What's happening in London in 2026? A lot. Box fresh museums open. An old favourite returns. There's an original challenge for adrenaline addicts. New exhibitions and theatre shows, and loads more to look forward to. Get your 2026 diary out and get planning:
NBA Basketball (January 2026)
A big year for sports (Winter Olympics in Italy, men's FIFA World Cup in the USA) kicks (or tips) off in London in January with NBA (National Basketball Association). A regular-season clash is held at The O2 on 18 January — the first NBA game to be hosted in our capital since 2019 — with Orlando Magic and the Memphis Grizzlies battling it out in front of a London crowd. At time of writing, tickets are still available.
Climb the roof of Alexandra Palace (from February 2026)
Get your heart fluttering this Valentine's Day (whether from adrenaline or sheer fear is up to you...), when the brand new Alexandra Palace roof climb experience launches. It's operated by Wire & Sky, the team who run the Cutty Sark rig climb, and the Skywalk at the Spurs stadium, so you'll be in safe hands as you view London from 130 metres above sea level. Get 360-degree vistas stretching as far as 25 miles as you ascend steep steps running up the side of a pitched roof. Say hello to the lofty Angel of Plenty sculpture while you're up there.
UCL celebrates its 200th anniversary (from February 2026)
London's oldest university, UCL, turns 200 in 2026, and is celebrating with a programme of special bicentenary events. That includes UCL Illuminated, a three-day light festival taking place in February and open to everyone (though you'll need to book a ticket). See lights and animations projected onto UCL's Wilkins Building, accompanied by music in a 12-minute show. It takes you back to 1826, chronicling 200 years of UCL history, paying homage to notable figures from Nobel Prize winners to Oscar winners, and finishing with a look at the university's future.
A double dose of Simpson's restaurants reopening (February and mid-2026)
Though not linked to each other in any way, both Simpson's Tavern in the City and Simpson's in the Strand restaurants are reopening in 2026.
As we announced back in the summer, Simpson's in the Strand was due to reopen in autumn 2025, after closing suddenly in 2023 and auctioning off most of its contents. Jeremy King, restaurateur behind The Ivy, Le Caprice and The Wolseley has taken it over, and will offer two restaurants, two bars and a small ballroom for private events when the venue reopens — now bumped from its original date and scheduled for February 2026.
Meanwhile over in the City, the building which housed the restaurant formerly known as Simpson's Tavern has been taken over by the team behind Smithfield restaurant Cloth, who intend to reopen it mid-2026. In what is probably a stroke of luck for easily-confused diners (and overworked front-of-house staff), legal technicalities prevent the Simpson's Tavern name being used going forwards, so this one will be known as Cloth Cornhill.
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Experience 500 years of classical bangers
The Southbank Centre goes BIG this February, with 200 musicians from six orchestras taking over multiple venues to bring a mixtape to life for one incredible night.
Classical Mixtape: A Live Takeover (5 February) celebrates 500 years of classical music favourites, including a few familiar film soundtracks.
Kick things off with tracks 1 and 2 of the mixtape experience in the Royal Festival Hall, where the London Philharmonic Orchestra plays the unforgettable ‘da-da-da-dum’ of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and takes you to Middle Earth with music from the Lord of the Rings films (the LPO was the original orchestra on the film's soundtrack, so they know what they're doing!).
From there, roam freely around the spaces, picking and choosing tracks to enjoy as the mood takes you, with different performances on multiple stages. Each orchestra plays a 20-minute set on repeat throughout the evening and you're free to spend your time as you like: listen to one on repeat, skip one and move on to another orchestra, or duck into one of the bars for a drink. Just make sure you return to the Royal Festival Hall for the grand finale: a showstopping performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra, including music from Star Wars and The Planets.
Classical Mixtape: A Live Takeover is a rare chance to see all six of the Southbank Centre's resident orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Orchestra) performing in one very special night. Book your ticket now to get your 2026 off to a soaring start.
V&A East opens (18 April 2026)
What, another V&A?!? Following the rebrand of the Young V&A in 2023, and the opening of the seriously impressive V&A East Storehouse in May 2025 and the incredibly popular V&A David Bowie Centre in September 2025, the museum adds yet another string to its bow with the V&A East Museum opening in April 2026.
It's located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a 15-minute walk from the other two new V&A venues, and will take the form of a more traditional museum with a focus on multiculturalism. Two free and permanent 'Why we make' galleries will offer up examples of creativity "from a range of countries, cultures and times". Temporary exhibitions will also feature, starting with The Music is Black: A British Story, which displays exhibits including Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, fashion worn by Little Simz and newly acquired photographs by Jennie Baptiste, Dennis Morris, Eddie Otchere and Sam White.
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration opens (May 2026)
The world's largest dedicated space for illustration is due to open in Clerkenwell in May, in the form of The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration. An 18th century waterworks building has been converted for the new gallery space, a permanent home for the former House of Illustration which was located in King's Cross until it closed in 2020.
Spearheaded by its namesake artist, The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has three galleries which will house temporary exhibitions, as well as free public gardens, a cafe and shop, a free library and learning spaces. Tickets for the first exhibitions are expected to go on sale in early 2026.
Grosvenor Square reopens as a woodland garden (July 2026)
Grosvenor Square has been a part of central London since the 1720s, and was home to the US Embassy from 1938 until 2017. Right now, it's undergoing perhaps its largest transformation yet — an oval lawn reinstated at its centre, in a nod to the garden's original design, while its fringes are being planted up with woodland-inspired spaces, featuring some 44 new trees, alongside miniature wetlands, and 70,000 plants including primroses, bluebells and honeysuckle.
Horniman Museum celebrates its 125th anniversary (summer 2026)
Forest Hill's Horniman Museum and Gardens celebrates its 125th year by unveiling several new features in early summer 2026. Kusuma Nature Play is a children's play area inspired by local wildlife, with a new family-friendly cafe, and direct access onto the Horniman's historic Nature Trail. That trail itself will have step-free access for the first time, and another AR trail will launch across the gardens, with animals to meet and mini games along the way. Also look out for a new Gardens Nursery area, with glasshouses, a public boardwalk route, and workshop space offering local communities the chance to learn about sustainable gardening.
A weekend of special birthday events takes place 27-29 June 2026, and we can also look forward to the unveiling of the revamped Natural History Gallery — home to the famous overstuffed walrus — in early 2027.
Dive into Canary Wharf Sea Lanes (summer 2026)
Fingers crossed for good weather in summer 2026, as Sea Lanes Canary Wharf opens. The six-lane, Olympic pool-sized, floating lido will be located in the north-west of Eden Dock. It'll open year-round for swimming, alongside saunas, a community clubhouse and a seating area serving refreshments, and is operated by the team behind the successful Sea Lanes Brighton.
Elsewhere in the swimming sphere, we're hoping for news on the new Valentine's Lido in Ilford some time in 2026.
Bayeux Tapestry on display at British Museum (from September 2026)
In one heck of a cultural win, the British Museum will be the temporary home of the Bayeux Tapestry, while its permanent home in Normandy undergoes a renovation. From September 2026, the historic 70-metre-long needlework piece depicting scenes from the Norman invasion and Battle of Hastings of 1066 will go on display at the British Museum, in what we think could just be London's most popular exhibition of the year. If you're keen to see it, it's probably worth signing up to the museum's mailing list for a chance at being alerted when tickets go on sale.
Oxford Street pedestrianisation (from late 2026)
It feels like this one's been dragging on for years (and it has; Londonist reported on calls for pedestrianisation as far back as 2008), but the much-touted removal of vehicles from Oxford Street could finally be happening by late 2026.
TfL and the Mayor of London's office have released detailed plans to close the section between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street to private motorised vehicles, buses, taxis and private hire vehicles, cycles, scooters and pedicabs. The aim is to implement the banning of all vehicles from this stretch of Oxford Street from "the second half of 2026", though at time of writing there are still plenty of kinks to be ironed out, with a public consultation open until 16 January 2026.
This all means that Christmas 2025 might have been your last chance to see Oxford Street's Christmas lights by hopping on a public TfL bus, and of course, the organised Christmas lights bus tours will be rerouted once the road goes pedestrianised.
London Museum reopens (late 2026)
The London Museum (previously known as the Museum of London) opens the doors of its new home in Smithfield in late 2026, having left its previous one in Barbican in 2022. We will of course keep you updated on all the details, including the all-important opening date, when announced. In the meantime, sister site London Museum Docklands remains open as usual.
ZSL celebrates 200 years
The Zoological Society of London, the charity which operates London Zoo and its sister site, Whipsnade Zoo, and leads important conservation projects around the world, marks its bicentenary in 2026. Back in 1826, the society was founded in Regent's Park, though note that London Zoo itself didn't open until two years later, in 1828. Expect to see celebrations taking place throughout the next couple of years.
New Fourth Plinth artwork in Trafalgar Square (date TBC)
Just like clockwork, a new installation is due to take over Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth sometime in 2026. The current installation, Mil Veces un Instante (A thousand times an Instant) by Teresa Margolles, made up of plaster casts of the faces of 726 trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people, will be removed, and replaced with Lady in Blue by Tschabalala Self. It's a bold, almost cartoonish sculpture which pays homage to a young, metropolitan woman of colour, made of bronze and patinated with Lapis Lazuli blue, a rare and refined pigment that has been used since antiquity.
The artwork was chosen from a shortlist back in 2024, at the same time the following installation, shown from 2028, was also chosen.
London Duck Tours return (date TBC)
Quack quack! After sewage construction works brought them to a close in 2017, Big Duck Tours return to London's roads and river in 2026. New, fully electric amphibious passenger vehicles operated by the Big Bus Tours team will take tourists on trivia-packed tours of the capital, rumbling around the roads before launching into the Thames from a slipway in Vauxhall. Exact date TBC, but we'd expect it to see it up and running by peak tourist season in the summer.
London's 2026 transport news
Lots happening on London's transport network in 2026 both good (Cutty Sark DLR reopens) and not so good (fare are going up rather steeply). Here's our complete guide to London transport happenings over the next 12 months, with a few highlights here:
PEDICABS: New laws governing the pedicabs or rickshaws which roam the West End are to be introduced, regulating factors such as fares, requiring drivers to have ID badges, and ditching the audio systems which blare music as they go.
SELF-DRIVING UBERS: UK tech firm Wayve are due to start trialling self-driving Ubers on London streets, operating passenger vehicles with no human safety driver onboard.
NEW SUPERLOOP ROUTES: The SL11 (running between Greenwich and Abbey Wood) is due to start running in early 2026, with the SL12 (running between Rainham and Gants Hill) expected to start a few months later, expanding the burgeoning Superloop network even further.
NEW PICCADILLY LINE AND DLR TRAINS: The new Piccadilly line trains, originally due in 2024, are now expected to start running some time in the second half of 2026. Similarly, 54 brand new DLR trains should be running by the end of 2026, but the initial handful of said brand new trains have been pulled from service, due to iffy brakes so there's no guarantee that'll happen.
London's best 2026 exhibitions
Londonist art critic Tabish Khan has already shared his pick of must-see London exhibitions for 2026, but here are a few which have taken the fancy of the rest of the Londonist team too:
WALLACE AND GROMIT: The Young V&A celebrates 50 years of stop-motion studio Aardman with an exhibition dedicated to its most famous creations, Wallace & Gromit, as well as other familiar faces. Over 150 objects from Aardman's archives go on display, spanning models, sets and storyboards, including early character ideas for Wallace & Gromit, and the duo’s motorbike and sidecar from Vengeance Most Fowl. 12 February-15 November 2026
TRACEY EMIN: The biggest ever exhibition of Tracey Emin artworks comes to Tate Modern next spring; Tracey Emin: A Second Life spans the artist's striking, and highly versatile, 40-year career, featuring 90 works encompassing painting, video, textile, neon, sculpture and installation. And yes, it's got that bed. 26 February-30 August 2026
DAVID HOCKNEY: Hyde Park's Serpentine North gallery opens a free exhibition of works by David Hockney, showcasing some of his more recent works. Among them are Moon Room, reflecting his interest in the cycle of light and time passing; his Sunrise body of work; and A Year in Normandy, a 90-metre-long frieze, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, showing the change of seasons at the artist's former studio in Normandy. FREE, 12 March-23 August 2026
QUEEN ELIZABETH II: The style of Queen Elizabeth II goes under the microscope in a special exhibition in the King's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, with clothing, jewellery, hats, shoes and accessories, design sketches, fabric samples and handwritten correspondence among the 200 items on display. Highlights include the late monarch's wedding dress, coronation dress and the ensemble she wore for the wedding of her sister, Princess Margaret. 10 April-18 October 2026
AGATHA CHRISTIE: The British Library marks 50 years since the death of author Agatha Christie with a major exhibition exploring the background to her greatest novels, and delving into her own life. Personal letters, early manuscripts and some of Christie's personal objects will be on display. 30 October 2026-20 June 2027
London's new theatre shows in 2026
SHADOWLANDS: Hugh Bonneville stars as Narnia author C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands at the Aldwych Theatre, the true story of how his life was transformed by spirited American poet Joy Davidman (played by Maggie Siff). From 5 February 2026
ROMEO & JULIET: There's been a fair bit of buzz about London's latest incarnation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, opening at the Harold Pinter Theatre and starring Sadie Sink of Stranger Things fame and Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place) as the "star cross'd lovers". 16 March-6 June 2026
AVENUE Q: Two decades after the start of its original West End run, Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q returns in all its felt glory, blending puppeteers with human actors and catchy songs to tell the story of a college graduate and his colourful neighbours on a rundown street in New York City. From 20 March 2026
PLEASE PLEASE ME: The Beatles' music is the soundtrack to Please Please Me, about music manager Brian Epstein's discovery of the Fab Four in Liverpool's Cavern Club, and the hidden struggles he faced during their meteoric rise to fame. See it at Kiln Theatre. 16 April-23 May 2026
1536: Transferring to the West End following a sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre, 1536 is a historical drama set in Tudor England, when three women living in rural Essex begin to see parallels between the rumoured clash between King Henry VIII and his wife Anne Boleyn, and their own lives. 2 May-1 August 2026
BEETLEJUICE THE MUSICAL: The tale of Lydia Deetz — a strange teenager sharing her home with a pair of newly-deads and the demonic 'ghost with the most' — comes to the London stage in the form of Beetlejuice the Musical, a Broadway transfer opening at the Prince Edward Theatre. From 20 May 2026
Find plenty more shows throughout 2026, both new and long-running, here.
