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Hey Neighbour,
Keeping it short this week. Thanks to everyone who sent in a winter fair or market for the guide, submissions are now closed and I’m putting it all together.
Now, over to your weekend plans.
—Maryam
PS - if you attend any events listed, feel free to tag on Instagram stories and share how it's all going.
Plan Your Weekend:
⛸️ Ice Skating Returns to Brent Cross Tomorrow
📋 Round Up ( bits and bobs worth knowing)
📌 I Found A New Place To Work In Kentish Town
🔔 Down The Road
⭐ Top Events
⛸️ Ice Skating Returns to Brent Cross Tomorrow
Some of you might remember the ice rink at Brent Cross from previous winters. Others might be surprised to learn there's one there at all. Either way, it's back for its third year, opening tomorrow in the John Lewis car park and staying until 3 January.
Whether you're confident on the ice or haven't skated in years, everyone's welcome. Sessions last 45 minutes, skates are included, and there are marshals on hand to help beginners find their feet. Little ones can use skating aids too.
And a little heads-up if you're thinking of going: there's a £10 early-bird voucher available until 23 October. Use code PRELAUNCH26 when booking for skating dates up to 13 December.
📋 Round Up
Bits and bobs worth knowing.
⭐️ Haringey just ranked 7th best place in England to grow up: The Children’s Commissioner looked at over 160 things including healthcare, schools, green space, youth clubs and mental health services. Haringey came 7th best in England despite being one of the poorer boroughs. Researchers called it an outlier. More than 81% of kids there can reach green space within 15 minutes. Other North London results: Barnet 10th in London, Camden 17th, Enfield 23rd, Islington 26th, Brent 28th.
🏛️ Hampstead’s free arts hub wants more people to know it exists: Burgh House in New End Square has been around since 1704. Free gallery, performance space, café, archive of Hampstead history. New director Moira Lascelles just started and her whole thing is getting more people through the door. “A paywall is prohibitive. I want to open the doors as wide as possible.”This week they’re launching a new programme blending chamber music with art, celebrating two Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe who made Hampstead their home and became central to the area’s artistic community.
🚲 Haringey is finally getting proper cycle lanes on Green Lanes and St Ann’s Road: Green Lanes is one of the most dangerous roads in London. Dozens of people are injured on Haringey’s roads every year. Council’s now planning segregated cycle lanes, extended bus lanes, new zebra crossings and urban greening on both roads. Public consultation on Green Lanes starts before Christmas. St Ann’s Road follows early 2027.
📌 I Found A New Place To Work In Kentish Town
I’m writing this week’s newsletter from Highgate Studios.
Putting MNL together takes time, so where I work matters. A lot. I’ve worked from cafés, libraries and kitchen tables. They’re all fine. But there comes a point when working from anywhere stops feeling flexible and starts feeling temporary.
That’s what stood out to me about Pattern House, the new flexible workspace inside Highgate Studios. It’s calm enough to focus, but you’re not shut away from everyone. You can move between quieter spaces, shared areas, the café and courtyard depending on the kind of day you’re having.
And it isn’t only for people looking for a co-working desk.
I met a PR business owner there whose company is growing. She has her own office, can bring her dog and has a space that feels like hers where she can focus. That’s a very different need from simply finding somewhere to open a laptop for the day.
Pattern House also has furnished private offices for teams of 4 to 40+ desks, with breakout space, phone booths and 24/7 access. It’s run by General People, who create flexible workspaces designed around the neighbourhoods they’re in.
The building has some history too. It dates back to the 19th century and later became a wallpaper factory. More than a century later, people are still coming here to make things. Just not wallpaper.
Prices start from £99 + VAT a month, and MNL readers can try the co-working space for a free day, subject to availability.
To book your free co-working day, email [email protected] and mention MNL.
** Full transparency: this is a paid partnership with General People. I’ve spent time working from Pattern House myself, liked the space and what it offers, and thought it was something MNL readers might genuinely find useful.
🔔 Down The Road
New places you should know about
👗 Palava (EC1): Independent clothing brand Palava has moved into a new home on Amwell Street. Founded by Bryony Richardson, the brand specialises in colourful, vintage-inspired clothing with hand-drawn prints inspired by childhood storybooks.
🍷 Conviviale (N5): A new wine bar has opened in the former Vins space on Grosvenor Avenue. Founded by Montreal native Cat Barry, expect wines from around the world, including bottles from her own collection, cheese and charcuterie boards, and proper Canadian poutine with homemade chips and gravy.
🍔 Bleecker (NW1): Apparently, the world's best burger has landed in North London. Bleecker, which topped the 2026 World's 101 Best Burger Places ranking, has opened inside Camden Market. Expect cheeseburgers made with 40-day aged beef, Angry Fries and shakes. If you go, let us know if the burgers live up to the hype!
Something opening down your road?
Reply to this email. A photo, link or a few lines is plenty.
⭐️ Top Events
Book Buzz | 📍artsdepot, North Finchley, N12 | 25 October | Free
artsdepot’s annual books festival this year zooms in on comics, manga and graphic novels — drop-in activities, hands-on workshops with professional comic creators, and a book swap. All free, no booking needed.
UK Card Expo | 📍Southgate School, Barnet, EN4 | 25 October | Free + paid entry
Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic and other trading cards have become a whole collecting world of their own, and this is a day for rummaging through it. UK Card Expo is coming to Southgate School with tables of cards and collectibles to buy, sell and trade, whether you already have folders full of them or you’re just curious about why people collect them. Bring your own cards if you fancy trading with other collectors, or simply wander the stalls and see what turns up. 11am to 4pm, with early entry, general admission and a free entry option available. Free parking on site.
Harvest Festival & Apple Day at Lordship Hub | 📍Lordship Hub, Lordship Rec, N17 | 24 October, 1–5pm | Free
Two celebrations in one: a harvest festival with a free hearty vegetarian buffet, traditional crafts and songs. Plus Apple Day with heritage apple tasting, traditional juicing, apple bobbing and the longest peel competition. Just drop in.
Highgate Watercolour Group Annual Exhibition | 📍Lauderdale House, N6 | 21 October to 16 November | Free
A group of Highgate locals have been meeting every Thursday since 1980 to paint the neighbourhood together. Once a year they hang the results at Lauderdale House. This year: 21 artists, over 250 works across two floors, including London scenes painted en plein air, botanicals, still lifes and a section of miniature paintings at minimal prices.
Day of the Dead at Canopy Market | 📍Canopy Market, N1C | 23 - 25 October | Free
MexiBrit takes over Canopy Market for Día de Muertos, antojitos, pan de muerto and a community ofrenda where you can leave a tribute to someone you’ve lost. Independent makers and food stalls fill the rest of the space.
Stardust Antique & Vintage Fair | 📍St Stephen’s, Pond Street, NW3 | 25 October | Free
Stardust’s autumn fair comes to Hampstead for one day. You’ll find antique jewellery, vintage fashion, collectables, homewares and all those wonderfully unusual finds you never knew you needed.
Kidzworld Pumpkin Patch | 📍Hampstead Heath, NW3 | 24 & 31 October | (£)
Pick your own pumpkin on Hampstead Heath, with a funfair, trick or treat maze, fun games, food stalls and a marshmallow roasting pit. 10am to 6pm both Saturdays.
Witchy Wares Craft Market | 📍The Fields Beneath, NW5 | 25 October | Free
The Fields Beneath is doing a Halloween craft market on the Hunter’s Full Moon, which is either a coincidence or very much on purpose. Tarot readings, handmade candles, art prints and crochet from a small roster of independent makers, plus a charity raffle for Streets Kitchen.
Night Maps | 📍Warburg Institute, WC1H | 21 October - 17 April | Free
An exhibition at the Warburg tracing how humans have mapped the night sky from medieval courts to the 21st-century space race, and what those maps were really being used to say about power on earth. World maps from the 13th to 19th centuries from the Sunderland Collection, running through to April.
God Save the Queens | 📍Museum of Youth Culture, NW1 | 23 October - 22 November | Free
Punk had women at the centre of it. This exhibition makes that case with their actual stuff, Poly Styrene’s archives, photographs, handmade fashion, personal material from the women who built the visual language of the movement. Basement gallery, pay what you can.
Vintage & Makers Market at The Old Dairy | 📍The Old Dairy, N4 | 24 October | Free
The Old Dairy pub has been closed for a while and this Saturday it opens its doors for a vintage and makers market filling the whole venue. Vintage treasures, handcrafted goods by local artists, fashion and food.
Touchy Feely | 📍Lumen Church, WC1H | 24 October | (£)
You know how ceramics exhibitions make you want to pick things up and you can’t? This one is built entirely around that. Susurri Shop fills a church with 30+ gallery-worthy drinking vessels by master ceramicists from Japan — and you’re encouraged to hold them, turn them, feel how fire and time shaped them. Exhibition only (£11) or add a workshop with coffee and Japanese snacks to study one piece properly (£28.50). Booking required. 18+.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | 📍Tower Theatre, N16 | 21 - 31 October | (£)
The Headless Horseman, a terrified schoolteacher and a town that can’t tell ghost story from reality. Tower Theatre’s half-term production of the Washington Irving classic, played for chills and laughs in equal measure. From £10, ages 11 and up.
Creepy Creatures with Wildfangs | 📍Lewis of London, Barnet, EN5 | 24 October | (£)
Wildfangs brings five live creatures to the Lewis of London site for a 30-minute handling session, the kind where you actually get to touch the things that usually make people shriek. Good for curious kids from 12 months up, and honestly probably more fun for the adults. Spaces are small by design so book ahead.
Click below to see full weekend list.👇
🖼️ Meet The Five Artists Behind Whetstone's New Art Collective
Whetstone doesn't always get much attention when it comes to London's art scene. But five local artists are hoping to bring a little more of it to the neighbourhood.
source: N20 Collective
They've formed N20 Collective, a group of professional artists who live and work around Whetstone. Some knew each other from exhibiting at major London art fairs, while others connected through local friends and acquaintances.
"We wanted to show local people what is available on their doorstep," they told My North London.
Their first exhibition, Rising Forms, brings together five different artistic styles, with paintings to browse and buy, and a chance to meet the artists themselves. The collective hopes this is just the beginning, with plans to welcome more local artists and hold regular exhibitions and open studio events. Rising Forms runs from 29 October to 1 November at The Art Studio. Entry is free and everyone is welcome.
👀 Spotted
Caught our eye, might catch yours
🏏 Cricket lovers, this one is for you. Next summer England play Australia in the Ashes at Lord’s in St John’s Wood (NW8), from 30th June to 4th July 2027. Tickets go through a free ballot, enter your name, no payment upfront, and if selected you get the chance to buy. Ballot closes this Monday 26th October at 6pm.
📢 Enfield Council is holding its first Ask the Leader event on Wednesday 28th October, 6.45pm to 8.45pm at Enfield Grammar School, Market Place, EN2 6EE. You can put questions directly to the Leader of the Council, raise local concerns or share ideas. No tickets needed, first come first served. Worth knowing: no parking at the venue and bags will be searched on arrival.
🌿 The Barbican Conservatory is closing for a major restoration in January 2027 and giving away thousands of plants before it does. They’re taking cuttings from specimens across the conservatory and letting people adopt them for free at a final plant adoption event on 2nd December. Tickets aren’t out yet but are free and limited, so worth keeping an eye on. A nice way to grow a little bit of the Barbican at home.
🍺 The Ship on Tottenham High Road is opening in November and hiring now, full-time and part-time roles available. Email [email protected] if you’re interested.
🎄 Got a small business or something to sell? There are a few North London markets looking for vendors this Christmas season:
Black Marketplace is returning to Camden Town, London’s largest Black retail pop-up.
Wolves Lane Garden Centre in Haringey wants creators and makers for its Winter Market on 6th December. Apply by 16th November at [email protected].
Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham is also looking for stall holders for its Festive Flea & Designers Fair on Saturday 28th November, £40 per 6ft table. Email [email protected].
Got something your neighbours should know about?
Opening or launching something? Noticed a change in your neighbourhood? Got a local story, observation or point of view worth sharing? Reply to this email. A photo, link or a few lines is plenty.
🎟️ Heads Up
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.
Pop Up Lunch: Fried Chicken & Pet Nats | 📍89 Social, Stroud Green, N4 | 8 November | (£)
89 Social does a monthly pop up lunch and this one’s fried chicken and natural wine. Doors at 1pm, book a spot on Eventbrite, pay for food and wine on the day. Vegetarian options available.
Highgate Art Fair | 📍Highgate Primary School, N6 | 6 - 8 November | (£)
Independent artists, galleries and collectives filling a Victorian school hall in Highgate village for a weekend. Kids have their own exhibition and workshops running alongside, so it’s genuinely one for the whole family.
THANKS FOR READING!
While you're here:
Fancy more reading? Try our guides to Halloween in North London 2026 or North London Fireworks 2026.
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