By Charlotte Cox
INTRO: It’s Halloween! And whether you run away with the circus, party till the apocalypse or just skip the costume and scoff street food, you’re in for a frightfully good weekend
EXHIBITION: Veuve Cliquot Widow Series
It's true that an event can catch our eye simply by having the words 'Veuve' and 'Cliquot' in its name. Although look closer at this first-ever exhibition in a new Halloween series, and you'll see there's way more to get excited about than champagne (and who knew that was possible?). An annual immersive arts event with a different curator each year, first up is visionary fashion photographer Nick Knight, who brings works themed on 'A Beautiful Darkness' to Central St Martins. Expect haunting fashion films by up-and-coming names, costumes by Gareth Pugh, a room created by Amanda Harlech, and original pieces by Knight himself. It's on today (Thursday) for one day only – so get yourself down there. There may even be champagne...
29 Oct; free The College, 12-42 Southampton Row W1CB 4AP veuvecliquotwidowseries.co.uk
FOOD: Tokyo Nights
Here comes another winter edition of a street-food fave – but not for the Night Tales crew any old 'winter wonderland' theme, oh no. For the next eight weeks, they're bringing the back-streets of Tokyo right to Old Street, London. And how: four concept bars, six modern-Asian kitchens, eight private ryokans (traditional Japanese houses, don't you know), a ‘Love Hotel’ (nope, us neither) and enough sushi to satisfy even sumo-sized appetites. Throw in special supperclubs and a sake bar, and this winter we're turning Japanese. Oh yes we're turning Japanese. We really think so.
From 29 Oct; free 288-299 Old Street, Shoreditch EC2A nighttales.co.uk
FOOD: Street Feast Hawker House
The street-food trend has many wonderful things to offer – but shelter and heating are not among them. Which means winter leaves us in quite the quandary: are gourmet lobster burgers worth the hypothermia? (Yes.) But wait! Before you resign yourself to your frostbitten fate – the good folk at Street Feast have solved our dilemma. Welcome to Hawker House, which combines the best bits of the outdoor foodie markets (Rola Wala, B.O.B's Lobster, Smokestak, Mother Clucker) with a roof and radiators and other such creature comforts. Genius! Plus, the Whisky Bar is back with its infamous whisky roulette – so you can give yourself a Halloween fright of the highly alcoholic variety.
From 30 Oct; free before 7pm, £3 after Canada Street, Canada Water SE16 2XU streetfeastlondon.com
FILM: All Night At The Electric
Remember when you used to have sleepovers and watch scary movies all night long? Well, this is just like that. If you held them in a super-stylish vintage cinema, curated a cult-cool line-up of Italian and American slasher movies and served your guests espresso martinis. (Which we did, obviously.) Taking over the atmospheric, squishy-seated Electric Cinema Portobello for Halloween, this fright-fest serves up four classics back to back, namely: Psycho, What Happened To Solange?, Blood And Black Lace and Friday 13th. What’s more, you’ll be treated to those martinis, a breakfast break and a revival kit, all from the comfort of your leather armchair. Sounds like our kinda sleepover.
31 Oct from 11.45pm; £40 191 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, W11 2ED electriccinema.co.uk
NIGHTLIFE: The Dark Circus Party
Roll up, roll up, all fabulous freaks and divine deviants! For this night is yours – which can only mean the Dark Circus party is back in town. A sensory feast set in a secret Big Top, we’re promised that behind the curtains lies ‘a dark, dreamy, licentious and depraved world of heady illusion and unbridled spectacle’. And we well believe it, for this Halloween special comes courtesy of theatrical cocktail connoisseurs Bourne & Hollingsworth and curators of the peculiar Torture Garden. Expect to dance and drink with abandon amid sideshow freaks, trapeze artists, lion tamers, showgirls and snake charmers – with more cocktail options than you can shake a bearded lady at. Which is good, as it sounds like you’ll need a strong drink or two.
31 Oct; £25 Secret London location darkcircusparty.com
NIGHTLIFE: The End of the World Party
So the apocalypse is nigh: hell is about to get all erupt-y. And just below Electric Brixton of all places. What's to be done? Well, get dressed up and dance like there's no tomorrow, obviously. And that's just what you can do at this Halloween shindig thrown by the brains behind Rebel Bingo. Expect lavish costumes (no one wants to die looking less than amazing), a confession wall for last-minute repenting and a photo booth for that all-important last-ever selfie. Because it’s all about Instagram in the afterlife. What’s more, the whole thing will be soundtracked by prime, grade-A party anthems chosen by you (via the event's Facebook page) – because you don’t want to listen to any old tosh at the end of days. Is it just us, or is the end of the world sounding all kinds of fun?
31 Oct; £20 Electric Brixton, Town Hall Parade, SW2 1RJ endoftheworldparty.com
DRINK: Flight Club
We don't know why we're surprised. We've had hip ping-pong. We've had hip boules. And now, we hereby present... hip darts! Yup: once the preserve of hairy, rotund men swilling pints, it's now being adopted by bearded, skinny-jeans-wearing men swilling ‘Lageritas’. The wonders of modern life, eh? And it's all down to this new Finsbury Square establishment from the team that bought you ping-pong bar Bounce. Hire a board and battle it out over souped-up versions of the sport such as Killer or Shanghai, all while sipping specialty cocktails including G & Tea, Queen Vic’s Spritz and Darted Daiquiris. Safety tip: it's probably best to go steady on those until you're done throwing sharp, pointy objects. Just saying.
Alphabeta Building, 2A Worship Street, London, EC2A 2AH flightclubdarts.com
The Magic Of Marseille
24 Of The Best Restaurants In London
A First-Timers Guide To Visiting Jamaica
The Best Romantic Staycations To Visit