Bits and bobs worth knowing.

🥯 It's Bagels opening on Hampstead High Street 26 September: New York-style bagel shop from Primrose Hill opening fourth London spot. Started by New York fashion photographer Dan Martensen who moved to London in 2019 and couldn't find decent bagels anywhere. Opening party: every child gets a free bagel.

🚌 London bus drivers getting air conditioning in their cabs by May 2027: The Mayor has agreed to fit air conditioning in every driver's cab that doesn't already have proper cooling. The windows will also get UV film to protect drivers from sun exposure and skin cancer.This follows strikes by 1,500 North London bus drivers this summer, whose cabs regularly hit 40°C. Some suffered heatstroke and reported near misses on the road.

Open House Festival | 📍Across London | 12 to 20 September | Free
Open House starts this weekend. From 12 to 20 September, hundreds of places across London will open their doors, giving you a look inside homes, studios, historic buildings and other spaces you would not usually get to wander into. Some visits need a free ticket or ballot, while others are drop in, so check the programme by area and see what is open near you.

Table Top Museums | 📍The Art Workers’ Guild, Bloomsbury, WC1N | 12 September | Free
For one day, people bring their personal collections into the Art Workers’ Guild and turn a table into their own tiny museum. More than 30 of them will be there, devoted to things as specific as abandoned shopping lists, Soviet Christmas decorations and 1950s medical slides. You can wander from table to table, hear why someone started collecting something most of us would throw away, and see the stories they have built around it. 11am to 5pm.

Flo & Joan: With Feeling (Tour Preview) | 📍artsdepot, N12 | 12 September | (£)
Flo & Joan are a musical comedy duo who write sharp, deadpan songs about everyday life, and this is a first look at their brand-new show before the full autumn tour begins. Because it is a work-in-progress, they are still trying things out, shaping the jokes and seeing what lands with an audience. This time they are using the setlist of a “real band” as the loose structure for a show about music, bands and the strange business of performing. 7.45pm to 9pm.

Have You Seen the Light? Tom Dixon at London Design Festival | 📍Coal Drops Yard, N1C | 12 -20 September | Free
For London Design Festival, British designer Tom Dixon is taking over every arch of his Coal Drops Yard showroom with lighting, furniture and new pieces spread throughout the space. It is the first time his full autumn collection has been shown together in London, and there is also a first look at furniture and lighting that will not be released until next year. One section brings together Tom Dixon and British bedmaker Vispring, while the bar will be serving free Greenall’s gin cocktails each day, with competitions and giveaways running through the week.

Not free this weekend? My North London readers have been invited back on Tuesday 15 September, from 4pm to 6pm, for their own Aperitivo Hour at the Coal Drops Yard showroom. Have a look around after hours, meet people from the design community and enjoy a complimentary Greenall’s G&T or cocktail while you’re there too. Plus ones are welcome. RSVP to [email protected]

A Celebration of Craft at Florentia Village | 📍Harringay Warehouse District, N4 | 12 September | Free
Florentia Village is opening up for the day, so you can actually see inside one of the creative spaces that makes up the Harringay Warehouse District. As part of Open House Festival, there will be architecture tours with Turner.Works, open studios, short talks and drop-in workshops, plus a local makers market to browse between sessions. It is less about one big event and more about wandering through the building, meeting people who make things there and seeing how the space is used. 11am to 3.30pm.

Barnet Food Festival | 📍RAF Museum London, Colindale, NW9 | 12 & 13 September | (£)
Why not spend the weekend tasting flavours from around the world, catching some live music and wandering among the aircraft at the RAF Museum? There will be more than 40 food and drink traders, serving everything from Filipino BBQ and Nepalese momo to Turkish gözleme, Japanese dishes, cakes and sweet treats. Kids get their own free zone too, with face painting, circus games, biscuit decorating and an inflatable obstacle course. Tickets are £10 for ages 16+, with under 16s free.

Queen’s Park Day | 📍Queen’s Park, NW6 | 13 September | Free
Once a year, Queen’s Park fills up with the people, clubs, performers and small businesses from around the neighbourhood for its big community day. There is an all-pets dog show, local choirs, Morris and Flamenco dancing, falconry, ferret racing, food and craft stalls, plus homemade competitions for everything from Bakewell tarts to things made from cardboard. And, slightly unexpectedly, there is a full Wheel of Death stunt act in the main arena too. 11am to 4.30pm.

Cubitt Community Book & Zine Fair | 📍Cubitt, Angel Mews, N1 | 13 September | Free
Spend an afternoon wandering from table to table, flicking through handmade books, comics, prints and zines, and chatting to the people who made them. If you have never come across a zine before, it is a small self-published booklet made around anything someone cares enough to put into print, from art and poetry to personal stories and local history. This is also Cubitt’s final book and zine fair at its Angel Mews home. From 4pm, BB BIXX will be DJing and talking to some of the stallholders. 12pm to 6pm.



Gaunson Open Studios & Markfield Road Festival | 📍Gaunson Creative Studios, Tottenham, N15 | 11-13 September | Free
More than 50 artists are opening the doors to the studios where they actually work, so you can wander through spaces usually closed to the public and see ceramics, painting, printmaking, photography, jewellery, fashion, film and design in the middle of being made. The studios are also part of the wider Markfield Road Festival, with live music, workshops, street food, talks and children’s activities happening nearby. Friday runs 6pm to 10pm, then Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm.

Woodcroft Wildspace Apple Day | 📍Woodcroft Wildspace, N21 | 12 September | (£)
An apple filled afternoon for people who want to find out just how different one apple can taste from another. Woodcroft Wildspace is running three small tasting sessions where you can try a selection of apple varieties, compare them properly and then buy some of the ones you liked to take home afterwards. Each tasting lasts an hour and numbers are kept small, with separate spaces for adults and under 12s. Sessions run at 12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm. Tickets must be booked in advance, there are no sales on the gate.

Tottenham Flower and Produce Festival | 📍Lordship Recreation Ground, N17 | 12 September | Free
This is a big community day built around what people in Tottenham have grown, cooked and made themselves. In the main show, locals bring along their fruit, vegetables, flowers, baking and crafts to be displayed and judged, while the rest of Lordship Rec fills with food stalls, plant sellers, children’s activities, drumming, kite flying and practical workshops on things like mushrooms, sourdough, composting and flower arranging. There is also a community choir, orchard walk and plenty happening around the Hub. 11am to 5pm.

Dracula | 📍Broomfield Park, N13 | 12 September | (£)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is being staged outdoors in Broomfield Park, but this version starts with Mina Harker trying to convince a Victorian scientific society that vampires are real. As she tells them what happened with Count Dracula, the story unfolds around her, turning the park into the setting for one of literature’s best known gothic horror tales. British Touring Shakespeare are behind the production, following previous outdoor shows of Frankenstein, Jekyll & Hyde and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Tickets are £16 for adults, £10 for under 16s and £40 for a family of four. Some scenes may be too frightening for younger children.

The Big Woof | 📍King’s Cross, N1C | 12-13 September | Free + paid activities
This is a whole weekend built around doing things with your dog. Bring yours along for show-ring competitions, agility and scent courses, dog yoga, workshops or even a photo session, or sit down and paint a tiny portrait of them to take home. No dog? You can still come along, with a Cuddle Club for spending time with friendly dogs, plus an independent pet market to wander through.

Rhythm & Ride Festival | 📍Across Archway, N19 | 12 September | £1
Rhythm & Ride is a moving music festival where a different Archway venue hosts a live set each hour, then cargo bike taxis help people get to the next stop. So you might start at Nambucca, move on to Owl & Hitchhiker or Mother Redcap, then keep following the music through the neighbourhood until the evening. There is also free activity at The Dance Hall and Navigator Square, with special guests including Jazzi Q and Wookie. 1pm to 9pm. One £1 ticket gets you into the participating venues.



London Design Festival | 📍Across London | 12 - 20 September | Free + paid events
This is not one festival in one place. For nine days, studios, galleries, museums, shops and public spaces across London put on exhibitions, installations, open studios, workshops and talks about everything from furniture and architecture to craft, fashion and new materials. This year is the 24th edition, with 11 neighbourhood design districts.

Click below to see full weekend list.👇

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.

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.

The Funny Club | 📍Always Gladice, Brent Cross Town, NW2 | 16, 17, 23 & 24 October | (£)
The Funny Club is bringing 20 comedians to Brent Cross Town across four nights, with five acts on stage each evening. A lot of the line-up are comedians people may already know from clips online, including Grace Campbell, Josh Berry, Ali Woods and Kyrah Gray, with Tom Webb hosting each night. It all takes place inside new restaurant and bar Always Gladice, and your ticket also gets you 30% off food that evening. Every penny from ticket sales goes to Mind in Enfield and Barnet. Shows run 7pm to 10pm.

Enfield Poets Literary Festival | 📍Forty Hall, Enfield, EN2 | 26 & 27 September | Various
For one weekend, Forty Hall fills with people reading, writing, performing and talking about books and poetry. There are more than 30 sessions across the two days, from open mics, poetry readings and writing workshops to making your own book, trying a quill pen, hearing about Jane Austen at Christmas and even writing poetry about dogs. There are sessions for children too, plus live music and talks about Enfield’s cultural history. Each event has its own time and booking.

Heathbound | 📍Burgh House, Hampstead, NW3 | 16 to 27 September | Free
Seventeen artists have each made work inspired by Hampstead Heath, from paintings and embroidery to tiny sculptures and other handmade pieces. The exhibition brings all of those different versions of the Heath together inside Burgh House, including work by Lauren Child, Rob Ryan and local artist Lisa Swerling, who organised the show. Free to visit.