Think shorter evenings, colder temperatures and rainy days in London have got ‘night in with Netflix’ written all over them? Think again. If you can tear yourself away from your central-heated surroundings, there are some seriously good things going on to warm you up this autumn. Embrace that back-to-school feeling and plan an awesome autumn in London, with brand new bars, tasty restaurant openings, exciting art shows, fab festivals and ace attractions. Here’s our pick of the best things to do in September, October and November 2017.

Mail Rail

The Tube isn’t London’s only underground transport network. A hundred years ago, the Post Office built a secret railway under central London. It stretched six-and-a-half miles from Paddington to Whitechapel, connecting post offices across the city and carrying up to four million letters a day. The driverless trains stopped running in 2003, but this autumn the rails are back in use. Instead of bank statements and ASOS returns, the little carriages will take passengers on a fascinating and spine-tingling 20-minute journey deep under London. The adventure through abandoned tunnels has our stamp of approval.

 

Hoppers St Christopher’s Place

If you’ve ever spent a hangry evening in the queue at Hoppers, you’ll know that getting a table at Soho’s insanely popular Sri Lankan street food spot is no easy feat. Thankfully, that’s about to change with the arrival of a second branch in St Christopher’s Place this autumn. The new restaurant, which will seat 85 slavering foodies over two floors, actually takes actual reservations, so you can sample those incredible bowl-shaped savoury crêpes without having to hang about on the street for hours. It’s just what we’ve been waiting for. From Sep 12.

 

London Design Festival

London is the self-professed design capital of the world and goes about proving it in September when cultural institutions all over town show off for the annual London Design Festival. Now in its fifteenth year, the expo will feature an epic coloured light installation at the V&A and a stone exhibit at The Design Museum, plus plenty more talks and displays. Projects will also pop-up all over the city. We’ll be heading straight to ‘Villa Walala’, Camille Walala’s colour-pop installation in Exchange Square, Broadgate. It’s a giant building-block play-castle complete with squeezy stress balls. An artful way to unleash your inner kid.

 

Open House London

London’s architectural marvels big and small are opening their doors this September for the fifteenth annual Open House weekend. Visitors can wander around world-famous landmarks, ancient edifices, office blocks, cool housing, petite, cleverly designed urban pads and the odd sewage works. You can even poke around inside some of London’s most exclusive private members’ clubs without paying any fees. It’s a rare chance to see more than 800 buildings that are usually closed to the public, in a weekend dedicated to those of us who can’t resist peering through other people’s windows when we walk past.

 

London Film Festival

Switch your phone to selfie mode and get down to the city’s cinemas this October for the London Film Festival. Actors, writers and directors are about to descend for ten days of premieres, previews and talks. Films to check out? ‘Breathe’, a love story starring Andrew Garfield (fresh from ‘Angels in America’). Plus Time Out is putting on a gala screening of ‘The Florida Project’, about a mischievous six-year-old. You can expect plenty of A-list action both on and off the carpets, too. In 2016, Ry-Gos surprised cinemagoers by making an unexpected appearance during a screening of ‘La La Land’.

 

Harry Potter: A History of Magic

Prepare to feel old: it’s been 20 years since ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ was first published. To mark the momentous pop culture anniversary, the British Library is getting serious and taking an academic look at the folklore, magic and myth that inspired JK’s wizarding world. Get up close with rare books, manuscripts and historical artefacts that deal in divination, potions, astronomy and unicorns, as well as original drafts and drawings by Rowling herself. You’ll ace your OWLs afterwards.

 

Classic Car Boot Sale

King’s Cross’ Granary Square is gearing up to be covered in classic vehicles from which vendors will be flogging vintage fashion, homewares and collectibles. Heritage fairground rides, street theatre and mobile eateries will be dotted between the old school cars and campervans, while DJs will be impressing purists and pop lovers with vintage vinyl from the top of a routemaster bus.