EDITOR'S NOTE
A week of books, a great show and one weekend to plan around. The Guildford Book Festival is in full swing, with Victoria Hislop, Maggie Aderin, Johnny Ball and a Lewis Carroll walk through town all in the next seven days. The Yvonne Arnaud has Emma Rice's Tristan & Yseult back on tour for the first time in ten years, and RHS Wisley turns into a food festival from Wednesday. On the High Street, The Sushi Co opens this weekend and the Cornish Bakery has its signs approved. The practical things: there are no trains through Guildford next weekend, with buses replacing trains on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11, and Woking Road has overnight closures all week. Before all that, this weekend: Twelve Angry Men finishes at the Arnaud on Saturday and the Festival of the Arts closes on Sunday.
FEATURED THIS WEEK
Tristan & Yseult
Yvonne Arnaud, Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 October. Emma Rice's Kneehigh production first opened in 2003 and has become one of the most influential shows of the century. The Cornish legend of forbidden love plays out as circus, cabaret, live music and heartbreak, and The Times called it "the best piece of theatre I have ever seen." This is the original production, back in the UK for the first time in a decade. Evenings 7.30pm, Friday 6.30pm, matinees Thursday and Saturday 2.30pm. Thursday's matinee is audio-described (touch tour 1.30pm) and Thursday evening is BSL-interpreted. Recommended for adults and "brave children" aged 8 and over, 2hr 10 with interval. From £17.50, £18 concessions for under-25s. Tickets →
BEST FOR KIDS
Flavours of Autumn at RHS Wisley, Wednesday 7 to Sunday 11 October. Wisley's autumn food festival has cookery demos, a food and drink market of more than 30 stalls, tours of the World Food Garden and live music. On Saturday and Sunday there is also a mud kitchen for small children. It's included in normal garden entry: adults £19 booked in advance, children 5–16 £6, under-5s free, RHS members free. Book garden tickets →
NEW THIS WEEK
The Sushi Co opens on the High Street. The chain's 38th branch has taken over a former betting shop at 221 High Street, near the top of the hill. Its selling point is a "live sushi kitchen": the rolls are made in front of you rather than sitting in a chiller. It's open from 11am until late, with hot dishes such as curries and gyoza too. There's a launch party on Saturday 3 October from noon, with free sushi rolls and taiko drummers.
HEADS UP
No trains through Guildford on Saturday 10 or Sunday 11 October. Engineering work closes the lines between Woking and Haslemere and between Wanborough and Guildford. Buses run from Guildford to Woking, Effingham Junction and Haslemere, and North Downs line trains stop at Ash. Details below.
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Jekyll vs Hyde: The Potion of Doom with Jack Meggitt-Phillips - Yvonne Arnaud (Millbrook), Sat 10 October, 2pm. A Book Festival event for young readers: an hour of monstrously silly story-making with the author of the Beast and the Bethany books, introducing his new one. Tickets →
Starchild: My Life Under the Night Sky with Dr Maggie Aderin - Guildford High School, Tue 6 October, 7pm. The space scientist and Sky at Night presenter talks about her memoir. It's a school night, but it's the one to take a space-mad 10-year-old to. Tickets →
Flavours of Autumn - RHS Wisley, Wed 7 to Sun 11 October; mud kitchen Saturday and Sunday only. The pick above.
Ocean Film Festival World Tour - G Live, Tue 6 October. A touring programme of short films about surfing, diving and the sea; a good one for teenagers. From £19, selling fast.
Adults · Date Night
Tristan & Yseult — Yvonne Arnaud, Tue 6 to Sat 10 October. The featured show above. Friday starts at 6.30pm, so there's time for dinner afterwards. Tickets →
Victoria Hislop in conversation with Elizabeth Buchan - Guildford High School, Thu 8 October, 7pm. The author of The Island on her new novel, The Wine-Dark Sea. The biggest name in the Book Festival's week. Tickets →
Lewis Carroll Afternoon Walk - Guildford town centre, Thu 8 October, 2pm–3.30pm. Charles Dodgson visited Guildford regularly and died here. This Book Festival walk takes in his Guildford haunts. Tickets →
Down To Chance - Mill Studio, Thu 8 October, 7.45pm. New writing billed as "Come From Away meets The Play That Goes Wrong": a part-time radio reporter keeps Anchorage on air through the 1964 Alaska earthquake. 70 minutes, £18. Tickets →
Gary Delaney: Gary On Laughing - G Live, Thu 8 October, from £34. An hour of one-liners from one of the masters of the form. The smaller room has Rachel Fairburn: Vexy Beasts the same night (from £24.50, selling fast).
Chris Ramsey: Here, Man! - G Live, Fri 9 October, from £37. Tickets →
Peter Ricketts: Peace Makers - Guildhall, Fri 9 October, 6.30pm. The former national security adviser and ambassador to Paris, at the Book Festival, on what diplomacy can still do.
Weekend Events
The Alice Project - Mill Studio, Sat 10 October, 7.45pm. Platform 4's sound-and-music trip down the rabbit hole: a four-piece band, Carroll's text and the voices of forty present-day Alices. It suits a town that has Carroll's grave. Ages 11+, £18. Tickets →
Oktoberfest Guildford - Merrist Wood College, Sat 10 October, from noon. Beer tent, oompah band, bratwurst and lederhosen; over-18s only. Tickets →
James Lavelle: UNKLE / Mo Wax DJ set - The Boileroom, Sat 10 October, 7pm. The founder of Mo Wax and UNKLE behind the decks on Stoke Fields. Tickets →
Myra's Story - G Live, Sat 10 October, from £23.50. The one-woman West End and Edinburgh hit: one actor plays fifteen Dublin characters to tell a homeless woman's story. Age 12+.
Between the Covers Live: Celebrating Agatha Christie - G Live, Sun 11 October, from £42.25. The BBC book-club show on stage, all about Christie. Tickets →
My Previous Life in Comedy with Johnny Ball - Guildhall, Sun 11 October, 6.30pm. At 88, the Think of a Number man is still touring. It's a Book Festival event. Tickets →
Sam Stephens: The Joy of Games - Hatchlands Park, Sun 11 October, 11am. A Sunday-morning Book Festival talk on why we play. Pair it with a walk round the park.
Looking ahead: 125 Years of Jazz Piano at G Live and Open Stages at The Boileroom on Mon 12; Voices of Valjean at the Cathedral on Wed 14; Duke Special at The Boileroom on Thu 15 and The Orb on Sat 17; the Book Festival runs to Sun 18; Jenny Seagrove in The Anastasia File at the Arnaud from Tue 20; and phase two of the bus station works from about Mon 26.
🏙️ What's New in Guildford
The Sushi Co opens at 221 High Street. The former betting shop has been refitted as the chain's 38th branch, with up to 15 jobs. Chefs make the sushi to order in an open "live kitchen", and there are poke bowls, curries and gyoza from 11am until late. The launch party is on Saturday 3 October from noon.
The Cornish Bakery is coming to the old Russell & Bromley. Banners are up at 84–86 High Street promising an opening in November, and this week the council approved the shop's fascia, hanging sign and door lettering. The Mevagissey-born chain is known for its pasties, sausage rolls and pastries baked on site.
House of Fraser has a buyer. Moretons Investments, a Brighton property company that already owns two High Street buildings, has bought the former department store for what is understood to be about half its £11 million asking price. The listed building has been empty since September 2023, and its dark middle floors make it hard to convert. Moretons has met the council's planners but has not said what it plans. A local councillor has suggested restaurants, a market hall or leisure.
Up to 600 homes in Effingham move a step closer. Berkeley Homes has been trying to build at Effingham since 2014, and its latest early-stage plans are for up to 600 homes on land south of Effingham Common, off Lower Road. Last week the council told Berkeley that any application will need a full environmental impact assessment. A formal planning application is likely to follow.
The University of Surrey gets the go-ahead for a new performance centre. Planners approved (24 September) a performance and education centre with offices on land next to Surrey Sports Park on the Manor Park campus. The application had been waiting since December 2024.
The Electric Theatre is looking for a new operator. Consultants Blue Horizon Ventures are testing the market for running the Onslow Street venue, either as a cultural or "hybrid" venue or for purely commercial use. An online briefing for would-be operators is on Wednesday 14 October, and expressions of interest close on 30 October.
🚧 Useful Guildford Updates
Trains: a clear week, then a closed weekend. Nothing on the South Western Railway network affects Guildford from Monday to Friday. Then on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October the lines through Guildford are closed, between Woking and Haslemere and between Wanborough and Guildford. Waterloo–Portsmouth trains run only Waterloo–Woking and Haslemere–Portsmouth, and the Cobham line stops at Effingham Junction. Buses run Woking–Guildford, Woking–Haslemere, Effingham Junction–Guildford, Guildford–Farnham (Saturday) and Guildford–Aldershot (Sunday). On the North Downs line, GWR trains from Reading turn back at Ash. Buses run from North Camp to Guildford and on to Gatwick, with a faster bus from North Camp to Gatwick calling only at Guildford. Allow a lot of extra time. Check before you travel →
Roads: Woking Road at night, and the A3 at both ends.
Woking Road (A320), every night Monday to Friday, 9pm to 6am. The council's works to replace the Woodlands Road/Hazel Avenue roundabout with a four-way junction with traffic lights move into a month of overnight closures. This week's work is between Jacobs Well Road and Moorfield Road (the Slyfield Industrial Estate entrance), building new pedestrian islands, with diversions in place. The traffic lights themselves are due to go in from late November to mid-December.
A3 southbound, Hog's Back to Longmoor, closed overnight from Friday 9 October (9pm to 6am, until 30 October) for resurfacing in and around the Hindhead Tunnel. The signed diversion goes via the A31 through Farnham and back to the A3 at Longmoor, about 10 miles longer.
Before that, on Monday and Tuesday nights, National Highways' closure report lists the A3 northbound shut between Hazel Grove and Thursley (9pm to 6am), with the Hog's Back entry slip onto the A3 northbound also closed on Monday. At Wisley, the link from the A3 northbound onto the M25 clockwise is shut 10pm to 5.30am on Monday night, and the A3 southbound slip roads at Painshill are closed on Monday and Tuesday nights. Closure report →
Buses: phase one continues, and phase two has a date. The Friary bus station refurbishment is still in phase one: the north end of Commercial Road is closed and some routes leave from temporary stops on Onslow Street and North Street. Phase two is due to start on Monday 26 October, subject to change. All buses will then enter through a new northern entrance, works move to the south end of Commercial Road, and the drop-off point outside The Friary will be suspended.
Planning: a very quiet list, and three signals. Only 28 applications were validated in the week beginning 21 September, and 61 were decided. Nearly all were extensions, trees and conditions. The big decision was the University of Surrey's performance centre (above), and Berkeley's Effingham scoping request (also above) came through the same week. Also worth knowing:
The council has cleared Thames Water to build a new drinking-water pipeline from the Ladymead treatment works to Pewley Hill reservoir without a full environmental assessment. It's worth watching for roadworks across town.
This week's decisions so far include approved signage for 84–86 High Street, the Cornish Bakery's new home.
From the week before, the National Trust has applied to build the replacement Māori meeting house at Clandon Park. It will take the place of Hinemihi, the 1881 house whose original carvings are going home to New Zealand, and will reuse some of her fabric.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 5 Oct: Book Festival continues all week (to Sun 18) · Woking Road overnight closures begin, 9pm–6am (to Fri) · A3 northbound Hazel Grove–Thursley closed overnight, plus Hog's Back slip and A3–M25 link at Wisley
Tue 6 Oct: Tristan & Yseult opens, Yvonne Arnaud (to Sat) · Maggie Aderin, Guildford High School, 7pm · Ocean Film Festival, G Live · A3 northbound Hazel Grove–Thursley closed overnight again
Wed 7 Oct: Flavours of Autumn opens, RHS Wisley (to Sun) · Rock Orchestra by Candlelight, G Live
Thu 8 Oct: Cathedral Coffee Concert, free, from 10.30am · Jonn Elledge literary lunch, County Club, 11.30am · Lewis Carroll walk, 2pm · Victoria Hislop, 7pm · Gary Delaney and Rachel Fairburn, G Live · Down To Chance, Mill Studio · Tristan audio-described matinee and BSL evening · Floodplain & M!nerva, The Boileroom
Fri 9 Oct: Peter Ricketts, Guildhall, 6.30pm · Chris Ramsey, G Live · Tristan 6.30pm · Emerson, The Boileroom · A3 southbound Hog's Back–Longmoor closed overnight from tonight (to 30 Oct)
Sat 10 Oct: No trains through Guildford: buses · Oktoberfest, Merrist Wood, from noon · Jekyll vs Hyde, Millbrook, 2pm · Wisley mud kitchen · Myra's Story, G Live · The Alice Project, Mill Studio · James Lavelle, The Boileroom · Tristan closes
Sun 11 Oct: No trains through Guildford: buses · The Joy of Games, Hatchlands, 11am · Between the Covers Live, G Live · Johnny Ball, Guildhall, 6.30pm · Last day of Flavours of Autumn
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
St Martha's-on-the-Hill. You can't drive to it, and that's the point. The little church sits alone on top of St Martha's Hill, 175 metres up between Guildford and Chilworth, on the Pilgrims' Way. The only way up is on foot, by a sandy track from the Chilworth side or along the North Downs Way from Newlands Corner. There has been a church here since the 12th century. The ruin was rebuilt in the 1840s, keeping the Norman arches, and it's one of only three churches in England dedicated to St Martha. The churchyard has two graves worth finding. One is a memorial to Yvonne Arnaud, whose ashes were scattered here; she's the actress the theatre on Millbrook is named after. The other is Bernard Freyberg VC, the New Zealander who won his Victoria Cross with the Royal West Surrey Regiment in 1916. His grave is in front of the south door. On a clear day you look across the Weald one way and back towards Newlands Corner the other. The churchyard is always open, but the church itself keeps shorter hours. Monday and Tuesday look dry and warm, so make it an early-week walk.
St Martha's-on-the-Hill © Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
WEATHER THIS WEEK
A warm, dry start, then cooler. Monday is 21°C after a foggy start, with almost no chance of rain all day and a low of 11°C. Tuesday is 21°C again and dry until the afternoon, when the chance of rain creeps up to 20% into the evening. Those are the two days for a walk up St Martha's. Wednesday is noticeably cooler at 16°C, with a 30% chance of showers through the morning, easing to 10–20% later. Pack a jacket if you're going to the first day of Flavours of Autumn at Wisley.
Thursday to Sunday is beyond the reliable range of the daily forecast. The Met Office's long-range outlook says high pressure should keep the south mostly dry for the first few days of the week, with chilly nights and some morning fog, before things become more changeable towards mid-month. Temperatures should be near or a little above normal. Check again on Thursday before you plan Wisley's weekend mud kitchen or a Sunday at Hatchlands, and remember the weekend's travel is by bus either way.
Forecast from the Met Office Guildford page and UK long-range outlook (updated 1pm Wednesday 30 September), retrieved early on Thursday 1 October.
👀 WORTH KNOWING
Friary Passage has been brightened up, and now it's getting painted pillars. The narrow cut-through from the North Street end of Friary Street down to the river has had a deep clean, new lighting and cheerful murals along its whole length. It cost £33,000, from county and borough funds. Now local artist Nathalie Scott has been painting scenes of the natural world on the riverside pillars beside it, and during the Festival of the Arts she invited passers-by to add their own small touches. If you last walked through after dark and hurried, it's worth another look.
Know someone who'd enjoy this?
Published by Getbrief, a trading name of RJP Group Ltd