We may not be able to see into London's distant future, but certain major happenings lie just over the horizon. Here's a glimpse into the London of the near future.
Summer 2024: 'tram buses' on the 358 route
"Honey, it's been a long time coming..." Rivalling the long-delayed Elizabeth line for ultimate transport tease, the Spanish-made ieTram has had a few false starts, but the latest update from TfL is that 20 of these emission-free electric buses will be rolled out on the 358 route between Crystal Palace and Orpington in summer 2024. Seeing as we're typing this in September, that means very, very soon...
2024-2026: New DLR trains
The current B07 DLR stock has been in use since 2008, but towards the end of 2024, will be phased out with 54 brand new DLR trains, featuring walk-through carriages, air conditioning and real-time travel information. Built by the Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A. (CAF), they will gradually replace the older stock until sometime in 2026, when those red DLR trains will become a thing of the past. The new stock may also have a brace of new DLR stations to visit, more of which later in this article.
February 2025: Sadler's Wells East
Stratford's 'East Bank' is bubbling away with projects about to erupt into life. One of these is Sadler's Wells East, a third London theatre (or fourth if you count the Lilian Baylis Studio) from the dance-focused arts venue, which launches in February 2025 with Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu's Our Mighty Groove, featuring a community cast from east London alongside professional dancers. Designed by O'Donnell and Tuomey, the space stars a 550-seat theatre with fold-away capability, making it flexible for performances; six dance studios; a public dance space where community groups can pull shapes; and Academy Breakin' Convention — a major initiative offering young people a full-time education in disciplines like breaking, DJing, emceeing, graffiti and music production. It goes without saying that Sadler's Wells East will also stage a slew of world class dance productions.
2025: V&A East and Storehouse
Two new museums for the price of one: like Sadler's Well, the V&A is also expanding its operation by opening up new premises on the East Bank — in this case V&A East Museum and V&A East Storehouse. Both of these free to visit* institutions will 'celebrate making in all its forms', and V&A East has already announced that its first exhibition when it opens in 2025 will be The Music Is Black. V&A East Storehouse, also opening in 2025, will bring public behind-the-scenes access to some of the V&A's vast collections. Details are still under wraps, but we expect there'll be some pretty exciting stuff going on here.
*Some exhibitions will have entry fees
2025: New Piccadilly line trains
Chances are, if you're a tube aficionado, you'll already have seen the new Tube for London — even if only in a video like this one. Come summer 2025, the Siemens Mobility Ltd. 94 will be rolled out on the Piccadilly line, wooing Londoners with boons like 10% more capacity and better accessibility — as well as boasting greener credentials. All being well, the streamlined Siemens beauts will later find their way to the Central and Bakerloo lines, although this could be as late as the late 2030s/early 2040.
2025: Silvertown Tunnel
Probably the most controversial project on the docket, the Silvertown Tunnel is an almost-completed toll tunnel running between North Greenwich and Silvertown for motor vehicles, whose main modus operandi is to ease traffic in the nearby Blackwall Tunnel. The hoo-ha around the Silvertown Tunnel lies not just in its cost (£2.2 billion) but the fact it doesn't accommodate cyclists or pedestrians, and is seen by many as something that will encourage more people to drive. Nonetheless, it's opening in 2025.
2025: Silvertown Bridge
That's right, in the same year the Silvertown Tunnel is due for completion, so too is a Silvertown Bridge — although this is an altogether less mammoth undertaking. Rather than bridging the Thames, this £41 million crossing will provide a link for pedestrians and cyclists across the Docks between Silvertown and the Elizabeth line and DLR stations, as well as the ExCeL exhibition centre at Custom House. The designs, we admit, are satisfyingly sinusoidal.
Autumn 2025: Valentines Lido
Valentines Park in Ilford last had a lido in 1995; exactly 30 years later, it should have a new one in the form of the 25-metre-long Valentines Lido. If the real deal's true to the mock-ups, this will be a stylishly colonnaded thing, with a deco-style fountain at one end. It'll also feature a children's splash area, changing rooms, a gym, dance studio, cafe and picnic area. We look forward to welcoming it into the fold of London's magnificent lidos.
2025: The Stage Shakespeare Museum
All the world might be a stage, but one part of Shoreditch is specifically The Stage, and this new development gets its name from the fact that the Curtain Playhouse, known to the Bard himself, once stood here. The Museum of Shakespeare, an immersive, interactive experience promises to whisk visitors back to the 16th century, meet some of the people that inspired Shakespeare's plays, as well as flaunt their own creativity (here's hoping they hand you a skull, and get you to recite the Hamlet soliloquy). The launch date of this one was postponed, and is currently expected to open sometime in 2025.
2026: London Museum
The Museum of London is dead, long live the London Museum. Grabbing our attention with a shitty new logo (we mean that in the most literal sense), excavations of secret underground passages and the prospect of being able to watch Thameslink trains whizz by an underground window, it's fair to say that by the time the London Museum eventually opens up at its new location in Smithfield Market in 2026, the whole world will be champing at the bit to visit it. A second phase, set for 2028, will see the magnificent Poultry Hall open to visitors. It will include a learning centre, temporary exhibitions and the museum stores.
2026: The Wake
Replacing the statue of slave trader Robert Milligan, The Wake is a sculpture by the artist Khaleb Brooks, which takes the form of a seven-metre-high cowrie shell cast from bronze. The walk-through artwork will be erected at West India Quay, outside the London Museum Docklands. More on it here.
2027: Migration Museum
Currently housed in Lewisham Shopping Centre, the Migration Museum moves central in 2027, as part of a new mixed development at 65 Crutched Friars, close to Fenchurch Street. Sophie Henderson, CEO of the Migration Museum, promises "an inspiring venue for diverse audiences from across the City, London and beyond to come together to explore, discuss and reflect on key questions around migration, identity and belonging; a go-to destination for schools, a resonant setting for training and skills-building and a relevant, welcoming space for a host of activities for the many communities we serve."
2027: The London Tunnels
They could have stopped at 'Britain's deepest licensed bar' and still won us over, but the London Tunnels — set to open in a network of wartime-era tunnels beneath Furnival Street in 2027 — will also feature Q Branch-like displays, second world war bombers dangling from the ceilings and some mesmerising kind of walk-through tunnel. Well, as ever, it will do if the mock-ups are to be believed.
2028-30: Thamesmead DLR extension
A recent public consultation gave the thumbs-up for a DLR extension sprouting from Gallions Reach across the Thames to Thamesmead, taking in a second new station, Beckton Riverside, along the way. Alex Williams, TfL's Chief Customer and Strategy Officer, says: "We will now progress work on plans for the cross-river extension of the DLR, which could see customers benefit from the early 2030s, and continue to discuss funding options with all parties." It's finally happening Thamesmead: you're going to join up with the rest of London!
Late 2020s: new trams
London's current fleet of trams — which run between Beckenham and Wimbledon, via Croydon — is increasingly unreliable and in need of replacement. The oldest of these trams will be phased out from the end of this decade, beginning with the introduction of 24 brand new trams. More on that here.
