Bits and bobs worth knowing.

🍋 The Bridget Jones filming spot on Flask Walk has reopened as a Moroccan restaurant: Do you remember La Cage Imaginaire - that French restaurant in Flask Walk that appeared in Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy and Ricky Gervais's Afterlife? Well it closed last November after 50 years. Now it's Milah, bringing Moroccan food to Hampstead.

🚆 A new Overground line could be coming to Brent - TfL wants your views: West London Orbital would include new stations at Harlesden and Neasden, with direct connections to Brent Cross West and Old Oak Common.Consultation open until 18 November.

Tufnell Park Yard Sale | 📍Tufnell Park streets, N19 | 27 September | Free
Around 80 houses in Tufnell Park are joining in with the neighbourhood’s annual yard sale, now in its 15th year. People set up outside their own homes with books, clothes, toys, bric-a-brac and household bits, so you basically walk the neighbourhood and rummage from doorstep to doorstep. Some houses sell homemade cakes and drinks, some play music, and some raise money for charity. It all happens across the streets between Holloway Road, Campdale Road and Tufnell Park Road from 2pm to 5pm.

Chewing Gum Man Open House | 📍Muswell Hill, N10 | 25–27 September | Free
You may have walked over Ben Wilson’s art without realising it. For years, the Muswell Hill artist has been turning flattened pieces of chewing gum stuck to London pavements into tiny paintings. This weekend, he’s doing something rather lovely and opening his own home to strangers. Come through the side entrance on Colney Hatch Lane and you can wander around his garden, workshop and studio, where you’ll find his paintings, carvings, prints and sculptures alongside work by illustrator Freya Cumming. 12pm to 6pm each day, with Ben keeping the doors open until 10pm on Friday.

Classic Car Boot Sale | 📍King’s Cross, N1C | 26-27 September | (£)
Classic cars, old vans and vintage scooters roll into King’s Cross for the weekend, with traders setting up around them selling clothes, homeware, records and other secondhand finds. There are more than 100 vintage fashion traders this time, plus Charity Super.Mkt bringing together charity shops for an even bigger rummage. People tend to dress for the occasion too, so half the fun is seeing what turns up, both on the rails and in the car park. Vinyl DJs, street food and the old Routemaster Bus Bar will be there across both days.

Great Hampstead Bark Off | 📍Parliament Hill, NW5 | 27 September | (£)
The Great Hampstead Bark Off is back, with dogs and their humans gathering on Parliament Hill for an afternoon of very unserious competition. There’s Golden Oldie for the grey muzzles, Mr and Miss Hampstead Heath, Best Rescue, Best International Rescue and, perhaps the most important test of all, Waggiest Tail. Celebrity judges pick the winners, with Best in Show rounding things off at 3pm. Registration opens at 10.45am and the first category starts at 11.30am. £5 to enter your dog.

Harvest Festival | 📍Community Plant Nursery, N7 | 26 September | Free
The Community Plant Nursery on the Andover Estate is celebrating everything that has been grown there this year, and everyone’s invited round. There’ll be a shared harvest meal and live music, plus apple pressing. And apparently Kentish Town Vegbox are having conker battles and workshops where you can make a bug hotel, learn about composting and save seeds to grow again next year. You can also have a wander around the nursery and its Woodland Garden and meet some of the neighbours involved in growing it. 11am to 3pm.

Morris Minor & BMC 1100 Day | 📍Whitewebbs Museum of Transport, EN2 | 27 September | (£)
Remember the small, rounded British cars you see in old films, with big headlights and a bonnet that looks a little like a face? That’s a Morris Minor, and on Sunday a whole convoy of them is gathering at Whitewebbs Museum of Transport. They’ll be joined by BMC 1100s, another family car that was once a common sight on British roads, for what the museum says is one of its busiest meet-ups of the year. You can wander among the cars, see the different colours and versions people have kept going over the decades, and explore the museum inside the old Enfield pumping station while you’re there.

Heathbound | 📍Burgh House, Hampstead, NW3 |Until 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.



5 Mistakes That Changed History | 📍artsdepot,  N12 | 26 September | (£)
Most mistakes are forgotten. But every so often, someone gets something wrong and accidentally changes what happens next. Historian and comedian Paul Coulter has picked five of those moments and turns them into a 90-minute comedy show, telling the stories of the people involved, what they messed up and the surprisingly big consequences that followed. So you get a history lesson without it feeling much like a history lesson. The show has sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe three years running and is now coming to artsdepot. 7.30pm.

Camden Inspire 2026 | 📍Camden Collective, NW1 | 26–27 September | Free
Camden Inspire is taking over Camden Collective for two days of things you can actually get stuck into. Learn Japanese mending, try natural dyeing and kintsugi, fix a lamp, make mosaics, go foraging, learn about food growing or help build a giant shade structure. There’ll also be talks, live performances, DJs, a community feast and a pub quiz dotted across the weekend. Most of it is free or just a few pounds, although some workshops need booking.

Flamenco Night with Mario Ruiz | 📍Jamboree, N1 | 26 September | (£)
Learn a little flamenco, watch the professionals take over, then have another go yourself. The night starts with Mexican-born, Seville-based dancer Mario Ruiz teaching a relaxed group class where complete beginners can learn a short flamenco dance. No experience or special shoes needed. Then at 8.15pm, Mario performs with a live singer, guitarist and percussionist. After the show, there’s no formal ending. The musicians keep playing and the floor opens up for anyone who wants to dance, sing, play along or just sit back and watch it all unfold. Class from 6pm, show from 8.15pm and the jam carries on until 12.30am. Tickets from £11.50.

Journalling Picnic in the Park | 📍Regent’s Park, NW1 | 26 September | Free
This is rather lovely. London Journal Club is getting a group together on the grass in Regent’s Park to spend the afternoon journalling, swapping stickers and craft bits, sharing snacks and meeting new people. You don’t need to be someone who journals every day either. Bring an empty notebook if you’re completely new, or finally use all those stickers, washi tape and pretty bits of paper you’ve been saving if you’re not. They’ll be near the bandstand from 12pm to 4pm. Bring something to sit on and whatever you’d like to eat, drink or share.



Fitzrovia Food Festival | 📍Across Fitzrovia | 21 to 27 September | Free to join
For one week, more than 30 restaurants, cafés, bars and pubs across Fitzrovia are joining together with special menus, discounts and complimentary drinks. It is less about one big festival site and more about wandering the neighbourhood, trying a couple of places you have never been to, or finally booking somewhere that has been on your list. ROVI, ROKA, Norma, Caravan, Gallio and The Mandrake are among the names taking part. Just quote “Fitzrovia Food Festival” when booking or arriving to get the offer.

Crates Hip-Hop Sale | 📍One Eighty One, N7 | 26 September | Free
One Eighty One are back with another Crates Hip-Hop Sale, filling the Holloway Road spot with records, sneakers, clothing and hip-hop memorabilia for the day. Some of the collectors and sellers coming down include Rodney P, Spin Doctor, Rap & Soul Mailorder and Liberation Records, with DJs playing vinyl while everyone digs through the crates and rails. Brick Lane Beigels will be there too, alongside coffee, beers and cocktails.

Black Marketplace Popup | 📍St Michael’s Church, NW1 | 26 September | Free
St Michael’s Church is going to look very different on Saturday. More than 50 Black-owned businesses are moving in for the day, with tables of African and Caribbean fashion, handmade jewellery, books, art, homeware, natural beauty products and some more unexpected things, including 3D-printed and embroidered pieces. There’ll be African and Caribbean food cooking too, with live music and performances happening around the market. It’s the biggest one-day popup Black Marketplace UK has put on so far. Doors open at 11am. Free, but book a ticket.

Enfield Poets Literary Festival | 📍Forty Hall, 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.

Click below to see full weekend list.👇

Bonfire Night's a Thursday this year.
Sadly a few local ones have been cancelled too. But here's what I found.

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.

Bloomsbury Festival | 📍Bloomsbury, WC1 | 1–31 October | Free + paid events
Bloomsbury Festival turns 20 this October, with around 150 events across the neighbourhood. Local history gets a good showing, including Bloomsbury’s Back Yard, which looks at Ormond Yard, once home to workshops, industry and a community now largely forgotten.

Two that have piqued my curiosity so far: Nuns With Tattoos, a cabaret about faith, sexuality and identity told through music and personal stories, and Let’s See What Happens: Stories of Joy, a free workshop where strangers turn their own happy memories into short pieces of theatre. No experience needed.

NFL in London 2026 | 📍Tottenham Hotspur Stadium & Wembley | October | (£) Three American football games in London this October, all kicking off at 2.30pm.

Month of the Dead | 📍Various venues| 1 October - 1 November | (£)
Festival of talks, cemetery tours and silent horror film screenings about death, dying and what comes after. Many events come with a free gin punch on arrival. Over 60 events across London through October, some of the sell out fast.