Rosie Hewitson

Look, we love London. But even so, we can't deny that this city is devilishly good at coming up with ways to drain your bank balance, whether it's restaurants that persuade you to order an ever-expanding array of small plates, surprisingly costly pints, or shops so high-end you're scared to so much as sneeze. Still, does that mean you need money to have a good time? Absolutely not. As Time Out editors, we’ve become experts at hunting down ways to enjoy the city on a shoestring. Lots of us started out as broke students here, and since then we’ve scoured every corner for cheap things to do before payday hits.  From free museums and art galleries to gorgeous parks, gratis jazz nights to balletic performances that won’t cost you a penny, you could easily fill every night of the week with free stuff to do in London (although if you’re willing to part with a few quid, there’s plenty more great stuff to do around the city for less than the price of your average Zone 1 pint). So when it comes to planning a fun day or night out in London, 'I'm too broke' just doesn't cut it as an excuse anymore. Read on for some fab, free ways to make yourself (and your bank balance) very happy indeed.  RECOMMENDED: 101 best things to do in London Best free things to do in London at a glance 🐥 Best for families: Visit a city farm 😂 Best for a laugh: Angel Comedy nights ☀️ Best for a hot day: Visit a park 🛍️ Best for browsing: Visit a market

When it comes to art and exhibitions, London has it all. From the niche spaces, to the avant garde galleries, and the massive crowd-pleasing museums, our city is packed with shows that will perplex, challenge, inspire, educate and leave you feeling awestruck.  The problem is... there’s absolutely tons to see. Too much, you could say. Lucky for you, Time Out exists. For decades, our experts have been visiting and reviewing all the sculpture, painting, performance, photography, history, fashion and other types of exhibitions on offer. You name it, we’ve (probably, most likely) seen it. If you’re wondering what’s actually worth your time, start here. Check out the best museum exhibitions and art in London right now, and be sure to come back weekly for the latest picks. Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED: Best photography exhibitions in LondonBest free exhibitions in London

No matter how Scrooge-like you are, you can’t deny that London looks pretty magical once the Christmas lights have been turned on and tinsel-covered trees greet you at every turn. Luckily, the city is never in short supply of festive light displays, whether you’re looking for something classic – like Regent Street’s trumpet-playing angels, or a themed display, like those found on Carnaby Street. Each string beams bright enough to warm the coldest of hearts quicker than you can say ‘Bah, humbug’. Here are the best London illuminations to check out to get you in the Christmas spirit this year. RECOMMENDED: sign up to our excellent, free London newsletter. It's full of great suggestions.  What dates do the Christmas lights go on in London? London starts to fill up with Christmas light displays in early November each year, with Oxford Street's decorations leading the charge, followed by countless local displays across the city as December hits full swing. We’ll be updating our comprehensive list of switch-on dates as they’re announced here.  London’s best Christmas lights at a glance: ✨ Best for the biggest display in town: Oxford Street 🔔 Best for knockout festive extravagance: Covent Garden 🎄 Best for a Christmassy evening out: Kew Gardens Light Trail 🎅 Best for fun with the kids: Neverland at Kenwood 🍺 Best for a crafty pint afterwards: The Churchill Arms  Recommended: ❄️ Find out about the most Christmassy events in the city. 🎄 Check out London's very best Christmas ma

As much as Christmas trees, turkey and a mildly overworked Santa have become staples of the festive season, so has the music that soundtracks this cheer-soaked time of year. Christmas songs don’t just endure – many end up becoming the crown jewels of an artist’s entire career. From golden oldies by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Bing Crosby, to ‘80s icons like Wham! and The Pogues, to modern favourites from Ariana Grande and Leona Lewis, these tunes have embedded themselves into our seasonal rituals. What is the best-selling Christmas song of all time? That honour still belongs to Bing Crosby’s 1942 classic ‘White Christmas’. With over 50 million sales, it’s not only the biggest Christmas record in history – it’s the best-selling song of all time, full stop. Guinness World Records first crowned it back in 1955, and it’s held onto the title ever since. What is the most-streamed Christmas song of all time? Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ may trail Crosby in pure sales (a mere 16 million), but streaming has turned it into a seasonal juggernaut. It finally hit No.1 in both the UK and US decades after its release and became the first Christmas song to pass 2 billion Spotify streams. Hot on its heels: Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ (1.83 billion) and Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ (1.27 billion). Are there any new Christmas songs for 2025? The past decade has delivered plenty of modern holiday staples, from Ariana Grande to Sabrina Carpenter to Cher. As

Travelling into, out of or around London at Christmastime isn’t easy. The festive period always needs that bit of extra forward planning in the capital, not just because public transport services are usually much more restricted but because many of us Londoners spend the holidays flitting between grandmas in Essex, cousins in Berkshire and family friends in Kent.  With less than 100 days to go until December 25, you might be starting to get your Christmas plans in order, and since it can all get pretty confusing, we’ve made it easy for you. Here’s what TfL, the Underground, buses, trams, trains and the Overground are up to this Christmas and New Year.  Is public transport running in London over Christmas? The answer is yes, mostly. If previous years are anything to go by, the majority of services will be running as normal over the Christmas period – that’s Tuesday 23 December 2025 until Friday 2 January 2026 – but there are some closures and reduced services on the network. Make sure you check before you travel. On Christmas Eve, for example (December 24 falls on a Wednesday this year), services will finish earlier than normal across the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, Elizabeth line, London Overground and London trams. This normally means things close around 10pm, but it tends to start being a reduced service from around 7pm. There will be no Night Tube or Night Overground services on Boxing Day (Friday 26 December). There are also no night bus services on Chri

Some people start prepping for Christmas before the first autumn leaf has fluttered to the ground. But if you hang on a little, you'll be rewarded with a shopping experience to savour, as you shop for one-of-a-kind gifts in a festive market. In the winter months running up to Crimbo, the capital becomes home to tons of wintry fairs, stacked with stalls selling unique pressies from small businesses and independent designers that you’d never find in the big shops online or off. They’re perfect for browsing as the big day looms and a good excuse to treat yourself to Christmas snacks and mulled wine as you tick gifts off your list. You’ll find everything you need to make someone’s Christmas Day memorable at London’s pop-up markets, from ceramics and plants to pressies from around the world. Be sure to bookmark this page, because we’ll be adding more markets around the city as they’re announced.  London’s best Christmas markets at a glance: 🧀 Best for foodies Southbank Centre Winter Market ⛸️ Best for entertainment Hyde Park Winter Wonderland Market 🎄 Best for festive atmosphere Christmas at Leadenhall Market 👩‍🎨 Best for creative gifts DIY Christmas Art Market ♻️ Best for sustainable gifts Urban Makers Christmas Market RECOMMENDED: Our complete guide to Christmas in London.

If you boil a sauna down to its nuts and bolts, it’s essentially just a really hot room and some water to create steam with. Wild, then, how much of a positive affect those two simple ingredients can have on our bodies, healing weary muscles, doing wonders for our skin, and helping all the horrible toxins we insist on putting in our insides get back out. Saunas originated back in Finland back in the Middle Ages, where almost every house had one – imagine! In modern London, we’re not all so lucky as to have our own personal spa, but there are a wealth of top saunas around the city. From plunge pools and infrared therapy rooms to Finnish-style homages and ones soundtracked by DJ sets, you’ll find the steam sesh for you in the capital. Check out our video of 10 of the best spas in London: RECOMMENDED:Sauna culture is heating up London’s nightlifeThe best spas in London

Ah Christmas, it really does creep on us every year. One day you're necking tinned cocktails on a picnic blanket in a packed summer park, the next you're looking up mulled wine recipes and wondering why you don't seem to have a night off til January. But why not get ahead of the game in 2025? Start planning now, and you'll be able to shop in quaint Christmas markets instead of online panic buying, arrange family pantomime outing, drag your friends to a jolly carol service, check out seasonal pop-ups and get stellar pics of London's OTT light displays. Time Out’s editorial team start thinking about Christmas long before the first autumn leaves flutter to the ground. We've beaten the crowds for a spot at Somerset House ice rink and strolled around the Southbank Centre’s Winter Market, year after year, and we're ready to show you some more leftfield, imaginative ways to celebrate the season. Keep checking this list and you'll see it fill up with magical Christmas events for 2025; hopefully it provides you with everything you need to make the absolute most of the holiday season, London style. London’s best Christmas events at a glance:  Best for families: The Magic of Christmas at London Zoo Best for buying gifts: DIY Christmas Art Market  Best for a party: Humbug: The Immersive Christmas Dive Bar Best for music: Raymond Gubbay Christmas Festival Best for festive feels: Christmas at Kew  RECOMMENDED: 🎅Check out our full guide to Christmas in London🎄Discover the best hotel

Even on the coldest, darkest days of winter, London is always bustling with fun things to do, with a jam-packed calendar of unmissable events to keep you entertained during most people’s least favourite time of the year. And yet, even we culture-mad London superfans have to admit that every once in a while it’s nice to have a little break from it all. When the capital’s hustle and bustle leaves you feeling a little drained, you can find some escape from the crowds and hordes of tourists by getting up and getting out just for a day. In dire need of crisp country air, a relaxing spa day or a gorgeous, long walk? These day trips from London are all under two hours from Zone 1 and will give you the relief you need this winter. RECOMMENDED: The best day trips from London Best winter day trips at a glance 🪄 Best for magic-lovers: Warner Bros Studio Tour 🎄 Best for the light deprived: Go Wild 2025 at Wakehurst  🍴 Best for the always peckish: Chapel Down Luxury Dining Experience 🏞️ Best for crowd haters: Broadway, Worcestershire 📱 Best for digital detoxers: Rocheser Christmas Fair

From top-tier off-licences to under-the-radar vintage shops, specialised delis, plant havens and everything in between, we’ve shopped (and dropped) our way through the capital’s retail offering. You really can buy whatever you want in this city – you just need to know where to look. That’s why we’ve put together this definitive list of the capital’s 50 best shops for 2025.  Featured in the list are a selection of excellent independent shops, some unmissable department stores, and a few delightfully quirky places you might have never known existed. This is our ultimate guide to shopping in the capital. Just don’t blame us if you get a little carried away next payday.  Rosie Heiwtson is Time Out London’s Things to Do Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. RECOMMENDED:London’s best secondhand shops, picked by expertsThe best markets in London for shopping and browsingThe best car boot sales in London London’s best shops at a glance 📚 Best bookshop: Daunt Books 🏬 Best department store: Liberty 🍴 Best vintage shop: Blackout II 🥪 Best deli: Salvino 🎁 Best gift shop: Botanique

It may only be the start of the festive season, but we are already thinking about festival season 2026. And we can’t wait.  By the time summer rolls around, Londoners will be absolutley spoilt for choice. With something taking place almost every weekend throughout the warmer months, you can forget trekking across the country to live in a field for five days; simply hop on the tube and before you know it you’re listening to your favourite artists, tinny to hand, knowing that there’s a hot shower and a cosy bed waiting for you once the day is over.  The line-up announcements for next year’s events are already coming in thick fast, with huge acts like Tyler, The Creator, Lewis Capaldi, CMAT, Lily Allen, Scissor Sisters and Deftones set to take to the London stage next summer. Plus, the future of events in Brockwell Park was thrown up in the air in 2025, however the south London park’s usual lineup of events – which includes Cross The Tracks, Wide Awake and Field Day – will all return in 2026.  Have a scroll through our comprehensive guide – which we keep meticulously updated with all the latest line-up announcements – and see what takes your fancy. RECOMMENDED: ⛺ The best UK music festivals🌍 The best festivals in Europe

We know that London is the best city in the world. But like any metropolis, it can also get a bit much sometimes. Occasionally, what you want isn’t to drink cocktails in a trendy bar after seeing the hottest Gen Z bedroom popstar at the Islington Assembly Hall, but a little peace and quiet, actually. Enter: the weekend getaway, invented by the Victorians (probably), there’s a reason why Londoners have been taking sojourns to the seaside on sunny bank holidays since the 1800s.  Together, we’ve come up with a cracking list of our favourite day trip destinations near London. There’s something for everyone here, from historic cities and cute villages to sandy beaches and rolling countryside. We've included some recommendations for ace restaurants, quaint little pubs, and our favourite things to do at each destination on the list – all of which are close enough to the city that you can get there and back in one sweet day.  Best day trips from London at a glance 🍔 Best for foodies: Margate 🎭 Best for culture lovers: Stratford-Upon-Avon ⛪ Best for history buffs: Canterbury 🛁 Best for families: Bath 🐴 Best for hikers: New Forest 🍺 Best for pub crawls: Lewes 🏖️ Best for seaside fun: Brighton RECOMMENDED:✨The best day trips an hour from London👪 The best family day trips from London☀️ The best weekend trips from London🏘️ The best Airbnbs near London🌳 The best quirky Airbnbs in the UK This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial conte

The world of solid dairy has some truly devoted fans and they’ll do well to pay a visit to Borough Market’s annual Evening of Cheese, where they’ll find an enormous range of products from all over the world to tempt turophiles, including wines, ciders, chutneys and – obviously – absolutely loads of top quality cheese from around Europe. Looking to craft the perfect festive cheeseboard? Head down to get your paws on loads of tasty little samples, and some expert advice from the market’s artisanal traders. There’ll be plenty of drinks on hand to complete the gouty vibes, while the festivities will also feature the annual parmesan-cracking competition, where cheesemongers compete to cut open a huge wheel of the good stuff and arrange it in a tower. Be sure to nab a spot by the front to get first dips on the freebies afterwards!

If you’re looking to splash your cash on something high-end and fancy in London, Bond Street won’t steer you wrong. It’s fitting, then, that the area’s Christmas lights for 2025 are inspired by some serious bling: the crown jewels. Evoking jewel-studded crowns, pearl necklaces and sparkling tiaras, the display features more than 80,000 energy-efficient LED bulbs crafted from recyclable, long-life materials, reducing energy consumption by 75 percent compared to previous installations. Find more Christmas lights in London

What is it? A first stop for East End trendies, Goodhood is a clothing and lifestyle shop owned by streetwear obsessed couple Kyle Stewart and Jo Sindle. After seven years on Hoxton’s Coronet Street, and a decade on Curtain Road, it recently upped sticks again to a super-size, 5,500 square foot site just off Brick Lane. What does it sell? A deftly curated edit of womenswear, menswear, accessories, kids’ stuff, beauty and grooming products, plus homeware, audio equipment and fancy camping gear. Japanese independent labels are well represented, while other covetable brands include Aries, Brain Dead, Engineered Garments, Pendleton, Ganni, Norse Projects, Our Legacy and Wood Wood. You’ll also find matcha whisks, wall tapestries and quality basics from the shop’s own brand, Goodhood Lifestore – designed in collaboration with Brain Dead co-founder Ed Davis – plus curated edits of stock from Broadway Market bookshop Artwords, vintage brand Unified Goods and Hackney record store Stranger Than Paradise.  The upscale, leftfield stock is hand picked to appeal to Goodhood’s very East End customer, but is shot through with a real sense of humour and a few easy, low-cost buys: branded tees, socks and hats, plus affordable trinkets, mugs, badges and stickers. Opening times 11am to 7pm daily Time Out tip If you want to be ahead of the curve when it comes to streetwear-influenced fashion, be sure to keep tabs on the brands represented here; Goodhood has a knack for stocking interesting

You better wrap up warm if you’re visiting E14 this winter, because London’s financial district is transforming into the Wharf Pole in the run-up to Christmas. Alongside the return of its seasonal ice rink, the neighbourhood has welcomed a brand new cold-weather pop-up this festive season. The Winter Club features three different spaces in which visitors can enjoy a festive tipple. There’s a buzzy Bavarian-style beer hall with live bands, sizzling bratwurst and frothing steins, and a cosy ski chalet offering hot toddies and relaxed après-ski vibes. But the biggest draw is surely the Ice Bar, where you can sip seriously chilly cocktails served in ice glasses, in a -10°C ice palace filled with frosty sculptures. Cool AF, literally.  

Seasoned London festival-goers have been singing the praises of this 10,000-capacity Southwark Park festival since it debuted in 2023, thanks to its boutique size, community vibe and collaborative line-ups created with help from some of the city’s best culture venues. So we’re pleased to say that Rally is coming back for a fourth edition in 2026, with a very exciting line-up curated by Blood Orange. Dev Hynes – AKA the guy behind Blood Orange – will bring his signature blend of synth funk, experimental beats and emotional depth to Southwark Park. Hynes will headline, and the rest of the line-up will be hand-selected by him. It’s still under wraps but given Hynes’ excellent taste, we have high hopes. 

’Tis the season for rampant consumerism, but if all the covetable clobber, shiny new tech and luxury knick-knacks are failing to fill the void, you’d do well to swing by the Choose Love store during your Christmas shopping spree. First set up in 2017 by Help Refugees, the clever pop-up doesn’t peddle fancy beauty products or the latest trainers. Instead, its shelves are filled with emergency blankets, children’s shoes, sleeping bags, toiletries, mobile phone credit, nappies, education supplies and other essentials needed by refugees around the world. Once you’ve bought what you can, the products are distributed via more than 80 projects that the humanitarian aid organisation works with across the globe. After several successful years on nearby Carnaby Street, the pop-up has moved into a department store-sized space on Regent Street for its biggest ever edition this year. Head down to check out a beautifully-designed space which is once again designed by Misty Buckley (The Oscars, The BRIT Awards) and will be set across two floors, with the usual roster of surprise celebrity volunteers working on the tills, and to do your bit to spread some Christmas cheer to those who need it most.

Prepare for a feast for the eyes, but resist the urge to nibble! The sweetest festive event you’ll find, the Museum of Architecture’s edible exhibition tasks leading architects and designers to ditch their conventional building materials for dough bricks and sugar paste mortar to construct a miniature biscuit metropolis erected in King’s Cross’s Coal Drops Yard for the festive season. With a new theme each year, the exhibition aims to encourage innovation and future-forward city planning, and this year’s ‘Playful City’ theme has resulted in some really fun designs, from school buildings with slides between classrooms to candy-coloured climbing walls. As well as marvelling at all the confectionary craftsmanship on display, visitors can take part in a series of hands-on gingerbread house workshops where they’ll be able to construct a delicious souvenir to take home. 

Planning a mammoth Christmas shopping trip soon? After a successful debut in 2024, Barnet’s winter ice-skating pop-up is back, popping up in the John Lewis car park adjacent to Brent Cross Shopping Centre for the winter season. Adorned with festive garlands, wreaths and fairy lights, the 6,781 square foot space can accommodate 150 skaters at a time, and is covered so it can be enjoyed during even the most extreme winter weather. It’s the perfect place to reward yourself after a hectic afternoon lugging shopping bags around. Opening times: Mon-Fri 3pm-9pm; Sat-Sun 10am-9pm.  Price: £15; children £13; family of four for £50.

Each year, Hyde Park gets transformed from pretty park to a dazzling, snow-covered, Alpine-themed, 350-acre festive funscape. One of the largest Christmas events in the UK, Winter Wonderland returns for its eighteenth year in 2025, and is expected to welcome around 2.5 million visitors over six magical weeks.  As you make your way around the space, you’ll find fairground rides, a child-friendly Santa Land (including a Santa’s Grotto, where presents lie in wait) and traditional Christmas markets where you’ll be able to buy gifts for all your loved ones, which has been freshly extended for 2025 with the addition of premium, artfully lit shopping spot Luminarie Lane. Other highlights include circus shows from Cirque Beserk, which take place three times each evening, and the biggest outdoor ice rink in the UK. Surrounding the park’s Victorian bandstand, the 1,795 square foot rink is sponsored by Mayfair’s new art museum Moco. Not only is it lit up by more than 100,000 lights, it’s also a rather cheerful shade of candyfloss pink in keeping with the museum’s logo. Continuing the chilly theme, there's also an ice sculpture exhibit that's been freshly reimagined as a 'Mystical, Mythical Fantasy World', a Real Ice Slide and ice sculpting workshops, after which you can warm yourself up later with frothing steins and steaming cups of mulled wine at the German-style Bavarian Village.

London’s newest – and cultiest – picturehouse, Clerkenwell’s Nickel Cinema is celebrating its first ever Halloween in style this October. A thoroughly DIY affair, the grindhouse cinema specialises is the perfect place to catch some niche horror picks. You won’t find Hocus Pocus and Ghostbusters on the programme here; instead, expect slashers, sexploitation films, Italian murder mystery, German industrial cinema and B movies galore, all leading up to an all-day marathon on October 31. Beginning at midday on Halloween, the first annual Nickel Cinema Halloween Psychotronic All-Dayer will feature six ‘mind-melting rarely (or never) screened movies’ alongside rarely-screened trailers, an exclusive poster sale and surprise guests. Costumes are very much encouraged!

Clerkenwell’s new DIY cinema is a stellar addition to London’s movie-going scene. Beginning life as a pop-up in pubs across the city, the Nickel opened as a permanent venue in June 2025 after owner Dominic Hicks crowdfunded £15,000 to open London’s first proper grindhouse cinema. The programme features everything from Italian crime flicks to German industrial cinema, 70s neo-noir to pre-Code Hollywood gems, with regular Mystery Movie screenings and at least one film print per week. With its 37 cinema seats rescued from the now-closed Odeon Covent Garden, a lobby decorated with vinyl records, VHS tapes and film reels and a cosy little bar and video shop in the basement, it’s a real haven for the city’s film buffs, and proof that cinema lives on in London.   

If the Lionesses’ second consecutive Euros win converted you into a die-hard women’s footie fan, this queer club night might be just the thing for you. A quarterly party hosted by east London-based female and nonbinary footie team Goal Diggers FC, the grassroots fundraiser promises bangers galore and plenty of homoerotic undertones (just like the England women’s footie team!) And having made the transfer from The Yard theatre to local rival Hackney Bridge, the event now features more outdoor space for flirty chats, and even more space to boogie. Take your whole squad. 

It’s been a busy couple of years for London’s iconic Victoria & Albert museum, with a whole bunch of major development projects on the go across the city. First, there was the £13 million revamp of the museum’s childhood-focused Bethnal Green outpost, which reopened as the Young V&A to  in June 2023 to critical acclaim, picking up the Art Fund Museum of the Year Award the following summer.  This spring then saw the opening of another very well-received project, the V&A East Storehouse, a ‘working museum’ purpose-built to house half a million objects from the museum’s various archives while offering Londoners a peek behind the scenes to see how a museum goes about curating and caring for the items in its collection.  And now, the museum group has announced the opening date for the second part of its east London development project, V&A East, which is due to open to the public on Saturday, April 18 2026. Opening just shy of a decade after it was first announced as part of the £1.1 billion development of Stratford’s East Bank cultural quarter, the 7,000 square metre museum will bring together exhibits that speak to both east London’s creative heritage and the voices that are shaping contemporary culture across the globe today.  Photograph: V&A East Museum Why We Make Galleries render © JA Projects Also announced today are details of the free-to-visit permanent galleries, new commissions and temporary exhibitions that comprise the museum’s opening displays. These include the Wh

It’s a huge weekend on the London social calendar, with Halloween parties galore, Day of the Dead fiestas, a smattering of early Bonfire Night celebrations and the final few days of October half-term entertainment all happening over the next couple of days.  But while that sounds really fun, it also sounds...expensive! Blown all your money on a killer Halloween costume and/or a week of entertaining the kids? No worries; it’s also an excellent weekend for wallet-friendly fun around the capital.  From great museum lates to fun pop-ups, here’s where to have fun this weekend without spending any more of your paycheque before November has even started.  RECOMMENDED: All the best things to do in London this weekend.  The best free things on in London this weekend 1. Learn about Nigerian modern art at a Tate Late  Inspired by its new exhibition Nigerian Modernism, the Tate Modern’s October late features talks, workshops and curator chats exploring food cultures, diaspora fashion and key African artworks in the Tate collection. There’ll also be plenty of music with DJ sets curated by Native Soundsystem, Tone and Sample Chief.  Tate Modern, SE1. Fri Oct 31. Free (some events are ticketed). 2. Or go rococo at a V&A Late hosted by Riposte  Have you heard the rumours that Marie Antoinette was actually queer? This late drawing off the V&A’s blockbuster exhibition all about the fated French queen, will be delving into the lesbian-coded history and symbolism of Marie Antoinette, in an ev

The clocks have gone back, there’s a chill on the air and central London’s fancy dress shops suddenly have queues out the door. It can only mean one thing; Halloween is just days away! Pretty soon, the streets will be full of the raving dead, as Londoners head out to Halloween parties around the city. And with the spookiest holiday on the calendar happening to fall on a Friday this year, we’re even more spoilt for choice than usual when it comes to late-night antics on All Hallows’ Eve. Still trying to decide which club night deserves to be graced by your haunted labubu costume?  We know which one we’ll be doing the monster mash at, because one north London party has topped our list of London’s best Halloween parties for 2025, thanks to a killer line-up headlined by Kurupt FM and special guest Aitch.  With the likes of DJ AG, Eliza Rose, SBTRKT, Mike Skinner, Eats Everything, Yung Singh and Flowdan featuring across three huge rooms, Drumsheds Presents Halloween is promising more bangers than Dracula has had bloody dinners this October 31.  The north London superclub – which recently announced major upgrades ahead of its 25/26 winter season – will be kicking things off nice and early at 7pm, meaning partygoers will have eight whole hours of raving ahead of the 3am curfew.  The venue has also told partygoers to ‘Expect the unexpected,’ which we imagine means it’s got some spook-tastic surprises planned for the scariest night of the year. We reckon those high-tech screens in Roo

October is a huge month for culture in the capital. Hot on the heels of the London Film Festival, Frieze London, London Cocktail Week and a whole bunch of theatre and gallery openings, it’s time for the city’s literary scene to take centre stage.  London Literature Festival arrives at the Southbank Centre this week, with 13 days of talks, readings, workshops, screenings, performances and award ceremonies celebrating the written and spoken word. Both rising stars and literary titans appear on a stacked line-up co-curated by Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem. The BRIT Award-nominated singer (and former Time Out cover star) will be taking over the venue on Saturday November 1, appearing in conversation with Dolly Alderton to discuss her new book, A Complicated Woman, before hosting a Saturday night music and spoken word variety show featuring some of her writers and performers, including Travis Alabanza, Tom Rasmussen and Pam Ayres. So celebrate the festival’s arrival this week, we asked the pop star, her line-up and a few names from the wider festival programme to tell us which one book they would take to a desert island. Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem  Photograph: Scarlett Carlos Clarke ‘I wish I could remember who suggested I read Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. I was about 30 and so very angry, and this was the first time I read that my anger was perfectly reasonable. Not only was it reasonable, it was NATURAL. Were I on a desert island

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