Bits and bobs worth knowing.

🐛 4 North London postcodes named in the UK’s top bed bug districts: Sorry to bug you about this (ha, get it, bug) but it seems our streets are not only filled with foxes and pigeons but bed bugs too. New research has revealed the country’s bed bug hotspots and Islington (N1) is top of the list. Stokey (N16), Tottenham (N17) and Kilburn (NW6) are not far behind. Bed bug callouts up 20% in London over the past year (yikes!). Do me a favour, please check mattress seams and bed frames this weekend.

☕ Update on the Hampstead Heath café dispute: Patrick Matthews and Emma Fernandez who run the cafés at Parliament Hill Lido, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park have had their judicial review approved by a High Court judge. This means the City of London Corporation’s decision to hand their cafés to Daisy Green can now be properly challenged in court. Matthews said they feel “vindicated.” City of London say the process was lawful and will defend it robustly.

📚 Camden’s most oversubscribed primary schools revealed : Every one of Camden’s 37 primary schools had more applicants than places this year. Most in demand: Hampstead Parochial (199 applications for 30 places), Christ Church Primary (175 for 28), Eleanor Palmer in Kentish Town (189 for 30). Six of the top ten are Church of England schools which prioritise churchgoing families. Applying for September 2027? Deadline is 15 January 2027.

🌱 South Tottenham Station is in the running for World Cup of Stations 2026: There’s a competition called the World Cup of Stations where the public votes for their favourite station in the UK. South Tottenham has been nominated because staff turned unused land next to the station into a community garden where local schoolchildren, older residents and people living with dementia come together. Two station assistants Ray and Azaz have been running it for years. Voting closes midnight Sunday 18 October

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Larger Than Life: Wallace & Gromit at Lightroom | 📍Lightroom, N1C | From 14 October | (£)
Walk into a room and find Wallace, Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Morph on every wall and the floor, 50 minutes of Aardman projected all around you. From 14 October at Lightroom in King's Cross.


North London Record Fair | 📍The Elmhurst, N17 | 18 October | Free
Dig through records at The Elmhurst in Tottenham, pound bins to high-end rarities across all genres, with DJs playing through the day. Have a dig then stay for a Sunday roast. Family and dog friendly. Free, 10am to 4pm.

Make & Mend Festival | 📍Hornsey Town Hall, Crouch End, N8 | 17 October | Free entry
Muswell Hill Creatives is taking over Hornsey Town Hall for a whole day of making things, learning old and new skills and meeting some of the people who make locally. You can sit down and have a go at Japanese Sashiko embroidery, linocut printing, modern calligraphy or making a paper lampshade, then wander through a market of ceramics, jewellery, textiles and other work made by local artists and makers. Stroud Green WI will be bringing the homemade cakes and savouries, Sean’s Shack is doing the drinks and sandwiches, and there’s a tombola raising money for Wave Hub. It’s the eighth Make & Mend Festival, but the first one inside Hornsey Town Hall. 11am to 5pm. Entry is free, with workshops booked separately and individually priced.

High School Musical | 📍Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, HA9 | Until 3 January | (£)
Twenty years since the film, High School Musical is on stage at Wembley Park with Harry Judd from McFly as Coach Bolton and original cast member KayCee Stroh as Ms Darbus. The staging puts some of the audience on stage, so you’re inside East High rather than watching from a distance. Breaking Free, Get’cha Head in the Game, We’re All in This Together. Ages 6 and over, until 3 January.

Fink’s Autumn Market | 📍Clissold House, N16 | 17 October | Free ’Tis the season for leaves falling, pumpkins being harvested and apples being bobbed, so Fink’s is throwing a market in the rose garden at Clissold House. Seasonal food, hot drinks, cocktails, maker stalls and games. Free, 2pm to 6pm.

Bloomsbury Festival | 📍Various venues, WC1 | 1 - 31 October | Free/(£)
Bloomsbury Festival continues, and this weekend you could catch Nuns With Tattoos at Holy Cross Church: intimate cabaret by queer Christian British-Jamaican performer Esther Foga exploring faith, identity and taboo through personal stories and live music. Pay what you can, £6 to £20, Saturday 7pm. Or wander past Brunswick Square Gardens any time before the end of October to see twenty years of festival photography by local photographer Stuart Keegan, displayed free in the windows and gardens along Judd Street.

Enfield Black Literature Festival | 📍Dugdale Arts Centre, EN2 | 18 October | (£)
Enfield's Caribbean Association has gathered thirteen published Black authors for a full day celebrating Black heritage, culture and storytelling. Panels on identity, wellbeing and favourite reads, three writing workshops, bookstalls, a blind book swap and a Windrush exhibition. £5 for workshops, £10 for everything. 1pm to 7pm.

Go Ape Sundown Adventures | 📍Alexandra Palace, N22 | Weekends from 16 October | (£)
Go Ape at Ally Pally does this once a year: high ropes through the trees as the sun goes down over London, the course lit up with glowing lights as it gets dark. Back for autumn, with adults-only sessions for the first time. £32, ages 6 and over, from 6pm. Sessions are limited so book ahead.



London Craft Chocolate Fair | 📍Fidelio Café, EC1R | 17 - 18 October | (£)
Taste your way through some of the world’s best bean-to-bar chocolate at Fidelio Café in Clerkenwell, at the start of Chocolate Week. Makers from across the UK and beyond including Pump Street, Chocolarder and Friis Holm, plus talks and tastings with experts including James Hoffmann. Come curious, leave converted. £5 entry, tastings from £25. Saturday 10am to 6pm, Sunday 10am to 5pm.

Clissold Car Boot | 📍Stoke Newington School, N16 | 18 October | (£)
Peckham Car Boot’s new North London trial continues at Stoke Newington School: car boot sellers, vintage finds and good people in a school yard. £5 gets you in from 10am for first pick, £1 after 11am. Until 2pm.

Fermentation Celebration | 📍OmVed Gardens, N6 | 17 October | (£)
Fourth annual fermentation festival in OmVed’s hillside gardens in Highgate, this year focused on the four Ks: kefir, kimchi, kombucha and kraut. Morning talks with experts on each, then hands-on sessions in the afternoon where you make your own and take home starters to keep going at home. Artisans’ market of small-batch ferments, a fermenters’ swap and seasonal vegetarian lunch from the OmVed kitchen. Bring your own jars. 10am to 4pm.

Ghost Portrait Painting | 📍Blighty Café, N4 | 18 October | (£)
Spend a Sunday afternoon painting a ghost portrait in a little frame to take home, at Blighty in Finsbury Park. All paints and materials provided, step-by-step guidance, a drink included, and absolutely no artistic ability required. The important question: cute ghost or creepy ghost? 2pm to 4pm.

Black British Folk Takeover | 📍Cecil Sharp House, NW1 | 17 October | (£)
A full day of folk music, song and storytelling celebrating the African Diaspora's place in British folk, back for a second year after a sold-out inaugural. Jamaican Maypole dancing, a folk sing-around, live sets from Daudi Matsiko, Island Girl and others, and a conversation with carnival legend Linett Kamala. Full day £35.50, under 30s £20.50, evening only from £12.50. Doors 1.45pm.



Lee Valley Comic Con | 📍Lee Valley Athletics Centre, N9 | 18 October | (£)
Comic con at Lee Valley with 170-plus tables of toys, Pokemon, Funko figures and comics, a cosplay competition, gaming area, artist alley and a charity auction. Special guest this year is Colin Baker, the sixth Doctor Who. Under 12s free, free parking. £15 early bird from 9am, £10 general from 10am, £5 after 2pm.



Shōtengai Market | 📍Lower Stable Street, N1C | 15 - 18 October | Free
Japanese-style street market back on Lower Stable Street in King’s Cross with pan-Asian homeware, fashion and food. Vendors rotate each month so there’s always something new, but expect the likes of Japanese homewares, Tokyo bikes, okonomiyaki pancakes and takoyaki. Food stalls Thursday to Sunday, craft and homeware Friday to Sunday.

The Roll On Reunion | 📍Roller Nation, N17 | 18 October | (£)
Learn to skate in time to music with Sourgrapism, one of London’s favourite rhythm skaters, then stay for the party: four hours of soul, RnB, Hip Hop, house and slow jams played by skaters for skaters. Dom Diego, Mr Made You Look and Kengo on the decks. Workshop 6pm, party 7pm to 11pm.

Surinderella | 📍Artsdepot, N12 | 17 - 18 October | (£)
Rifco Theatre’s Bollywood-inspired retelling of Cinderella, full of big laughs, romance and larger-than-life entertainment for the whole family. Think classic pantomime energy with a dazzling South Asian twist. At Artsdepot in North Finchley, from £15, ages 3 and up. 2.30pm.

North London Curated Pop-Up Market | 📍St Mary’s, Upper Street, N1 | 17 October | Free
North London Curated was started by two traders who were fed up with badly run markets, so they built the kind they’d actually want to sell at. Emma Harrison and Anna of Dirty Bertie Vintage still trade at every event themselves, alongside the 24 independent sellers they’ve brought together here. Vintage fashion, homeware, art, jewellery and kidswear in the grounds of St Mary’s Church on Upper Street, with a DJ on the decks all day



Frieze London & Frieze Masters | 📍Regent’s Park, NW1 | 14 - 18 October | (£)
The world’s biggest art fair, in a tent in Regent’s Park. Almost 300 galleries from 48 countries, contemporary work alongside Old Masters. If you follow art, this is the week everything happens in London. And if tickets aren’t for you, Frieze Sculpture is free in the English Gardens until 1 November, eleven large-scale works by international artists scattered through the park.

Click below to see full weekend list.👇

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Upcoming events you should consider booking in advance or planning ahead for. In and out of North London. Events marked with (£) require a ticket in advance.

Pitchfork Music Festival | 📍Multiple venues incl. Roundhouse, NW1 | 2–8 November | (£)
Pitchfork Music Festival takes over sixteen London venues for six days of specially curated multi-artist bills and one-off events. The Roundhouse is among the North London venues confirmed.

EFG London Jazz Festival | 📍KOKO NW1 + Islington Assembly Hall N1 | 13–22 November | (£)
Every November, 60+ London venues spend ten days hosting one of Europe’s biggest jazz festivals — and this year North London gets two headline shows. GoGo Penguin, the Manchester trio who make jazz sound like it was built for headphones, play KOKO Camden on 16 November. Kyoto Jazz Massive close the festival at Islington Assembly Hall on 22 November.

Halloween Dog Parade | 📍Claremont Park, NW2 | 31 October, 11am–1pm | Free Your dog deserves a Halloween too. Dress them up, bring them to Claremont Park, and parade them through the park in front of judges deciding on Best Dressed, Spookiest Pup, Best Homemade Costume, Cutest Puppy and more. There’s free professional photos at Arthur’s, dog treats from local retailers, face painting, and all proceeds go to Pets As Therapy. Participating dogs must register in advance — spectators just show up.