August events in London

For a lot of Londoners, Notting Hill Carnival on the August Bank Holiday Weekend flashes by in a blaze of feathers, Red Stripe and tinnitus. To those who make it happen, it’s a year-round operation to create one of the biggest and oldest street parties in the world. More than two million people usually flock to the streets of W11 for Carnival weekend. It’s free to join the family day on the Sunday, as well as the Monday street party which is for the hard partiers. It’s a celebration of freedom and Caribbean culture, with an iconic parade showcasing the best of mas, soca, calypso, steel bands and soundsystems. What are you waiting for? 

Beer gardens are one of the best things about London. There’s no finer way to spend a sunny (or even not-so-sunny) afternoon in the capital, than supping on a couple of cold boys under the city’s azure-ish sky. If you’re looking to sink some pints in the breezy great outdoors, we’ve got you covered with our tried-and-tested list of the city’s best beer gardens.

Anyone who's keen to replicate Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's iconic rendition of a doomed romance in the 1997 movie Titanic will fall head over heels for this new immersive show. It's a new offering from the makers of the surprisingly good virtual reality spectacular Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition, which uses all kinds of cinematic wizardry to bring its world to life. This time, we're promised immersive 360° projections, a moving VR tribute to the ship’s brave orchestra, and a 5D Augmented Reality Metaverse walk through the Titanic’s decks. A perfect settling to canoodle with your loved one of choose. Or just get nerdy about the Titanic's story, with plenty of intricate detail about its plunge from art deco design classic to barnacled wreck at the bottom of the ocean. The exhibit is child friendly and includes a children’s activity centre, although you’ll know best if your little ones are actually into the Titanic as a concept – James Cameron’s magnum opus tends not to be massive with primary school kids.

Escape reality through maximum immersion and experience 42 masterpieces from 29 of the world’s most iconic artists, each reimagined beyond belief, through cutting-edge technology. Situated in Marble Arch, Frameless plays host to four unique galleries with hypnotic visuals and a dazzling score. Enjoy 90 minutes of surreal artwork from Bosch, Dalí and more for just £24!

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Make what you will of this, but for the biggest name Shakespeare play in the Globe’s summer 2025 season, director Robin Belfield has opted to go for the play’s rarely deployed full name. We don’t really have any as to what’s likely from this production beyond that, though the accompanying publicity image suggests an upbeat and vibrant take on the story of shipwreck and mistaken identity that is all the more glorious for its malleability – a rare play that can be as happy or sad as you like.

What if you could feel sound before you ever heard it? Feel the Sound is the Barbican’s bold new exhibition that reimagines how we experience music and noise. From basslines rumbling through underground car parks to moments of total silence that still manage to move you, this isn’t your typical gallery trip. It’s immersive, playful and packed with sensory surprises and somewhere along the way, you might just discover your inner symphony.

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Less than a year after making his Doctor Who-era stage return in the NT’s sublime The Importance of Being Earnest, Ncuti Gatwa is back at it again. And if Earnest was a big ensemble piece in which he was a very enjoyable cog, US playwright Liz Duffy Adams’s Born with Teeth is a two-hander that is presumably pretty much wall-to-wall Gatwa. He’ll star as the legendary playwright Christopher Marlowe opposite Edward Bluemel as William Shakespeare; the year is 1591 and in a paranoid Elizabethan England the two are collaborating on Henry VI together with a mix of flirtation and suspcion.

Nothing says summer quite like the towering stalks and glowing yellow petals of the noble sunflower. Get neck-deep in heliotropic heaven at these golden fields full of custard-yellow blooms, which are at their peak from August to September.

Why take a chance on a new hair salon this month when you can get guaranteed star treatment for a fraction of the average price (with an award-winning brand, no less)? Andrew Jose sits on the coveted Charlotte Street where you can get the do you deserve, and at a veryexclusive price. Save £116 on a luxurious pamper sesh, including a wash, cut, luxury REVLON EKS conditioning treatment and famous blow-dry that will last from dawn until dusk.

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Sure, London has got plenty of lidos, the Hamsptead ponds and the River Lea (AKA costa del Hackney), but sometimes a small body of water just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes, what you need is to feel buffeted by the strong coastal wind, smell the sea salt and hear the squawking of seagulls. So isn’t it great that London is surrounded by quaint and picturesque seaside towns, and many can be reached within an hour or two. From the up-and-coming St Leonards, to old faithful’s like Brighton and Margate, escape the heat at one of these gorgeous beach-side spots. 

RECOMMENDED: The best beaches near London

When scientists get involved in the food we eat, it's often viewed as something to steer well clear of, with scary headlines about 'Frankenfoods' surrounding genetically modified ingredients or e-numbers in our sweets. But what if science is the only way of putting food on our plates in decades to come? This new free exhibition at the Science Museum looks at fascinating projects like Norway's ice-cold seed vault and the first beef steak to be grown outside a cow, as well as looking at community-led sustainability projects. And it invites you to get involved, with a multiplayer game where you can cook up your own future for food. Delicious!

The award-winning Bad Boy Pizza Society (BBPS) has already dished out slices at residencies across London, from Belleville Brewery and Next Door Records to Seven Dials Market and Vinegar Yard. Now, BBPS has finally got the keys to its very first permanent bricks and mortar pizzeria, which opens in Bethnal Green this August. It’ll be a slice shop by day and a casual sit-down pizzeria by night, serving up its beloved New York style pizza alongside small plates and sides like ‘chicken vodka parms’, ‘giant caesar sharers’ and ‘fluffy Sicilian squares’. Yum. 

Looking for ways to keep the kids entertained during the summer holidays? Here’s something for you. Every summer theatres across the West End participate in London Kids Week. Run by the Society of London Theatre, it’s an initiative that offers under-18s free tickets during the school hols when accompanied by a paying adult. In addition, up to two further children’s tickets can be booked at half price by the same adult. It’s always a good showing and runs the gamut from full on kids’ theatre like The Smeds and the Smoos and The Tiger Who Came to Tea – clearly aimed at younger audiences – to much more adult fare like Stranger Things: The First Shadow and the Rachel Zegler-starring Evita.  

Jean-Francois Millet was an artist of the people. Born to a farming family, he spent his life painting rural workers and the conditions of their labour. This exhibition, marking the 150th anniversary of his death, presents an impressive array of his work, which went on to inspire Vincent van Gogh among other artists. Heads down and backs bent, there is a melancholic, weathered beauty to Millet’s characters.