Things to do in London this October 2025
October in London offers a variety of cultural experiences across art, film, literature, and music. Frieze London and Frieze Masters bring together galleries from around the world for one of the city’s most renowned art fairs, while the BFI London Film Festival presents international and British cinema, including premieres and special events. The London Literature Festival returns with a packed programme of readings, discussions, and debates with celebrated authors, and London’s club scene has some unmissable events in store, from internationally renowned DJs such as Peggy Gou to landmark celebrations like Fabric’s 26th birthday. Here is our guide to the most notable things to see and do in London this October.
London Literature Festival
Creative Future Writers Day. Image credit Jess Hand
#FLODown: The Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival returns this October with a rich programme celebrating established and emerging voices. Mercury Prize-nominated artist Rebecca Lucy Taylor, also known as Self Esteem, will curate a day of exclusive events, featuring Dolly Alderton’s book launch and performances blending music, poetry, and multidisciplinary art. The festival highlights international women writers including Sayaka Murata, Chris Kraus, Alexis Wright, Bora Chung, and Olga Ravn, alongside prominent cultural voices such as Zadie Smith, Sebastian Faulks, Malala Yousafzai, Adam Buxton, Claire-Louise Bennett, Jimi Famurewa, Reese Witherspoon, and Harlan Coben. Special events include a preview of Sky’s TV adaptation of Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Monro with Cave and Matt Smith, and a London exclusive with Malala Yousafzai presenting her memoir Finding My Way. Families can enjoy free and ticketed events, including appearances by children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce and a run of Mog the Forgetful Cat. Poetry features strongly, with Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Out-Spoken, and Rachael Boast among the contributors, alongside a National Poetry Library open day.
Click here for the full programme of events.
Date: 22 October - 2 November 2025. Location: Southbank Centre, London. Price: Free and ticketed events available; ticket prices vary depending on the event.
Gou Talk
Peggy Gou to takeover Drumsheds on 4 October 2025.
#FLODown: Peggy Gou is set to take over Drumsheds London with a highly-anticipated event, bringing her acclaimed concept Gou Talk for a rare showcase. The classically-trained South Korean DJ, producer, designer, and label boss is known for her groovy house and suave techno selections, and she’ll be joined by a carefully curated lineup including fast-paced selector Anz, Scottish royalty Ewan McVicar, vinyl expert Marie Montexier, NYC house master Dennis Free, a live set from KiNK, and more.
Date: 4 October 2025. Location: Drumsheds, 6 Glover Drive, London N18 3HF. Price: from £29.50. Book now. Instagram: @drumshedslondon; @peggygou_
Click here for our guide to 20+ hottest club nights in London this autumn 2025.
Frieze London and Frieze Masters
Frieze London 2023 Photo by Lyndon Douglas. Courtesy Frieze. Lyndon Douglas Photography.
#FLODown: Frieze London and Frieze Masters return to Regent’s Park from 15–19 October 2025, bringing the who’s who of the art world to the heart of the capital. Frieze London continues to showcase contemporary art from leading international galleries, featuring both emerging talent and celebrated artists, while Frieze Masters presents a curated selection of art from antiquity to the 20th century, offering a fascinating historical dialogue with the contemporary works on display.
If you can’t manage to bag yourself a ticket to Frieze London and Masters, Frieze Sculpture (17 September - 2 November 2025), curated by Fatoş Üstek under the theme In the Shadows, remains open to all and is free to visit. The exhibition explores shadows not as mere absence but as creative spaces where memory, myth, and materiality intersect. Featured artists include Elmgreen & Dragset, Erwin Wurm, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, who engage with shadows both metaphorically and physically, addressing themes such as ecological loss, ancestral traces, and human transformation.
Click here a selection of over 30 exhibitions not to miss during Frieze Week, and here for other art fairs to catch in London in October.
Date: 15–19 October 2025. Location: Regent’s Park, London Price: Fromm £62.82. Book now
Lee Miller
Image credit: Lee Miller, David E. Scherman dressed for war, London 1942. Lee Miller Archives. © Lee Miller Archives, England 2025. All rights reserved. leemiller.co.uk
#FLODown: At Tate Britain, the UK’s largest retrospective of Lee Miller presents around 230 vintage and modern prints, including newly discovered works, and unseen archival material, spanning her entire career from French surrealism to war photography. The exhibition highlights Miller’s innovative and fearless approach that produced some of modern photography’s most iconic images. It traces her journey from modelling in New York to working with Man Ray in Paris, her avant-garde surrealist photography, and her pioneering fashion work for British Vogue during WWII. As one of the few accredited female war correspondents, Miller documented frontline battles and post-war Europe with striking immediacy. The show also explores her post-war artistic circles and self-portraits, offering a comprehensive view of her legacy as both artist and photojournalist.
Date: 2 October 2025 – 15 February 2026. Location: Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Price: £20. Concessions available. Book now
The 69th BFI London Film Festival
Image credit Jeremy Yap.
#FLODown: The 69th BFI London Film Festival returns in October, celebrating twelve days of cinema, series, and shorts across London and the UK. Opening with the international premiere of Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and closing with the UK premiere of Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero, the festival brings together the world’s leading filmmakers and talent, including UK premieres of Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, Hikari’s Rental Family, Philippa Lowthorpe’s H Is for Hawk, and the European premiere of Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. Presenting 247 titles from 79 countries, with 103 works by female and non-binary filmmakers (42% of the programme), audiences can enjoy LFF Expanded’s extended reality and video games, LFF Series for television and digital content, and LFF for Free, featuring talks, workshops, DJ nights, exhibitions, and filmmaker Q&As. Screen Talks will include in-person and online sessions with Yorgos Lanthimos, Daniel Day-Lewis, Richard Linklater, Jafar Panahi, Lynne Ramsay, Tessa Thompson, and Chloé Zhao.
Click here for the full programme.
Date: 8–19 October 2025. Location: BFI Southbank, Royal Festival Hall, and partner cinemas across London and the UK.
Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES
Gilbert & George DATE STONES, 2019 89 x 174 in. (226 x 442 cm) © Gilbert & George. Courtesy White Cube
#FLODown: A landmark exhibition of iconic artists Gilbert & George will open at the Hayward Gallery in October. 21ST CENTURY PICTURES brings together more than 60 large-scale works created over the past 25 years, featuring new pieces from their 2025 series THE SCREW PICTURESalongside key series such as NEW HORNY PICTURES (2001), THE LONDON PICTURES (2011), THE BEARD PICTURES (2016), and CORPSING PICTURES (2022). Celebrated for combining striking imagery and text, Gilbert & George challenge social norms and provoke discussion on sex, religion, class, nationalism, corruption, and mortality. True to their motto ‘art for all’, they offer a bold and thought-provoking perspective on contemporary society.
Date: 7 October 2025 – 4 January 2026. Location: Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. Price: £20 (Concessions available & Southbank Centre Members go free). Book now
Halloween at Kew
Hallow at Kew. © RBG Kew.
#FLODown: Halloween at Kew returns to Kew Gardens for its second year, promising even more eerie enchantment after its hugely popular 2024 debut. The 1.5km immersive light trail will transform the gardens after dark with bewitched trees, giant spiders, ghostly installations and live performers, from Dr Frankenstein and his monster to the headless horseman. Visitors will journey through spooky settings including an abandoned fairground, a mausoleum and the underworld, with three session types to choose from: Daylight, Moonlight and Twilight, each offering a different atmosphere that grows spookier as night falls. Produced by Raymond Gubbay Limited and created by Culture Creative, the event is designed to provide a magical, family friendly Halloween experience.
Date: 17 October - 2 November 2025. Location: Kew Gardens, London. Prices: Adults £22 peak / £18.50 off peak; Children £16 peak / £13 off peak; Family £72 peak / £59 off peak. Book now
Nigerian Modernism
Image credit: Jimo Akolo Fulani Horsemen 1962 © Reserved. Courtesy Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
#FLODown: Tate Modern will present Nigerian Modernism, the first major UK exhibition to explore the development of modern art in Nigeria. Featuring over 250 works by more than 50 artists, it reveals how artists responded to colonialism, independence, and globalisation by engaging with Indigenous forms and modernist ideas. The exhibition includes works by early pioneers such as Aina Onabolu and Ben Enwonwu, as well as leading figures like Bruce Onobrakpeya, Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Susanne Wenger, and Yusuf Grillo. It explores key movements including the Zaria Art Society, with its call for a “natural synthesis” of African and Western art; the experimental Oshogbo school; and the Nsukka group, known for its revival of uli design.
Date: 8 October 2025 – 10 May 2026. Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: from £18. Concessions available. Book now
London Cocktail Week
London Cocktail Week returns. Image credit Nikita Tikhomirov
#FLODown: London Cocktail Week returns this October, inviting cocktail enthusiasts to immerse themselves in the city’s vibrant bar scene. From 9 to 19 October 2025, over 200 of London’s top bars will participate, offering specially crafted £9 Signature Cocktails exclusively for wristband holders. New for this year, many venues will also serve £6 Tiny Cocktails, allowing guests to sample a variety of innovative drinks in smaller portions. Additionally, select bars will feature £6 non-alcoholic options and £12 Champagne cocktails. Beyond the drinks, the festival will host a range of events including masterclasses, pop-ups, and curated cocktail tours, providing a comprehensive experience of London’s diverse cocktail culture.
Date: 9–19 October 2025. Location: Participating bars across London. Price: £20 wristband grants access to special offers and events londoncocktailweek.com
Yinka Shonibare in conversation
Portrait of Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. Photography by Tom Jamieson. Image © Yinka Shonibare CBE and Tom Jamieson.
#FLODown: Acclaimed artist Yinka Shonibare and Booker Prize-winning writer Ben Okri will come together at Tate Modern on 9 October 2025 for a conversation on the impact of Nigerian Modernism on art, literature, and cultural institutions. The discussion will explore the movement’s post-independence spirit of experimentation and its influence on contemporary creative practice. Chaired by Nigerian Modernism exhibition (opening at the Tate on 8 October 2025) exhibition curator Osei Bonsu, the evening will also feature a celebration of Nigerian sounds with a guest DJ bringing energy to the Corner.
Date: 9 October 2025. Time: 6:30 – 8 pm. Location: Starr Cinema, Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: £15 / £13 for Members; £13 Concessions; £5 for Universal Credit or Pension Credit recipients. Book now
Click here for more artist talks to be on your radar in London this autumn.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Stravinsky with Ryan Bancroft
Conductor Ryan Bancroft. Image courtesy of LSO
#FLODown: Conductor Ryan Bancroft makes his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), introducing and conducting Stravinsky’s The Firebird, a ballet premiered in Paris in 1910 that paints a fantastical world of mythical lands and creatures. Influenced by his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky blends rich, colourful harmonies with exciting rhythms and melodies, retelling a Russian tale of love and courage while hinting at his emerging compositional style. In this Half Six Fix concert, Bancroft guides audiences through the music, offering insight into what makes this iconic work so extraordinary.
Date: 29 October 2025. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £15-£35. Book now
Fabric’s Birthday Marathon
Fabric. Image credit Lolita Montana.
#FLODown: London’s iconic nightclub, Fabric, will celebrate its 26th birthday with a monumental 30-hour marathon from Saturday 18 October, through Monday 20 October 2025. This milestone follows a year of global showcases, the revitalisation of its Bodykinetic dancefloor, and the release of curated music from some of electronic music’s finest artists. The lineup for the weekend includes Craig Richards, Ricardo Villalobos, Shanti Celeste, Francesco Del Garda, Nicolas Lutz, Ogazón, Adiel, Anna Wall, Bobby, Christian AB, Harry McCanna, Laidlaw, Matteo Manzini, O.Bee & Tomas Station, Rene Wise, and Ryan Elliott, with additional guests expected to be announced in the lead-up to the event.
Date: 18–20 October 2025. Time: Saturday 11pm - Monday 5am. Location: Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 6HJ. Price: from £33.80. Book now. Instagram: @fabriclondonofficial
Joy Gregory: Catching Flies with Honey
Joy Gregory, Stockwell Siren from the series Celebrity Blonde, 2001, performance © Joy Gregory
#FLODown: The first major retrospective of British artist Joy Gregory opens at Whitechapel Gallery in October. A leading figure in experimental photography since the 1980s, Gregory addresses race, gender, identity, and diaspora through photography, installation, performance, and textiles. Drawing on her Jamaican-British heritage, her visually striking works include Objects of Beauty, Memory & Skin, and The Blonde, along with a new commission connecting indigenous Kalahari communities and Afro-Caribbean histories.
Date: 8 October 2025 – 11 January 2026. Location: 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX. Price: TBC. whitechapelgallery.org
