Things to do in London this Spring

The Spring equinox happened on the 20th March but unless you’re a naturalist of some sort it still looked like Winter was hanging onto London for dear life. Most of us just wake up one morning in April, spot the cherry blossoms and bypass Spring altogether by declaring that Summer is here.

Hold your horses. Summer doesn’t officially begin until the end of June. There’s an entire season of warming up as it were. A season of sitting outside in beer gardens and on rooftops without becoming a sweaty mess, and on the inevitable days of Spring showers, there's a season of new theatre, exhibitions, and restaurants to explore.

We know you can’t wait to forget to reapply sunscreen and wear your sunburn as a badge of honour, but before you do, ease into the warmer months with all that Spring in London has to offer.

Events

London is steadily waking up from its winter hibernation with a fair amount of events happening across the capital this April and May.

London Coffee Festival

As you would have a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, the London Coffee Festival kicks off a whole season of events this spring, taking place at The Truman Brewery on 11th – 14 April. Along with a host of events and highlights at the festival, there's also a bar offering cocktails so you can calm your nerves with some alcohol – or, you know, just take in more caffeine in the form of espresso martinis.

The Garden Museum’s Spring Plant Fair & RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Head to Lambeth for the Garden Museum’s Spring Plant Fair taking place on the 14th April. Pick up some of the best garden plants in London from top merchants and nurseries or pop along just for the pure photogenic aspect of the event – if you have never been to the Garden Museum, we highly recommend it.

If the Spring Plant Fair is your cup of tea, check out the Flower Show at the Royal Hospital Chelsea from 21st – 25th May to see cutting-edge garden designs and inspirational floral exhibits from world-renowned garden designers, plant specialists, and florists. This is another event that brings out photographers and Influencers for the sheer beauty of flowers.

EarthFest

EarthFest, London's flagship sustainability event, is happening in Kings Cross from the 18th – 21st April. Experience talks, workshops, an interactive demonstration, live music, and artwork with the aim of inspiring positive climate action. This festival will see the worlds of environmentalism, technology, and business collide, all brought to us – the people – in a straightforward way. A most progressive festival if there ever was one.

The Classic Car Boot Sale

Also in Kings Cross this month, lovers of classic cars, vintage fashion, and vinyl enthusiasts can mingle with street food hunters at The Classic Car Boot Sale on the 27th and 28th of April. Expect to see outfits ranging from the fabulous to the cool and edgy to the Birkenstock-clad dad who drives a Prius low-key admiring classic gas guzzlers.

BrewLDN

The UK’s biggest craft beer festival BrewLDN is happening at Between the Bridges in South Bank from 25th – 28th April. Enjoy everything from no, low and craft beers, ciders, and spirits alongside popular street food. The sun should be out in full force, and hope that it does, because it's a proven scientific fact that sunshine makes beer, cider, wine, and cocktails taste so much better.

Fancy more craft beer, ciders and spirits? Check out the bars and taprooms in and around the Bermondsey Beer Mile.

Also on

• London Games Festival – 9 April – 25 April, various locations
• Books in the Park – 13 April in Beckenham Place Park
• Sony World Photography Awards 2024 exhibition – 19 April – 6 May, Somerset House
• Eid in the Square – 20 April in Trafalgar Square

Music & festivals

It's not festival season just yet but it will be, come the end of May. Here's a peek at what's coming up in London at the end of the season from the day festivals to the weekend festivals.

In the Round Festival

In the Round celebrates its 7th year at the Roundhouse in Camden from 18th April to 27th April. The lineup includes ​​Tirzah, Vashti Bunyan and Lonnie Holley, plus a special tribute to Joni Mitchell featuring Emeli Sandé, Sam Amidon and Kate Stables.

Brick Lane Jazz Festival

This one's for all you cool cats out there. For three full days, from the 26th to the 28th April, the Truman Brewery will host the Brick Lane Jazz Festival with a roster of musicians, singers and DJs that reads like a Bible of Jazz with both established and up-and-coming artists.

Queen's Yard Summer Party

Head over to Hackney Wick on 4th May for the Queen’s Yard Summer Party for a multi-venue celeration of UK underground sounds featuring over 100 artists. Again, hope that dependable May holds out for a day of sunshine because there's nothing quite like a party in Hackney Wick when those canals are bathed in sunshine.

GALA

From the 24th – 26th May the electronic and dance music festival GALA is back in Peckham Rye Park. Expect world-class DJs and artists across stages, a pleasure dome, a patio taken over by NTS Radio, and more. Peckham Rye Park is such a great location for a festival and you can't go wrong in trusting the sounds by NTS Radio DJs in our opinion.

Wide Awake

Returning to Brockwell Park on the 25th May, independent music festival Wide Awake features a lineup of established acts like Dry Cleaning, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Ben UFO and Slowdive as well as up-and-coming acts. It's another great music festival brought to you by the good folks behind great gigging pub The Shacklewell Arms, Moth Club, Bad Vibrations, LNZRT and some of the original Field Day founders.

Also on

• Project6 Festival – 24 May, Brockwell Park
• Cross The Tracks – 26 May, Brockwell Park
• City Splash – 27 May, Brockwell Park

Food & drink

The latest and upcoming restaurant and bar openings across the capital. We've kind of built a business around knowing the best event venues, so not to brag or anything, but when it comes to wining and dining we have our finger on the pulse.

The Counter Soho

The popularity of The Counter in Notting Hill has led to a new Soho location, including a basement listening bar called Under the Counter. The Counter Soho and its basement bar are set to open in early May and will offer cocktails and small plates inspired by the Aegean, Mediterranean and Levant. They had us at cocktails and listening bar, if we're being honest.

July London

Opening this Spring on Charlotte Street, July London will be a bakery by day and wine bar by night, inspired by the Alsace region in France. July will be open for pastries and coffee in the morning, with sandwiches and salads for lunch, and for small plates and bar snacks in the evening, and offering top-notch European low-intervention wines curated by sommelier Honey Spencer (who's also opened her own wine bar, Sune, in Hackney that's well worth a visit).

Tóu

Tóu, offering a tempting combination of Japanese-Spanish sandos and a tidy little wine menu curated by sommelier Stefano Cazzato, will occupy the second floor of The Globe Tavern in Borough Market. It’s walk-in only so be wise about when you arrive, as you would not want to show up only to find out the Iberico pork neck sando is finished for the day.

BAM Karaoke

Bam Karaoke Box in Victoria is a palatial 3-storey building comprised of 22 private karaoke rooms, two cocktail bars, a dining service, a stage area for live music and DJs, and lions and tigers and bears, oh my! We're kidding. This entertainment palace is decked out in decor and design inspired by 18th-century extravagance, and it has an outdoor terrace to boot.

Plates London

Founded by siblings Kirk and Keeley Haworth in Shoreditch, Plates is a plant-based fine dining restaurant delivering seasonal menus of nature-inspired dishes. Chef Kirk Haworth has been making a name for himself in plant-based cookery in Britain and the reservations reflect this – Plates recently opened its booking window for July – October and we’re betting it will book up fast.

UBA Restaurant

Recently opened in Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch, UBA is a Pan-Asian restaurant with a kitchen helmed by Chef Paul Greening, the former Executive Chef at Aqua Kyoto on Regent Street. The chic interiors are suitably neon-lit and Tokyo-inspired as is Greening’s menu.

More food & drink openings

• Mimosa at The Langham
• Yasmin
• Two Drops at Battersea Power Station

Want more? Discover the latest restaurant openings in London or London’s top cocktail bars.

Arts & culture

Radical and thought-provoking: New exhibitions as well as exhibits ending this Spring.

Edward Burtynsky: Extraction/Abstraction

An exhibition that bears witness to the impact of human industry on the planet by world-renowned photographic artist Edward Burtynsky.

Experience it at The Saatchi Gallery from now until the 6 May.

The Time is Always Now

A major study of the Black figure and its representation in contemporary art, showcasing the work of contemporary artists from the African diaspora, curated by writer Ekow Eshun.

Experience it at The National Portrait Gallery until the 19 May.

Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads

The Charcoal Heads features Auerbach’s haunting post-war series of large-scale charcoal portrait heads made in the 1950s and early 1960s and speaks to the way people were remaking their lives after World War II.

Experience it at The Courtauld Gallery from now until the 27 May.

Anne Desmet: Kaleidoscope/London

Kaleidoscope/London features kaleidoscopic collages made of wood engravings and linocuts that depict the changing landscapes of ancient cities like London through fractured, abstract images by renowned artist and wood engraver Anne Desmet.

Experience it at Guildhall Art Gallery, 12 April – 8 September.

Also on

• Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States – 12 April – 1 September, Serpentine
• Expressionists, Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider – 25 April – 20 October, Tate Modern
• Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520 - 1920 – 16 May – 13 October, Tate Britain

Walks & nature

Top recommendations to get out and about and experience Spring blossoms and newly green blooms – just a little bit of nature in and around the city. A much needed exercise after the long hibernation of Winter.

Hampton Court Palace Tulip Festival

Visit the historic royal palace until 29th April to experience stunning tulip gardens, make a day trip of it and enjoy Hampton Court’s 60 acres of colourful gardens abloom with flowers.

Wander through Greenwich Park to catch the last of the cherry blossoms. Spend a day at Kew Gardens admiring flowers and trees outside on the grounds and all the exotic and tropical greenery inside five glasshouses, from coffee plants to cacti and some incredibly rare species.

As we move into May, take strolls through London parks, heaths, and woods to escape the city and bathe in the sights and scents of English bluebells, azaleas, and woodland flowers. Come summer, the trees will have full foliage and all these colourful blossoms will have turned to greenery.

Our top Spring walking recommendations

Epping Forest, Wanstead Park & Flats, Ostereley Park, Highgate Wood, and Nunhead Cemetery to name but a few.

Theatre

Frome re-tellings of Shakespeare to Chekhov: New theatre openings and shows ending in Spring.

Player Kings

1 April – 22 June

The great Sir Ian McKellan plays Falstaff in a new version of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, adapted by the award-winning writer and director Robert Icke at the Noël Coward Theatre.

London Tide

10 April – 22 June

The story of two young women who confront an uncertain future, based on Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend and adapted by Ben Powers with songs by renowned artist PJ Harvey, and Ben Powers at the National Theatre.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

On until 8 June

A landmark new production of Eugene O’Neill’s ‘monumental masterwork’ about a chaotically dysfunctional family starring Brian Cox, Patricia Clarkson, and Daryl McCormack, directed by Jeremy Herrin at Wyndham’s Theatre.

Blue Beard

23 April – 18 May

Multi-award-winning Emma Rice returns to Battersea Arts Centre with a new reimagining of the classic tale, Blue Beard, as an exhilarating story of vengeance and sisterhood.

The Cherry Orchard

26 April – 22 June

Director Benedict Andrews stages the final play of the great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov at the Donmar Warehouse.

Also on

• People, Places & Things at The National Theatre, 3 May – 10 August
• Bluets at The Royal Court Theatre, 17 May – 29 June