When the full moon rises, the werewolves howl, and ghosts start appearing, it can only mean one thing: Halloween is here!
If you haven’t already bought your pumpkin-related merchandise, some fake vampire teeth, or you even forgot what to do on the year’s scariest night, don’t you worry; here’s the perfect, most spooky guide of the ten events you can go to enjoy Halloween in London.
1. Milkshake Halloween Rave (Ministry of Sound, Elephant & Castle, Oct 31, 2019 – Nov 1, 2019)
First of all: Who doesn’t love a good party?
Ministry of Sound’s huge weekly student night, Milkshake, is steering the Elephant club’s Halloween night party this year. Expect to hear the best house, hip hop, disco, garage, rap, across four different rooms, and to see some sickening Halloween costumes; an ‘essential’ for this one.
2. Shame: Halloween Ball at ‘Freedom’ (66, Wardour Street, W1F 0TA, Oct 31, 2019)
A fantastic, funky, spooky, and devilish disco night in the heart of Soho! A night to freak out to the best disco-soul-funk-house at this “Spooktacular” Halloween ball that even Dracula is not going to miss. Frankenstein is already getting ready for it!
3. Sloane Street Asylum (165, Sloane Street, SW1X 9QB, Oct 31, 2019)
Sloane Street Asylum’s patients have been released from the psychiatric ward and rewarded with an All Hallows’ Eve party for their good behaviour this year. The doctor is expecting you…
So, make sure you head down for an evening full of mad surprises!
4. The Ghost Bus Tours, The Ghost Bus (Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5BY, Oct 31, 2019)
If you’re tired of lousy parties and want to have a spooky experience with your friends and family… Here’s the solution! See London’s spookier side this Halloween as the Necro-bus arrives to take you around the city’s darkest corners for a London tour bus experience you won’t have had before.
5. Halloween On Ice (Tobacco Dock, Car Park Entrance, Pennington Street, London, E1W 2SF, Oct 31, 2019)
If you prefer Christmas and Old’ Santa rather than your typical werewolf howling at your door, don’t you worry, ‘Halloween On Ice’ is here! (And I thought I wouldn’t see ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ film in real life)
Go celebrate the launch of everyone’s favourite winter season in a tenebrous, spooky style. Europe’s only real rooftop ice rink, igloos and cosy huts and winter fun with a Halloween Bash. What else can you ask for?
6. Thorpe Park Fright Nights (Staines Road, Chertsey, KT16 8PN, Until Nov 3, 2019)
What’s creepier than a theme park after dark? One filled with extra-creepy live-action mazes, that’s what. Thorpe Park is delivering the terrifying goods once again this Halloween with its special Fright Nights late openings.
If you want to have a fun but spooky time with your friends or family, make sure to leave time for a front-row spin around the fantastic Nemesis Inferno, or the fastest loop of your life on Stealth. Hurry up before a zombie gets the last tickets!
7. The London Dungeon (Riverside Building, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 7PB)
Who doesn’t know about the most famous dungeon in London?
In the dungeon, you’ll come face to face with London’s scariest and most notorious characters including Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd, The Plague Doctor and The Torturer, while you’ll also take London’s only underground water ride, dodge the grasp of an escaped convict, and plummet into the depths on the exhilarating vertical free fall drop ride Drop Dead.
So, if you’re looking for a terrifying and unforgettable experience, hurry! Pre-book your tickets now! Jason already did.
8. Dark Arts at Warner Bros Studio: The Making of Harry Potter (Studio Tour Drive, Leavesden, London WD25 7LR, Until Nov 10, 2019)
Hogwarts needs you, Young Padawan! (Is that right?)
Anyway, prepared yourself this Halloween as Dark Arts returns once more to the Harry Potter Studios. If you’re a fan of the Dark Side, Death Eaters, daring duels and Halloween feasts, you’re invited to explore the darkness of the Wizarding World.
If you love Halloween but you’re more into magic wands… This is the perfect place for you!
9. Sutton Arms (6 Carthusian St, London EC1M 6EB, Barbican)
You might not want to party for Halloween, but you might want to enjoy drinks with your friends. That’s why this guide also has some of the spookiest bars in London to help you with your request.
The rumours say that the Sutton Arms is haunted by a red-haired gentleman called Charlie; whose apparition stops by certain corners of the old Smithfield boozer. Charlie, the ginger ghost is said to flash a cheeky smile at those who’ve had the pleasure of making his acquaintance, before disappearing into thin air. Clearly, a good place to go, eat and drink, on Halloween night.
10. Viaduct Tavern (126 Newgate St, London EC1A 7AA, St Paul’s)
Many people visit the Viaduct Tavern because of its claim as one of the capital’s original Victorian gin palaces, completely unaware of past paranormal activity on the place. However, the space below ground at the Viaduct Tavern was once used as prison cells, and it seems the ghosts of those former inmates have been giving pub staff a hard time ever since. So, if you want a good gin, cocktails, beer, or just want to see old prison thieves’ ghosts on their cells, this is your place for this Halloween!
11. The Rising Sun (61 Carter Ln, London EC4V 5DY, Blackfriars)
The Rising Sun sits near St Bartholomew’s Hospital and rumours say that the place used to attract a band of body snatchers through its doors in the 19th Century. The rumour goes that these bandits would drug and murder the pub’s innocent punters and then sell their bodies to the hospital for medical research. A pretty gruesome place to visit on Halloween night, right?
12. The End of The World Brexit Party (56 Leadenhall Street, City of London, Oct 31, 2019)
Yes, you heard right! With Britain’s EU exit on the horizon, there’s an official dedicated London-based party to witness the end of the world as we know it. The steampunk-themed bar and restaurant that is home to the immersive, famous, and apocalyptic ‘War of the Worlds’ experience, is throwing a “one-night-only” celebration of our country’s most famous political Armageddon in decades. Happy Halloween/Brexit everyone!