Looking for things to do in London in May? Check this lot out
You’re in plenty of time to book tickets to the best events in London, from theatre shows to art exhibitions, and there are always pop-ups opening across the city, but our handy guide features the best of what’s on in London in May so you won’t miss a thing.
Spring has well and truly spring by May and a good job too because this month marks the start of festival season, with the likes of GALA, Field Day and Cross the Tracks all pitching up in the capital. With Doughnut Week, Sandwich Week, and the London Coffee Festival all happening this month, plus plenty of new restaurant openings on the way, there’s a lotta good eating and drinking to be had too. Best of all, we get two bank holidays this month, so you’ve got even more free time to enjoy all these goodies.
London has become obsessed with all things Korean over the past few years and that love looks set to continue as the city’s first Korean food festival rolls into town this May. JUNG Festival, named after Jeong (정), a sense of warmth and connection formed through sharing food, is being run by Korean food content creator Rollin Lee, aka @rollinjoint, and Market Root, the platform founded by HyeonJu Kim and SooJin Yang. JUNG Festival will be pitching up at Canopy Market in King’s Cross over four days and will celebrate a wide range of Korean food and creativity. Ten independent food brands will be there, alongside around 20 food and dessert traders, including Chickenhaus, Hoho London, Hongdae Pocha and Cheemc, serving up Korean fried chicken, Korean pancakes and plenty more.
Thurs 1st – Sun 4th May 2026
Canopy Market, West Handyside Canopy, London N1C 4BH
@jungfestival.uk
The Undercroft Skate Space has been at the Southbank Centre for 50 years, so to celebrate the milestone anniversary, the Centre is hosting an exhibition detailing its history. Skate 50 features photography, film, and sound, including archive footage, and noughties fashion portraiture, with contributions from Winstan Whitter, Dan Magee, Jack Brooks, Lev Tanju, Sofia Negri, Keep Rolling Project and Beatrice Dillon to tell the story of the space. Widely considered to be the birthplace of British skateboarding, the Skate Space was adopted by skateboarders in the mid-1970s and is one of the oldest continuously used skateboarding locations in the UK.
May 2026
Undercroft, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
southbankcentre.co.uk
Once again the #SheInspiresMe sale is being held on the fifth and sixth floors of the Selfridges Car Park in collab with the department store’s RESELFRIDGES resale platform. A range of vintage, pre-loved, past season and new designer fashion will be available to shop alongside beauty products from top brands. A whole host of designers, industry names and stylists, including Laura Jackson, Alice Temperley, Jasmine Hemsley, Sarah Harris, Eugenie Niarchos, Charlotte Olympia, and Noor Fares will be donating pieces, and you’ll be able to shop from the likes of Jimmy Choo, Rixo, Hunza G, By Rotation, Coach, ME+ EM, 111SKIN, Nobody’s Child and Charlotte Tilbury. All proceeds will go to Women for Women International, a charity that helps women survivors of conflict rebuild their lives.
Sat 16th May 2026
Selfridges Car Park, London, W1A 1AB
womenforwomen.org.uk
Independent Label Market is back at Coal Drops Yard this May, with indies from all across London and the UK selling their freshest and finest fare. Labels like Dirty Hit, Transgressive, Third Man, Ninja Tune, Because, Bella Union, Big Dada, Fire, Heavenly, Hyperdub, Late Night Tales, Secretly Canadian, Mute, Partisan, 4AD, Dead Oceans and Brainfeeder will be setting up shop and showing off their hottest vinyl wares. You’ll be able to see performances from some of the most exciting emerging artists from participating labels, while label and artist DJ sets powered by Audio Gold will provide a hi-fi soundtrack to the open-air party. Plus, Voices Radio will be broadcasting live from King’s Cross.
Sat 9th May 2026, 11am – 6.30pm
Coal Drops Yard, Stable Street, London N1C 4DQ
independentlabelmarket.com
GALA is back in Peckham to get your May bank holiday started. The fest is kicking off with a big homecoming headline slot from Giggs, who’ll be joined by the likes of CASISDEAD, D Double E and Novelist. Across the rest of the weekend, you’ll be able to catch sets from Todd Terje, Seth Troxler, Saoirse, DJ Seinfeld, Logic1000, Sonja Moonear, Conducta, Gilles Peterson, Hamdi, Moxie, George Daniel, Or:la and more.
Fri 22nd – Sun 24th May 2026
Peckham Rye Park, 34 Straker’s Rd, London SE15 3UA
thisisgala.co.uk
Lightroom is hosting David Bowie: You’re Not Alonewhich will take people inside the mind of the visionary artist. The presentation features a mixture of famous, rarely seen and never-before-exhibited material taken from the David Bowie Archive in New York along with photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes and audio recordings. Bowie’s is the sole voice of the experience and the structure of the show offers a unique insight into his thoughts on topics like theatricality, spirituality, songwriting and creativity. So as well as looking and sounding incredible – there’ll be 360° visuals and reconfigured tracks for the gallery’s spatial audio system – it’s promising to be an “intimate and revealing self-portrait”.
May 2026
12 Lewis Cubitt Square, London, N1C 4DY
lightroom.uk
After playing at the Royal Court in 1958, Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tapewhere a man sits alone and listens to the echoes of his younger self, is returning to the theatre with a York Theatre Royal production starring and directed by Gary Oldman. It’s only on for a very limited run, so you’ll have to be quick to catch it.
Fri 8th – Sat 30th May 2026
Royal Court Theatre, 50-51 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS
royalcourttheatre.com
After setting up a charity for illustration in 2002 and running the House of Illustration in King’s Cross from 2014 to 2020, Sir Quentin Blake is finally opening a gallery dedicated to the art form in 2026. Taking over an 18th century waterworks in Clerkenwell, the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will be the largest space of its kind, with three galleries showcasing the breadth and depth of illustration through regularly rotating exhibitions, plus a library, garden and cafe. The first exhibition to be announced is MURUGIAH: Ever Feel Like…the first solo show on the illustrator and designer that reflects his love of sci-fi, Hollywood film, anime and 2000s-era pop punk. The other displays will feature works from Blake’s own archive as well as rarely-seen historical and contemporary pieces from international collections.
May 2026
28 Amwell St, London EC1R 1XU
qbcentre.org.uk
It’s been a decade since the last time a dog show was held in Brockwell Park and it’s finally making a comeback this year. Running on the early May bank holiday, the Brockwell Bark Dog Show will be fun for all the fam, including your four-legged friends. Expect plenty of dogs in fancy dress; categories including Happiest Tail and Village Veterans; a rescue dog parade; dog-themed vegetable sculptures; local food and drink stalls, and more. It’s free to attend and costs a fiver to enter your dog into any of the competition categories, with all profits going to support Blue Cross Victoria.
Mon 4th May 2026, 2pm – 5pm
Brockwell Hall Lawn, Brockwell Park, London SE24 9BJ
brockwellbark.co.uk
Henry Moore: Monumental Nature will be the largest outdoor exhibition of the artist’s work ever presented, with over 100 pieces, including 30 monumental sculptures, on display. The sculptures will be set amongst Kew Gardens (a pretty stunning backdrop in itself) with more than 70 works on paper, models and smaller artworks displayed in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. Moore is one of Britain’s greatest-ever sculptors and became famous for his large-scale bronzes depicting abstract figures. The exhibition at Kew, part of a dual-site celebration along with Wakehurst in Sussex, will showcase Moore’s iconic sculptures in the way they are meant to be seen – outdoors, surrounded by nature – as well as dive into his creative process and the connection he had to the natural world.
From Sat 9th May 2026
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, TW9 3AB
kew.org
