London Art Guide July 2026 – quick links
Shaw Festival London
Celebrate the Centenary of George Bernard Shaw receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature 1926 at the inaugural Shaw Festival London hosted by the Irish Cultural Centre and The Shaw Society. The three-day festival runs from 10 to 12 July and honours the rich legacy of the award-winning playwright, author, polemicist, satirist and critic with a program of theatre, films and lectures. It will explore Shaw’s enduring impact on modern theatre and his engagement with social and political issues. Take the time to rediscover Shaw and see why his work continues to challenge and inspire into the 21st century.
West End Flea Market
Yes, it’s time for the annual West End Flea Market at The Actors’ Church (St Paul’s) in Covent Garden. This really is one of my top ‘must see’ London events! Catch highlights from many of the top West End shows and snap up some show merchandise, often at great discounts. There’s theatre memorabilia, West End raffles and auctions, celebrity signings and excellent people spotting. I won some classic Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap merch on the tombola table last year.
The market supports Acting for Others, a fundraising organisation for 14 UK theatrical charities. Last year’s event raised a record-breaking £110,000, so you can have fun and know you’re supporting a great cause.
The West End Flea Market is at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden on 25 July.
The Idler Festival
The Idler Festival is a weekend of philosophy and merriment, talks, music, workshops and salons in the beautiful surroundings of Fenton House and Gardens in Hampstead. Be entertained and enlightened by thinkers, comedians, writers and musicians in your dream garden party. Take part in renaissance dancing lessons, go for long walks, try singing, ukulele playing and beekeeping, and even experience immersive mythical melodrama. There’s the history of UK skateboarding, goth women and plenty of craftivism to explore. Special guests include Prue Leith, Jojo Moyes, Nigel Planer and Esther Freud.
Idler Festival is at Fenton House and Garden, Hampstead from 10 to 12 July 2026.
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie
Celebrate the beauty of the everyday in a series of new paintings by David Hockney, the revered British artist who died on 11 June, aged 88. Amazingly, this is the first David Hockney exhibition to be held at Serpentine Galleries even though he was one of the most influential artists of our time. A Year in Normandie invites us to slow down and notice the extraordinary within the everyday. Created specifically for this show, these new paintings extend his lifelong fascination with the act of looking, affirming his belief that simple beauty is worth celebrating.
There’s also a lovely exhibition of work by Cecily Brown simply titled Picture Making. Known for her vigorous brushwork, vivid colours and dynamic compositions, these are paintings inspired by Serpentine’s unique location in Kensington Gardens, a site of personal significance for the artist. This is her first major show in the UK since 2005 and represents a homecoming for Brown who has lived and worked in New York for the past 30 years.
These wonderful exhibitions are both free but you can book a timed entry to save the inevitable queue at the door. David Hockney: A Year in Normandie is at Serpentine North Gallery to 23 August, and Cecily Brown: Picture Making is at Serpentine South Gallery to 6 September.
Winston Churchill: The Painter
See another side to Sir Winston Churchill in this wonderful show at The Wallace Collection, presenting the first major retrospective of his works since 1965. This is an opportunity to rediscover the famed statesman, who was prime minister, wartime leader and MP for an astonishing 62 years, through his art. Bringing together almost 60 works, including still lifes and landscapes, the exhibition reveals Churchill as a prolific and talented painter. Many of these works are held in private collections and so are rarely seen on public display. The exhibition also includes personal artefacts, such as his old paint tubes and the much-used easel he took on his travels to paint wherever he went. There are also talks, tours and creative workshops, to further explore Churchill’s artistic practice and influences.
Winston Churchill: The Painter is at The Wallace Collection in London, just off Oxford Street, to 29 November.
Branding Britain
Branding Britain – built on tradition, shaped by culture opens on 4 June at the Museum of Brands. From Cadbury’s immortal ‘glass and a half’ to Paddington Bear and the Spice Girls, this fascinating new exhibition explores how the UK’s identity has been shaped through some of its most iconic brands. From household names such as Burberry and James Bond to defining moments in sport, fashion, music and media, the exhibition examines how Britain, and the very idea of ‘Britishness’, has been represented both at home and around the world. A Branding Britain ticket also includes entry to the museum’s Time Tunnel, which takes you through 200 years of social change, culture and everyday life and shows how consumer society has evolved since Victorian times.
Branding Britain is at the Museum of Brands, Notting Hill from 4 June.
Henley Festival
It’s time to dress up for the UK’s only black tie arts festival, returning to the stunning Thames riverside this month for five summer nights of world-class music, magical street theatre, comedy, art and sculpture, dining and dancing, and spectacular fireworks displays. Henley’s iconic Floating Stage opens with Boy George and Culture Club performing their biggest hits, followed by the iconic pop girl band Sugababes in their original 1998 line-up. There’s also the original Australian ABBA homage band Björn Again, back at Henley by popular demand, plus the Bootleg Beatles and and Alex James’ Britpop Classical, performing unforgettable 90s anthems. The comedy line-up features some big names with Alan Davies, Shappi Khorsandi, Russell Kane, Suzi Ruffell and Julian Clary.
The Henley Festival is at Henley-on-Thames from 8 to 12 July.
Garsington Opera
Garsington Opera at the Wormsley Estate in Buckinghamshire is another sensational summer experience you don’t want to miss. This month you can see Monteverdi’s mythical Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (The Return of Ulysses) with a stellar cast lead by Cecelia Hall and Ed Lyon, along with the immortal The Importance of Being Earnest in a witty and highly original adaptation by composer Gerald Batty. Zahid Siddiqui and Seán Boylan star as John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. And if you don’t want to drive from London, get the train to High Wycombe with a station transfer or you can hop on the Oxford Tube – which is actually a bus, of course – to Lewknor with a quick taxi ride to the venue.
Garsington Opera’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (The Return of Ulysses) runs to 25 July, followed by the The Importance of Being Earnest, which plays 10 to 23 July at Wormsley Estate, Stokenchurch.
The Art of Mini Golf
For something a little different this month, head to the Battersea Arts Centre for The Art of Mini Golf, a Playable Exhibition by RISING Melbourne. You can play your way through nine adventurous mini golf holes, each designed by a leading woman artist and exploring the game’s subversive history. Did you know that mini golf was devised by 19th century Scottish women who were banned from ‘real’ courses but refused to sit on the sidelines?
When it was staged in Melbourne, this playable exhibition received a four-star review from ArtsHub. Featured artists include Miranda July, Kaylene Whiskey, Delaine Le Bas, Natasha Tontey, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Pat Brassington, Tokyo’s Saeborg, Atlanta rapper BKTHERULA with sound artist Kate Miller, and Australian duo Soda Jerk. This brilliant combination – of art, rebellion and mini golf – comes together in an exhibition for the curious, the competitive, and anyone bold enough to swing outside the lines. Highly recommended!
The Art of Mini Golf is at the Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill to 26 July.
Famous faces on London stages
There’s always an opportunity to see a famous face from film and television live on stage in London. This month, national treasure Maureen Lipman is a delight in Allegra at the Harold Pinter Theatre; Sandra Oh stars in The Misanthrope at the National Theatre; and Catherine Tate is Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh Mary! at The Trafalgar Theatre to 18 July, followed by Cole Escola returning to the role from 20 July.
Felicity Kendall also stars in High Society at the Barbican, along with Freddie Fox in his musical theatre debut, at Barbican Theatre; Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Raison star in Grace Pervades at Theatre Royal Haymarket; Robert Lindsay and Jemma Redgrave are in the world premiere of Springwood at Hampstead Theatre; funny man Stephen Mangan shines in The Truth at Apollo Theatre; Adrian Lester is powerful as Cyrano de Bergerac at the Noël Coward Theatre; and Star Trek’s Chris Pine makes his London stage debut in a new staging of Anton Chekhov’s comic drama Ivanov at the Bridge Theatre.
