October has started properly in Brighton and Hove. The students are back, the evenings are drawing in, and this weekend has a free food festival, some of the best gigs of the autumn and plenty of reasons to stay out late. Here’s what’s worth your time.
Food: BrightonFoodStory Festival
The big free event of the weekend is the BrightonFoodStory Festival, running Friday to Sunday. It’s billed as an ideas-led food festival rather than a row of burger vans, with talks, tastings and stalls about where the city’s food comes from and who makes it. If you only do one thing this weekend, make it this, and bring an appetite.
Gigs and Live Music
Friday night opens with African Soul Rebels at the Corn Exchange, bringing Les Amazones d’Afrique, Gasper Nali and N’famady Kouyaté together for a night of West and Southern African soul.
On Saturday, the London Philharmonic Orchestra visits Brighton Dome Concert Hall with Kian Soltani playing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, the best classical night in town for weeks. If you’d rather dance, Day Fever brings daytime clubbing to Concorde 2 from 3pm, and Chicane, the producer behind Don’t Give Up, plays Quarters on the seafront from 4pm.
Sunday is the pick of the weekend for guitar fans. Fat White Family play Concorde 2, and they rarely do things by halves. Earlier in the day, Brighton Sundae at Patterns hosts West London producer WheelUP for a Q&A followed by an afternoon dance session.
Comedy and Cabaret
New York comedian and podcaster Gianmarco Soresi brings his tour to Brighton Dome Concert Hall on Sunday. For something stranger, Madam Lola’s Cabaret & Vaudeville runs on Friday and Saturday nights, with circus acts and burlesque beneath its copper dome.
Serious comedy fans should save their money for later in the month. The Brighton Dome Comedy Festival runs from 16 to 25 October, now in partnership with Komedia, with Simon Amstell, Maisie Adam, Sam Campbell and Stevie Martin among the headliners. Tickets for the big names are already going.
Brunch, Opera and Family Days
FunnyBoyz host a Drag Queen Bottomless Brunch at the Regency Tavern on Saturday from noon, with lip-syncing, games and 90 minutes of drinks. At the other end of the cultural scale, Duke’s at Komedia screens the Metropolitan Opera’s Così fan tutte live on Saturday at 6pm, set on a 1950s Coney Island boardwalk.
For families, Crafty Kids: Seaside Adventures runs at Brighton Dome on Sunday.
Sunday Roast: Where to Book
Brighton’s best roasts book out by Thursday, so if you haven’t booked yet, call this morning. Embers in the Lanes has won Best Sunday Roast at the BRAVO awards two years running. The Ladies Mile in Patcham is a strong family choice. The Ginger Pig remains Hove’s gastropub benchmark, and The Roundhill serves the city’s best vegan roast from noon. For a proper neighbourhood local, try The Cleveland Arms near Fiveways. Our restaurants guide has the full list.
No Albion This Weekend
There’s no Albion fixture this weekend, so Saturday afternoon is free. The Seagulls have been in flying form, including a 3–0 win over Arsenal at the Amex last month. They’re next in action away at Sunderland on Saturday 10 October.
Brighton Local Angle
This weekend shows what the city does best: a free festival that celebrates local producers, grassroots venues like Concorde 2 and Patterns sharing a weekend with the LPO, and pubs that still treat Sunday lunch as an event. Brighton’s independent venues and kitchens depend on locals turning up in October, not just tourists in August. So book the roast, buy the gig ticket and spend your money close to home. For more ideas, see our guide to the city’s best Sunday roasts and the full comedy festival line-up.
Related Reading
- Brighton Dome Comedy Festival – Full Line Up Announced
- Restaurants in Brighton
- Top Five Sunday Roasts in Brighton
