Rosie Hewitson

October signals the arrival of autumn proper, which means it’s time to fish your big coat out from the back of the wardrobe, say goodbye to the sticky, sweaty days of summer and embrace the crunchy carpets of leaves and pumpkin spiced everything. It’s also the time of year for a hell of a party, with Halloween bringing with it all kinds of spooky celebrations – from family-friendly frights, movie screenings, pumpkin picking and scary nightlife so good it could raise the dead taking over the capital this month. But October isn’t just about dressing up like a half-dead corpse or ‘sexy’ version of a viral meme. The colder weather means it’s a great time for indoor activities, with a host of big theatre productions, film releases and other cultural highlights throughout the month. The BFI London Film Festival returns, as does the London Literature Festival and the Bloomsbury Festival. On the art scene, there’s a wealth of new exhibitions not to be missed, plus Frieze’s annual London art fair, uniting some of the world’s best art galleries in one place. It’s also Black History Month in the UK, and you can expect many of London’s major institutions to throw events to mark the occasion. The month also calls for big steins and inventive mixes. Oktoberfest celebrations will take over the capital at the start of the month, while London Cocktail Week is also on the cards.  And there’s plenty more too! Check out our list of the best cultural happenings and things to do throughout October

There’s nothing quite like a proper London pub. After many evenings of important, pint-based research, we’ve done the impossible and ranked the 50 best pubs in London, with a brand new list for 2025.  London’s best pubs at a glance:  🐎 Best pub in Soho: Coach & Horses 🪖 Best pub in Hackney: Army & Navy ⛪ Best pub in Peckham and Nunhead: The Old Nun’s Head 🍻 Best pub in Shoreditch: The Pride of Spitalfields 🎭 Best pub in Angel: The Shakespeares Head Old school boozers are the beating heart of this city, and the ones on this list are heavy with the powerful whiff of history – though that just might be the carpets – and throbbing with heart, soul and community charm.  How did we decide what made the final 50? With a worrying amount of the UK’s pubs closing weekly, we wanted to highlight some of this city’s less well-known and independent inns. The pubs included here are places where you’ll not only get perfect pints, but pickled eggs, karaoke nights and darts sessions. There’s no gatekeeping here at Time Out and these spots are where old-school regulars rub shoulders with the new wave of pintspeople, from Holloway to Hackney, via Bexleyheath, Brixton, Nunhead and more. Want cosy and convivial? You’ve come to the right place.  Of course, in a city with well over 3,000 pubs, not everything can make the cut. If you’re looking for posh pubs with fancy food, you’ll find them in our list of the best gastropubs in London. Wondering where London’s most legendary drinking dens ar

Is it a tad early to start planning Halloween? Perhaps! But the solstice is just days away, the nights are gradually drawing in, and the ancient celebration of winter's arrival will be with us before we know it. In 2025, Halloween falls on Friday October 31, which is great news for anyone who wants a ghoulishly good time without the haunting prospect of work the next day.  The fun doesn't start there. There’s plenty of fright-filled fun to be had throughout October, whether you want to watch horror films on the big screen, join a lantern-lit ghost tour, learn about London’s graveyards, carve pumpkins, or let your synthetic wigs down over themed cocktails. So when you’re after something strange in your neighbourhood, who ya gonna call? Time Out London, that’s who! We might not be so great at ghost-busting, but we do know how to sniff out a great activity. Keep checking back and you'll see all sorts of thrilling, chilling events appear on our list of the best Halloween events London has to offer in 2025. RECOMMENDED: Your ultimate guide to Halloween in London

Horror films aren’t just for Halloween, but they certainly make spooky season that bit more terrifyingly fun. Whether you’re a hide-behind-the-cushion kind of watcher or someone who revels in every jumpscare and nightmare-inducing villain, joining a Halloween film screening with fellow horror enthusiasts is guaranteed way to get your heart racing and your blood curdling this All Hallow’s Eve. If you’re firmly against any blood, guts and gore, you can still get involved – not all Halloween screenings are focused on bone-chilling bumps in the night. There are also plenty of more lighthearted picks to choose from, like the camp-but-festive Hocus Pocus or The Rocky Horror Picture Show, that will get you in the mood without scaring you to within an inch of your life. Recommended:🎃 Our guide to Halloween in London😱 The 100 best horror movies of all time👹 The 66 greatest movie monsters of all time

Monday 13 October: We might have reached mid-October, but London completely refuses to go into hibernation. It’s another huge week for cultural goings-on around the city, with London Film Festival and London Cocktail Week ongoing, and the arrival of yet more culture festivals with Frieze London, New Scientist Live and the Black British Book Festival. Elsewhere, there are plenty of events commemorating Black History Month, and the last few Oktoberfest parties of the season. And with Halloween on the horizon, London is starting to look very spooky indeed, with a whole bunch of scary film screenings, pumpkin patches and macabre goings-on around the city. London doesn’t get much livelier than this, so don’t even think about staying indoors! Got a few hours to kill today? You’re in luck. London is one of the very best places on the planet to be when you find yourself with a bit of spare time. In this city, you’re never too far away from a picturesque park, a lovely pub or a cracking cinema, and on any given day, you’ve got a wealth of world-class art shows, blockbuster theatre and top museum exhibitions to choose from if you’re twiddling your thumbs. Use your spare time wisely with our roundup of the best things happening in London today, which gets updated every single day and includes a specially selected top pick from our Things to Do Editor seven days a week. Bookmark this page, and you’ll have absolutely no excuse to be bored in London ever again! Find even more inspiration w

The final stretch of 2025 is upon us. And now that we’ve said so long to summer, London’s institutions have begun to enter full festive planning mode. In a matter of months, the city’s skies will be sparkling with Christmas lights, its venues will fill up with classic Christmas tunes and its streets will be lined with colourful Christmas markets. Of course, December isn’t just about Christmas, and there’s plenty more brilliant things to do besides all the festive stuff. Notably, the acclaimed Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is making its UK debut, it’s the first full month of the Design Museum’s hotly-anticipated Wes Anderson exhibition and the last full month of the bonkers jukebox musical Titanique. Plus, there are the ice-skating rinks, the winter pop-ups and the chilly winter walks followed by cosy pub hangouts. And that’s before we even get on to New Year’s Eve!  Here’s our guide to the finest events, parties, cultural happenings and things to do in London over December 2025.  London’s best things to do in December at a glance: 🧀 Best for foodies: Future of Food, Science Museum 🎭 Best for thespians: Ballet Shoes, National Theatre 🎬 Best for cinephiles: Backyard Cinema, Bermondsey 🎨 Best for aesthetes: Wes Anderson: The Exhibition, Design Museum 🧛 Best for night owls: Christmas lights, citywide 📚 Best for families: Winter Funland, Kensington RECOMMENDED: Time Out’s definitive London events calendar.

Can you smell a whiff of pumpkin spice in the air? October is well underway, which means all the best bits of autumnal London have officially arrived: the parks are full of golden-brown trees, the pubs and cafes seem extra cosy, pumpkin is on every menu in town, and London’s cultural institutions are opening up their blockbuster exhibitions and putting on landmark events to entice you in from the cold.  This weekend is one for cinephiles as the BFI London Film Festival takes over the city. Now in its 69th year, LFF is the UK’s biggest film fest – an annual showcase for the best in premieres, new movies, restored works from the BFI archives, short films, virtual reality XR experiences, talks, panels and parties. And the best thing? Anyone can pick up tickets for its packed line-up of new movies. Here are our favourites to look out for. Or, bar hop around the city, sipping on exciting concoctions from top micologists at London Cocktail Week.  On top of that, there are new exhibitions and theatre to peruse, including the first major solo exhibition from British photographer Jennie Baptiste at Somerset House, Tracy Letts’s 2018 play Mary Page Marlowe, which stars Andrea Riseborough and Susan Sarandon and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards at the Natural History Museum.  Or, get stuck into cosy season by heading out on an autumnal walk, visiting a warming pub or picking up spoils from London’s best markets. Get out there and enjoy! Start planning: here’s our roundup of

As autumn nears, London's night sky comes alive, with colourful light trails, installations and Christmas decorations.  But for the city's Hindu and Sikh populations, the light fantastic reaches its peak long before December. Diwali, which symbolises the spiritual victory of light over darkness, is a major celebration each October in London. There are events of every flavour to enjoy, with opportunities to dance, feast, and get together with family and friends. This year, Diwali takes place between Saturday October 18 and Wednesday October 22, but expect festivities to be popping off around the city in the weeks before and after too. The centrepiece of the celebration usually happens in Trafalgar Square – the largest Diwali party London has to offer – but smaller events will pop up across the city's cultural institutions, public spaces and restaurants. RECOMMENDED: London’s best Indian restaurants

London is a bookworm’s paradise. With a literary history even older than the printing press, the city has been a home and an inspiration for Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Zadie Smith, and countless other titans of the written word. Scrooge, Holmes and Potter are just three of the fictional heroes to have trodden our streets. And then, of course, there are the bookshops. I’ve visited dozens of London booksellers, from Richmond to Crouch End, and I’m delighted to report that the rise of online retailers hasn’t put a dent in the city’s characterful, welcoming bookselling scene. Instead, bookshops have upped their game, offering personalised recommendations, readings, book clubs and cosy cafés where you can enjoy your purchases over a steaming cuppa. Whether you’re after novels, comics, antiquarian tomes, or just somewhere beautiful to curl up with a good read, you’ll find it here in one of the many shops dedicated to the printed word. Ready to get turning pages? Here’s our guide to the best bookshops in London, whether you’re in central, north, east, south or west London. And if you’re more of a borrower? Head to these lovely London libraries.James Manning is the co-author of An Opinionated Guide to London Bookshops, and Time Out’s content director for Europe.  London’s best bookshops at a glance: 📚 Best for breadth and depth: Foyles, Charing Cross ✨ Best for oh-so-stylish design: Libreria, Shoreditch 📖 Best for bargain books: Judd Books, Russell Square 👩🏻‍

The great thing about having kids at Christmas is that you can vicariously relive the joy that comes with believing in Santa Claus. You may be a boring grown-up now, but it’s just as magical to watch your own little ones’ eyes light up as they see big man IRL. From a traditional Victorian hut to a gingerbread-themed alcove and the city’s only immersive black Santa experience at Noir Kringle, London has an assortment of grottos suited to every family. With help from Santa’s elves, each leaves kids with a special gift and a photo with the main man. Many also boast bonus Christmas activities from crafts and wintry trails, to film screenings and story time sessions. Be organised, though. Santa is a popular guy and often there isn’t enough of him to go round aren’t enough to meet the demand, particularly at peak times on weekends. So you’ll need to act fast to secure your slot and avoid tears and tantrums. Here are some great grottos in London to try for a holly jolly good time this year.  RECOMMENDED: Find more festive fun with our guide to Christmas in London.

October is well underway, which means all the best bits of autumnal London have officially arrived: the parks are full of golden-brown trees, the pubs and cafes seem extra cosy, pumpkin is on every menu in town, and London’s cultural institutions are opening up their blockbuster exhibitions and putting on landmark events.  This week is one for cinephiles as the BFI London Film Festival takes over the city. Now in its 69th year, LFF is the UK’s biggest film fest – an annual showcase for the best in premieres, new movies, restored works from the BFI archives, short films, virtual reality XR experiences, talks, panels and parties. And the best thing? Anyone can pick up tickets for its packed line-up of new movies. Here are our favourites to look out for. Or, bar hop around the city, sipping on exciting concoctions from top micologists at London Cocktail Week.  On top of that, there are new exhibitions and theatre to peruse, including the first major solo exhibition from British photographer Jennie Baptiste at Somerset House, Tracy Letts’s 2018 play Mary Page Marlowe, which stars Andrea Riseborough and Susan Sarandon and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards at the Natural History Museum.  Or, get stuck into cosy season by heading out on an autumnal walk, visiting a warming pub or picking up spoils from London’s best markets. Get out there and enjoy! Start planning: here’s our roundup of the best things to do in London this October In the loop: sign up to our free Time Out

The weather has gone all blustery and autumnal, decorative gourds are on sale in your local supermarket, there’s a vague scent of ‘pumpkin spice’ on the breeze and the clocks will be going back in a matter of weeks. But there’s simply no need to mourn the passing of summer, because London really delivers when it comes to brighterning up those dark, chilly winter nights.  Of all of the UK’s winter traditions, there’s nothing like gathering in a park in the nippy nights of early November to watch a pile of flaming wood and fireworks piercing the sky. Bonfire Night – aka Guy Fawkes Night –might sound strange to those unfamiliar with it, but it’s a great British tradition and one of the highlights of the second half of the year. London puts on a plethora of Bonfire Night and fireworks displays with sparkly skies, yummy street food and so much more. We’ll be updating this page as more details of this year’s events are released.  When is Bonfire Night in London? As the adage goes: remember, remember the fifth of November. Bonfire Night is officially on November 5 every year, and, this year, that falls on a Wednesday. You’ll find some displays on the night itself, but most will be taking place on either the weekend before or after so you can really make the most of the fun. These days, fireworks displays are about more than bonfires and colourful skies – it’s now the norm for events to boast funfairs, food stalls and more. Top tips for Bonfire Night in London  Book in advance: Som

After making its spectacular debut in the summer, Lido festival is returning to Tower Hamlets park’s Lido Field in 2026. The festival’s inaugural lineup, consisting of legendary trip-hop outfit Massive Attack, veteran DJ-producer Jamie xx, northern hardcore festival Outbreak and 365 party girl Charli xcx, will be hard to beat, but our hopes are high.  The first act to be announced for Lido 2026 is downtempo electronica duo Maribou State. They’ll take to Victoria Park on June 20, supported by a carefully curated bill of artists that’s being kept under wraps for now. Once again, the fest will take place across two weekends, so there are plenty more headliners still to be announced. More details will be coming out in due course, so watch this space! RECOMMENDED: More great London festivals this summer

What is it?  If the idea of being locked in a room fills you with dread then SENSAS might be a good escape room option for you. The new attraction secluded in one of Vauxhall’s railway arches doesn’t really involve any escaping at all, but rather a seriously entertaining multi-sensory team challenge with an important message behind it. In teams of 4-15, you’ll work your way round a series of themed rooms each designed to test one of your five senses. The idea is that it demonstrates just how much we would all struggle when deprived of any of these. Why go?  In tasting, sniffing and feeling your way to victory, you’ll collect points that will be converted into an actual cash donation towards local partner charity supporting people with disabilities. Don’t miss The seriously cool, gravity-defying photo op at the end, too.  When to go SENSAS is availlable to book from 9am to 11am seven days a week.  Ticket info  Tickets are from £38 per person and groups must have a minimum of four players. 

The mother of all London art fairs, Frieze London returns to Regent's Park once again this week, with hundreds of the world’s best contemporary art galleries all coming together under one giant marquee roof in Regent’s Park to offer visitors and art industry bods the chance to either line up some mega purchases or just do some serious art window shopping. The 2025 fair features 58 London galleries including Arcadia Missa, Sadie Coles HQ, Frith Street Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Modern Art, Stephen Friedman Gallery and Victoria Miro, with international galleries including Gagosian, Pace Gallery, Thaddaeus Ropac, White Cube and David Zwirner also exhibiting at the fair.  Visitors can also check out an extensive talks and performance programme, as well as joining curator tours and guided walks around the city’s commercial gallery spaces.

Billing itself as a ‘musical melting pot’, this eclectic festival has quickly become known among indie and alt heads as having one of the best line-ups on the London festival circuit. Previous headliners have ranged from veteran alt-rockers Primal Scream in 2022 to ethereal indie pop singer Caroline Polachek in 2023 to psychedelic Aussie rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in 2024. We expect 2026 will bring the usual mixture of leftfield indie, post-punk, electronica and techno.

All Points East returns to Vicky Park for its eighth edition in 2026. Since debuting in 2018, the festival has garnered a reputation for building some of the most exciting line-ups in the UK. Its headliners are often indie or dance-focused big-hitters, while its undercards are packed with cult heroes and rising stars you can say you saw first. As well as the ticketed weekend events, look out for All Points East In the Neighbourhood, the festival’s free midweek programme of community activities including film screenings, live sports, theatre, family fun and more.  When is All Points East 2025? So far announced, APE will take place across Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29. The festival typically runs over multiple weekends, with more acts to be announced soon.  How much are tickets? Each show is priced differently, as are the different levels of access on offer. Ticket prices for all the 2026 shows are yet to be announced, but in 2025 general admission tickets ranged from £68.85 to £79.75, with VIP offerings available for between £112.65 and £154.75. If you want to beat the crowds to a prime spot, you can nab a primary entry ticket. There are also payment plans available if you’d prefer not to drop the full ticket price all at once. Really want to go but can’t afford to drop the full ticket price all at once? Payment plans are available. Every year APE also organises a free mid-week programme in collaborating with Tower Hamlets Council for locals called In The Neighbour

From last year’s Halloween Screamings at the Prince Charles to its Flightmare on Old Street the year before, north London-born craft brewing giant Beavertown always does something special for the spookiest night of the year, and 2025 is no different. This year, the brewery has jumped on the immersive bandwagon, taking over Shoreditch venue Kachette to stage a 90-minute immersive experience set across ‘five twisted rooms, each offering a surreal new reality to explore.’ It’s keeping pretty hush about what exactly that entails, but visitors are promised ‘unexpected encounters and side quests’, with the journey culminating in a pop-up Beavertown Bar where DJs will be spinning tunes, with some exciting surprise guests headlining each night. Feel like sticking your neck (oil) out? Tickets include a drinks token, two cans of Beavertown and a snack. 

Nocturnal creatures, this one’s for you. This Halloween, art’otel Hoxton is transforming its Film House into a gothic hideaway suitable for those who only come out at night, for a 14-hour marathon of cult vampire movies starting at sunset on October 31 and culminating at sunrise on All Saints’ Day. Guests will be able to catch five iconic films including 90s hit Interview with a Vampire and 80s teen vampire movie The Lost Boys and horror heist film, culminating with George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino heist horror From Dusk Till Dawn as the sun rises. Tickets also get you a garlic-themed dinner designed to help keep evil spirits at bay, a gory Kraken rum ‘blood bag’ cocktail and a bespoke coffin-boxed memento to take home in the morning...provided you survive the night.  RECOMMENDED: The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween  

Following its annual summertime horror bonanza in August, London’s primo horror film festival – dubbed ‘the Woodstock of Gore’ by no less an authority than Guillermo del Toro – is once again resurfacing, Kraken-like, for a spooktacular weekend of Halloween screenings at the Odeon Luxe West End. Horror afficionados can expect a line-up of terrifying indie movies, typically including one or two UK premieres, each of which is screened twice.  The 2025 line-up kicks off with Paramount's killer chimp thriller Primate, followed up with a specially recorded interview with director Johannes Roberts. The line-up also includes New Zealand battle of the band comedy Deathgasm II: Goremageddon, hi-tech chiller Every Heavy Thing, creepy doll-based scarefest Dolly, J-horror flick Mag Mag, and more. Bedwetters need not apply, and, needless to say, the festival has an 18 rating.  RECOMMENDED: The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween  

As part of the Tate Modern’s 25th birthday celebrations back in May, the gallery announced that it would be extending its opening times on Fridays and Saturdays, welcoming visitors until 9pm twice a week for some evening art viewing. And to celebrate the first Friday of the new hours, the Tate’s Corner Bar is collaborating with King’s Cross-based community station Voices Radio for an evening of improv jazz and natural wine.  Guests stopping by for the late opening can enjoy a curated selection of wines from the Tate’s cellar alongside low-intervention picks from the Pour Choices Wine Fair while a roster of London jazz scene heavyweights including Myele Manzanza, Rio Kai, Mei Kerby and Poppy Daniels provide the soundtrack. There’ll also be vinyl DJ sets for Kit Lockey and boardgames to play for free between sets, and the bar stays open until 11pm, so there’ll be lenty of time to catch an exhibition and stop by for a nightcap. 

Roll up, roll up, all the bearded ladies, lion tamers, giants and clowns, because the haunted circus has rolled into town for Halloween. The culmination of a London Month of the Dead’s macabre programme of talks, tours and workshops, this costume ball at Soho’s historic Century Club promises wicked cabaret, live bands and immersive horror encounters with the creepy characters that comprise its ringmaster’s creepy travelling show. More details will be announced soon. Got a phobia of clowns? This one probably isn’t for you.       

Queer techno party Howl goes big for Halloween, and is promising its largest, longest and spookiest party yet for All Hallow’s Eve 2025, heading to brand new warehouse venue Eutopia in Barking for a twelve hour marathon of dancing and darkroom action. The full line-up is still TBA, but it’ll feature ten difference queer nightlife collectives across two rooms, including Boudica, Unfold, Playbody, Sextou and Riposte. Last year’s event was headlined by Herrensauna resident Salome and also featured live performances from Lynks and Jay Jay Revlon, so you can expect a similar mixture of heavy electronica, Afrobeats and queer alt-pop that’ll keep you dancing til dawn (of the dead). 

Comedian Lenny Henry, actor and musician Jordan Stephens, MP Dawn Butler, Strictly dancer Oti Mabuse, TV presenter June Sarpong and Olympian Dame Denise Lewis are some of the big names on the line-up for this book festival aiming to banish barriers to entry into the publishing industry. Taking over the Barbican for its fifth edition, it features a jam-packed programme of talks, panel discussions and workshops that will help aspiring authors to navigate everything from securing an agent to writing engaging dialogue, plus film screenings, readings from bestselling authors, a kids’ zone with storytelling and music sessions, and a marketplace where you can stock up on new reads by Black authors from across the globe and in just about every genre imaginable.   

In a crowded field, The Serpentine is earily one of London’s most influential modern art galleries. Nestled in leafy Kensington Gardens, its pair venues on either side of Hyde Park’s winding artificial lake stage some of the most adventurous temporary art exhibitions in town, alongside huge names like Marina Abramović, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons.  The gallery has been on a solid run in recent months, with a well-received edition of its annual Serpentine Pavilion designed by Bangladeshi artist and architect Marina Tabassum, and two buzzy autumn shows in the first major solo exhibition from young British artist and video game designer Danielle Brathwaite Shirley and the latest show from Peter Doig – famed for being the most expensive living artist in Europe – inspired by sound system culture.  And there are more big shows on the horizon, with the Serpentine having just announced its 2026 programme, featuring two very different British painters, and Indian video artist and a landmark anniversary commission.  Image: David Hockney David Hockney Kicking of 2026 is an already-announced show from one of Britain’s most iconic living artists, David Hockney (Mar 12-Aug 23) at Serpentine North. The octogenarian’s first exhibition with Serpentine will focus on recent works, including the celebrated Moon Room, reflecting the painter’s lifelong interest in the lunar cycle, plus several digital paintings created as part of his Sunrise series, paintings made on an iPad during a prolific pe

It’s the first weekend of October, and London is looking properly autumnal, but while the leaves are turning brown and the Regent’s Park hedgehogs prepare for hibernation, the capital’s cultural scene is bursting into life. There’s arguably no better month of the year for culture in London, with the London Film Festival, London Literature Festival and Frieze London all arriving in the next couple of weeks, not to mention the plethora of major theatre and gallery openings happening in the coming days. But if all those hot tickets are burning a hole in your wallet, there’s plenty of free fun to be had too. From a harvest festival at the UK’s biggest beer hall to a makers market in honour of Black History Month, here are the best free activities around London this weekend.  RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London this weekend. The best free things to do in London this weekend, October 3-5 1. Join a barn dance during the Blackhorse Beer Mile Harvest Festival If your memories of Harvest Festival involve bringing a tin of baked beans into primary school for a special assembly, it's time to update them. Walthamstow’s Blackhorse Beer Mile is celebrating the bounties of the season with all manner of country-style entertainment. The main venue is the cavernous Big Penny Social, which is hosting morris dancing and a barn dance with live music, but you can also enjoy tours and tastings, live country and bluegrass music, seasonal drinks specials and a hog roast the area’s taprooms

Everyone has heard of the Met Gala. Organised by fashion world A-listers, since it was first staged in 1948 the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s annual fundraising party in New York has grown into one of the biggest fashion industry nights of the year. These days, it attracts some of the biggest names in Hollywood and raises upwards of $30 million annually, with tickets to the invite-only spectacle costing upwards of $50,000 each.  The UK has never really had an equivalent event, but it looks like that might be about to change with the arrival of the British Museum Ball. London’s most iconic museum announced the party this morning, describing it as a ‘landmark, annual event’ that will ‘establish a new highlight on the international social calendar’.  Masterminded by the British Museum’s director Dr Nicholas Cullinan, the first edition of the ball is co-chaired by Indian billionaire heiress and arts patron Isha Ambani. It will take place over the closing weekend of the museum’s current exhibition, Ancient India: living traditions, with a pink theme that’s apparently inspired by ‘the colours and light of India’.  Featured among the 100+ names on its star-studded committee are celebrated designers including Miuccia Prada, Bella Freud, Philip Treacy and Giles Deacon, artists and writers like Zadie Smith, Grayson Perry and Hew Locke, fashion world elites such as Naomi Campbell and Edward Enninful, and A-list celebrities like Alexa Chung and Idris Elba. And with the e

It’s the big one! England’s Red Roses will be attempting to match the Lionesses this afternoon, as they play Canada in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham.  The home side might be the bookies favourite to get their hands on the trophy, but after suffering back-to-back final losses in the last two World Cup finals, it’s far from a foregone conclusion. In a repeat of the 2014 final – the last time England took the trophy home – they’ll need to conquer Canada, who knocked out six-time World Cup winners New Zealand to make it to Twickenham. Thanks to Asahi’s Rugby Like Never Before campaign, more than 1,000 pubs across the UK (and dozens in London) have screened every match of the tournament, making it the most accessible women’s rugby tournament to date. On top of that, the final is on track to break records, with crowd of 82,000 expected to descend on Twickenham Stadium, which will make it the most attended women’s rugby match in history.   Tickets to the fixture have long since been sold out, but thousands of women’s rugby ultras and newly converted fans are preparing to join the scrum at watch parties across the city. Planning to watch with them? Here’s our roundup of London’s greatest spots to watch every scrum, tackle and try in the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final 2025. The best places in London to watch the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final 2025 The Official Fan Zone at Battersea Power Station Situated in the shadow of Battersea Power Station’s iconic 103-metre tall

The first week of autumn is drawing to a close, and the weather is looking appropriately crisp – dare we say even a tad chilly – over the coming weekend. As the weather gets colder and darker, it might be tempting to spend all weekend indoors making roast dinners, taking baths and reading novels, particularly for those of us whose payday doesn’t arrive until next week.  But if you’re willing to wrap up warm and get outside, there’s plenty of free fun to be had over your precious two days off. From a massive sporting fixture to a free arts festival in the London Docklands, these are the best free things to do across the city this weekend.  RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London this weekend. The best free things to do in London this weekend, September 26-28 1. Watch the Red Roses take on Canada in the Rugby World Cup Final It’s the big one! England’s Red Roses have reached the final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup for the seventh tournament in a row. On Saturday afternoon they’ll face Canada for a chance to lift the World Cup trophy for the first time since 2014, and on home soil to boot. Tickets for the Twickenham fixture have long since sold out, but there are a whole bunch of pubs, sports bars and local rugby clubs across London that’ll be following the action, with plenty of free screenings on offer. Check out our roundup of the best ones here.  Various venues. Sat Sep 27, 4pm kick off. Free.  2. Learn about the rich past of SW3 at the Chelsea History Festival Som

Have you ever really done Christmas in London if you haven’t experienced the festive loveliness of Somerset House’s skating pop-up? Probably not, we’d argue.  A fixture of Somerset House’s winter programme since the riverside institution first opened its doors in 2000, the 900 square metre rink in the centre of William Chambers’s magnificent eighteenth-century courtyard it arguably the most scenic ice rinks in the capital, and certainly one of its most popular ones. Keen to go for a glide (or an awkward shuffle) around the ice this festive season? Here’s everything you need to know about the beloved winter attraction’s 2025 season.  Somerset House ice skating dates and prices Skate at Somerset House returns from Tuesday November 12 and runs daily (excluding Christmas Day) until Sunday January 11 2026. Tickets for hour-long skating sessions vary in price depending on when you’re visiting, starting from £11 for super off-peak times and going up to £26 for the most in-demand dates and times. Somerset House skating on-sale date Tickets for the 2025-2026 Skate season go on general sale on Friday September 26, but if you’re keen to secure tickets for one of the more sought-after dates, it’s worth signing up to the presale here for early access.  Once general sale goes live, you can get tickets on the Somerset House website here. Somerset House Skate Lates line-up Featuring DJ sets from a host of London’s most celebrated music and nightlife collectives, Somerset House’s Skate Lat

The summer holidays are well and truly over, and London’s cultural institutions are very much in ‘back to school’ mode this month, with loads of great exhibition openings across September and new season announcements coming thick and fast. The Tate, the Courtauld and the National Portrait Gallery have already announced their 2026 seasons, and now it’s the turn of celebrated arts institution Somerset House.  Ahead of its 25th birthday celebrations this weekend, the venue has shared details of its 2026-2027 culture programme, including major exhibitions, another big birthday celebration and the return of some of the venue’s best-loved seasonal events.  Following the closure of the venue’s winter exhibitions on Jennie Baptiste and Wayne McGregor, and the ever-popular Skate at Somerset House, the 2026 programme kicks off with the annual Spring commission in the venue’s neoclassical courtyard.  Created by German-Scottish artist and researcher Dana-Fiona Armour, Serpentine Currents (Feb 19-Apr 26) will feature large-scale serpentine structures derived from 3D scans of endangered sea snake specimens, illuminated by light patterns triggered by oceanographic data, addressing the looming threat of marine ecosystem collapse. Cheerful stuff! Photograph: Anne Tetzlaff This is followed by the return of Somerset House Studios’ biannual experimental music and sound series Assembly (Mar 25-28), which returns over four days in early spring with a programme of new commissions and live premier

Anyone else got a touch of that September-ish ‘back to school’ feeling? The first conkers are starting to speckle London’s pavements, stationery shops are looking increasingly tempting, and there’s a brisk breeze that means you can finally wear a jumper without becoming filled with sweaty regret. And with the start of a new season comes the desire to become a new person, with fresh hobbies and hangouts to match. Luckily, London’s got you covered, with any number of possible past-times jostling for your attention. Many of them are pricy but some are totally free, meaning you can spend your spare cash on more important things, like chic sweaters or seasonal gourd displays. Read on for our pick of the best free things to do this weekend. The best free things to do in London this weekend, September 12-14 1. Browse the stalls at artist book fair GLUE Discover the delights of thick matte pages, hand-sewn bindings and radical ideas at this celebration of indie and DIY bookmaking. This event at the Institute of Contemporary Arts will host 70 indie publishers including the likes of SMUT, Montez Press and Sports Banger, with special exhibitions and a packed programme of talks, workshops and parties. Hot Potato – the ‘newspaper for people who don’t read the news’ – is putting on an exhibition for the occasion, as is photographer Sana Badri. While you’re there, drop into a bookbinding workshop, have a go at self-portraiture or sit down for a talk from radical publishers Verso Books. All

After a quiet summer, September is always a great month for London’s art scene. Not only does back to school season see the arrival of loads of great new exhibitions across the city’s museums and galleries – Kerry James Marshall at the Royal Academy, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley at the Serpentine and the V&A East’s new David Bowie Centre to name a few – but it’s also when we get to learn what’s in store for the city’s biggest art institutions in 2026. With the Courtauld and the National Portrait Gallery having both announced their 2026 programmes in the last week, next year is shaping up to be a vintage one for London’s art scene. And one exhibition we’re particularly excited to see is the Tate Modern’s major retrospective on YBA icon Tracey Emin, new details of which have just been announced.  Arriving at South Bank gallery in February, Tracey Emin: A Second Life (Feb 26-Aug 30) promises to be the largest ever exhibition on one of Britain’s most renowned living artists, tracing her four-decade career through more than 90 works encompassing painting, video, textiles, sculptures and, of course, her signature neons and large-scale installations.  Photograph: Tracey Emin, ‘I whisper to My Past Do I have Another ’, 2010. © Tracey Emin Among these will be some of the Croydon-born artist’s most iconic works, including two seminal installations, 1996’s Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made, for which Emin locked herself in Stockholm’s Galleri Andreas Brändström for three weeks

The National Portrait Gallery has been on an absolute roll over the last couple of years, not only opening its swanky new £35 million Blavatnik Wing back in summer 2023, but curating some truly unmissable temporary exhibitions since. And now, following on from last year’s fabulous Francis Bacon show, and this year’s brilliant offerings on 80s pop culture bible The Face Magazine and British painter Jenny Saville, the Trafalgar Square gallery has announced yet more bangers for its 2026 season. National Portrait Gallery 2026 exhibition programme The year kicks off with the already-announced Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting (Feb 12-May 3), the first major UK exhibition focusing on the celebrated British portrait artist’s works on paper. Encompassing drawings in pencil, pen, ink and charcoal, as well as etchings and a small selection of paintings that reveal the dialogue between Freud’s practice on paper and canvas, the exhibition will feature a selection of recent acquisitions including an etched portrait of his daughter, the fashion designer Bella Freud. Image: Bella in her Pluto T-Shirt (etching), 1995 © The Lucian Freud Archive, All Rights Reserved (2025) Next up in the gallery’s 2026 schedule is the first major UK exhibition on Catherine Opie, the American photographer best known for her stylised, painterly portraits of queer communities that explore themes of belonging and identity. Catherine Opie: To Be Seen (Mar 5-May 31) will span the Ohio-born artist’s three-decade

The Courtauld Gallery might be relatively small compared to some of London’s other major art institutions, but boy does it punch above its weight. Founded in 1932 by art collector Samuel Courtauld, the gallery boasts a genuinely jaw-dropping collection of paintings and drawings dating from the Middle Ages through to the modern day, with a particularly impressive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. And alongside its magnificent permanent collections, the gallery has a stellar reputation when it comes to its programme of temporary exhibitions, with recent hits including Goya To Impressionism, Monet and London and Frank Auerbach’s ‘The Charcoal Heads’. It’s no surprise, then, that the Courtauld’s newly announced 2026 exhibition programme looks thoroughly exciting, featuring a major neo-impressionist, an icon of British modernist sculpture and the first European show of a contemporary American talent.  The 2026 season kicks off with A View of One’s Own (Jan 28-Jun 14), an exhibition exploring the oft-overlooked contributions of female artists to Britain’s golden era of landscape painting. Showcasing watercolours and drawings created between 1760 and 1860, the exhibition features ten artists ranging from accomplished amateurs to those ambitious for recognition, including Harriet Lister, Mary Lowther, Amelia Long and Elizabeth Batty.   February sees the long-awaited opening of the already-announced Seurat and the Sea (Feb 25-May 17), the first UK exhibition on t

The August bank holiday is without a doubt one of the liveliest weekends of the year in London. Not only do around two million people take to the streets to celebrate Notting Hill Carnival, there’s also a plethora of late-summer music festivals – All Points East, Rally and Body Movements to name a few – plus plenty of outdoor cinema and open-air theatre. But if you’re anything like us, after a summer spent holidaying, day-tripping, festival-going, beer garden session-ing and generally acting like you have unlimited disposable income, all the late summer antics might just be one expense too far. So to save your overdraft from taking another rinsing, we’ve rounded up eight great things to do over the long weekend without shelling out a single penny. 📍 Our guide to the bank holiday in London The best free things to do in London this bank holiday weekend, August 22-25 1. Watch the opening performance at the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival The 30th edition of London’s leading outdoor performance festival kicks off this weekend, and its opening show is one you won’t want to miss. After dazzling audiences with last year’s performance, Life Lines, French movement company Lézards Bleus are back with Above And Beyond, a breathtaking acrobatic feat that will see eight parkour performers traversing landmark buildings around Woolwich, accompanied by music from the Greenwich-based Citizens of the World Choir. You don’t need to book, just head to Beresford Square for 6.45pm