Pssst! A new David Bowie museum is about to open in London too.
A museum of pop culture, taken from the personal collection of the Clash's Mick Jones, opens in east London this month — but only for a short while.
Open from Saturday 13-Thursday 18 September 2025, the Rock and Roll Public Library is a pop-up in the Art Pavilion in Mile End Park, east London — stuffed with 20th-century pop culture memorabilia, including books, comics, magazines, musical equipment, literature, art, clothing, ephemera, and music and film items.
The peripatetic, ever-changing display — which has previously had stints in Mexico, Venice and other London venues — is a coruscating collection of goodies, which might include beat poetry pamphlets, Simpsons Pez dispensers, Al Capone's tie or Mickey Mouse alarm clocks. This particular exhibition celebrates over-the-counter-culture, featuring elements of bookshops, newsstands, comic book stores, record shops and video rental libraries.
Though called the Rock & Roll Public Library, it doesn't to our knowledge lend items out — so don't go planning a play date with those Clash figurines, pictured at the top of this article.
The exhibition — which is free to visit, and open daily from 11am-8pm — doubles up as a plug for the release of the second issue of the London Electric magazine, which "tunes into the electric forces of growing up in 20th century London including scandals, subculture, postcodes and the psychogeography of the city itself." The issue features pieces from Viv Albertine, Tom Vague and Jon Savage. It will be available to purchase from the pop-up.
Rock & Roll Public Library, Art Pavilion, Mile End Park, 13-18 September, free
