What’s on in London this week: 14 - 20 September 2026
Discover our pick of events in London this week: 14 - 20 September 2026.
Letters To The Future
Southbank Centre will host Letters To The Future, a youth-powered weekend spotlighting who they consider the cultural leaders of the next generation. Amelia Dimoldenberg, Olly Alexander, Rebecca F. Kuang, and Mya-Rose Craig each curate a panel discussion, on digital media, queer storytelling, education, and the climate crisis respectively, while journalist and activist Ash Sarkar delivers the inaugural Southbank Centre Annual Lecture, The Future of Relationships. The weekend also brings free gigs, DJ sets, and spoken word, including Inua Ellams' RAP Party, a National Youth Theatre showcase marking the theatre's 70th anniversary, and Reimagining Shared Spaces: The Future of Housing, where architects, community organisers and artists come together to resist the isolation epidemic and reimagine the house as a home and site of belonging.
Click here for the full programme of events.
Date: 18–20 September 2026. Location: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX.
Reimagining Shared Spaces: The Future of Housing. Image credit Samuel Ryde
AW 26/27 Opening Weekend at Drumsheds
Drumsheds, the 15,000-capacity former Tottenham IKEA turned into London's biggest club, kicks off its AW26/27 season with Defected, one of house music's most influential labels, taking on Opening Weekend for the third year running, following two sold-out editions. The lineup includes Armand Van Helden, Basement Jaxx (DJ Set), Eats Everything b2b Sam Divine, Groove Armada, Jonas Blue, Roger Sanchez and The Shapeshifters, among others.
Date: 19 September 2026. Time: 1.30pm - 10.30pm. Location: Drumsheds, 1 Argon Road, London N18 3HF From £32. Book now.
Drumsheds, Radio1 Dance. JakeDavis. @jakephilipdavis. Image courtesy of Drumsheds. Image courtesy of Drumsheds.
Ayanna Witter-Johnson: New Roots First Light
Singer, cellist and composer Ayanna Witter-Johnson launches her LSO St Luke's residency with an evening inspired by her forthcoming album New Roots. New Roots First Light looks at identity, belonging, ancestry, healing and renewal through the lens of the diaspora experience. She's joined by band members Chris Morris and Joshua Domfeh, with special guests poet Inua Ellams, dancers Anya and Remi Ferdinand, and presenter Ashley Joseph.
Date: 16 September 2026, 7:30pm. Location: LSO St Luke's, 161 Old Street, London EC1V 9NGTickets: £15 (£12.50 concession) + £1.50 booking fee. Book now.
London Fashion Week
London Fashion Week returns for its September 2026 edition, one of the "Big Four" global fashion weeks known for showcasing emerging and avant-garde British talent, this season features confirmed shows from Erdem, Mulberry, and Richard Quinn alongside emerging British talent, plus a Marks & Spencer debut (a "see now, buy now" collection marking its centenary), an H&M collaboration with photographer Nick Knight and SHOWstudio, and eBay's "Endless Runway" pre-loved fashion show. While most headline runway shows remain industry-led and invite-only, the public can get involved through the City Wide Celebration programme, a mix of free and ticketed pop-ups, talks, and exhibitions across London. Click here to discover more about the City Wide Celebration programme.
Date: 17 – 21 September 2026. Location: various venues across London. Price: Most shows invite-only; public events via City Wide Celebration vary in price, many free City Wide Celebration
Labrum. Image credit @Charlie_wheeler_ photographer. Image courtesy of British Fashion Council.
Bermondsey Street Festival
Now in its 20th year, this free one-day village fete takes over one of London's most historic streets. Bermondsey Street closes to traffic for music, food, craft stalls and street entertainers, with a live music stage and food traders in Tanner Street Park, and family activities, including a dog show and maypole dancing, in Leathermarket Gardens.
Date: 19 September 2026, 11am–8pm. Location: Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TX Price: Free entry. bermondseystreetfestival.com
Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists
This New York Times Critic's Pick makes its UK premiere at the National Theatre for a limited one-week run. Set in South Portugal in 2028, the play follows Catarina as she prepares for a family rite of passage, killing her first fascist, but her decision to spare a hostage tears the family apart, raising questions about democracy, legacy and the place of violence in the fight for a better world. Acclaimed Portuguese playwright and director Tiago Rodrigues (director of the Festival d'Avignon) brings this confronting, politically-charged production to London, performed in Portuguese with English surtitles.
Date: 19 – 26 September 2026. Location: Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX Runtime: 2 hours 30 minutes, no interval. Latecomers may not be admitted. Book now.
The Company of Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists. Photo by Joseph Banderet
The Living Thames
The Orchestra for the Earth String Quartet brings a river-themed programme to the Grade I listed Crossness Pumping Station, pairing Dvořák's American Quartet, Handel's Water Music, Smetana's Moldau and Strauss's Blue Danube with field recordings of the Thames, its tides, foreshore, birdlife and working river life woven between pieces. The result will be an hour-long concert that reframes rivers not as scenic backdrop but as living systems, beautiful and ever-changing. Tickets also include after-hours access to the Beam Engine House, a heritage Routemaster shuttle from Abbey Wood Station, and a ride on the RANG narrow-gauge railway.
Date: 18 Sep 2026, 7pm – 8:15pm (doors 5pm). Location: Crossness Pumping Station, Bazalgette Way, London SE2 9AQ £20 General Admission. Book now.
London Design Festival
Now in its final week, LDF's 24th edition continues its nine-day run with a showcase of design, craft and architecture across landmark installations, museum commissions, talks and a partner programme spread over eleven design districts. Click here to discover our pick of showcases not to miss.
Date: 20 September 2026. Location: Various locations across London. Price: Free (most events); some talks and special projects may be ticketed.
The Pangolin Shield by Studio Saar, Atelier One. Image credit MTotoe/FLO London
Open House Festival
The world's largest architecture festival gives free public access to over 800 buildings across all 33 London boroughs , from private homes and government buildings to churches, cinemas and cemeteries. Most sites are drop-in, though popular guided tours needed advance booking. This is also the festival's final week.
Date: 20 September 2026. Location: Various locations across London. Price: Free. Click here to plan your visit.
Cinema
Contemporary Films at 75
Contemporary Films at 75 is well underway, celebrating 75 years since Charles Cooper founded Britain's most important international film distributor. Cooper started Contemporary Films in 1951 out of a single room in Soho, with a simple aim to bring "the finest films of all nations and all peoples" to British audiences hungry for something beyond the mainstream. Through its partnership with the Academy Cinema and its own venues, Contemporary introduced UK audiences to Andrzej Wajda, Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray, Luis Buñuel, Sergei Eisenstein, Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Werner Herzog, Bertolucci, Jean Renoir, Mike Leigh, Jane Campion and many more. The arthouse tradition in Britain today, MUBI, Curzon, and the rest, traces back to what Contemporary built.
Strawberry and Chocolate on show at the Barbican on 14 September.
What to expect this week:
Monday 14 September, 6.15pm — Barbican Cinema: Strawberry and Chocolate, the Silver Bear-winning Cuban film, introduced by Alex Davidson.
Thursday 17 September, 7.30pm — The Castle Cinema: Wild Strawberries (16mm), Bergman's classic on life, age and memory, introduced by CINÉ REAL.
Saturday 19 September, 2pm — The Garden Cinema: Burden of Dreams + Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, on Herzog's ordeal making Fitzcarraldo, filmed introduction by Harrod Blank.
Sunday 20 September, 2pm — Phoenix Cinema: A Bigger Splash, on artist David Hockney, with director Jack Hazan in conversation.
Click here to discover more screenings covering as part of the celebrations, running through to 11 October 2026.
Art & Culture
opening this week
Frieze Sculpture 2026
Now in its 14th year, Frieze Sculpture will transform the English Gardens of Regent's Park into a free outdoor exhibition, curated for a fourth consecutive year by Fatoş Üstek. This edition brings together 11 international artists exploring "hybridity," including Catriona Robertson, Angel Otero's doorway sinking beneath the grass, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran's dual-faced idol, Ivana Bašić's brutalist monument, and Tarini Sethi's intricate stainless-steel screens depicting utopian scenes. It runs alongside Frieze London and Frieze Masters and forms part of London Sculpture Week.
Date: 16 September – 1 November 2026. Location: The Regent's Park, London. Price: Free. frieze.com.
Catriona Robertson, Gigantic Pile, 2023, Saatchi Gallery Garden, RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Image courtesy the artist and The Muse Gallery. Photography by Stephen Studd
Gabriel Orozco: Chronotopic
White Cube Bermondsey presents a major solo show of over 100 new and existing works by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco, across sculpture, painting, photography, assemblage and works on paper. Curated by Briony Fer, the exhibition marks 20 years since Orozco's first show with the gallery and 10 years since his permanent 'Orozco Garden' commission opened at South London Gallery.
Date: 16 September – 8 November 2026. Location: White Cube Bermondsey, 144–152 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TQ. Price: Free. whitecube.com
Reviving Craft: Reflection of the Mind
A landmark exhibition tracing China's living craft heritage through the work of more than 60 artists, featuring stoneware, ceramics, glass, jewellery, textiles and furniture. Curated by Su Dan and Yang Lan, and rooted in Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist thought, it treats craft objects as mirrors of the maker's mind, organised around three inward states, clearing, refining and nourishing the mind. It's an official Special Project Partner of London Design Festival.
Date: 16 – 27 September 2026. Location: Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Price: Free. somersethouse.org.uk
Shuang Xi, Soft Monolith (2026), Xiangyunsha Silk, Tie-dye, Velvet Flower Ornaments, Mixed Fibers, 1200x800x2000mm
Lucy Dodd: The Good, the True and the Beautiful
An exhibition by Lucy Dodd opening Sprüth Magers will focus on the figure of Diana, the woodland huntress on earth and celestial body in the sky, a name personal to Dodd, whose grandmother shared it, and one that extends to Diana, Princess of Wales. Dodd, who lives on Scotland's Moray Coast, draws directly on her surroundings for materials, peat collected from the Findhorn River, copper ink, spirulina, cochineal and local herbs all feature in her work.
Date: 18 September – 24 October 2026. Location: Sprüth Magers, 7A Grafton Street, London W1S 4EJ. Price: Free. spruethmagers.com
Image courtesy of the Royal Society of Sculpture
There's No Place Like It
There's No Place Like It opens at the Royal Society of Sculptors this weekend. Curated by designer Henry Holland and free to visit, the exhibition at Dora House will mark the completion of Creating a Home for Sculptors, a building project that will have transformed Dora House's derelict basement into a flat for visiting artists, flexible studio space, and a new home for the Society's archive, and will also celebrate 50 years since Cecil Thomas OBE FRBS bequeathed Dora House to the Society, as part of its Year of the Home celebrations. The re-opening weekend of 19–20 September will round off with a free drop-in workshop on Sunday, What Does Home Mean to You?, led by artist Arpita Shah.
Date: 19 September – 28 November 2026. Location: Royal Society of Sculptors, Dora House, 108 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3RA. Price: Free. sculptors.org.uk
Pop-ups
Tesco Fruity Pick 'n' Mix
Tesco is bringing a giant Fruity Pick 'n' Mix pop-up to London's Southbank, giving passers-by a free piece of fruit or veg from a supersized pick 'n' mix bag, with almost 5,000 portions on offer, from apples and oranges to peppers and avocados. The pop-up marks the expansion of Tesco's Free Fruit & Veg for Schools programme to 1,000 schools, a scheme that's provided nearly 20 million free portions of fruit and veg to children across the UK since launching in October 2024. The first 100 visitors will also get an exclusive Tesco fruit and veg plushie.
Date: 16 September 2026, 8:30am–6pm — Location: Queen's Walk, London Southbank (next to the London Eye and Jubilee Gardens); nearest station Waterloo Free, first come first served.
Image credit Jonas Kakaroto
#FLOFavourites: Pick of the Week
Free event of the week
V&A Friday Late: Awakenings
Image courtesy of V&A South Kensington
The V&A's monthly late-night event will return on 18 September as part of London Design Festival, with installations across the museum exploring how design, craft and technology are reshaping identity, spirituality and the non-human world, brought to life through live music, performances, workshops and talks. On the night, IntoArt artist Andre Williams will unveil a new longcase clock fusing clockmaking with soundsystem design, ceramic artist Albert Yonathan Setyawan will discuss his installation Metamorphic Modulations, artist Li Yilei will give a live sonic performance, and artist Eunjo Lee will present a digitally sculpted film imagining how AI might reshape spiritual awakenings.
Date: 18 September 2026, 6:30–10pm. Location: V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL. Price: Free, drop-in (talks/workshops first-come, first-served). vam.ac.uk
Food of the week
Fête de Versailles Afternoon Tea at the Royal Albert Hall
Fête de Versailles Afternoon Tea at the Royal Albert Hall. Image courtesy of Royal Albert Hall.
Inspired by the lavish 1913 celebrations of French artistry once held at the venue, the Royal Albert Hall's new Fête de Versailles Afternoon Tea draws on the romance of the Gardens of Versailles. The menu includes French-inspired pâtisserie such as a wild strawberry and pistachio délice and a hazelnut and Manjari chocolate fleur-de-lys, and it also features classic savoury items including cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, smoked salmon with lemon crème fraiche and a lattice duck sausage roll. Alongside the scone, lemon and poppy seed Madeleines are served with Chantilly and raspberry preserve. What really adds an extra charm is the initial citrus palate cleanser that kicks off the afternoon, along with the care taken over how it's served, course by course like a tasting menu, giving each element its own moment.
Location: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP. Price: from £68 per adult with unlimited tea, daily 12:30pm–5pm. Book now.
Interview of the week
In conversation with Yang Lan
Yang Lan. Image courtesy Reviving Craft / Sun Media
Yang Lan is a journalist, curator, entrepreneur, and Chairperson of Sun Media Group. She curates Reviving Craft: Reflection of the Mind, on view at Somerset House from 16 to 27 September.
Click here to read the full interview.
Cause of the week
Headway East London
Headway London
Headway East London is a charity supporting people affected by brain injury, working across 13 London boroughs to offer specialist support to survivors, families and carers from its day centre in Hackney. Its day service helps prevent social isolation and creates meaningful roles for members through an art studio, professional kitchen and music groups, alongside neurological therapies, community support and casework services. Volunteers can get involved in art, cooking, music, gardening and socialising with members, whether that's a weekly visit to the Hackney centre or joining one of the charity's events.
Click here to discover more about volunteering.
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