Happy Thursday, South East London!
📰 🍗 Kudu is coming back to Nunhead
Good news for Nunhead: the much-loved team behind Kudu are returning to their old Kudu Grill site on Nunhead Lane with a new restaurant, Braai Bird. After they left for Marylebone last year, the space has been sitting waiting, and now it’s getting a proper South African makeover.
The star is wood-fired rotisserie chicken alongside house sauces, big sharing plates, cocktails and South African wine. It’s due to open in November, so not quite yet, but very much one to look forward to. Read more here.
Stay safe. Stay cosy. Have a great weekend.
-Anton
All Weekend Long
🔭 Observatory Unlocked at the Royal Observatory
Every weekend this month, the Royal Observatory’s team of explainers are out with telescopes and the kind of space facts that make you feel pleasingly tiny. Have a go on a telescope and poke around Greenwich’s most famous hilltop. Included with Observatory entry. Find out more here.
🎬 The BFI London Film Festival (final weekend)
The 70th BFI London Film Festival wraps up this weekend, with premieres and world cinema at BFI Southbank and venues around town. See the programme here.
🍺 Portobello Beer Festival at the Royal Albert in New Cross
Four days of beer (Thursday to Sunday) at New Cross’s grand old Royal Albert, pouring the likes of Portobello, Deptford’s Villages, Bianca Road and Anspach & Hobday, with German sausages, a Sunday roast, and live folk, jazz and a Battle of the Bands across the weekend. They’re also donating 10p from every festival pint to the “Only a Pavement Away” charity. Raise a glass here.
🎃 Family Spook Fest at Crystal Palace Park
This family-friendly, no-jump-scares Halloween event includes a haunted house walk-through, Frankenstein’s bouncy castle, a haunted artisan market, face painting, a daily costume contest and a free afternoon West End concert. Book here.
Thursday, October 15th
📚 Hermione Lee in conversation at Blackheath Halls
One of the country’s finest biographers sits down with critic Suzi Feay for an evening on writing lives and the art of biography. Book your seat here.
Friday, October 16th
🪩 ABBAMANIA in Catford
The long-running ABBA tribute brings Dancing Queen, Waterloo and the whole singalong back catalogue to Catford’s Broadway Theatre. Get tickets here.
🎭 The Seafarer at the Greenwich Theatre
Conor McPherson’s darkly funny modern classic: a boozy Christmas Eve card game in a Dublin front room, with the Devil himself pulling up a chair. Runs through the weekend and beyond. Book your seats here.
Saturday, October 17th
🎧 Refugee Community Kitchen takeover at the Fox & Firkin
The Fox hands over the kitchen for an afternoon of great food, DJs and good company, all for a good cause. Find out more here.
🐸 The Frog Princess in Sydenham
A joyful 45-minute family show mixing Bollywood-inspired music, Indian dance, puppetry and plenty of audience participation. Shows at 2pm and 3.30pm. Book a show for the family here.
🎭 Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky at Southwark Playhouse
The final weekend for Patrick Hamilton’s 1920s London tale of three lonely souls and a Fitzrovia pub, in a new stage adaptation at Southwark Playhouse Borough. Catch it here.
🌿 Open day at Garthorne Road Nature Reserve
A rare chance to wander Forest Hill’s hidden railway-embankment nature reserve. This is a quiet green oasis that opens just once a month, March to October. Have a wander here.
🚂 Beckenham Model Railshow in Forest Hill
Two dozen working model-railway layouts take over Forest Hill Boys School for the day, with trade stands and demos. Proper nostalgic fun for kids and collectors alike. Find out more here.
Sunday, October 18th
🪔 Diwali on the Peninsula in Greenwich
A Diwali celebration is taking over Greenwich Peninsula, with lantern-making, street food, a drumming procession and an illuminated rickshaw, building to a mass Garba dance under the lights. Join the celebration here.
💃 Diwali Dinner & Dance at Blackheath Halls
A more intimate way to mark Diwali: classical Bharatanatyam from the Natyasri Dance Company, then everyone can get up and dance. Plus, there will be food from local restaurant, Everest Inn. Book here.
🌾 Harvest Festival at the Garden Museum
Just across Lambeth Bridge, the Garden Museum marks the season with a harvest celebration. Food, workshops and family fun in one of London’s loveliest little museums. See what’s on here.
🎏 Horn Fair at Charlton House
The centuries-old Charlton tradition returns to the lawns of Charlton House. Live music from Global Fusion, a textile artist at her loom, food and craft stalls and a fancy-dress contest. Join the fun here.
🌊 Low Tide Walk in Deptford Creek
Pull on some waders and climb down into Deptford Creek at low tide with the Creekside guides, learning about the wildlife and the river’s history. Buy tickets here.
👺 Goblin Market at Stanley Arts
A Halloween-season comics-and-zines market “for goblins and by goblins,” with indie creators, free drop-in workshops, a trinket trade and an afternoon animation screening. Check it out here.