All weekend
50-HOUR IMPROVATHON: Taking place all weekend at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington, the London 50-Hour Improvathon is an improvised comedy soap opera in 25 individual two-hour episodes. You can choose whether to catch just one standalone episode, or binge-watch the whole season. Friday-Sunday
HERITAGE WEEKEND: The annual Highgate Heritage Weekend once again takes place at Lauderdale House and Waterlow Park. Saturday is Local Heritage Fair day, with 20 local organisations represented, and special talks throughout the afternoon. Sunday is Family Day, with activities for all ages. FREE, 28 February-1 March 2026
COMEDY 4 KIDS: James Campbell brings his Comedy 4 Kids show to the Museum of Comedy on both Saturday and Sunday this week. Aimed at ages six+, expect exploding penguins, 17 ways to eat jam — and songs to sing to the worms in your dog’s bottom. Lovely. 28 February & 1 March 2026
JEWISH BOOK WEEK: Hosted at Kings Place, Jewish Book Week gets underway on Saturday, kicking off the 75th edition of the literary festival. Though Saturday’s launch event has sold out, check the programme for a wealth of events over the coming week, with a dizzying 160 speakers. Sunday’s highlights include author Jake Wallis Simons talking about the global future, and Shakespearean actor Dame Janet Suzman reflecting on her career. 28 February-8 March 2026
LIFE IN A LINE: Find out just how far a single drawn line can go, in the Heath Robinson Museum’s latest exhibition, The Life In A Line. Works by artists including Mr Doodle, Damien Hirst, Jake Chapman, Frank Auerbach and Ronnie Wood are on display— all connected by the fact they were created with a single line. 28 February-28 June 2026
TRACEY EMIN: Tate Modern opens long-awaited Tracey Emin exhibition, A Second Life, featuring 90 works spanning the artist’s 40-year career, including painting, video, neon, textile, sculpture and installation works. And yes, *that* bed will be there too. 26 February-30 August 2026
COLLECT 2026: Annual art fair Collect is back at Somerset House, showcasing museum-quality contemporary craft and design curated by the Crafts Council. 40 specialist galleries from across the globe take part, showcasing and selling ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, wearable art, metalwork, sculpture and textiles — with prices starting at £500. 27 February-1 March 2026
UNDERGROUND (AND SURFACE): Large-scale paintings of sections of the Tube by Jock McFadyen go on display at Guildhall Art Gallery, accompanied by sound effects recorded by Pogues musician Jem Finer. Underground (And Surface) combines familiar, yet uneasy, tableaux of London with the mechanical-but-melodic sounds we hear every day. 27 February-20 September 2026
HANDEL AND MOZART: The Handel + Hendrix Museum in Mayfair opens a new exhibition, Handel Through Mozart’s Eyes. It’s centred around a rare manuscript written by Mozart himself, with the opening of a string quartet transcription he made from a harpsichord work by Handel, composed more than 60 years earlier. The show delves further into Mozart’s engagement with music composed by the great masters of the previous generation. 25 February-13 September 2026
MUDLARKING EXHIBITION: This is the final weekend of Secrets of the Thames, the London Museum Docklands’ huge exhibition about mudlarking. A prosthetic eye from the 1920s and a wooden three-pint tankard dating to the 1500-1600s are among the highlight objects found washed up from London’s main waterway. Until 1 March 2026
Saturday 28 February
BUG SHOW: Poet Simon Mole and musician Gecko rock up at the Half Moon Young People’s Theatre in Limehouse for two performances of the Great Big Bug Show, aimed at ages 4-11. Find out about the world beneath your feet through poems, raps and songs all about your favourite bugs — plus some you’ve never heard of. 11am/2pm
LONDONERS IN LOVE: Guildhall Library celebrates Valentine’s month with a guided walk themed on Londoners in Love. Begin in the churchyard at St Paul’s Cathedral and head towards St Bride’s Church, encountering tales of romance as you go. 11am-1pm
DAVID HOCKNEY: Serpentine North’s David Hockney exhibition begins in a couple of weeks, but if you can’t wait that long, swing by Annely Juda Fine Art (Hanover Square) for the final day of Some Very, Very, Very New Paintings Not Yet Shown In Paris. As the name suggests, it’s an exhibition of never-before-seen works finished by Hockney in the last few months. FREE, 11am-5pm
WINE TASTING: Archaeologist and wine expert Kat Hornak hosts an afternoon of wine tasting in the walled garden vinery at Fulham Palace. Sample a selection of English wines from some of London’s leading urban wineries, including Blackbook and London Cru, while hearing the archaeological story of the introduction of wine production through Roman Britain. 1pm-2.30pm
50 LGBTQ+ FINDS: Author and curator Ben Paites is at London Museum Docklands to discuss his new book, 50 LGBTQ+ Finds, which highlights historic objects found by members of the public telling the little-known stories of LGBTQ+ people throughout history. 2pm-3.30pm
NATIONAL THEATRE: Nicola Coughlan, Éanna Hardwicke and Siobhán McSweeney are among the impressive cast of The Playboy of the Western World at the National Theatre, about a young man who walks into a pub claiming to have killed his father. Today’s shows are the last of the run. 2.15pm/7.30pm
DEAR ENGLAND: Also closing today is Dear England at the New Wimbledon Theatre, with David Sturzaker playing former England manager Gareth Southgate and Samantha Womack as team psychologist Pippa Grange — as the England men’s football team battle for victory in a major tournament. 2.30pm/7.30pm
WOMAN IN MIND: Sheridan Smith stars as Susan in Alan Ayckbourn’s dark comedy psychological drama Woman in Mind at Duke of York’s Theatre. After a bump on the head, her life splits into two worlds. Fittingly, you can catch one of two shows, in what is the play’s final day. 2.30pm/7.30pm
MJ THE MUSICAL: It’s a Thriller, but you’ve only got until today to see MJ The Musical before it moonwalks out of the West End for good. Michael Jackson’s life story— and particularly his 1992 Dangerous World Tour — is told through a soundtrack of his incredibly well-known songs. 2.30pm/7.30pm
HARLOTS, STRUMPETS & TARTS: 18th century London’s sordid sex industry is the theme of the Foundling Museum’s guided walk around the Covent Garden area. Learn about the steamy underworld of the Georgian sex worker, enjoying a tot of ‘Mother’s Ruin’ in a tavern along the way. 5pm-7pm
BEER FESTIVAL: Bottoms up as Liquid Dreams beer festival returns to the Mall Tavern, touting 100 beers from 50 independent breweries, and all-you-can-drink tickets for each five-hour session. Saturday daytime has sold out, but at time of writing, tickets are available for Friday and Saturday evenings. 5pm-11pm
OCEAN IN CONCERT: Catch a live concert screening of recent deep-sea documentary, Ocean With David Attenborough, at Southbank Centre. The film is shown on a large screen, accompanied by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, who perform the original score (by award-winning composer Steven Price) live, joined by a vocal ensemble. 7.30pm
SIBLINGS: DREAMWEAVERS: Award-winning character comedians and real-life sisters, Maddy and Marina Bye perform their current show Siblings: Dreamweavers at Soho Theatre Dean Street. Watch them swoop into the surreal world of your sleeping minds as they crack open your brains and backflip in. 9.15pm
MYSTERY MOVIE MARATHON: Watch five different films in one overnight programme at the Prince Charles Cinema. The catch? You won’t know what the films are until you arrive. The Mystery Movie Marathon is comprised of a quintet of completely unrelated films, chosen by cinema staff. 10.30pm
Sunday 1 March
ST DAVID’S DAY: Whether you’re a Welsh person in London, or just an avid fan of all things from England’s western neighbour, check out our guide to being Welsh in London, and find a little slice of Cymru just in time for St David’s Day.
BLACK HISTORY WALK: Explore the Trafalgar Square area through the lens of Black history, on a guided walk looking into how history was whitewashed and racism was institutionalised, through topics including African kings and Queen Victoria, Nelson Mandela, Apartheid… and Tesco. 10am-12pm. Black History Walks also offer a guided walk around the St Paul’s and Bank area this afternoon. 1pm-3pm
SO LAST CENTURY: The Great Hall at Goldsmiths, University of London hosts a So Last Century vintage fair, with a curated line-up of 50 traders selling mid-20th century furniture, lighting, homeware, ceramics, glass, textiles and furnishings, original 1960s and 70s posters and art, prints and charts, vintage fashion and lots more. 10.30am-4pm
FROCK ME: Over at Kensington Town Hall, focus is very much on fashion as the Frock Me! vintage fair brings together 100 exhibitors specialising in vintage and antique clothing, jewellery and textiles from the Victorian era onwards. 11am-5.30pm
GOSPEL BRUNCH: A Gospel choir and Motown singers perform live at the Gospel Motown brunch at The Anthologist near Bank. Tickets include a welcome drink, two food courses and entertainment — singing along very much encouraged. 12pm-4pm
BRICK LANE: Footprints of London’s annual Literary Footprints festival gets underway today, offering bookish walks throughout the month. Join guide Laura Agustín to get to know the Brick Lane of Monica Ali’s novel of the same name; explore Bengali history in the East End while listening to the words of Nazneen, the novel’s protagonist who has just arrived in Tower Hamlets from Bangladesh. 1pm-3.30pm
MILKFEST: British blues music festival Milkfest ’26 takes place at Indigo at The O2, bringing more than 10 acts to the stage, headlined by Squeeze legend Chris Difford. It’s a charity event, with profits going to Dementia UK. 2pm
SEA WITCH: For one day only, the world premiere concert of Sea Witch comes to Theatre Royal Drury Lane. West End stars including Michelle Visage and Natalie Paris take on roles in the dark musical prequel to The Little Mermaid. 3pm/7.30pm
UK GARAGE LIVE: Celebrate the golden era of Soul, R&B and UK Garage in a live show at Leicester Square Theatre. Live vocalists and a band perform a high-energy tribute to tracks from the eighties to the noughties by the likes of Destiny’s Child, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston and Lauryn Hill. 7pm
DISCOVERY OF WITCHCRAFT: Magic, storytelling, history and comedy combine for Greg Chapman’s Discovery of Witchcraft at the Cinema Museum in Kennington. Based on Reginald Scott’s 1584 book The Discoverie of Witchcraft, the show talks about the witch trials from the 15th-20th centuries. 7.30pm
