Culture · London
Lifestyle
What London is wearing, playing, shooting and showing. The big stuff only — filed from SE5.
Music17 October 2026
Jamie T Takes the Number 1 Album With Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning); Chase & Status Are Second Again
The Official Albums Chart dated 16 October has Jamie T's Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning) at Number 1 and Chase & Status's Generic Everything at Number 2.
Art16 October 2026
London Culture, 17 to 25 October: What Opens, Closes and Goes on Sale This Weekend and Next Week
A dated list for 17 to 25 October: Frieze and the London Film Festival close on Sunday, Hokusai opens, and Ali G and Klara reach cinemas.
Photography16 October 2026
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Opens at the Natural History Museum With 100 Photographs
The Natural History Museum's show of 100 award-winning photographs opens on 16 October and runs to 11 July 2027, with adult tickets from £17 to £21.
Film16 October 2026
Ali G: Who Iz I? Opens in UK Cinemas on 23 October, With a Campaign Urging Venues Not to Show It
Ali G: Who Iz I? opens on 23 October; a campaign urges cinemas to refuse it, and Picturehouse says it does not currently plan to screen it.
Film16 October 2026
Taika Waititi's Klara and the Sun, From Ishiguro's Novel, Reaches UK Cinemas on 23 October
Waititi directs Jenna Ortega as Klara in an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel; Screen Daily lists it for UK and Ireland cinemas on 23 October.
Music16 October 2026
U2 Release 'The Greatest Show On Earth' and Announce a 2027 Stadium Tour; UK Dates Are Still to Come
U2 announced a 2027 tour on 15 October; presales start 19 October, first dates are in Latin America, and NME says UK dates follow in weeks.
Music16 October 2026
The Rolling Stones Announce Foreign Tongues, Loose Lips: a Deluxe Edition With Five New Songs
The Stones' deluxe Foreign Tongues adds five new songs on 27 November, including a Courtney Pine feature and a duet with Charlie Watts credited on drums.
Social & Ads16 October 2026
Debenhams Launches Its Christmas Ad: Four Minutes, Emily Atack and a Power Cut
Debenhams' four-minute 'Christmas. For Everyone' went live on 15 October with Emily Atack and Mathew Horne, directed by Tom Day.
Social & Ads16 October 2026
Ofcom Says X's First Hate and Terror Report Appears to Show Some Improvements, With Ongoing Concerns, and Narrows Its Grok Investigation
Ofcom's 14 October update says X's first quarterly report appears to show some improvements; it keeps concerns and narrows the Grok investigation.
Social & Ads16 October 2026
IPA Bellwether: UK Marketing Budgets Get the Strongest Upward Revision in Nine Quarters
The IPA's Q3 2026 Bellwether report shows the strongest upward revision of UK marketing budgets in nine quarters, with main media at a nine-quarter high.
Social & Ads16 October 2026
Publicis Reports Third-quarter Growth With the UK 'Broadly Flat'; Campaign's Headline Calls Havas's UK 'Challenging'
Publicis grew 5.0% organically in Q3 with the UK broadly flat; Campaign's headline has Havas up 2.4% but the UK still challenging.
Art14 October 2026
Frieze London and Frieze Masters Open in Regent's Park With Around 300 Galleries
Frieze London and Frieze Masters run 14 to 18 October in The Regent's Park: 172 and 138 exhibitors, two new sections and a free outdoor sculpture show.
Film14 October 2026
The London Film Festival Closes on Sunday With Eisenberg's The Debut, and the Best Film Winner Is Named
The 70th BFI London Film Festival ends on Sunday 18 October with Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut at the Royal Festival Hall; the Best Film winner is named that day.
Photography14 October 2026
William Eggleston's Colour Gets a Big Soho Show, Fifty Years After His Guide
The Photographers' Gallery opened William Eggleston: All That Goes Unnoticed on 14 October. Time Out gives it four stars, and it runs to 21 February 2027.
Photography14 October 2026
Cindy Sherman Debuts Fabric Matrons on Savile Row, Built Partly From Chanel's Archive
Cindy Sherman's new Fabric Matrons series opened at Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row, on 13 October and runs to 23 December, partly using Chanel's archive.
Art14 October 2026
Tarek Atoui Fills Tate Modern's Turbine Hall With Bamboo Pipes, Drums and Humming Stones
Tate Modern's 11th Hyundai Commission opened on 13 October: wind through bamboo pipes, mechanised drums and stones that vibrate with sound, free to 11 April.
Film14 October 2026
Cinemas This Friday: Street Fighter and Whalefall Open After Other Mommy's £2m Weekend
Street Fighter, Whalefall and Forgotten Island open on Friday 16 October, after Other Mommy opened at £2m and The Social Reckoning took £621,000.
Music14 October 2026
Fontaines D.C. Release Dopamine Chamber on Friday, Then Take It to The O2 and London Stadium
The band's fifth album is out on 16 October on XL, with Rosalía guesting; they play The O2 on Friday 27 November and London Stadium on 9 July 2027.
Social & Ads14 October 2026
ASA Upholds Six Paid-social Ad Rulings, Including a 'Closing Sunday' Sale With No Closing Date
The ASA published six upheld rulings on 14 October, all on paid social ads; eight advertisers, including Gymshark, EE and Jet2, resolved complaints informally.
Social & Ads14 October 2026
Ofcom Investigates Meta Over Instagram Instants, Under the Online Safety Act
Ofcom is examining whether Meta carried out required risk assessments before launching Instants on Instagram in May; it can fine up to £18m or 10% of revenue.
Social & Ads14 October 2026
Meta Makes Image-to-video Ads Generally Available as It Pushes AI Deeper Into Campaign Setup
Announced on 6 October: video generated from static assets is generally available, with agentic campaign setup in early testing. No UK date was given.
Social & Ads14 October 2026
Social Media Will Take $394.6bn of Ad Spend This Year, WARC Forecasts, With the UK Past £50bn
WARC's Q3 forecast has social ad spend up 21.3% to $394.6bn in 2026; the AA and WARC put the UK market at £50.5bn, with social growing 16.5%.
Fashion14 October 2026
UGG's First Collaboration Is With JW Anderson, Fronted by Dev Hynes
The UGG x JW Anderson Loafer (£280) and Loafer Boot (£380) went on sale on Thursday 15 October, with a campaign set around the home, fronted by Dev Hynes.
Fashion14 October 2026
The Fashion Awards 2026: Sarah Burton and Simone Rocha Are Each Shortlisted Twice
The Fashion Awards are at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 November. Sarah Burton and Simone Rocha are each nominated twice; an 18-member jury chose the lists.
Fashion14 October 2026
ASOS Confirms Cyber Attack After an Unauthorised 'Hacked' Notification Reached Customers' Phones
ASOS says customer names and contact details were accessed; payment cards and passwords are not believed affected. TFG London has reported an incident too.
Film14 October 2026
BFI and Chanel Give Four British Filmmakers £20,000 Each at Claridge's
Rich Felgate, Olive Nwosu, Imran Perretta and Rachel Taparjan win this year's BFI and Chanel Filmmaker Awards, judged by Jessie Buckley and Edward Enninful.
Music14 October 2026
Raye's One-Off Royal Albert Hall Show Drew 1.8 Million Sign-ups for a 5,000-capacity Hall
Raye says about 1.8 million people signed up for 'This Symphony May Contain Hope' on 23 October, and her team hand-checked the list for real fans.
Music14 October 2026
Thom Yorke's Radiohead-scored Hamlet Hail to the Thief Opens at the Barbican on 31 October
The RSC and Factory International production, with Thom Yorke reworking Hail to the Thief for a live cast, plays the Barbican from 31 October to 23 January.
Art14 October 2026
Hokusai's Complete Mount Fuji Series, All 46 Prints, Arrives at Dulwich Picture Gallery
From 20 October, Dulwich Picture Gallery shows all 46 prints of Hokusai's Mount Fuji series, the original 36 and ten added later, from the Iuchi Collection.
Art21 September 2026
Magritte at Gagosian London: 'This Is Still Not a Pipe' Is Open Free in Mayfair Until 12 December
Gagosian Grosvenor Hill shows Magritte beside more than forty later artists from 24 September to 12 December 2026, with the Fondation Magritte. Free.
Art21 September 2026
Monet at Tate Modern in 2027: 60 Paintings, 20 Water Lilies and the London Bridges
Tate Modern's first Monet exhibition, Monet: Painting Time, runs 25 February to 27 June 2027: more than 60 paintings, organised with the Musée de l'Orangerie.
Art21 September 2026
London Exhibitions Opening in October 2026: Renoir, Korea, Es Devlin, the Riviera and Eggleston
Renoir at the National Gallery, Korea at the British Museum, Es Devlin at the Design Museum and the Riviera at the RA all opened between 1 and 3 October 2026.
Fashion19 September 2026
M&S's First London Fashion Week Show: Half the Collection Under £50
M&S's first catwalk collection, shown at the Design Museum on 18 September, went on sale from the show, half under £50. The Guardian said the gamble paid off.
Music7 September 2026
Sam Smith Took the London Coliseum for Eight Nights
Eight 'To Be Free' nights ran 8–19 September. BBC One London listed the 9 September show for 10.40pm on 23 September, with Radio 2 highlights on the 24th.
Film3 September 2026
Letitia Wright's The Story Split the Critics
Afridiziak gave five stars, the Guardian and the Standard four, and three was the most common verdict. It runs in the Olivier to 24 October.
Art2 September 2026
Yayoi Kusama Dies at 97, and Tate Counts What She Meant to It
Tate's interim director called her 'an immensely important artist to Tate', whose Infinity Mirror Rooms drew almost a million visitors in three years.
Film2 September 2026
Tilda Swinton's Man to Man: The Reviews, From Three Stars to Five
The Arts Desk gave Tilda Swinton five stars, the Guardian and Time Out four, the Independent three. London is sold out bar £15 Mondays and returns.
Fashion2 September 2026
Victoria Beckham's Label Turns Its First Profit in 18 Years
A £7.3m operating profit on revenue of £129.8m for 2025 — the first since the label launched in 2008, and a long way from being £54m in debt.
Fashion2 September 2026
Burberry Shoots Winter 2026 on the Thames
FKA twigs and Romeo Beckham front the house's Winter 2026 campaign, photographed by Glen Luchford with London's river as the backdrop.
Art2 September 2026
The Bayeux Tapestry Opened to Queues, Five Stars and a 40-Minute Clock
It opened on 10 September to five-star reviews and strict 40-minute slots. 2026 is sold out; January–March tickets go on sale on 21 October.
Photography28 August 2026
Tim Walker Builds a Fairyland at the National Portrait Gallery
Five years of photographing queer Britain, Ian McKellen included, is 'Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends' at the NPG, open from 9 October to 7 February.
Fashion28 August 2026
The Met Calls Off Its John Galliano Retrospective
'John Galliano: Horizons', the Costume Institute show the 2027 Met Gala was to launch, will not go ahead. The Met and Galliano called it off on 31 August.
Art28 August 2026
Frieze London's Artist Award Goes to a Giant Spider You Can Climb
Theo Triantafyllidis wins the 2026 Frieze London Artist Award with a climbable spider that doubles as a multiplayer game, in the Focus section, 14–18 October.
Photography28 August 2026
Tate Modern Tells the Story of How Photography Became Art
200 rare vintage prints by over 80 artists opened at Bankside on 14 October, in what Tate calls the first global survey of Pictorialism.
Music28 August 2026
Supergrass Announce a Hits-and-Deep-Cuts Tour, London 7 May
After playing 'I Should Coco' in full for its 30th anniversary, they return in spring 2027 for the whole catalogue. One London night: O2 Forum Kentish Town.
Art21 August 2026
Edward Enninful Curates the Nineties at Tate Britain
The former British Vogue editor guest-curates 100-plus works by nearly 70 names — Hirst, McQueen, Westwood, Corinne Day — at Millbank, open since 8 October.
Fashion21 August 2026
Frasers Buys Harvey Nichols, Ending 35 Years of Dickson Poon
The Knightsbridge institution went into pre-pack administration and out again on 13 August, sold to Frasers Group with more than 1,000 staff attached.
Photography21 August 2026
Nan Goldin Comes Back to London After More Than Two Decades
The Hayward stages her first UK institutional show since 2002 from 24 November, premiering a new film scored by Mica Levi.
Fashion21 August 2026
The V&A Gives the Burberry Trench a Gallery of Its Own
A free V&A display for the house's 170th year, open from 21 September 2026 to 3 January 2027, tracing the coat from 1879 gabardine to 19 runway looks.
Film21 August 2026
The Cinema Museum Has Until December to Buy Chaplin's Workhouse
London's volunteer-run museum of cinema-going is trying to raise £500,000 by December to buy its Kennington building outright.
Fashion14 August 2026
London Fashion Week September 2026: How the Week Went, Show by Show
M&S's catwalk debut, Kane's Mulberry, Rocha at the Old Bailey, McQueen at Lincoln's Inn, Burberry in Chelsea to close: the week reviewed, show by show.
Art14 August 2026
Lady in Blue Is Up on the Fourth Plinth — and the Critics Split
Tschabalala Self's painted-bronze everywoman went up on Trafalgar Square on 10 September as the 16th Fourth Plinth commission. The reviews did not agree.
Culture gets made in rooms. Ours are for hire.
Reported from published sources · linked in every piece