The 20 best things to do this May bank holiday in London

Huge news for anyone who has had the misfortune of having to schlep back from IKEA Wembley on public transport with a Kallax shelving unit, a Tjusig shoe rack, two houseplants, and a giant blue Frakta bag full of ‘kitchen bits’; Sweden’s blue-and-yellow flatpack mecca is finally opening its massive new Oxford Street store on Thursday May 1, just in time for the May bank holiday. The city centre outpost will offer the ‘traditional IKEA experience’ that we Brits all know and love, with three floors of showrooms, a market space stocking more than 3,500 items of bargain homeware and, of course, a 130-seater Swedish deli where you can unwind after your inevitable wardrobe-induced argument over meatballs with lingonberry jam and those iconic 75p hot dogs. Planning to spend your long weekend doing some home improvements? This is the place to be!

Is it warm enough to swim outdoors yet? Well, kinda? The end of May marks the crossover between the period where only the truly hardcore swim outside, and the period where hobbyists in impractical swimwear flood London's watering holes. It's the perfect time to test your nerve, before the crowds descend.

Taking place across a whopping 20 venues in and around Queen’s Yard in Hackney Wick – including The Yard, Colour Factory, CRATE brewery and 9294 – this day-to-night celebration of London’s vibrant dance music scene is becoming a much-loved fixture over the early May Bank Holiday weekend. More than 100 DJs or collectives feature on the whopping line-up, which ranges from beloved local selectors to more established international names playing everything from house and techno to garage and disco. But that’s not all, as there’ll be after-parties kicking off at Colour Factory and Village Underground, too. Artists include: Sports Banger, Percolate and Rhythm Labs. Check out the full line-up here.

From swanky skyscrapers to casual warehouse hangouts and hidden pub terraces, London has a real crush on a rooftop bar. To enjoy a heatwave high, we are blessed with all kinds of rooftops which offer a winning combination of wicked city views and perfect drinks. So take your pick from stylish Shoreditch, buzzing Soho and Covent Garden, trendy Peckham and more – it’s time to soak up those sunsets, with rooftop bar season now upon us.

What is a spatial audio festival, you might be wondering? If you go to Polygon Live LDN, you’ll probably find out. The gist is seeing live music in a 360-degree arena surrounded by high-tech lights and loads of crystal-clear speakers – a spectacle which event organisers actually call a ‘spaceship’. Artists on the lineup so far include dreamy Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab, electronic legend Jon Hopkins, and composer Cosmo Sheldrake. This is one for audiophiles looking for something a bit more immersive. 

Fabric is one of London’s most famous and respected nightlife venues, drawing in crowds of ravers from all over the world, so it makes sense that the venue is celebrating its 25th birthday by collaborating with another of London’s most iconic tourist attractions, hosting a one-off night at the British Museum to kick off the early May Bank holiday. The museum’s majestic Reading Room, Room 17 – home of the ancient Lycian Nereid Monument – and China and South Asia gallery will be the backdrop for a truly memorable Friday night out featuring experimental dance music courtesy of Mancunian acid house legend A Guy Called Gerald, fabric resident Anna Wall, and NIGHT manoeuvres, a new collaborative project from DJ and producer ABSOLUTE and London Grammar’s Dot Major. Fancy raving among some ancient artefacts? Reserve a free, timed ticket to the museum here to guarantee entry.

There’s perhaps nothing more magical than seeing a play or musical in the open air, and London is absolutely the city for it. In defiance of the weather gods, our outdoor theatre season now stretches from March to late October: we’re are just that tough. Or at least, optimistic about the weather. Substantially it revolves around a few key theatres. There’s Shakespeare’s Globe, which will be staging an Elizabethan dress production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by in-house artistic director Sean Holmes over the bank holiday. And there’s the delightful Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, which is also staging a Shakespearian comedy over the bank holiday; a version of mistaken identity shipwreck jaunt ‘Twelfth Night’ helmed by RSC veteran Owen Horsley.

The Bermondsey Beer Mile is sooo last year. Now, the coolest craft quaffers are all doing the Blackhorse Beer Mile in Walthamstow. Much more chic. The lagertastic event is back for the third year in a row this May bank holiday, with all of the Stow’s best breweries taking part. We’re talking Big Penny Social, Signature Brew, Pretty Decent, Exale, Renegade Urban Winery, and Burnt Faith Distillery, all rolled into one boozy crawl. Plus, across the trail will be DJs, a live brass band and Neapolitan pizza. Grab your mates and get ready to enjoy Blackhorse Lane’s finest, just maybe don’t Lime home afterwards. 

All good things come to those who wait, and boy have we been waiting a long time for Soho Theatre Walthamstow. The sister venue to central London’s beloved Soho Theatre has been in the works since before the pandemic, but finally we know when it’ll be upon us: that is it say Friday May 2, when it’ll reopen with a run for LA clown genius Natalie Palamides’s superb new show Weer. Tickets are on sale now, and if you live locally, you can claim one of 15,000 £15 tickets on offer throughout the venue’s first year.

The Hayward Gallery is being transformed into an everyday 1970s home for this display of paintings by American artist Mickalene Thomas. She’s been at the forefront of contemporary portraiture for a while now, and this show of images of Black women luxuriating in domestic settings will be her most ambitious UK exhibition to date.

Brixton’s annual disco festival will make you feel like you’re dancing in hot pants even if you’re actually wearing dad jeans. Returning for its seventh year, the event takes place across a host of SW9’s best venues, including Brixton Jamm, Phonox, Electric Brixton and the Black Cultural Archives. Line-up stalwarts returning for the 2025 festival include Dimitri From Paris, Norman Jay MBE and Faith residents Terry Farley, Stuart Patterson and Dave Jarvis. Also featured are noughties party-starters Crazy P, Rinse FM resident Charlie Dark veteran soul singer Omar and NTS regular Ruby Savage. And as well as plenty of music to get you up and dancing, the festival will feature a screening of Luther: Never Too Much, a new documentary about legendary R&B singer Luther Vandross, at the Ritzy cinema, plus plenty of delicious food to try at Brixton Village’s late opening. Category is: an amazing night out!

Henry VIII’s former gaff is already one of the most splendid-looking buildings in London, but fill it with 10,000 tulips and you’ve got something mighty special to look at. Hampton Court Palace’s Tulip Festival is one of the biggest planted displays of the colouful flowers in the UK and is a good excuse to celebrate the start of spring. See the buds pouring out of the Tudor wine fountain and in floating tulip vases, and spot rare, historic and specialist varieties. There are also expert talks on the flowers and craft activities themed around them.

The palace’s expert gardeners predict the displays will look at their best in mid-April, so don’t wait around to visit. 

The ‘golden age’ of the Mughal court – which ruled Hindustan (or the modern day Indian subcontinent from the 1500s – was a time of great creativity and artistic achievements. Its people did it all, from colourful paintings to illustrated manuscripts, intricately woven carpets to delicate textiles, architectural pieces to stunning items made out of and decorated with mother of pearl, jade, and precious metals. For about 100 years, these guys were at the top of their arty game and it’s all showcased in this deep dive exhibition. 

In the 19th Century, Utagawa Hiroshige produced thousands of prints capturing the landscape, nature and daily life in Japan during the Edo period. He became one of Japan’s most famous and prolific artists, and continues to influence art today. Now there’s a rare chance to see many of his never-before-seen works on display at the British Museum, with several pieces believed to be the only surviving examples of their kind in the world. Hiroshige: artist of the open road will be the first exhibition of his work in London for a quarter of a century, giving an insight into Japan during a time of rapid change presaging the end of samurai rule. It will span Hiroshige’s 40-year career through prints, paintings, books and sketches.

When it comes to baby animals to cuddle up to in spring, tiny lambs are obviously the GOAT. Surrey Docks Farm, a sweet little site right next to the Thames with its own blacksmithery, puts on lamb-feeding sessions almost every day during the season. You’ll have to book your slot a week in advance in case the little guys need a rest (they’re pretty tiny after all).

In an odd coincidence, this production of Samuel Beckett”s visionary drama of old age has its brief run at the Barbican at exactly the same time as Gary Oldman returns to the stage in a much higher profile production in York. Still, London is hardly getting sloppy seconds, as former Royal Court boss Vicky Featherstone is reunited with the great Irish actor Stephen Rea for a production that scored great reviews in Ireland and Australia last year. The 55-minute play concerns the elderly Krapp, who records a tape every year on his birthday, spending the day listening to the old ones. As the shows wears on the old man is increasingly horrified by the arrogance and blind self-belief of his youth. Apparently Rea had the thought some 13 years ago that he might end up performing Krapp one day, and so recorded himself doing some of the ‘younger’ lines on spec whikle his voice had a different timbre – they’re now featured in this show.

Dalston’s wonderful 40ft Brewery turns 10 this summer, and to celebrate reaching double digits the esteemed beer makers are throwing a three-day birthday bash. Across the weekend you’ll be able to get your hands on £4 pints (yes, you read that right), a special brew Jameson whisky sour, rock oysters, Dusty Knuckle pizza and limited edition merch. For entertainment, there will be DJs and an Irish trad band. Chin chin!

Returning with another provocative, penetrating array of non-fiction films, The Open City Documentary Festival is setting up camp at London cinemas this autumn. Barbican, Bertha DocHouse, Close-Up Film Centre, Curzon Soho, Genesis Cinema, ICA and even Tate Modern are all hosting the best in documentary filmmaking from around the world. This year’s edition will show 101 films and four Expanded Realities projects, from 21 different countries, including five world premieres and 16 UK premieres. The festival kicks off with Siticulosa by Maeve Brennan, a dreamy film that explores the relationship between archaeology, geology and agriculture in the Puglian landscape. Also on the bill is Moving Statics, a retrospective of the works of Australian filmmaking couple Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, newly restored films by pioneering Lebanese director Jocelyne Saab, and a performance by Maxime Jean-Baptiste at Tate Modern. 

Pack your earplugs and plasters, this is a festival of extremes. Hosting some of the loudest bands in the music scene, Incineration Festival takes place across five hallowed grounds in north London, offering a devilish weekendof extreme metal. Conan, Pallbearer, Zeal & Ardor and Blood Incantation are all on the bill, casting a mesmerisingly deathly aura to Roundhouse, Electric Ballroom, Underworld, Black Heart and The Dev. 

Multitudes is a brand-new arts festival at the Southbank Centre, bringing together world-class orchestras and some of the most ambitious and exciting artists, performers and creatives currently working in their fields, including George the Poet performing with Chineke! Orchestra and pianist Igor Levit performing Erik Satie’s Vexations in a unique event directed by conceptual artist Marina Abramović. It all concludes over the early May bank holiday with Carnival, an exciting collaboration between Aurora Orchestra and physical theatre group Frantic Assembly (the gang behind the award-winning West End production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time).