What's On in Westminster: Frieze London, Then Diwali on the Square

Westminster’s next six weeks run from the art fairs into the first of the Christmas openings. Frieze London and Frieze Masters open to the public in The Regent’s Park on 15 October, the Royal Parks Half Marathon closes roads through Hyde Park, Green Park and St James’s Park on Sunday 11 October, and Diwali on the Square fills Trafalgar Square for free on Sunday 25 October. Then the season turns: Leicester Square’s rink opens on 31 October, more than 400 veteran cars leave Hyde Park at dawn on 1 November, and Somerset House and Covent Garden follow on 11 and 12 November.

Everything below comes from the organisers’ own listings, read on 29 September and rechecked on 3 and 4 October 2026, and every entry links back to its source so you can check before you set off. Remembrance Sunday on 8 November has its own guide: Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph. Halloween has its own page: Halloween in Westminster. Bonfire night is on our fireworks page, and Winter Wonderland, which opens on 19 November, is on our Hyde Park Winter Wonderland page.

On now

• Frieze Sculpture 2026, on now until Sunday 1 November. The English Gardens, The Regent’s Park. Free. A free outdoor exhibition of work by 11 international artists, including Conrad Shawcross and Angel Otero (The Royal Parks).

This week

• Here I Stand: Janina Ramirez, Monday 5 October, 7pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. Suggested £10, with free tickets available. The historian on the seventh-century Abbess of Whitby, opening the church’s autumn lecture series (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• The Regent’s Park After Dark: Bats and Fungi, Tuesday 6 October, 6.15pm to 8.15pm, and Friday 9 October, 6pm to 8pm. The Regent’s Park. Free, adults only. A dusk walk with bat detectors and ultraviolet torches for fungi that glow (The Royal Parks).
• London Voices: Video Games Go Choral, Thursday 8 October, 7pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10 to £45. Choral music from Halo and other games, paired with Pärt and Howells (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• SANSARA: Choral Reflections for World Homeless Day, Friday 9 October, 7.30pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10 to £35. Gavin Bryars’s Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet in a new choral version, on the eve of World Homeless Day (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Chorister Experience Day, Saturday 10 October, 11am to 4.15pm. Westminster Abbey. Free, booking required. A day for children who might want to sing in the Abbey choir, run by Westminster Abbey Choir School (Westminster Abbey).
• Oysho Royal Parks Half Marathon, Sunday 11 October. Starts in Hyde Park. Entries have closed. 13.1 miles on closed roads through Hyde Park, The Green Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens, with the event village in Hyde Park open to everyone (Royal Parks Half).

Later in October

• Here I Stand: David Crystal, Monday 12 October, 7pm, doors 6.30pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10, also livestreamed. The linguist in the church’s autumn lecture series (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Feast of the Translation of Saint Edward the Confessor, Tuesday 13 October, 5pm to 6pm. Westminster Abbey. Free, no booking. The Abbey’s Edwardtide service for its founder (Westminster Abbey).
• An evening with Kate Williams: Women and power, Wednesday 14 October, 7pm to 8pm. Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey. £15. The historian and broadcaster on women and power (Westminster Abbey).
• Flowers in the Fields, Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 October, from 10am. St Martin-in-the-Fields. Free, donations encouraged. A flower festival filling the church for its 300th anniversary, with paid demonstrations in the Gallery (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Frieze London and Frieze Masters, Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 October. The Regent’s Park; Frieze London’s entrance is off Park Square West, NW1 4LL. Weekend general admission £48, children £10. The fairs open on the 14th by invitation; general admission runs 1pm to 5pm on Thursday 15th, 11am to 7pm on Friday and Saturday and 11am to 6pm on Sunday, with no re-entry (Frieze).
• Joint Evensong with the Choir of Westminster Cathedral, Friday 16 October, 5pm to 6pm. Westminster Abbey. Free, no booking. The Abbey and Cathedral choirs sing together for St Edward the Confessor (Westminster Abbey).
• The English Concert: Handel’s Scipione, Friday 16 October, 7pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10 to £65. Harry Bicket conducts the opera that was the hit of 1726, the year the church was consecrated (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• National Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Edward the Confessor, Saturday 17 October, 9am to 4pm. Westminster Abbey. Free, no booking. A pilgrimage path through the Abbey to St Edward’s shrine (Westminster Abbey).
• Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, Saturday 17 October, 7pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £9 to £35. A candlelit anniversary performance by the church’s own choirs and chamber orchestra (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Panel discussion: What is democracy for?, Tuesday 20 October, 6.30pm to 8.30pm. The Nave, Westminster Abbey. Free, booking required. A Westminster Abbey Institute panel including Dame Clare Moriarty and Professor David Runciman (Westminster Abbey).
• Ex Cathedra: In 40 Parts, Spem in Alium, Thursday 22 October, 7pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10 to £45. Tallis’s 40-voice motet and other 40-part works, including a new piece by Roderick Williams (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Late: Art in St Margaret’s, Friday 23 October, 6pm to 8pm. St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey. £10. An after-hours drawing evening, open to beginners (Westminster Abbey).
• The 12 Ensemble and James McVinnie: Poulenc Organ Concerto, Friday 23 October, 7.30pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10 to £46. Poulenc with Messiaen, Fauré and a new piece by Isabella Gellis (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Vivaldi Four Seasons by Candlelight, Saturday 24 October, 7pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £9 to £35. An hour of Vivaldi by candlelight (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Halloween week at Hamleys, Saturday 24 to Saturday 31 October, daily shows from 12.30pm to 5.30pm. Hamleys, 188-196 Regent Street, W1B 5BT. No charge listed. Storytime, a puppet show, a dance show and character visits at the front of the store (Hamleys). Times are on our Westminster Halloween page.
• Diwali on the Square, Sunday 25 October, 1pm to 7pm. Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN. Free, no ticket needed. The Mayor of London’s annual Diwali festival, with a main stage, dance and South Asian food (Mayor of London).
• Family tour: Souls, saints and stories, Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, 10.30am and 1pm. Westminster Abbey. Free, booking required. A half-term tour for families about burials, saints and the church calendar (Westminster Abbey).
• Discovery Days: Hair raising Halloween, Tuesday 27 to Thursday 29 October, 11am to 3.30pm, last entry 3pm. Hyde Park Learning Centre. Free. Half-term drop-in activities for families: a nature trail, feely boxes in the Witches’ Den and a spooky story (The Royal Parks).
• The King’s Singers: Finding Harmony, Friday 30 October, 7.30pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10 to £55. The vocal ensemble celebrates the church’s 300th birthday (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• St James’s Motoring Spectacle, Saturday 31 October, 10am to 3pm. Pall Mall, outside the Royal Automobile Club. Free. More than 150 cars, from Victorian veterans to Formula 1, with Pall Mall closed to through traffic (Royal Automobile Club). Our Veteran Car Run page has the details.
• Skate Leicester Square and Christmas market opens Saturday 31 October and runs to 3 January, 10am to 10pm, with noon openings on weekdays until 26 November. Leicester Square, WC2H 7LU (Underbelly). Hours are on our Leicester Square page.
• Iconic silent disco: Halloween special, Saturday 31 October, 6.30pm to 9pm or 9.30pm to midnight. London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 7BB. Over-18s only, early bird £25, then £27.50. A Halloween party among the museum’s trains and buses (London Transport Museum).

November

• London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, Sunday 1 November, from sunrise at 6.56am until about 8.30am. Serpentine Road, Hyde Park. Free to watch. More than 400 cars built before 1905 set off for Brighton (Royal Automobile Club).
• Late: The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, Thursday 5 November, 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Westminster Abbey. £10. An after-hours visit to the Abbey’s museum in the 13th-century triforium (Westminster Abbey).
• National Service of Remembrance, Sunday 8 November, 11am. The Cenotaph, Whitehall. No ticket needed to watch. The government dates Remembrance weekend as 7 to 8 November (GOV.UK); our Cenotaph guide has the timings and where to stand.
• Here I Stand: Michael Morpurgo, Monday 9 November, 7pm, doors 6.30pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10, also livestreamed. The author in the church’s autumn lecture series (St Martin-in-the-Fields).
• Skate at Somerset House opens Wednesday 11 November and runs to 10 January. Fountain Court, Somerset House, Strand. Adults £13 to £28.50, children £11 to £15, plus £1.50 a ticket (Somerset House). Sessions and concessions are on our Somerset House rink page.
• Covent Garden Christmas Lights Switch On, Thursday 12 November. The Piazza, Covent Garden. More than 300,000 lights and the British-grown tree on the West Piazza; the time has not been announced (Covent Garden). See our Covent Garden lights page.
• An evening with Greg Jenner: Celebrity and memory, Thursday 12 November, 6.30pm to 7.30pm. The Nave, Westminster Abbey. £15. The historian on fame and who gets remembered (Westminster Abbey).
• St Martin-in-the-Fields 300th Anniversary Concert, Thursday 12 November, 7pm. St Martin-in-the-Fields. £10 to £75. The church’s anniversary concert, 1 hour 15 minutes with no interval (St Martin-in-the-Fields).

Regular events

• Pimlico Road Farmers’ Market, every Saturday, 9am to 2pm. Orange Square, at the corner of Pimlico Road and Ebury Street, SW1W 8UT (London Farmers’ Markets).
• Marylebone Farmers’ Market, every Sunday, 10am to 2pm. St Vincent Street and Aybrook Street, W1U 4DF (London Farmers’ Markets).
• Wigmore Hall Sunday Morning Concerts, Sundays at 11.30am, about an hour, with coffee, sherry or juice included in the ticket (Wigmore Hall).
• Here I Stand lectures at St Martin-in-the-Fields, most Monday evenings at 7pm through the autumn, £10 or online (St Martin-in-the-Fields).

Send us your event

Running something in Westminster? Email hello@westminsterpost.co.uk with the date, time, venue, price and a photo. Listings are free, and we add them to this page and to the diary on our What’s On page.