London events in October 2026

London’s art lovers go mad for a bit of French Impressionism, so it’s a little surprising that the capital hasn’t hosted an exhibition on one of its leading figures, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, since the National Gallery’s 2007 show on his landscapes nearly 20 years ago. It’s excellent news, then, that the Trafalgar Square institution will once again be hosting a major exhibition dedicated to the master painter next autumn. Created in partnership with Paris’s Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Renoir and Love will focus on the most significant and prolific years of the artist’s career, from the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s. Opening in October 2026, it will feature several of Renoir’s most iconic works, including  the 1876 painting Bal au Moulin de la Galette, exhibited for the first time ever in the UK. 

Sunday lunch. There’s nothing quite like it. An elemental meal, one that Londoners take incredibly seriously. Debates about what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Sunday roast have been known to last for hours. There is no shortage of top roasts in London.

We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of pubs, restaurants and breweries all around town. What makes a good roast? For us, it’s simple; a welcoming room is a good start, maybe in a pub with an open fire. Then it comes to the plate – we need perfect roast potatoes, well-cooked lamb, beef or pork and a decent plant-based option too. A Sunday roast is more than just lunch - it’s self-care. 

From snug neighbourhood staples to more bijou gastropubs, and even a heavy metal boozer in Camden, we’ve got something for every taste (if that taste is for comforting mounds of roast meat/plant based goodness, lashings of gravy and carbs for days). A lot of these places get quite busy, so you’re always advised to book ahead to avoid disappointment. 

Each year, London Literature Festival aims to bring together readers of all ages to ‘celebrate the power of the written and spoken word’, with a big name celebrity curator leading the charge. And excitingly, the 2026 edition will have popstar and Service95 Book Club founder Dua Lipa in the hot seat. Dua Lipa has proven that she's a massive advocate for books from around the world with her monthly fiction podcast, where she interviews a different author each month, and she's also spoken up for marginalised readers facing incarceration or book bans. So she'll curate a fest with a global feel, with plenty to pull in her young fanbase. 

Sure, they're cheaper in the supermarket. But if you want to truly embrace the joys of pumpkin season, get down to an actual field and pick one straight out of the mud (wellies advised). Here are some of the best spots to snag a squash, ready for carving, soup-making, or simply marvelling at in all its amber glory. 

It's a whopping 15 years since Keira Knightley acted on stage, and she's chosen a pretty exciting comeback show. Brit auteur Rob Icke is adapting the Oscar-winning 2006 German film about a playwright and his mistress (Knightley) being surveilled by Stasi agents in ’80s East Germany. It’s the first time Icke – who has adapted many a classic play – has done the same for a film, but the claustrophobic source material built around a small number of characters feels perfect for adaptation, and Icke is an expert with human emotions. The impressively starry cast will also include Bridgerton man Luke Thompson as playwright Georg Dreyman, and Stephen Dillane as Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler, the agent somewhat reluctantly spying on him. 

Is that the saccharine scent of pumpkin spice in the air? Surprised to see lots of orange orbs taking over your local supermarket? It can only mean one thing: autumn is upon us in all its crispy-leafed, russet splendour. 

From glowing sunsets, to bracing walks and cosy pubs, there are lots of things that make up the ultimate autumnal day trip and London has them in spadefuls. Whether it’s nestling up in an old-school whisky tavern with a wee dram, collecting up armfuls of pumpkins from the city’s premier markets or exploring Gothic cemeteries. 

The Cherry Orchard is, of course, one of Chekhov’s great plays, and follows an ailing aristocratic family as they contemplate the end of their beloved country estate and the sale of its beloved orchard. It was last seen in London a couple of years back in an absolutely bonkers production at the Donmar. Expect something less eccentric but powerfully poignant from the great director Ian Rickson, who turned in a fine Uncle Vanya on the cusp of the pandemic. This production will reunite him with Kristin Scott Thomas, who almost 20 years ago starred in his Royal Court production of The Seagull. She’ll play big hearted but finanically irresponsible aristocract Lyubov Ranevskaya.