What’s On

The latest from London — new openings, just-announced events, selling-out shows and everything worth knowing about this week in the city.

Browse What's On:Today·This Weekend·This Week·October·November

A packed crowd dancing beside a wooden sound system speaker at a V&A East late night, drinks in hand and a phone held up to film

V&A East is staying open until 10pm on Thursdays with free DJ sets, a pop-up bar and a terrace over the Olympic Park

Hundreds of people wearing glowing headphones dancing between palms and tree ferns inside Kew's Temperate House at dusk

Kew is opening the Temperate House after dark for a silent disco among 10,000 plants

Jorja Smith singing into a handheld mic on stage, arm outstretched, against a deep orange backdrop

Jorja Smith joins The O2’s 20th birthday line-up, and it’s her only UK arena show of 2027

Two festival-goers in African-print dress laughing in front of the stage at Black On The Square, Trafalgar Square

Black On The Square returns to Trafalgar Square, free, for 60 years of carnival and 30 years of the MOBOs

Skream and Benga photographed arm in arm against a dusk sky, one in a white bucket hat and the other in sunglasses

Skream & Benga are curating 26 acts across three rooms at Drumsheds, for one night in October

The Harry Potter Back to Hogwarts 25 Years of Magic crest, in gold on a deep blue starburst background

Back to Hogwarts has moved away from King’s Cross. This year’s free event is by the Tower of London, and tickets drop at 11am daily

Festival-goers with drinks at picnic tables at the Gabriel's Wharf Arts Festival

The Gabriel’s Wharf Arts Festival is back for two free days of swing dancing and New Orleans jazz this September

A collage of Black British Book Festival 2026 headliners including Candice Carty-Williams, Corinne Bailey Rae, Wretch 32 and Maggie Aderin-Pocock

The Black British Book Festival has sold out five years running. This year it brings Corinne Bailey Rae and Wretch 32 to the Barbican

A London Cable Car cabin crossing the Thames at sunset with The O2 and the Canary Wharf skyline behind

Karaoke, speed dating and marriage proposals: London’s cable car just crossed 20 million passengers

The Rose Playhouse in 1587, 1989 and 2026: a CGI reconstruction, the 1989 excavation, and the preserved remains today

The Rose Playhouse, Shakespeare’s first Bankside theatre, is opening for guided tours this autumn

A cup of Rhythm 108 x The Real Fruit Ice Cream Co. Strawberry Choc Cookie ice cream, topped with chocolate hazelnut spread and cookie crumble

Rhythm 108 and The Real Fruit Ice Cream Co. are giving away free ice cream at Old Spitalfields Market

The Mediterranean-inspired bougainvillea and lemon installation on alto by San Carlo's rooftop terrace at Selfridges

Cotton Beach Club Ibiza lands on Selfridges’ rooftop for two nights of Balearic dining at alto by San Carlo

Thomas J Price's 5.5-metre bronze sculpture A Place Beyond outside the V&A East Storehouse, with a visitor standing beside it for scale

Five programmes, one week: London Sculpture Week turns the whole city into an open-air gallery this September

Renoir’s most famous painting has never been shown in the UK. That changes this October, when Renoir and Love opens at the National Gallery

Seana Gavin's hand-cut collage Underwater world, showing fantastical sea creatures assembled from found photographic material

Curtis Holder, Robert Montgomery and 63 more: the new artist-first fair with no booth fees launches at One Marylebone this October

AI-generated visual of Angel Delight's giant inflatable jelly and ball pit pop-up

A giant inflatable jelly and a boba ball pit land in Stratford this weekend, free and stocked with prizes worth up to £100

Four artists performing at World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens for EFG London Jazz Festival 2026: Tony Kofi and The Organisation live, Amira Kheir, Alok Verma on tabla and Jean Toussaint

Jean Toussaint, Tony Kofi and a musical portrait of Muhammad Ali: World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens’ EFG Jazz Festival programme is its biggest yet

Aerial view of Barking Riverside at sunset during Emerge East festival, with market stalls, a train at Barking Riverside station and a crowd along the road

DJ AG, whose sets have pulled in Skepta and Ed Sheeran, headlines a free festival on the Thames this September

Town Hall by Bottaccio lit up at night, the Grade II-listed former town hall building in King's Cross

Rory Sutherland, The Guilty Feminist and a backgammon tournament: King’s Cross’s new three-day festival collides culture, science and ideas this September

Dancers in traditional dress at the Brick Lane Curry Festival

Nine years gone, one comeback for the ages: Brick Lane’s free curry festival is back for round two