January in London 2026: what to see, do and experience
As the new year begins, London’s cultural calendar gains momentum with a packed programme of exhibitions, festivals, performances and seasonal experiences. January features major events such as Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights, the London Short Film Festival across multiple venues, and city-wide art initiatives including Condo London, alongside leading theatre productions, classical concerts and contemporary exhibitions. New food openings, Veganuary dining events and the final weeks of winter ice skating bring an exciting start to the month across the capital. Here is our guide to things you can do in London in January 2026.
Winter Lights
Winter Lights returns from 21 January 2026. Image courtesy of Canary Wharf.
#FLODown: Canary Wharf’s celebrated Winter Lights festival returns for its landmark 10th anniversary from 21 January 2026, transforming the estate into a free, open-air exhibition of world-class light art. Having played a key role in establishing light art on London’s cultural map, the festival continues to draw in audiences with huge immersive installations by leading international artists. This year’s theme, DREAMSCAPE, invites visitors on a journey through the surreal and extraordinary, featuring interactive works full of movement, projection, colour and playful discovery. Marking a decade of creativity, the 2026 edition represents the festival’s most ambitious and imaginative vision yet.
Date: 21 – 31 January 2026. Location: Canary Wharf Estate, London E14 5AB. Price: Free. canarywharf.com
American Psycho
American Psycho - Almeida Theatre (2013). Photo buy Alastair Muir
#FLODown: The darkly satirical musical American Psycho returns to the Almeida Theatre, bringing back Rupert Goold’s acclaimed sell-out production. Based on Bret Easton Ellis’s cult novel, the show explores the disturbing double life of Patrick Bateman, a wealthy investment banker who appears to have everything, status, success and style, while hiding a far more sinister reality as those around him begin to disappear. Featuring a score by Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik, this sharply observed commentary on capitalism and identity promises an unsettling yet dangerously entertaining theatrical experience.
Date: 22 January – 14 March 2026. Location: Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, London N1 1TA. almeida.co.uk
Condo London 2026
Condo London 2026
#FLODown: Condo London returns in January 2026 as a city-wide collaborative exhibition programme bringing together London galleries and international peers across the capital. Neither a traditional art fair nor a festival, it operates as a month-long network of exhibitions in which galleries share spaces, audiences and curatorial approaches. Taking place across around 50 galleries in 23 venues, from Soho and the West End to South and East London, Condo offers a connected snapshot of contemporary art, shaped by dialogue, exchange and the coexistence of distinct artistic positions.
Click here for our guide to six shows to see at or during Condo London 2026.
Date: 17 January – 14 February 2026. Location: Multiple galleries across London.
London Short Film Festival
Dirty Looks, IAMISIGO, handwoven raffia-cotton blend look dyed with coffee and mud spring/Summer 2024 Shadows. Photograph by Fred Odede, courtesy of IAMISIGO.
#FLODown: The London Short Film Festival returns for its 23rd edition, launching the capital’s cultural year with a wide-ranging programme of short-form cinema. The festival will present more than 200 films across 60 curated programmes, showcasing work by filmmakers, visual artists and creatives from the UK and beyond. Screenings will take place at a range of venues across London, including BFI Southbank, Curzon Soho, SET Peckham, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA London), and the Rio Cinema. Alongside the film programme, the festival will also feature talks, workshops and walking tours, offering additional opportunities for discussion and engagement throughout its run.
Date: 23 January – 1 February 2026. Location: Various venues across London. shortfilms.org.uk
New Contemporaries 2026
New Contemporaries 2026 returns to South London Gallery. River Yuhao Cao, The Glass Essays, 2024, still from moving image, 16 mins. 40 sec.
#FLODown: New Contemporaries returns for its 2026 edition at the South London Gallery, featuring 26 emerging and early-career UK artists selected by Pio Abad, Louise Giovanelli, and Grace Ndiritu. Showcasing painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and moving image, the works address themes from climate change and gentrification to memory and identity. Founded in 1949, New Contemporaries supports artists through residencies, bursaries, mentoring, and professional development, providing a platform for ambitious work across the UK. Following the London showcase, the exhibition will move to MIMA, Middlesbrough.
Click here to discover more art exhibitions opening in London in 2026.
Date: 30 January – 12 April 2026 (South London Gallery), 8 May – 16 August 2026 (MIMA, Middlesbrough). Locations: South London Gallery, Main Gallery & Fire Station Galleries, London; MIMA, Middlesbrough. Price: Free. southlondongallery.org.
Architecture on Stage
Architecture on stage at the Barbican London. Wonderlab at the Science Museum by muf architecture/art
#FLODown: The Barbican’s Architecture on Stage series offers a unique opportunity to explore architecture as a lens for understanding society, culture, and human experience, featuring leading architects, designers, and films that reveal the creative processes and social impact behind the built environment. This January, the series kicks off with Alison Killing on 8 January, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architect and investigative journalist discussing her work uncovering Xinjiang’s detention camps using architectural tools. On 15 January, muf architecture/art presents their innovative projects, including Brixton Recreation Centre and Tower Court housing. The month concludes with the screening of The First Siza from 28–29 January, a documentary on Álvaro Siza’s first built project and its lasting impact. All events take place in Frobisher Auditorium 1 at the Barbican Centre, offering thought-provoking insights into the intersection of architecture, society, and human stories.
Date: 15 January 2026. Time: 7pm. Location: Frobisher Auditorium 1, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Price: from £15. Concessions available.
New Year’s Day Parade 2026
London’s New Year’s Day Parade. Image courtesy of London Parade
#FLODown: Kick off 2026 with one of Europe’s largest street celebrations at London’s New Year’s Day Parade, taking place on 1 January from 1pm, starting near Piccadilly Circus. Now in its 37th year, the parade features more than 8,000 performers from around the world, including marching bands, dancers, acrobats, singers, and vibrant floats. The 2.2-mile route passes through Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, finishing at Westminster, with three hours of spectacular performances and colourful displays. Attracting crowds of over 500,000 people, the parade is free to attend.
Date: 1 January 2026. Time: 1pm - 4.30pm. Location: Starting near Piccadilly Circus, London W1J 0DA. Price: Free. londonparade.com.
Claridge’s Bakery
Richard Hart. Image credit Lateef Okunnu.
#FLODown: Claridge’s is set to open Claridge’s Bakery, expanding its food offering this month with a dedicated bakery space in Mayfair. The bakery will be led by Richard Hart, former head baker at Tartine in San Francisco and co-founder of Hart Bageri in Copenhagen. The opening marks Hart’s return to London, with a focus on traditional baked goods including sourdough bread, Jammy Dodger-inspired tarts, Belgian buns and iced fingers.
Date: 21 January 2026. Location: Claridge’s, Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4HR. claridges.co.uk
London Schools Symphony Orchestra with Aaron Azunda Akugbo
Aaron Azunda Akugbo
#FLODown: The London Schools Symphony Orchestra will present an evening featuring trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo, who will perform Alexander Arutiunian’s mid-20th century trumpet concerto, renowned for its dazzling and virtuosic passages. Akugbo is a sought-after soloist and guest principal who regularly appears with the UK’s leading orchestras and fronts the acclaimed chamber ensemble Connaught Brass. The concert will also feature This is London, a series of world premieres commissioned from composers at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Each piece draws inspiration from contemporary London, reflecting on themes such as the city’s soundscapes, climate change, the immigrant experience, and the evolution of grassroots music venues.
Date: 12 January 2026. Time: 7.30pm. Location: Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Price: from £11. Concessions available. Book now
Final chance to ice skate
Skate at Somerset House returns (12 November 2025 – 11 January 2026). Image credit Owen Harvey. Courtesy of Somerset House.
#FLODown: This is the final opportunity to experience ice skating in London this winter, as many of the capital’s seasonal rinks close in early January. Set against some of the city’s most recognisable backdrops, including Somerset House, Hampton Court Palace and Canary Wharf, each offers a distinctive setting for a winter skate, and a fitting way to keep the festive spirit alive into the new year.
Click here for locations to ice skate in London in January 2026.
Date: Until early January 2026. Location: Various venues across London.
Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion
Dirty Looks, Installation view, Barbican Art Gallery, Thu 25 Sep 2025 - Sun 25 Jan 2026. Image credit Thomas Adank
#FLODown: It’s your last chance to experience Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion at the Barbican Art Gallery, an exhibition exploring how over 60 designers, including Vivienne Westwood, Hussein Chalayan, and Comme des Garçons, have used dirt, decay, and imperfection as creative forces over the past fifty years. Featuring over 100 looks, from mud-stained couture to regenerated textiles, Dirty Looks challenges traditional ideas of beauty and luxury, while displays highlight fashion’s tension between polish and material reality.
Date: 25 September 2025 – 25 January 2026. Location: Barbican Art Gallery, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Price: from £20+ BF, concessions available.
Click here for our full guide to art exhibitions ending in London in January 2026.
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle
Maggi Hambling & Sarah Lucas: A Shared Brutal Wit. Image credit MTotoe.
#FLODown: The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, will perform Janáček’s intense operatic drama The Makropulos Affair from 13 January 2026 in the Barbican Hall. The opera tells the story of Emilia Marty, a 300-year-old woman confronting mortality, identity, and lost love, with some of Janáček’s most compelling music, including a Prelude that hints at her 16th-century birth. This concert performance features soprano Marlis Petersen as the complex Emilia and tenor Aleš Briscein as the young lawyer Albert Gregor. Marking the fifth Janáček opera undertaken by Rattle and the LSO, the production promises taut drama, emotional depth, and a powerful musical experience.
Date: 13 – 15 January 2026. Location: Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Price: from £18- 72. Book now
Veganuary 2026
Image credit Terry Granger
#FLODown: Veganuary 2026 is back, giving Londoners the chance to explore a plant-based diet throughout January. From street food stalls to fine-dining restaurants, the city’s vegan scene is serving up special menus and pop-ups, while events such as Veganuary Fest bring extra flavour and excitement to the month.
Click here for our guide to restaurants to visit in London in Veganuary 2026.
London Art Fair 2026
Image courtesy of London Art Fair
#FLODown: London Art Fair returns to the Business Design Centre in Islington from 21–25 January 2026 (with a preview night on 20 January), kicking off the art world’s year in the capital. As one of the UK’s most established modern and contemporary art fairs, it brings together over 120 galleries showing work from celebrated names and exciting new voices across painting, sculpture, photography and installations. Highlights in 2026 include curated sections such as Encounters and Platform, where guest curators explore themed or experimental displays, plus the Fair’s Museum Partnership with the National Trust, presenting art and design from historic modernist houses including 2 Willow Road and The Homewood in London. Alongside the gallery stands, the programme features talks, tours and opportunities to connect with artists, curators and fellow art lovers.
Date: 21 – 25 January 2026. Location: Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0QH.Price: from approx. £22.50. Book now
New Year’s Day Proms
Image courtesy of the Barbican Centre
#FLODown: The New Year’s Day Proms offer a rousing and uplifting way to welcome 2026, bringing a joyful afternoon of classical favourites, beloved operatic gems and stirring anthems to the Hall as part of the Raymond Gubbay Christmas Festival. Performed by the London Concert Orchestra under the baton of Anthony Inglis, this celebratory concert captures the spirit of the season and sets the perfect tone for the year ahead. Whether you are a devoted classical music fan or simply looking for an inspiring start to the new year, the New Year’s Day Proms is definitely not to be missed.
Date: 1 January 2026. Time: 3pm. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: from £19. Book now
