All the London landmarks that will light up for VE Day this week

This week it will be 80 years since VE Day, which marked the end of World War II. To commemorate the momentous occasion, which officially takes place on Thursday May 8, there are going to be special events taking place all week in London. 

Plus, today (May 6) in a country-wide celebration buildings across the UK are going to be lit up in red, white and blue to remember the day Germany surrendered to the Allies in 1945. Set your alarms – the displays will all light up at 9pm sharp, after it gets dark. 

Elsewhere in the capital, a sea of red poppies will take over the Tower of London, recreating the 2014 artwork ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’. Meanwhile, Oxford Street and Bond Street will be decked out with Union Jack flags all week, giving Londoners a healthy dose of wartime spirit. Oxford Street shops including Selfridges and John Lewis will celebrate the roles they played during the war: Selfridges became a wartime stronghold, housing a top-secret communication system known as SIGSALY in its sub-basement; while John Lewis, nearly destroyed in a 1940 air raid, rose from the rubble to host an army exhibition in 1943 and continued trading from its Oxford Street site

Want to get a good vantage point for this evening’s illuminations? Here all the London landmarks lighting up on Tuesday, May 6 for VE Day. 

The full list of London landmarks lighting up for VE Day 2025

• Houses of Parliament
• Elizabeth Tower
• Buckingham Palace
• 10 Downing Street
• Battersea Power Station
• Tower 42 (Natwest Building)
• Millennium Bridge
• The Shard
• Tower of London
• St Paul’s Cathedral
• London Eye
• Canary Wharf 1 Canada Square
• National Theatre
• British Film Institute
• The Cenotaph
• HMS Belfast
• IWM London
• BFI IMAX
• BFI Southbank
• London Bridge
• Cannon Street Railway Bridge
• Southwark Bridge
• Waterloo Bridge
• Golden Jubilee Footbridges
• Westminster Bridge
• Lambeth Bridge
• Blackfriars Bridge

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