Summer may be over but that’s no reason to stay at home watching the latest episode of The X Factor, especially with a holiday as exciting as Halloween quickly approaching. London is chock full of spooky happenings and is particularly well-versed in the art of the vintage themed-ball. From the 19th century all the way through to the hair-raising (or hair-permed) 1980s, here are UbiCabs Top 5 Picks for a vintage Halloween night out. And remember, use ubiCabs to pre-book your minicabs so you can limit the evening horror to your outfit of choice, not to getting caught in the twilight hours with no ride home.
For those of you feel like a night out isn’t complete without being transported to a different century, the 19th Century-themed Belle Epoque Halloween Ball on Saturday, 29 October is the thing for you. Euston’s Grand Hall will be transformed into a Parisian style music hall with swinging trapeze, velvet swathed balconies, and absinthe fountains. Dress code is feathers and corsets for the ladies and masks, coat-tails and top-hats for the gentleman. Tickets are £20 in advance.
If you long for the Golden Age of the 1920s- 1940s, the monthly night Die Freche Muse is hosting a Halloween edition on Saturday, 29 October that promises to be “irreverent, decadent, sexually ambivalent & dissolute”, boasting a strictly vintage dress code (think dead aristocrats and starving poets), burlesque performers, jazz and swing DJs, a cabaret and more at a “secret” Victorian Dalston location. Tickets are £12.50 or £10 in advance by emailing names to die.freche.muse@gmail.com.
If the 1950s-1970s are more your style, The Book Club in Shoreditch is introducing a new party called The Hideous Big Ten Inch Halloween Horror Show on Saturday, 29 October featuring “sickly skifflers” The Severed Limb, a DJ set by The Specials legend Jerry Dammers and vinyl-spun tunes throughout the night in the “howlin’ blues, screamin’ soul, wild rockabilly, ska, rocksteady & rigormortis” genres. Tickets are £5 after 9pm.
If you think bad perms and neon scrunchies are, like, totally rad, then Spats 80’s Halloween Ball at Concrete in Shoreditch on Friday, 28 October is where you need to be. The night features Johnny Mikes and Michael Jansons playing 80s classics all night long with a dress code drawing inspiration from the likes of “Nightmare On Elm Street, The Shining, The Lost Boys, Poltergeist, The Monster Squad, Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters, The Fly, Fright Night, Teen Wolf, The Evil Dead and of course Rick Astley”. Tickets are £5.
If you think the past should stay just that, the past, then perhaps Snowbombing’s Ignition party on Friday, 28 October at London Bridge’s 7-9 Crucifix Lane is more your speed. Snowbombing has teamed up with Urban Nerds and Black Butter Records to present a night full of grime, dubstep and electro music featuring MTA Record’s Killsonic, Hatcha, Marcus Nasty, OG’s, Klose One and more. Tickets will set you back £15.
From all of us here at ubiCabs, have a safe Halloween! Come back next week for our Guide to Guy Fawkes Day.