A guide to ghoulish gatherings for grown-ups this Halloween

Halloween is one of our favourite times of the year, bringing with it pumpkin spice lattes, scary movies which will have you on the edge of your seat, and an excuse to wear some fun costumes! We’ve rounded up some of the best activities this Halloween in Leeds – from haunted hijinks to truly terrifying tales for braver souls. Read on for inspiration.   

Movies 

Both a dark love story and a horror classic, 1925’s The Phantom of The Opera is one of silent cinema’s most lavish achievements, with ‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’ Lon Chaney playing the title character. Enjoy a live piano score by Jonny Best at The Old Woollen on the 26th October. 

Hyde Park Picture House is a gem in Leeds’ crown, a cosy cinema that feels like stepping back in time. Their spooky season features classics and new releases with Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, horror scifi Alien, and the eagerly anticipated Good Boy. Also celebrate 20 years of Corpse Bride and 30 years of Casper. 

Highly rated, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is a brilliant modern twist on the vampire genre and will be played at HEART Headingley Enterprise and Arts Centre on the 31st October. 

Cosy up on the sofas at Everyman Cinema in Trinity Leeds and enjoy a classic slasher with screenings of Scream or for something different check out Bat Out of Hell: The Musical with iconic anthems from Meatloaf. 

The Orchestra of Opera North will be bringing Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Psycho to life at Leeds Grand Theatre on the 31st October. Praised by the American Film Institute who ranked it among the Top 5 Greatest Film Scores of All Time, this live performance offers a rare opportunity to experience Psycho in its most immersive form. 

Under the stars, snuggled in a blanket with some popcorn and hot chocolate, what’s better than watching a Halloween classic at Harewood House? Going all weekend (24th, 25th and 26th October) and watching 3 of them, with back to back screenings of Beetlejuice, Hocus Pocus, and The Nightmare Before Christmas from Adventure Cinema. 

(Electric Shuffle’s Halloween Weekender)

Club Nights & Parties 

Turn sleuth for the evening as events unfold around you- can you solve the fiendish murder with your friends at The Mansion at Roundhay Park? Enjoy a fabulous night, on the 8th November, with the Death on the Express Murder Mystery, with a delicious 3 course dinner served over the course of the evening.  Fancy dress is encouraged. 

Join the iconic Sanderson Sisters at The Cut & Craft Leeds for a special Halloween Dinner on the 30th October. Expect a night to dismember, with a killer three-course menu, unwelcome drinks, spooky settings, and live entertainment throughout the evening. 

Roll out the black carpet and prepare for a night of glamour, ghouls and glittering gore — Bibis Italianissimo Restaurant & Cocktail Bar’s  Haunted Hollywood Halloween Party is here! Sip on sinister drinks and dine like an A Lister before The Rolling Keys take centre stage at 9pm with a 90-minute live show packed with spooky showstoppers and Hollywood hits, all on the 31st October. Come dressed to distress – there’s a prize for the best dressed star of the night. 

Get ready for a brunch experience with high-energy competition and spooktacular vibes at Electric Shuffle’s Halloween Weekender. Enjoy a devilish cocktail on arrival, spine-tingling sourdough pizzas and ice-cold Prosecco to toast your champions! 

Halloween is upon us, the dead are rising, the monsters are growling and Dr Frankenstein is cooking up something special in the lab. Cooking up the Halloween Ball at the O2 Academy Leeds that is. Expect amazing stage shows, scare actors, a trick or treat station, murder mystery photo-booth and more.

Pixel Bar is transforming into Spooky Island for Halloween week with Scooby Doo inspired cocktails like the Mystery Machine and Scooby Snax, and a Halloween quiz! 

Independent venue Sela is hosting an entire weekend of Halloween events, from live bands, quiz, the Haunted House Party and more! 

Leeds’ largest underground venue Beaver Works is also the setting for Halloween’s biggest rave on Friday 31st October, with 7 areas, performers, funfair and a full lineup of DJs including Pola & Bryson, Skeptic & Sicari. 

Stage Shows 

The Leeds Conservatoire performs a double bill of modern classics at the Leeds Playhouse. Their adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde by Evan Placey, reimagines Victorian England into the modern day, as a respectable doctor and a monstrous alter ego collide in a thrilling world of secrets, darkness and desire. Catch it at the theatre on 30th October. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is brought to the stage on the 1st November by Rona Munro’s inventive feminist adaptation, placing Mary Shelley centre stage, wrestling with her own terrifying creation and the brutal realities facing young women, then and now. 

Every Friday & Saturday from October 3rd to November 1st, Viaduct Showbar will be rolling out the blood-red carpet for their brand new Halloween special, Haunted Hollywood, hosted by the wickedly fabulous Precious McMichaels.

Freida Nipples presents A Spooky Night of Cabaret and Burlesque in celebration of Halloween! featuring fabulous Cabaret Creatures & Burlesque Queens from across the country at The Old Woollen on Friday 31st October 

The Key Club is bringing Helle-O-Ween to the stage for Halloween with headliners Helle, a Leeds based feminist punk band on the 31st October. 

(Leeds Ghost Tours, credit Alex Horsley for Visit Leeds)

Ghost Tours & Talks 

The Yorkshire Ghost Tours are led by real ghosts, so you know you’re with the experts! For the Leeds Ghost Tour you will be led by ghostly nobleman: Lord Bartholomew Catch for tales of witches, murderers and all things ghouly. Or head over to the Otley Ghost Tour led by Otleyenzian ghost, Spindleshanks McScrew. Normally they are only out for the weekend, but this Halloween there is also the chance to catch the guides in new locations and times for ghost talks, so check out their Instagram here for more details. Did you also know you can book for a private tour? Perfect for birthdays, visiting groups or even a date night! 

The Leeds Library is the oldest subscription library in the UK, being in its current building for over 200 years… so no wonder its haunted! Discover The Mystery of the Leeds Library Ghost with the library team on the 31st October. 

This gripping one man show, A Pleasing Terror: Candlelit Stories for Halloween from M.R.James’ Collected Ghost Stories and performed by R M Lloyd Parry, has been highly rated performance by publications like The New Yorker, The Times and The Guardian, and you can see it this Halloween at The Old Woollen on Wednesday 29th October. 

Enjoy An Evening Celebrating Northern Gothic with authors Andrew Michael Hurley and Michael Stewart on the 27th October at The Old Woollen, discussing all things folk horror, macabre and menace, their new books, and the work they have done into research and writing them. 

(Leeds Scare Maze)

New for 2025! 

Leeds Scare Maze is the very first scare maze experience located right in the heart of Leeds city centre on Lower Briggate. It’s a fully immersive journey through darkness, suspense, and fear, featuring live actors, cinematic sets, and carefully crafted scares. Each twist and turn of the maze is filled with surprises, making it the perfect event for thrill-seekers, horror fans, and anyone brave enough to face the unknown, running from the 22nd October to 2nd November. 

Join the British Deer Society on the 31st October for a Halloween Deer and Bat Park Safari through the stunning Harewood Estate. This unique safari offers a front-row seat to one of nature’s most dramatic spectacles, the autumn rut. Get up close to majestic Red, Fallow, and Roe deer as they battle for dominance in a thrilling display of power and grace. Expert guides will share fascinating insights into deer behaviour, making this a must-do for wildlife lovers of all ages.  

Rooftop hacienda Azotea will be hosting a night of remembrance and celebration on the 1st November. Día de los Muertos comes alive with limited-edition cocktails, and entertainment inspired by Latin tradition — a night to honour the past while savouring the present. Book your table here.

(Leeds Alternative Market, credit Alex Horsley for Visit Leeds)

Markets 

Join Leeds Indie Market for their spooktacular Full Moon Market on Sunday 12th October, 2pm-6pm downstairs at The Wardrobe, expect spooky tunes, a huge selection of dark, witchy, weird and wonderful crafts, makes and homewares as well as bars, tasty treats & alt shopping! 

Celebrate Leeds Alternative Day on the 18th of October including the Leeds Alternative Market with over 140 traders of curiosity, fashion, antiquity, art, jewellery, magickal paraphernalia, dark homeware, horror and all things strange & unusual at Kirkgate Market! Live music will be available at several locations including Wharf Chambers and Northern Guitars, and Le Phonographique, one of the first ever goth clubs, will be holding a special event at The HiFi Club.