What's On
Vogue Is Bringing Back Its Cafe at 180 Corner Shop
Corner Shop is already a hyped grocery store, deli, wine bar, and all-around one-stop-shop for the best food and drink products. And after a successful takeover last year, the space is turning into a concept cafe run by Vogue and Nike for London Fashion Week. The brands are taking over the space from 10am – 5pm on Sat 21st and Sun 22nd February, so you can drop in for a much-needed refresh and refuel between shows. The Nike Deli will be offering brekkie bites, pastries and refreshments, and Nike will also be hosting movement sessions with brand ambassadors to help keep everyone energised. You’ll also be able to stop by the Vogue Cafe for exclusive talks with British Vogue’s Head of Editorial Content Chioma Nnadi and you can pick up a range of merch, including t-shirts, caps, Vogue notebooks, Corner Shop tote bags and even Vogue patches, which you use to customise your totes at the personalisation corner.
David Hockney Is Showing at Serpentine For the First Time
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting, opening at Serpentine North, is the artist’s first exhibition at the gallery. The show will feature new works from Hockney – five still lifes and five portraits of people in his close circle – all sharing a similar frontal composition and a recurring gingham tablecloth motif. The gallery will also display Hockney’s ‘A Year in Normandie’, a ninety-metre-long frieze inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the changing of the seasons at his former studio in the French region. Working on his iPad, Hockney produced over a hundred images during the first Covid lockdown in 2020, recording the changes in light and weather during the spring. As lockdown lifted and the seasons shifted, he continued to digitally capture the whole cycle of the year, showcasing the ways that art and technology can come together and highlighting the beauty in the everyday. The whole digital print will be shown in the North Gallery, with a large-scale printed mural highlighting a scene from the spring cycle being presented in the garden.
Candlelight Concerts is all about creating multi-sensory music experiences in beautiful locations, like Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, around London that aren’t normally used to host concerts. Concerts feature music from the likes of Harry Styles, Amy Winehouse, Hans Zimmer, Fleetwood Mac and Ennio Morricone performed live by pianists and string quartets set against a backdrop of hundreds of candles.
An Ex-Dough Hands Chef Is Launching Hot Saint Pizza
After cutting his teeth at Dough Hands, Tom Budakan is launching his own pizza concept (and continuing the tradition of pizza pop-ups in pubs) with Hot Saint Pizza at The Old Queen’s Head in Islington. His NY-style pies are made using high-protein Canadian flour and rye, with the dough being left to ferment for 48 hours, resulting in a light, crispy crust. Toppings-wise, he’s doing a Spicy Hawaiian (with San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, guanciale & smoked ham hock, pineapple, smoked chilli and jalapeños), a Meatball Ricotta (with San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, house meatballs, ricotta and parmesan), and a Vodka Pesto (with vodka sauce, stracciatella, pesto and parmesan). You’ll also be able to get spicy chicken parm and house meatball pizza sandwichs and banana miso soft serve, with beers and cocktails coming from The Old Queen’s Head.
SOUTH BANK
Are you really a Londoner if you haven’t strolled the South Bank? It’s as close as you’re gonna get to the Thames and it gives the perfect view of the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, National Theatre and other national treasures. There’s always something interesting on at the Southbank Centre and the Hayward Gallery, and it’s worth browsing around the book market by the National for some second hand gems. If you’re a skater, the Undercroft is one of the most famous places to skate in the city but don’t worry if you’re no good on wheels because you can make a whole day of walking up and down.
With works spanning photography, painting, drawing and sculpture, the National Portrait Gallery holds the world’s greatest collection of portraits from the Tudor period to the present day. There are over 250,000 photographs and negatives and over 11,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures in the collection – the gallery was founded in 1856 so it’s had plenty of time to amass those pieces. It’s worth heading in to see the permanent collection but the special exhibitions are always worth checking out too, with shows on everything from Vogue to Cindy Sherman to Picasso having been hosted in the past.
See How Wallace & Gromit Come to Life at This Aardman Exhibition
Dive into the world of Aardman, the studio responsible for some of the most-loved characters of all time, with the Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends exhibition at the Young V&A. The show, coinciding with the studio’s 50th anniversary, will take you behind the scenes of the animation process, covering development, storyboarding, model making, filming and post-production, exploring how the likes of Morph, Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep come to life. Over 150 items, across sketches, concept art, puppets, props, scripts, and set models, will be on display, including development sketches for Morph; Wallace & Gromit’s motorbike and sidecar from Vengeance Most Fowl; a storyboard for the train chase in The Wrong Trousers; and set pieces from Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
This Is the First Ever Exhibition Dedicated to the Seascapes of Georges Seurat
The Courtauld is hosting the first ever exhibition focused on the seascapes of Georges Seurat and the first one on the French artist in the UK in almost 30 years. Seurat and the Sea will explore the evolution of his distinctive Neo-Impressionist technique (using small dots of colour to render shapes and light) through the motif of the sea. Paintings, sketches and drawings made by Seurat during five summers between 1885 and 1890 that he spent on the northern coast of France will be on display, offering a counterpoint to his better known Parisian works.
Discover the Reality Behind the Myth of the Samurai
The British Museum is staging a major exhibition on samurai, exploring how the myth and image of the Japanese warrior was created over the past 1000 years. Around 280 objects will be on display, including a suit of samurai armour, woodblock prints, paintings, clothing, and ceramics. These chartin how the role and perception of the samurai evolved, from a medieval warrior class to an elite social class that included women in the 17th century to the myth of bushido and the code of patriotism and self-sacrifice in the 19th century. Contemporary fashion, manga, TV and video game pieces showcase the samurai’s enduring legacy, from the battlefields of Japan to global pop culture.
This Is the First UK Museum Exhibition Focused on Lucian Freud's Works on Paper
With Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting, the National Portrait Gallery is hosting the UK’s first museum exhibition dedicated to the artist’s works on paper. It explores his lifelong focus on the human face and figure, with pencil, pen, ink, charcoal and etching pieces from the 1930s to the early 21st century on display, some of which are being shown for the first time. A curated group of important paintings will be hung alongside the drawings to highlight the dialogue between his practice on paper and on canvas.
See Stunning Orchid Displays at Kew Gardens
The annual orchid festival is back at Kew for its 30th anniversary and this year’s theme is China, a country home to vast landscapes and incredible plant life. China is home to 10% of the world’s known plant species and over 1700 known species of orchids. You can get a little taste of China’s varied landscapes, predominantly the province of Yunnan, and native wildlife across the different zones inside the Princess of Wales Conservatory. As well as an array of orchid displays, there’ll be a range of plant sculptures on show, including a Chinese dragon, koi carp, pandas and cranes, alongside archways referencing the Chinese zodiac.
Queer Britain Is Relaunching With Displays on Queer Print and BFI Flare
Queer Britain, the UK’s only museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ history is relaunching this February with new displays across the collections gallery telling stories of queer life, love, protest and artistry. The museum is also hosting two special exhibitions this spring. The first is Queer Print, which features magazines, flyers, posters and zines that show how LGBTQ+ people told stories and organised through radical and alternative print cultures in a pre-digital age. The second is 40 Years of BFI Flare, which includes a display of posters that chart the themes and identities that have defined BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival over its forty year history.
Discover a Range of Contemporary Art at the London Art Fair
The London Art Fair is back for 2026 with a range of contemporary and modern art alongside works by 20th century masters. There are a whole host of galleries showing at the fair and many of the artists whose work is on display are addressing issues like the climate, the shifting political landscape, women’s histories and craft traditions. There’s a real mix of big hitters and new talent to explore, with pieces from the likes of Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Tracey Emin, David Hockney, Julia Hall, Henry Moore, Aoki Royka, Vanessa Barragão, Laetizia Campbell, Marck, and Bay Tang Jiaxin on show. Carole Ellis and Dr. Helen Anahita Wilson are presenting works that reflect on the impact of their cancer diagnoses as part of the fair’s charity partnership with Cancer Research UK, and Rose Electra Harris is unveiling a specially-commissioned installation inspired by Tampa Bay.
See LCD Soundsystem Photographs at The Social
Magazine and book publisher Disco Pogo is celebrating the publication of its book LCD Soundsystem: Disco Pogo Tribute with a tribute night and exhibition dedicated to the band at The Social. Following the launch event on 16th January, featuring an interview with the band’s go-to photographer Ruvan Wijesooriya and DJ sets from Frank Tope, Lou Hayter and Tom Sharkett, a selection of Ruvan’s photos offering unique insight into the band will go on display.
Nan Goldin's The Ballad of Sexual Dependency Is Going on Show
Gagosian is kicking off 2026 by presenting Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency in its entirety, to coincide with the photobook’s 40th anniversary. The exhibition will be the first time that all 126 images from the book have been shown in the UK. Created between 1973 and 1986, the photobook, which Goldin described at the time as “the diary I let people read”, is an exploration of gender, intimacy and power, and as well as becoming a defining document of downtown New York at the time, it helped popularise a more candid and personal style of photography.
The British Museum Is Hosting a Major Exhibition on Hawai'i
To mark 200 years since King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and Queen Kamāmalu travelled from Hawaiʻi to London (the first Hawaiian monarchs ever to visit the UK), the British Museum is hosting the Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans exhibition. The show brings that journey and the cultural exchange between the two nations, to life, through a range of objects not seen in the UK before. Two royal treasures – a red feathered cloak gifted by King Kamehameha to King George III (which has not been publicly displayed since 1900) and the letter in which he petitioned the British Crown – reunited for the first time since the 1800s form the heart of the exhibition.
Shop at the Shōtengai Pan-Asian Christmas Market This Weekend
If you haven’t bought your Crimbo presents yet, you’re skating dangerously close to the naughty list — but there’s still time to save yourself. This weekend, Lower Stable Street is getting a festive pan-Asian takeover as Shōtengai Christmas Market returns to Coal Drops Yard. It’s a solid option for last-minute gifting, with independent traders, design-led finds and plenty of street food to keep you going, from Caravan Records selling newly arrived vinyl from Japan to sake, ceramics and apparel. Ideal for the Japanophiles in your life.
Expect pan-Asian eats from some of London’s favourites. Previous traders have included Rise Bakery Bar (Japanese breads), Shima (cakes), Okan London (okonomiyaki) and Takoyaki Iseji, serving hot, crispy takoyaki.
Key InformationDates | Thurs 18th – Sun 21st December 2025
Address | Lower Stable Street, London N1C
For more information | @shotengai_market
A Wes Anderson Pop-Up Is Coming to Shoreditch
Seen the Wes Anderson exhibition at the Design Museum and still want more? You’re in luck because a Wes Anderson pop-up is coming to Shoreditch. Following one at the end of October, The Society of the Crossed Keys, a site that sells a range of products and merch relating to Anderson’s movies, including Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Asteroid City, is doing another pop-up just in time for Christmas. We don’t have many more deets about the pop-up but we’d expect there to be plenty of merch on offer – the first 30 people in each day will receive a sweet surprise, so it’s worth getting down there early.
