The Best Things to Do in London this October

October in London brings a certain type of magic. As the nights become longer and the chill in the wind necessitates the return of the Big Coat, London’s galleries, theatres, pubs and restaurants feel even more irresistible. October is the capital’s biggest month for art, with Frieze London and major openings like Tate Britain’s landmark ’90s exhibition. This month, east London also welcomes a new temporary club space, and across the city, there’s a host of delicious-looking chef residencies and dining events worth booking now. These are Broadsheet’s top picks.

Ruhi Parmar Amin and Simar Deo – the power duo behind roaming restaurant concept Firangi – will be serving their hyper-regional Indian cooking at Highbury neighbourhood wine bar Top Cuvee this autumn. Menu highlights include Coorg pandi pork belly with green beans, glazed shallot and quince fudge; and a coconut cookie sandwich with chai diplomat and burnt marshmallow.
Until December (date TBC); topcuvee.com

Don’t leave it to the last minute to catch this stunning exploration of the life, work and impact of Frida Kahlo. Rather than simply following her life chronologically, the exhibition delves into the Mexican artist’s many “selves”: boundary-pushing artist, intellectual, political activist and wife. Visitors can get up close to more than 30 of her works, plus over 200 pieces by her contemporaries and those she inspires. The final section of the show explores “Fridamania”, encompassing her immense fanbase and the continued use of her art and image in commercial objects.
Until January 3, 2027. tate.org.uk

Multi-hyphenate marvel Es Devlin is getting her first-ever European retrospective, celebrating three decades of creative practice. The Design Museum’s exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the worlds she’s created for theatre (including 2018’s The Lehman Trilogy, which earned her an Olivier and Tony award); large-scale events (the London 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony) and more, and recreate Devlin’s London studio, filled with her sketches, paintings, diaries and books.
October 2–April 4, 2027; designmuseum.org

Across five big weekends, Shoreditch arts venue Rich Mix will celebrate the UK’s most influential underground movements, including grime, club culture, UK South Asian underground sound and more. The series begins on October 3 with Here to Stay: Asian Underground, and move between film screenings to post-screening talks, then conclude on the dancefloor with live music and DJs until 2am.
October 3–November 28; richmix.org.uk

Unsurprisingly, a number of events at the annual London Restaurant Festival are sold out – but there are still plenty more tickets be snapped up. The line-up brings together one-off dinners at excellent London restaurants (including Thai American restaurant Chet’s, Shoreditch’s so-hot-right-now British spot Tavern and Indian fine dining at Empire Empire); masterclasses in cooking and cocktail-making at places like Pepperbird in Kensington Olympia; and tours of culinary hotspots like Marylebone Village.
October 4–31; londonrestaurantfestival.com

London’s ever-expanding Royal Docks development has a brand new 7000-capacity warehouse venue – and it’s hosting a five-show debut season with an impressive line-up of DJs. Eric Prydz, Charlotte de Witte and Jamie Jones are just some of the world-class DJs hitting the decks in a space that spans more than 150,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, overlooking the Thames.
October 3–November 1; ironworks.london

The latest group exhibition at Bethnal Green’s Rose Easton gallery exists at the intersection of fashion, contemporary design and the body. The artists – Dogperson39, Sarah Benslimane, Sylvie Fleury, Charlotte Kingsnorth and Caitlin MacQueen – have created work inspired by Rei Kawakubo’s spring/summer 1997 Comme des Garcons collection Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body. In this collection, the Japanese fashion designer and Comme des Garcons founder challenged conventional ideas of femininity with padded, distorted silhouettes. October 3–December 12; roseeaston.com

London’s annual international dance festival spans live performance, film and artist talks in venues across town. Not For Glory melds traditional Highland and Irish dance, there are contemporary dancefloor moves in After After by Dutch artist Arno Shuitemaker, and a programme of work exploring the history of Black British music culture in Touch The Floor.
October 7–27; danceumbrella.co.uk

You’ll have to be quick to secure your seat at this year’s hottest LFF screenings. Now in its 70th year, the festival will showcase premieres by big-name directors as well as short films, industry talks and more. It begins with Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman, which tells the story of actor Ian Charleson preparing to perform in a production of Hamlet at the National Theatre.
October 7–18; whatson.bfi.org.uk

This celebration of the decadent decade, curated by Edward Enninful, is more than a mere art exhibition, instead bringing together era-defining photography, peak Young British Artists artworks, film, cult fashion collections from designers like Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen and more.
October 8–February 14, 2027; tate.org.uk

Fashion’s most fantastical photographer gets the big gallery treatment with an exhibition Walker explains as “me finally placing myself in the queer realm with confidence and greeting all the other friends who live here”. The result is 250 inimitable portraits of subjects ranging from Frank Ocean to Alan Carr.
October 9–February 7, 2027; npg.org.uk

Never-before-seen works created in darkrooms across the world will illuminate the history of art photography in a fresh way, bringing together 200-plus rare prints by more than 80 artists who helped push the medium beyond mere documentary.
October 14–February 21, 2027; tate.org.uk

The unignorable art pageant returns to its sprawling Regent’s Park home for the 23rd time. The outdoor sculpture trail (and the people-watching) is free; inside the ticketed enclosure this year is a world’s worth of commercial galleries and a new section, The Code Universe, focusing on the medium of mass culture curated by the director of Beijing’s InsideOut Art Museum.
October 14–18; frieze.com

Perhaps you’ve seen the excellent 2006 film The Lives of Others, set in ’80s East Berlin, following an agent of the secret police spying on a writer and his lover. Or, perhaps you’re a fan of Olivier Award winning-director Robert Icke. Either way, this all-star theatre adaptation, with Keira Knightley alongside Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones) and Luke Thompson (Bridgerton) looks to be a winner.
October 14–January 9, 2027; thelivesofothersplay.com

London has a new art fair, and it’s imbued with a sense of playfulness and equality. For four days, One Marylebone will showcase work by 70 independent artists, chosen by an independent selection committee (as opposed to them paying for exhibition space). Visitors are invited either to consider purchasing art or just perusing – plus there’ll be a tequila bar by El Rayo, as well as participatory performances, tarot readings, personal poems and more popping up across the venue’s four greenhouses.
October 15–18; fairplayartfair.com

Maggie O’Farrell (Hamnet), Julian Clary, Meera Syal and Caitlin Moran are just some of the talent on the impressive line-up of authors, journalists, actors and other cultural figures that make up Wimbledon Bookfest. There are more than 100 events over 10 days, including talks, creative writing masterclasses, live podcast recordings and more.
October 15–25; wimbledonbookfest.org

The second in a three-part Sunday series by Soho restaurant Gunpowder is set to book out – so you’ll want to be speedy to secure your seat. Known for its creative approach to modern Indian dining, Gunpowder has invited London chefs to take over its kitchen, and each will bring their own approach to South Asian cuisine. October’s guest is Rezma Rahman, aka Roti Mami, who’ll serve cuisine inspired by her Bangladeshi and Sylherti heritage, and her east London upbringing. Tunes will be curated by London DJ D-Lish, who has created a playlist featuring music exclusively from South Asian artists and producers.
October 18; gunpowderrestaurants.com

Pop’s favourite bookworm, Dua Lipa, takes on curation duties for the South Bank’s biggest literature celebration to date. Her Service95 platform has programmed an array of all-ages events and Lipa herself will be in conversation with Patti Smith, Zadie Smith and Canadian poet Mustafa Nour.
October 20–November 1; southbankcentre.co.uk

Following sold-out runs in Manchester and Stratford-upon-Avon, this frenetic fusion of theatre, music and movement gets a limited run at the Barbican. Co-created by Thom Yorke and directors Christine Jones and Steven Hoggett, it infuses Shakespeare’s existential masterpiece with Radiohead’s 2003 Bush-baiting album.
October 31–January 23, 2027; barbican.org.uk

For one night in October, local artists will showcase their works at Open Door Community Kitchen, a Dalston meal service that helps people facing food and housing insecurity. This free-to-enter exhibition will display their work – which they’ve created in response to themes of housing insecurity – and lead workshops, readings and performances. There’ll also be free food and drinks from the kitchen team.
October 31; @opendoorcommunitykitchen

Following on from its sell-out ’70s disco-inspired party in Somerset House, London-based party crew Detour Discotheque will re-create the golden age of late-’70s Halloween disco parties in New York – with an extra-spooky twist. The parties (one on Friday and one on Saturday night) will be held in a subterranean location that will be revealed to ticketholders 48 hours before the event.
October 30 & 31; detourdisco.com