Halloween activities and spooky trails in North London

There are plenty of spooky activities to join in with across North London so dig out those costumes and trick or treat bags and get your pumpkins at the ready.

Islington

Islington Square will host a one-day Halloween market on Saturday October 26 from 11am - 5pm on the Boulevard. Expect themed street food, ‘Made in Islington’ local makers’ stalls, complimentary Halloween arts and crafts for kids, and a free drink with every market purchase.

Spooky street food offerings, include blood orange pulled pork tacos, pumpkin spiced caramel cupcakes, and eyeball doughnuts. The outdoor play areas for children will have building blocks, play mats, and an arts and crafts station to make spooky masks and animal decorations. Adults can bid to win a range of merch with Freedom Brewery beer pong, then why not visit the nearby Odeon Luxe to watch Beetlejuice, Smile 2, or Ghostbusters?

Brent Cross

Brent Cross Town is hosting a range of family friendly activities from October 26 until November 3 including a Halloween Trail in Claremont Park.

Collect your map from the visitor pavilion and seek out the spooky clues amid the installations and towering sculptures - if you get them all you can return to the pavilion to claim your prize.

Throughout the week there are also free sessions for kids including Baseball at the 108 indoor baseball and softball centre in Brent Terrace, a climbing wall in Exploratory Park, and skateboarding workshops in Claremont Park.

The spooky trail at Lauderdale House Highgate includes the chance to meet some creepy characters around the house and Waterlow Park. (Image: Polly Hancock)

Highgate

Lauderdale House in Highgate is once again staging its popular spooky walks on October 31. The immersive theatrical experience is circus themed this year and involves an adventurous trail around Lauderdale House and Waterlow Park on the scariest night of the year and the chance to meet a host of creepy characters.

Camden

London Zoo is staging its annual Boo at the Zoo activities from October 19 until November 3 with a pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving, spooky crafts, face painting and a race against extinction trail of animals no longer roaming in the wild. There are also Halloween themed Animal Talks where visitors can learn about animals such as spiders and bats, as well as other nocturnal animals.

Hackney

Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington High Street is hosting London’s First Illuminated Art Trail of Memorial Shrines. Project Altar runs from 4:30pm to 9.30pm from October 31st to November 2nd and costs £8.50. Organisers describe the event as 'a love letter to our lost loved ones'. The curated interactive art trail has been created with 10 artists, set designers and 'YOUR ancestors' along a twinkling path that takes in the secular memorial shrines around the dramatic Victorian cemetery, and woodland.

Harrow

Market Place street food court in Harrow is throwing free, fun-filled events for families from October 26 to November 1. Traders will be putting on Halloween themed menus while kids can enjoy daily creative arts and crafts workshops including stone painting, pumpkin painting, lantern making and pumpkin decorating. Meanwhile Pixi Dust will also be back with their spooky face painting skills to transform children into their favourite ghoul. Available 12pm to 5pm on October 26, 27 and 31.

Edgware

Edgware Business Improvement District (BID) is holding a Halloween Mural Trail in Edgware Town Centre from October 19 to November 3.

The trail is open to members of the public of all ages to come into the town centre through the Halloween period. The challenge is to find all the pumpkins on display in the hand-drawn window murals across all the shop windows to be in with a chance to win a Halloween Hamper.

South of the River Thames

Kew Gardens is putting on a Halloween light trail which runs until November 3. The after-dark experience is full of spooky surprises with glowing lanterns, flickering flames in the fiendish fire garden and grinning pumpkins aglow. Wind your way through the illuminated haunted woods teeming with creepy neon cobwebs, ghastly ghouls, wicked witches, larger-than life spiders and beastly bats.