Things to do in London this weekend, from Frieze to Francis Bacon

Frieze has well and truly come of age, turning 21 this year. To mark the occasion, the world-beating art fair is making moves and changing things up for the 60,000 art-lovers who visit. Smaller galleries offering lesser-known gems are set to have more prominence — your chance to find a new favourite — and a short walk away is Frieze Masters, displaying historic greats. Until October 13, frieze.com

Despite his fame as both a flâneur and bon viveur, Francis Bacon’s art speaks to an outlook on life as bleak and brutal as concrete. This showing of more than 55 works explores his genius from the Fifties until his death in 1992. It is, in a way, a showing of his life, with subjects including Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne, as well as his lovers Peter Lacy and George Dyer, of whom Bacon’s portraits are unusually tender. Until January 19, npg.org.uk

Steadily but assuredly, Maison François has grown into its own skin since opening in 2020, and in doing so has become one of London’s best restaurants. Now its team are using that experience for Café François, which offers something akin to its French-leaning sibling, albeit more relaxed. A two-floor, all-day operation, go for pastries for breakfast, steak sandwiches and rotisserie chicken baguettes at lunch, and in the evening marquee dishes, like lobster or prime rib. Unusually, bigger groups are very welcome. cafefrancois.london

Less coming of age, more coming of rage: adapted from CJ Skuse’s comic thriller, Sweetpea follows the story of Rhiannon Lewis, an overlooked wallflower needing more out of life. Her solution? Murder. Obviously. Ella Purnell stars in the six-part series, which, told from Rhiannon’s fabulously sweary perspective, is a hoot. A dark one, mind. October 10