Diwali In London 2026: Dates, Food And Where To Celebrate

Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday 8 November. That single detail matters more than it sounds. In most years the festival lands midweek, which means people squeeze the puja in after work and push the family meal to the nearest weekend. This year the main day is a Sunday, so families across North London can give the whole day to it: morning cleaning, evening puja, and a long dinner with everyone at the table.

It Is Five Days, Not One

Most people outside the culture think of Diwali as one night of lights and fireworks. It is actually a five day festival, and each day has its own purpose. Knowing the shape of it helps if you are invited to someone's home, or if you are planning when to eat out.

Dhanteras, Friday 6 November. The day of buying. Traditionally gold or silver, but in practice anything new for the house: kitchen utensils, a small piece of jewellery, sometimes a car if the family has been saving. Jewellers in Wembley and on Green Street have their busiest day of the year.

Chhoti Diwali, Saturday 7 November. Also called Naraka Chaturdashi. The house gets its final clean, the rangoli goes down at the doorstep, and the first diyas are lit. In many families this is the cooking day, when the sweets are made in bulk for the days that follow.

Diwali, Sunday 8 November. The main day. Lakshmi Puja happens in the evening, usually after sunset, with the house lit and the doors open so the goddess of prosperity can enter. Then the food, and the fireworks.

Govardhan Puja, Monday 9 November. Also Annakut in many communities, when a mountain of vegetarian food is offered at the temple. If you want to see the scale of it, the temples listed below put on displays worth the trip alone.

Bhai Dooj, Tuesday 10 November. Brothers and sisters. Sisters mark their brothers' foreheads, brothers give gifts, and everyone eats again.

Diwali is not a UK bank holiday, so days one, four and five fall on working days this year. That is worth knowing if you are the person organising the family dinner. Most households in London do the big meal on the Saturday or the Sunday.

What People Actually Eat At Diwali

There is no single Diwali menu, and anyone who tells you there is has only eaten in one region. What is consistent is the structure: sweets first and constantly, savoury snacks alongside, and a vegetarian main meal on the day itself in most households.

Mithai. The sweets are the centre of it. Barfi, cut into diamonds and often silver leafed. Ladoo, the round ones, usually besan or boondi. Jalebi, coiled and soaked. Kaju katli, the cashew fudge that disappears fastest. Boxes of these move between houses all week, which is why most families end up with more sweets than they can eat.

Namkeen. The savoury counterweight. Chakli, chevdo, mathri, sev. These sit out in tins for the whole five days and get eaten with tea by anyone who walks in.

The regional split. A Gujarati household will make mohanthal and ghughra. A Punjabi one leans towards pinni and chole bhature. Bengali families make sandesh and often mark Kali Puja rather than Lakshmi Puja on the main night. South Indian families in London make murukku and celebrate Naraka Chaturdashi as the bigger day, with an oil bath before dawn. If you are cooking for a mixed group, this is the thing to ask about rather than assume.

Why it is mostly vegetarian. On the main day most families keep the food vegetarian, because the meal is tied to the puja. That changes over the rest of the week, and by the weekend after, restaurants across North London are full of families eating everything.

Where London Celebrates Diwali

London has one of the largest Diwali celebrations outside India, and most of it is free and open to anyone.

Diwali on the Square, Trafalgar Square. The Mayor of London's event, and the easiest entry point if you have never been to a Diwali celebration. It runs on Sunday 25 October 2026, 1pm to 7pm, which is two weeks before Diwali itself. That timing confuses people every year. It is deliberate: the festival gets its own public celebration, and families keep the actual day for home. Expect classical and Bollywood dance, a food market, and a rangoli you can help fill in. Free, no ticket needed.

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Neasden. The marble temple in Brent, and the biggest Annakut display in the country. Hundreds of vegetarian dishes are arranged in tiers as an offering. It is genuinely worth seeing even if you are not religious. Go early on Govardhan Puja, expect queues, and dress modestly.

Shri Sanatan Hindu Mandir, Wembley. Smaller, warmer, and easier to visit if the Neasden crowds put you off. Strong Gujarati community presence and an excellent Annakut.

Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford. The ISKCON temple in the Hertfordshire countryside, about 40 minutes from North London. It runs one of the largest Diwali and Govardhan Puja programmes in Europe, on donated land with space to actually move. Book parking in advance.

Belgrave Road, Leicester. Not London, but worth the hour and a half on the train if you want the full thing. The Golden Mile switches on its Diwali lights in October and the street celebration on the night itself draws tens of thousands.

Closer to home. In North London, Diwali shows up in smaller ways: lights along the shopfronts, extra sweets in the Indian grocers on Fortis Green and around Finchley Road, and restaurants booked solid on the Saturday night.

If You Are Invited To Someone's Diwali

Every year people ask us what the etiquette is. It is simpler than you think, and Indian families are generally delighted that you asked at all.

Take something. A box of sweets is the standard. Dry fruits and nuts also work, and a plant or flowers are always fine. Avoid leather items, and avoid alcohol unless you know the household well, because many families keep the house dry on the puja day.

Wear colour. Diwali is not an occasion for black or white in most households. Anything bright is right. You do not need to wear Indian clothes, though nobody will mind if you do.

Shoes off at the door. Almost always. Watch what everyone else does.

Eat. You will be offered food repeatedly and refusing the first two offers is part of the ritual on both sides. Accept something, even a small piece.

Say Happy Diwali, or Diwali Mubarak, or Saal Mubarak. Gujarati families also mark their new year the day after Diwali, which is where Saal Mubarak comes from.

Eating Out Over The Diwali Weekend

Restaurant bookings across North London tighten sharply in the week around Diwali, and the Saturday night is the first to go. A few things worth knowing if you are booking.

Book earlier than you think. Two to three weeks ahead for a table of four to six on the Diwali weekend. For a larger family group, four weeks.

Say if the meal is vegetarian. If your group is keeping the day vegetarian, tell the restaurant when you book rather than on arrival. Any kitchen worth eating in will plan around it, and some dishes that look vegetarian are not.

Large groups need a set arrangement. Above about ten people, most kitchens will want an agreed menu rather than individual ordering. That is not a restriction, it is the only way the food arrives together and hot.

Ask about a private space. If the group is a mix of generations, a separate room makes a real difference. Our Hampstead restaurant has a private dining room downstairs that seats up to 26, with its own entrance and stairs.

Diwali At Bonoo

We are open every evening from 5pm across the Diwali period at both our Hampstead and Muswell Hill restaurants.

Our menu is built for exactly the kind of eating Diwali calls for. Indian tapas means small sharing plates rather than one plate each, so a table of eight can put twenty different things in the middle and everyone tries everything. That suits a festival meal far better than a curry each.

The vegetarian side of the menu is not an afterthought. Five Spice Broccoli straight from the tandoor, Cauliflower Manchurian, Black Lentils Makani slow cooked overnight, Chickpea Masala, Lasooni Spinach, Paneer dishes, and our Pumpkin Seed and Coconut Naan. A fully vegetarian table at Bonoo is not a compromise, and if your group is keeping the puja day vegetarian we will set the table up that way.

A Private Room For Your Diwali Gathering

Diwali is rarely a table of four. It is grandparents, cousins, the family friends who have been coming for twenty years, and children who will not sit still. That is a hard group to seat in the middle of a busy restaurant, and it is the single most common reason people ring us in November.

Our private dining room in Hampstead is in the basement, a completely separate area with its own entrance and stairs. It seats up to 26. Once your group is down there, the room is yours: you can make noise, move between tables, do speeches, take photographs, and let the children be children without anyone minding.

A few things worth knowing for a Diwali booking specifically.

The £39 is a minimum spend per head, not a set menu. You order what you like from the full menu. Most family groups land comfortably above it without trying.

We can run the whole room vegetarian. If you are booking for the puja day itself and the meal needs to be entirely vegetarian, say so when you enquire. The kitchen will plan the room around it rather than working it out on the night.

Decor and extras are possible. Diyas on the tables, flowers, a cake for a birthday that happens to fall in the same week, particular seating. Tell us what you want and we will price it in. It is not a fixed package.

Book at least a week ahead, and earlier for Diwali. For the weekend of 6 to 10 November, three to four weeks is realistic. That room goes first.

Enquiries go through the form on our private dining page, or you can call Hampstead directly on 020 7794 8899 if you would rather talk it through.

Diwali 2026 Questions, Answered

Happy Diwali from everyone at Bonoo. Whether you are celebrating at home, at the temple, or at a table with twenty people and too many sweets, we hope it is a good one.