This half-term, Queens Gardens is the place to be for ‘Halloween in the Gardens: A Night of Music and Fire’ on Wednesday, October 29th.
From 6pm to 7:30pm, families can enjoy fire-lit performances, spooky music, and community choirs. The event is free, no booking required, and visitors are encouraged to wrap up warm and bring chairs or picnic blankets.
To help you get ready for the evening, here’s a guide to the best local food and drink within a five-minute walk.
Family Fun
Families looking for a playful start to the evening can head to Disco Bowl in Golden Square. Just five minutes from Queens Gardens, it offers bowling, crazy golf, and a menu of hand-stretched 12” pizza, loaded fries, chicken bites, and onion rings. The Disco Platter combines pizza, fries, waffles, and more for £23.50, while any three sides are £13.
Gravity in Time Square, also five minutes from the Gardens, is perfect for burning off energy before the show. Open Jump sessions last 60 minutes (£13.50 per person), with family passes available for groups of 4 – 6 Tuesday to Thursday, and the on-site café provides snacks and hot drinks to warm up before the evening begins.
Coffee & Drinks
The perfect grab-and-go spot is The Coffee House in Golden Square. Open 8am to 6pm, it serves freshly brewed coffee, hot chocolate, and a wide selection of loose-leaf teas, including English Breakfast, Earl Grey, peppermint, and China Green.
Monia’s Cakes at The Hive (9am–5pm) is another convenient option for takeaway drinks and light bites. They offer cakes, pastries, bread, cookies, soups, and items like scones and cinnamon toast. A cake and hot drink can be picked up for £6.90.
Blossoms Café Bar in Time Square is perfect for those wanting a sit-down drink or a quick takeaway. Takeaway teas, coffees, and liqueur coffees are available, while sit-in cocktails are offered with a two-for-£15 deal on Aperol Spritz, Pornstar Martini, and Piña Colada.
Sit-Down Dining
For those who want a proper meal before the show, The Grill on the Square, just across from Queens Gardens, serves an early dining menu from 3pm to 7pm.
Starters include signature scotch egg, seafood croq pot, and sesame feta, while mains range from lobster raviolo and steak with eggs and chips to gnocchi caprese. Finish with sticky toffee pudding, spiced plum crumble, or a selection from the cheese trolley.
Two courses are £26, or three for £30, a great way to fuel up before the fire-lit magic begins.
Market Eats
For a mix of flavours under one roof, Warrington Market Cookhouse is hard to beat. Greek street food at That Ziki features gyros, loaded fries, and plant-based options, while Tamarind Thai tempts with fragrant curries, stir-fries, soups, and salads. Tam’s Takeaway is perfect for comforting Chinese classics, and Café at the End of the Universe adds a pop-culture twist with burgers, wings, and loaded fries.
Sweet treats can be picked up at Dark Side of the Spoon between 3pm and 5pm, including waffles, doughnuts, sundaes, and bespoke cakes. Patterson’s offers its famous brined fried chicken alongside burgers and wings, and Louie’s Pizza rounds out the market’s offerings with fresh, New York-style slices.
The Cookhouse is open from 9am to 6pm, with last food orders one hour before closing and last drinks 30 minutes before.
Grab a warming coffee, share a family meal, or sneak in a sweet treat before heading to Queens Gardens, and get ready for an evening of music, fire, and Halloween magic the whole family will remember. Click here for more information about the event.