jazz singers. 8.30pm-10.30pm
Sunday 1 November
VETERAN CAR RUN: The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run sees some 400 pre-1905 vehicles set off from London to Brighton. You'll have to be up early to cheer them on — they begin leaving Hyde Park around 7am, heading through Lambeth towards Croydon, then on to the coast. FREE, from 7am
BIRD DETECTIVES: Discover the wildlife of Gunnersbury Park on a family-friendly guided bird walk led by Sennen, an ambassador for the RSPB. Listen for distinctive calls, investigate which species live in the park during the colder months and learn more about their habitats. 10am-12pm
DUCK POND MARKET: It's November which means... it's Christmas. So reason the organisers of the Duck Pond Market at Chiswick House and Gardens, anyway, which holds its first festive edition today. Get a head start on Christmas shopping with small business vendors selling gifts and crafts. Find other Christmas markets and fairs in London this year. 10am-4pm
REGENT'S CANAL: Explore the eastern stretch of Regent's Canal on Open City's walking tour, travelling from Victoria Park to the Islington Tunnel. The route takes in Regency villas, Victorian gasholders, lock-keepers' cottages, converted warehouses and new developments, with guide Lettie Mckie. 10.30am-1pm
MIDCENTURY MARKET: Retro homewares, furniture, lighting and collectables from the 1940s-1970s fill Corner Corner in Canada Water for the Midcentury Market, a pop-up vintage marketplace. Entry is free, with food and drinks available to buy. 11am-4pm
WALLACE & GROMIT: Three classic films meet a live brass-band score at Alexandra Palace Theatre, as the KNDS Fairey Band performs Julian Nott's music alongside Wallace & Gromit with live brass band. The afternoon's first show pairs A Grand Day Out with the live world premiere of A Close Shave. That's followed later by a separate screening of The Wrong Trousers, beginning with a 25-minute mini concert. 2pm-3.30pm and 4.30pm-5.40pm
SWING SPECTACULAR: Step back into the Roaring Twenties and Swinging Thirties at Harrow Arts Centre, for The Joint Is Jumpin'. Maxine Green's Swing Time Jivers recreate classic dances including the Lindy Hop, Charleston, Black Bottom and chorus tap, accompanied by the Tony Jacobs Orchestra playing jazz favourites by Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong. 3pm
ONE MAN POE: Stephen Smith performs four of Edgar Allan Poe's most chilling works — The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Raven — in a solo gothic theatre event at Jermyn Street Theatre. 5pm
TAYLOR SWIFT TRIBUTE: Taylor Swift's music, style and stage presence are celebrated at Beck Theatre in Hayes in The Eras Experience, with tribute artist Xenna performing songs spanning all 12 eras, from Love Story and Shake It Off to Fortnight and The Life of a Showgirl. Dancers, replica costumes and an optional meet-and-greet complete the 110-minute show. 7pm
JOYFULLY JEWISH: Echoes Theatre Co. and THE JEWish CABARET present Joyfully Jewish: Strangers in a Strange Land at JW3 on Finchley Road. The evening brings together new comedic short plays and original musical theatre songs about Jewish migration, from leaving Egypt or Russia to settling in London or New York — with food, humour and yearning for home. 7pm-8.50pm
PAY ATTENTION: Laura Kuenssberg joins BBC Europe editor Katya Adler at the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington for a conversation about the state of British politics. Drawing on Kuenssberg's reporting and her book Pay Attention, they examine political polarisation, public priorities and where the country might be headed. 7pm-8.15pm
JOHN LYDON: John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, brings his spoken-word show I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right to Greenwich Theatre. He reflects on his career with the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd, shares his thoughts on life and takes questions from the audience. 7.30pm
CELEBRATING DIWALI: One of many Diwali celebrations in London over the coming weeks, Indian singer Kavita Krishnamurti headlines a charity Diwali concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and a team of musicians from India, she performs arrangements composed exclusively for the occasion by Rahul Ranade. 7.30pm
SONGS FOR THE DEAD: Day of the Dead provides the setting for The Tiger Lillies: Songs for The Dead, a special concert at Soho Theatre Walthamstow. The programme explores mortality, the afterlife, grief, murder and memory — combining classic songs with new compositions. 7.30pm
