Unmissable Things To Do In London in August 2026
Don’t sweat for nothing with our August list of Unmissable Things To Do in London!
Backyard Biennial: East | Whitechapel Gallery | Throughout August | FREE
Ignore Eddy Frankel’s snarky one star Guardian review of just one event in Whitechapel Gallery‘s epic free and community focused arts festival (with more than 40 local partners across East London) and you won’t regret it.
August highlights include:
- Bengali art and food stars OITIJ-JO present a series of 20 powerful films in collaboration with SHALA_Neighbourhood Art Space, Dhaka, in their East India arts gallery on 3 Aug and 24 Aug; 7pm
- Backyard Biennial Neighbourhood Party takes over the whole Whitechapel Gallery on 8 August
Shark Night…The Return! | Triangle LGBTQ+ Cultural Centre | 1 August | £10
Sharks. Lots of them. Plus performance artist/curator Martin O’Brien.
Dynasty Handbag: Hell in a Handbag | Soho Theatre | 1 August | From £19
A last chance to see Queer performance artist Jibz Cameron’s alter ego in London.
SET Social Community Day & Market – Pride Edition! | SET Social | 2 August | FREE
Support SET Social and indie traders in these hard times, where they struggle to keep space in rapidly gentrified Peckham.
The Camden Fringe | Multiple Venues | 3-30 August
Camden Fringe is the best place to discover hot new performance talent this August. Expect pub theatres to come alive with new exciting works.
Three that stood out are:
- Bitches in Stitches: New Grrrl Order
- Firebrand: A New Queer Musical
- Scott Manley Hadley: Bald Personality Disorder
UNSAFE: The Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash | Common Press Dalston | 6 August | From £7
An important book launch getting to grips with the anti-trans movement, which is sadly rife.
Found Luggage In Any Case | The Old Waiting Room, Peckham Rye | 7 August | From £15
A one-off performance dialogue between artists Marilyn Arsem and Anne Bean in Peckham Rye stations decaying beauty, The Old Waiting Room.
Good Wine | Something Good Workshops | 8 August | £40
Get your creative juices flowing with this much needed night of wine and simple drawing exercises.
Dance Again | The Cockpit | 10-12 August | £15
A dancefloor odyssey with live dj.
Love and Resistance | The Orangery at Kensington Palace | 14 August | £10
An evening of Queer South Asian joy, love and resistance in the Orangery at Kensington Palace.
Cinema in the Square | The Arzner | 15-31 August | £10
Queer cinema comes out into the square.
SE8 Summer Fete | The Albany | 15 August | FREE
An outdoor mini festival as part of Mayor of London’s Loved & Wanted funding scheme at Deptford’s original and much loved community hub.
Greenwich+Docklands International Festival | Multiple Locations | From 21 August
London’s best free festival returns with jaw-dropping shows all over east London.
The Dance Floor is Black | Sadler’s Wells East | 22 & 23 August | FREE
The most successful venue in the new East Bank development gets in the carnival spirit with Faggamuffin’s bloc party on The Dance Floor.
Unfinished Business | New Diorama Theatre | 26-29 August | £18
It’s 2100 and everything is virtual but past decisions can come back to challenge the future.
Agni & Amor | Shipwright | 30 August | From £17.50
Storytelling and live music performance outside a secret riverside house in Greenwich.
Bermondsey Carnival | Southwark Park | 31 August | FREE
A ‘proper day out’ in the park.
Did we forget any unmissable things to do in London? We almost certainly did – please let us know in the comments below or contact us!
Occasionally the To Do List team are forced to work together.
Rupert likes: free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.
Stuart likes: nice pubs, film marathons, not doing real marathons, bad comedy, plays/musicals with shorter second halves, and the Oxford comma.
This is one of the best lists in all of London – thank you!
Thanks so much! We really appreciate your feedback. Ru & Stu