Unmissable Things To Do In London in May 2026
Get your dose of spring folk weirdness for May with our Unmissable Things To Do in London!
Full Bloom Festival | All over Deptford | 1-4 May | FREE
Free live music, events, flowers, beer specials and so much more to discover in Deptford’s folk fiesta. This exhibition looks cool as part of it:
Queer East | Cinemas all over London | Until 6 June | From FREE
Wow this year’s Queer East festival is epic. Expect ‘a cross-disciplinary festival that showcases boundary-pushing LGBTQ+ cinema, live arts, and moving image work from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities’. Don’t miss it! The website is a little overwhelming but do persevere and you’ll find some incredible gems.
Highlights for us include:
- Tender Guerrillas: Self-Filming and Queer Becomings – 2 May
- Daughters Who Live a Westernised Life – 6 May
- Bunny – from 4 June
Bourgeois & Maurice | Bistrotheque | Fridays in May from 1st | £15
Our fave cult cabaret icons return to their home planet like nothing has happened since 2007.
You Are Here | Southbank Centre | 3 May | From £35+4 bkg fee
Southbank Centre celebrates it’s 75th with a wild walk around punk, grime, northern soul, acid house, dancehall and disco made by Danny Boyle, Carson McColl, Gareth Pugh and Paulette Randall, with Sabrina Mahfouz and Natasha Chivers.
Birkbeck Arts Week | Birkbeck, Bloomsbury | 5-8 May | FREE
A free arts and culture fest from the university including a special reading by Keith Jarrett.
Sketchy Muslims | Deptford Market Yard | 8 May | £20
The UK’s first all Muslim women sketch show promises to be Halal but not cringe.
Genesis Birthday Season | Genesis Cinema | 8-22 May | From £3.50
London’s best indie cinema celebrates 30 years with ticket deals from £3.50 classic movies and popcorn combos for £5. Support this incredible place or lose it.
Side eYe hosts an evening in Soomaaliya, a cookbook by Ifrah F.Ahmed | Underbelly Boulevard, Soho | 10 May | From £16.50
An immersive evening in Soomaaliya, inspired by and in collaboration with New York-based chef, writer and artist Ifrah F. Ahmed’s debut cookbook of the same name.
Exhibition on Screen: Frida Kahlo | Cinemas across London | 17 May | Prices Vary
Get up close and personal in comfy seats at your local cinema for this delve into Mexican surrealist queen Frida Kahlo.
The Age of Consent | Southbank Centre | 24 May | from £27 + 4 bkg fee
Bronski Beat’s 1984 debut album is reinterpreted by queer and trans artists.
ON THE RYE FESTIVAL | Peckham Rye Park | 25 May | FREE
A marvellous free community festival with stalls, music and more…
OUT THERE FESTIVAL | Great Yarmouth | 28-30 May | From FREE
A free outdoor festival of circus, spectacle and fun that takes over the gorgeous seaside town of Great Yarmouth. Leave London now!
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!
I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.
