Apparently, the traditional name for Autumn in the north of England was backend.
And if that doesn’t get you in the mood for romance…
…then these autumn date ideas will. What follows here is a bumper harvest of date spots, cosy nooks and quirkily romantic experiences to help you seize the season in London, from live soul in an underground crypt to pubs with roaring fires, candlelit theatres, pumpkin picking, cheese markets, a bath of red wine, and the occasional rutting stag…
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It’s a rooftop cocktail bar in a garden. With hot rum toddies and s’more kits. What’s not to love?
Details: Fridays and Saturdays until 28th September | Brunel Museum, Railway Avenue, SE16 4LF | Entry from £8, book tickets here
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After all, the French do it best.
Details: Open Tuesday-Friday evenings | 115 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1PP | Book Baranis
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Learn about dinosaurs with cocktails instead of coach tour groups.
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iStock/SHansche
Take in some of these scenic lakes or London’s best parks en route.
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Then Warm Up Over A Steaming Bowl of Ramen

Here’s our pick of the best ramen spots in London.
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Then read the first chapters to each other at one of London’s best cafés.
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Maybe try all of them, just to be sure.
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The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is the Globe’s closed-roof – and sliightly more autumn-friendly – sibling.
Details: All’s Well That Ends Well runs 8th November – 4th January | 21 New Globe Walk, SE1 9DT | From £5
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Candlelight, wine, and an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus.
Details: Open Wed-Sun 10am-5pm; lates on 18th & 27th September | 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3BP | Free entry, lates £25/15
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Incredibly, this doesn’t require a plane ticket.
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Or enjoy the unusual experience of ‘parenie’ at Banya No. 1.
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Then hit Victoria Park‘s lake on a rowing boat.
Details: Open daily | Victoria Park, E9 7DE
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Then drink your homework.
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And have a nightcap at one of these equally cosy cocktail bars.
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Rebecca Frecknall’s gloriously stylish production of Cabaret has won rave reviews.
Details: Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5DE | From £30
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Sip Cocktails in The Standard’s Library Lounge

Then go bowling, 50s style, at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes.
Details: 10 Argyle St, London WC1H 8EG
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Nicolas Lysandrou/Unsplash
Before sitting down to chops & Autumn Negronis at Blacklock City.
Details: Open daily | Gracechurch St, London EC3V 1LT
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Dalston Curve Garden‘s annual illuminated extravaganza returns. And so does their after-hours bar.
Details: 28th October – 3rd November, 6-10pm | Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, 13 Dalston Lane, London, E8 3DF | Free entry
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Featuring Victorian artists’ shops, hearty stews, and a very unusual museum…
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…Then Hole Up For Cocktails On A Twinkling Terrace

The Bloomsbury Club Bar is pretty beautiful… but it’s even lovelier on the outside.
Details: Open Wed-Sat | The Bloomsbury Hotel, 16-22 Great Russell St, London WC1B 3NN | Book a table
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They’ll have you rolling in the aisles.
Details: 5th & 31st October | Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, London, N1 2UN | Book tickets (£27.50)
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Take your date for a drink on Tuesday… and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday…
Details: 3rd – 13th October | Across London | Wristbands £16.67+
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You could literally spend an entire day together with our Camberwell date idea.
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Solve clues sent to your phone (with perfectly timed pub stops built in)…
Details: Daily | Across London | £25pp
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Sure, it might be too early for Kew’s legendary Christmas lights trail. But it’s the perfect time to suss out their new Hallowe’en trail…
Details: 18th October – 3rd November | Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, TW9 3AE | £17-20
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Leave with a bottle to take with you on your next date, at Hawksmoor on BYOB Mondays.
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…by getting tickets to One Track Minds.
Details: 19th September, 14th November and 12th December | Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG | £12-18
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Yes, IN, not with.
Details: Open daily | 2-3 Robert Street, WC2N 6RL | £450
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A spine-tinglingly atmospheric way to listen to music.
Details: Regular events | Across London | £13+
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Even if the acts are terrible, at least you’ll seem hilarious by comparison.
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Kamran Chaudhry/Unsplash
Then stroll over the insanely romantic Albert Bridge before ending up at 606 Club for a little live jazz.
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There’s a new Yayoi Kusama infinity room arriving this September. Then you can walk along the canal to enjoy a floating dinner at Caravel.
Details: Reopens 25th September | 16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW | Free entry but book ahead
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Sophie Keen
Then go beer-spotting at one of these cosy Richmond pubs.
Details: Open daily | Richmond Park, TW10 5HS | Free
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Then recover from your close encounter with cocktails at Lost Property Office.
Details: 16th September | SEA Life London Aquarium, SE1 7PB | £35
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Do Your Best Impressions of The Dinos of Crystal Palace Park

Get street food from the Sunday market first, then hole up at The Sourcing Table wine bar after. In fact, we’ve put together the perfect Crystal Palace date here…
Details: Thicket Rd, Crystal Palace, SE19 2GA | Free
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It’s worth carving out time for. See the best pick-your-own farms near London
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Admire Japan’s Famous Autumnal Foliage… in Kew Gardens

Then escape the chill in their Victorian hot houses.
Details: Open daily | Kew Gardens, TW9 3AE | £10+
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The perfect spot to take a new flame.
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Live music, cocktails, and close-up magic right before your eyes.
Details: 5th September – 31st October | A secret location | £47.50+
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If music be the food of love… go and listen to some, in a twinkling fairy-lit attic. With BYOB.
Details: 12th & 20th September, 25th October | £20-35
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From a free art-filled mansion to a pub with a toasty fireplace, via Viennese coffee with whipped cream. See our full Marylebone date idea
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Then gorge on quality pasta at Dalla.
Details: See what’s on at MOTH | Book a table at Dalla
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Cosy Up With A Film at The BFI Southbank

Then discuss it all in depth over a Custardo (hot ice cream & coffee) at Forza Wine at the National Theatre.
Details: See what’s on at the BFI | Book a table at Forza Wine
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Snoop Around Mysterious London Buildings at Open House Festival

Nose around clock towers, private mansions, and pathology museums for free…
Details: 14th – 22nd September | Across London | Free
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Ok, it’s an old Victorian water pumping station. But somehow that doesn’t sound quite as romantic.
Details: Open daily | Green Lanes, Stoke Newington, N4 2HA | £16.50
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Then stroll along Regent’s Canal to The Cheese Barge for a floating fondue dinner.
Details: Open daily | Sheldon Square, Paddington Central, London, W2 6HY | Book The Cheese Barge
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Loser gets the drinks in.
Details: Open daily | 41 Kingsland High Street, Dalston, E8 2JS | Arch 16 Leake St, London SE1 7NN | £7.25+ cover charge
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A philosophy & music festival combining 150 speakers & performers with long table banquets, cabaret and stand-up comedy…
Details: 21st & 22nd September | Kenwood House, Hampstead Lane, Highgate, NW3 7JR | Nudge Members get 35% off
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Buy each other the weirdest thing you can find.
Details: See upcoming dates | £1 entry
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Then try to figure out what it all meant with jazz and wine in the cellars at Brunswick House.
Details: Exhibition: 25th September – 16th February, £14 | Jazz: Tuesdays at 7.30 & 9pm until end of November, just walk in
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Then go for a stiff drink at Bar Swift…
Details: 14th & 28th October, 11th & 25th November | St Thomas’ Church, 9a St Thomas Street, SE1 9RY | £35pp
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Then sleep it off in front of a black & white movie at The Chiswick Cinema.
Details: 3rd Sunday of the month | Old Market Place, Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, W4 2DR | Free entry
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Then discover the joy of a haggis toastie at the Deeney’s cafe inside.
Details: Open Tues-Sun, Lloyd Park Market runs Saturdays 10am-4pm | Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London E17 4PP | Free entry
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Do It Like They Do On The Discovery Channel

…and see the wonder of nature at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. And on 30th November, you can visit after hours and be serenaded with live music from the Royal College of Music.
Details: 11th October – 29th June 2025 | Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD | £15.50+
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Enjoy An Evening of Wine, Drunken Noodles & Cinema in Shoreditch

With our perfect Shoreditch date night.
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Don’t worry, Sherlock still solves the crimes. You drink the cocktails.
Details: Until 29th September | The Lost Estate, 9 Beaumont Avenue, W14 9LP | £77.95+
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Do Some Midcentury Window Shopping at 2 Willow Road

Then sip hot chocolates in the fairy-lit gardens of Burgh House.
Details: 2 Willow Road, London NW3 1TH – open Thurs & Sun | Burgh House, New End Square, London NW3 1LT
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Then take things into a whole new dimension at LFF: Expanded, a festival of 360° and immersive film. Darkfield are back with an immersive sound journey into an interactive games arcade… in the pitch black.
Fancy something less experimental? See something in one of London’s cosy independent cinemas
Details: 9th-20th October | Across the Southbank | Some events free
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Then go for dinner Crispin at Studio Voltaire. Assuming you find each other again.
Details: 14th – 22nd September | Clapham Common, Windmill Drive, SW4 9DE | £12
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And find out if you’re soul mates.
Details: Various dates | St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ | £9-29
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Ungry Young Man
Buy each other antique spoons and vintage prints, before settling in for a Viennese pastry. See your Islington Sunday date idea here
Details: Camden Passage, Angel Islington, N1 8EA
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Comfy sofas, roasts, Bloody Maries and fascinating talks. It’s not the worst place to start a tradition…
Details: 6th October | One Marylebone, 1 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 4AQ | £20-39.50
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Not the Leicester Square kind, the Greenwich Observatory kind…
Details: Shows Friday – Monday | Royal Observatory, Blackheath Avenue, Greenwich SE10 8XJ | £12
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Because if your date doesn’t like the sound of a massive bonfire; a fireworks display; a ton of street food; a funfair; a German bier festival; a disco on ice; Kylie & Elton John tribute acts and something called ‘lightning magic’… there’s going to be fireworks.
Details: 1st & 2nd November | Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY | £15.50+
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Julian Simpson
We’ve prepared the perfect day out for you, featuring hot chocolates, yakitori and live jazz… See our Hampstead Heath date idea
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…Then Listen To Live Music and Sip Cider at The Southampton Arms

When the weather turns really cold, they serve it mulled.
Details: Open daily | 139 Highgate Road, London NW5 1LE
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Don’t Go Hunting

And instead practise a little humane virtual clay pigeon shooting at Clays. With humane cocktails and snacks.
Details: Open daily | 55 Moorgate, EC2R 6LL | Clays Canary Wharf: West India North Dockside, 1 Cabot Square, E14 4QJ | £8+
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Then go for a blow-out live fire banquet at Lita.
Details: Frieze: 18th September – 27th October, free entry | Book a table at Lita
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Martin VMorris/Flickr
It looks alright in the autumn.
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Then write your own over dinner at Akub.
Details: 19th September | Coronet Theatre, 103 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3LB | £20
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Have Your Own Ghost Moment In A Pottery Class

Then sip smugly from your slightly off-centre mugs by the fireside (four to six weeks) later.
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Sip along as the UK’s most formidable women in wine walk you through British bottles, sake, and more.
Details: 12th September, 7th November | B&H Buildings, 42 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell, EC1R 0HU | £39
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Then refuel over Michelin star level fare at Brat x Climpson’s Arch.
Details: Open daily | London Fields Lido, Hackney E8 3EU | £6
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Then share a few of your own over drinks at Trullo Wine Bar.
Details: 27th September | 19b Compton Terrace, London, N1 2UN | £37 + booking fee
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Any of these secretive drinking dens should do quite nicely.
Want more inspiration? Check out our bumper crop of year-round London Date Ideas