Our guide to the best events, festivals, workshops, exhibitions and things to do throughout February 2024 in London
Photograph: Bryan Mayes / Shutterstock.com
It might seem like only yesterday when you woke up with a furry tongue and a pounding headache on New Year’s Day, but February has already rolled around and it’s a bumper month in 2024 thanks to the Leap Year. So there’s plenty of time to fit in all the spoils of the month including Valentine’s Day, Fashion Week, the Lunar New Year and LGBTQ+ History Month.
There are also exhibition openings, new art shows and some big-name stage productions as London begins to wake up from its post-Christmas malaise. Plus, there’s a plethora of other great things to do, from February half-term fun to eye-popping orchids at Kew, a film festival for young cinephiles at the BFI, a massive, eclectic gig series at the Roundhouse and the last few weeks of London’s revamped festival of mime and physical theatre.
We reckon you should seize your chance to have some fun this February, with our guide to the best things happening in London in February 2024.
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Ono’s fame is so huge, her name so ubiquitous, that it has almost totally eclipsed the fact that she’s a leading experimental artist in her field. She’s worked in performance, film and drawing, she was part of Fluxus, she’s made music and she’s fought for peace. She is, in other words, totally legit and totally overlooked. Her work is always radical, always earnest, and often quite silly. What more could you want?
The mighty St John is set to become the first ever restaurant to be in residence at the fabulous Fortnum & Mason. From February 2 to 22, the 317-year-old department store on Piccadilly will give over its in-house Field restaurant space to St John while its actual St John restaurant in Smithfield is closed and refitted. The wooden chairs and tables from the original restaurant will be taken to Fortnum & Mason, and the whitewashed walls and coat pegs of the dining room will be recreated, alongside a steel-clad bar for wines, beers and St John’s famously potent Negronis. Head Chef Steve Darou will be cooking up the plates.
Guess what: it’s somehow half-term again. It might seem like mere days since the end of the Christmas hols, but the kids are getting a whole week off, which means it’s only a matter of time before somebody complains that they’re bored and you’re racking your brains for something to do besides plonk them in front of the telly. Luckily, London has plenty of brilliant kid-friendly museums and galleries that really come into their own when school is out. And February half-term is a particularly good one, with plenty of family-friendly exhibitions just getting started, plus the return of the redoubtable Imagine Children’s Festival to the Southbank Centre.
New Year’s resolutions not gone quite to plan yet? Well, there’s another chance to turn over a new leaf as Chinese New Year arrives. In 2024 Chinese New Year falls on Saturday February 10 and this time around it’s the Year of the Dragon. On the Sunday, London's Chinatown, Trafalgar Square and the West End will fill all up with hundreds of thousands of revellers, in the biggest Lunar New Year celebration in the world outside of Asia. The centrepiece of the festivities is a spectacular parade, as well as free performances and, of course, feasting galore.
Whether you’re flying solo, newly coupled up, or have been with your other half for decades, London is a great place to be on Valentine’s Day. There’s something for everyone on February 14 no matter what your relationship status: eccentrically themed speed-dating nights, ironic drag show, galentine’s parties or warm, fuzzy date spots for all those loved-up couples out there. Here’s our pick of the best.
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