Ooooh Hallowe’en is nigh. As Lindsay Lohan once said “Hallowe’en is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” We shall leave that decision to you, but where to go we can probably help you out with.
Here is a little round up of the best of the parties going on. Given that Hallowe’en is a night where pretty much anything goes, you might as well go for it. So that’s our yardstick here. May not be appropriate for all: (n.b we’ve lifted the copy straight off their sites so it may be a little excitable).
Central:
Belle Epoque Party Halloween Special, Saturday 29th October 2011 8pm-2am (Aerial Acrobatics start at 9pm), The Grand Hall Euston Road WC1H 9JE
Tickets: £20, and are available by telephoning 0207 724 1617 or by following this link to buy your tickets
“Indulge in the seductive side of partying. Step into a fantasy world where masked villains melt into the crowd as corseted courtesans drape themselves over gilded balconies. Throughout the evening, guests marvel at the spectacular surroundings, inspired by the aerialists and trapeze artists as they twist and turn from the ceiling. Daring dancers dazzle as heady cocktails tantalise.
Featuring jaw dropping acrobatic feats, show stopping music acts and eye popping outfits, Belle Epoque has been designed to enrapture your soul, trick your mind, and release your inner exhibitionist.”
A Danse Macabre – The Hallowe’en Ball, (The Last Tuesday Society), Friday 28th October, 10pm – 4am, Coronet Theatre, 28 New Kent Road, SE1 6TJ
Tickets: £35, book here
“Deep within the majestic Art Deco halls of a now faded, now forgotten picture palace near Waterloo Station. Be welcomed with a peacock’s feather by two naked beautiful boys. Enter the glorious amphitheatre, now silent of the flicker of films, but filled with the waltzes of The London Gay Symphony Orchestra. Then get down and dirty to the bourbon soaked gypsy blues bop and an especially horrible selection of films. Meanwhile upstairs, bury yourself in scarlet feathers in the OPERA ROOM. Just through a little red door, the Society has discovered a Victorian alleyway of railway arches and for All Hallow’s Eve Eve, they will be transformed in to a Palace of Lust and Disgust Where you can Feast in the Banqueting Hall, take a long soak in the bubbling hot tubs of the legendary Bathhouse or get whipped in the Dungeon.
Of course, you can’t have a circus with out a fairground so duly installed will be a promenade of Chocolate fountains, candy floss, tantalising curiosities from afar, a snake tamer and the brilliant JM Lavater and his legendary silhouette chair.”
Thanks for the tip off: Mars Kaliszewski, Teenie Russell
East:
Hallowe’en Haunted House Party, Saturday 29th October, 9pm – 2am, Bethnal Green Working Man’s Club, 42-44 Pollard Row, E2 6NB
Tickets: £8 early bird, £10 on the door (before midnight).
“Horror has found a new home! Can you find our hidden rooms…and will you make it out… Alive? Skin crawling sick-sties shakes, bone grinding grooves, rotten retro rhythms, toxic tunes, bad taste boog-eys, ghastley guilty pleasures and nasty novelty nonsense! Corpse grinds and bone-shaking rotting meat beats! Our go-go ghostly dancing girls will teach you the Wolfman stomp and the monster mash! Feast your eyes on – surprise sick acts! – so good they’ll make your wounds ooze.
Dance ’til you drop…dead.”
Feast of the Dead, Saturday 29 October at 6pm – 30 October at 6am, Passing Clouds, 1 Richmond Road, Dalston, E8 4AA
Tickets: Free before 9pm, £5 after (steal!)
“In the tradition of Passing Clouds, unite with us for the very special celebration of Halloween as we arise from our sleeping states and break forth our ghostly selves in a great cacophony of abundant mayhem. (Click the link to decode what all this frightfully awesome sounding stuff means)
12-5pm: PEOPLE’S KITCHEN HALLOWEEN FORAGE
6pm: FRUITS OF THE FORAGE CEREMONY
7pm: Opening Ceremony
8pm: *** HALLOWEEN STORYTELLING by Nick Hayes ***
****HALLOWEEN BOOGIE WOOGIE PIANO with Dr Jazzz ****
10pm: ***BADGER SAMBA!!!***
1am: ***SPANNER JAZZ PUNKS!!!***
6am: Close”
Thanks for the tip off: Olivia W-z
South:
Pumpkino, Friday 28 October 6pm to 11pm, The Cinema Museum, Dugard Way (off Renfrew Road), Kennington, SE23 4TH
Tickets: £45 per person
“Presented by Cinetopia, the event features: a Mystery Movie, Hideously Horrible Film Clips, a Ghoulish & Ghastly Quiz, Phantastic Food & Demonic Drinks brought to you by Witches Brew licensed bar. Grave news! – this Cinema Museum goes bump in the night! Beware Strange Apparitions – you have been warned! Remember – in Kennington no one can hear you scream!
Dress Code: Show your inner spirit – dress to kill! Best costume/fancy dress prizes to die for!”
Simon Drake’s House of Magic Hallowe’en Extravaganza, Thursday 27th October, 7pm – 12.30am, secret south London location.
Tickets: £45 for the standing show, £75 for the seated show, £85 VIP reserved seats.
(Note from GLP. Simon Drake’s House of Magic is one of the most amazing places we’ve EVER been to in London. Seriously go if you can, worth every penny).
- Tours of the haunted cellar.
- Fortune telling on the Whispering Chair.
- Top quality wandering close up magicians.
- Sumptuous hot fork buffet.
- Simon Drake’s mind blowing magical extravaganza with hilarious special guest support from Adam Kay of the Amateur Transplants.
Nabokov Arts Club: Festival of the Dead, Friday October 28 & Saturday October 29, 9pm – 2am, Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea, SW11 5TN,
£15 booked in advance, £20 on the door
“The Nabokov Arts Club has landed at BAC! We’re handing over the building to the undisputed heavyweight champion of artistic happenings, anywhere, ever, to fill every space for two consecutive nights of Halloween madness. An extravaganza of live theatre, music, comedy, dance and visual art wrapped up in a big fat party – the nabokov Arts Club moves to BAC after 4 years of packed, exhilarating warehouse parties in East London.
Expect explosive theatre, side-splitting comedy, high-voltage poetics, rabble-rousing live bands, superstar DJs and lashings of atmosphere. Plus bar, food and dancing until 2am.”
Thanks for the tip off: Hayley Doherty
Hallowe’en Party, Friday 28th Oct 7-12am, Doodle Bar, 33 Parkgate Road Battersea London SW11 4NP
“We’ll be re-opening the Doodle Bar on Thursday 27th October… Our space on the banks of the Thames has been spruced up by Will Alsop’s architecture firm All and has retained the industrial charm of its former life as a Victorian dairy and tile emporium. We welcome back all professional scribblers and aspiring doodlers looking to enjoy a leisurely scrawl over a drink and a bite to eat. The bar is set against the backdrop of Testbed1 – a dramatic and versatile arts and events space for creative innovation, ideas and experimentation.
Everybody welcome, come down to party in your finest worst witch party frocks.” (GLP: The website goes fully live towards the end of the month. Trust us, Doodle Bar rules)
West:
‘The Cursed and the Damned’ Winterwell Hallowe’en, Saturday 29th October, Doors: 9pm- 4.30am, FILMPLUS, 77-81, Scrubs Lane, Kensal Green, London, NW10 6QW
Their blank canvas:
Tickets: £25, here
“This year we’re upping the ante in Halloween awesomeness at FILMPLUS, a truly amazing London venue. Old brick warehouse studios, iron beams and open roof-space, all built around a cobbled courtyard. A fitting setting for our Halloween extravaganza.
No Winterwell event is complete without lashings of fancy dress and this one will be no exception. Winterwell has a reputation for stupendous fancy dress, and this year we will be rewarding your sartorial mayhem- champagne for the top 5 and a pair of tickets to next year’s Winterwell Festival for our outright winner. So, open house on Halloween fancy dress. There will be a cursed catwalk to honour our best dressed guys and dolls. As judged by The Ministry of Fancy Dress, who will be on hand to officiate.
Wicked threads and wicked beats are the order of the eve, and our line-up for the night showcases an inspired selection of Winterwell’s musical talent…”
Thanks for the tip off: Rob Beaven, Shelley Tiltman
Night Safari – Hallowe’en Horrors, Monday 31 October, 7pm – 10pm, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington, SW7 5BD
Tickets: £28, book here
“If you’re looking for something spooky and unique to do this Halloween, look no further! On 31 October our Museum scientists will be bringing out their scariest specimens and will delight you with spinetingling tales of myth, mystery and medieval witchcraft.
At this Night Safari Halloween special you will tour the Museum’s Central Hall, meet five of our scientists and take an exclusive look at some of our most unusual specimens, not usually on display to the general public. Prizes for the best costumes.
- Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble, dip into the botany behind the witches brew.
- Don’t lose your head over the shrunken and shrivelled trophies in our palaeontology collections.
- Missing your mummy? Discover the ancient techniques of mummification.
- Encounter a malevolent host of mythical monsters.
- Share ghost stories with the Museum scientists in the bar (or ask any questions you might have about the specimens you’ve seen).”
Thanks for the tip off: Paul Ortega
And if you really want to go for it:
No-one does Hallowe’en like Torture Garden. Not for the faint hearted, but you’re going to rememember it. Thanks for the tip off: Christina Liessem.
No-one except for goths and mettlers. The insane Slimelight ’3 floor Halloween Slime with landmines + Zombie speed dating + more!’ Thanks for the tip off: Danni Antagonist.
Stay hungry, stay ghoulish.
