London is changing all the time. Our transport is always being upgraded to make travel smoother, our neighbourhoods are always getting new homes and community spaces, and fresh cultural offerings like restaurants and theatre shows are always popping up.
So naturally, 2026 will be full of new openings. We’ve put together a list of all of the most exciting new projects set to alter London over the next 12 months. There are enormous multi-venue developments opening in the west of the city, a new public garden, a casino and a quirky hostel coming to the centre, and a shiny new museum and jazz bar launching in the east. Read on for all the details.
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V&A East
Last year saw the great unveiling of the V&A East Storehouse. This year, it’s all about the V&A East Museum. Based in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a short walk from the storehouse, the new museum will have two free permanent galleries packed with more than 500 objects spanning art, architecture, design, performance and fashion. It’ll open to the public on April 18 and its first exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, will explore how Black British music has shaped culture in Britain and beyond, with exhibits including Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, looks worn by Little Simz and photography by Dennis Morris and Jennie Baptiste.
Tate Britain Clore Garden
There’ll be a new little green haven along the Thames in 2026. Tate Britain has joined forces with garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith and the Royal Horticultural Society to create the Clore Garden. The garden will surround the neo-classical building on Millbank and be a space for both gallery visitors and members of the local community. There’ll be a whole host of plant species, a wildlife pond and a network of paths made from reclaimed material from the existing garden.
Prince Charles Cinema hostel
The beloved Prince Charles Cinema faced an uncertain future in 2025, but going into 2026, things are looking up. The PCC hasn’t officially been saved yet but it has been confirmed that the four storeys above the venue are being converted into a 230-bedroom hostel (though they’ll be less bedrooms, more small sleeping pods). Apparently it’ll be ‘high quality and reasonably priced’ with unisex bathrooms and a few windows. Construction is already underway but there’s no set opening date yet.
Olympia
Originally tipped to open in 2025, it’s hoped that the results of Olympia’s enormous £1.3 billion makeover will finally be complete this year. The new and improved 14-acre Olympia centre will include two hotels, a swanky new theatre, a 4,000 capacity music arena and over 30 places to wine and dine. The arena is expected to open in the spring but the entire complex won’t be fully up and running until 2027.
Hammersmith and Fulham Civic Campus
A huge new hub will open in Hammersmith in the few months, with its revived Grade II-listed art deco Town Hall as the grand centrepiece. The sparkly Civic Campus on Kings Street will include 204 new homes, a public piazza, a five-screen cinema, a concert and theatre hall, a gallery space, plenty of cafes, restaurants and shops and a public art programme. It’s set to open in phases, with council staff moving in at the start of this year and a public opening scheduled for March.
London Museum
The attraction formerly known as the Museum of London will finally reopen at its new Smithfield home this year. Renamed London Museum, there’ll be an underground gallery space in the old Great Northern Railway depot and a big window in the market’s old salt store allowing visitors to watch trains carry passengers through Farringdon – a feature meant to connect the museum to the ‘London of today’. It’ll open in late 2026 but details of the first exhibitions are still under wraps.
Jazz Cafe East
Built in 1896, Stratford High Street’s Rex Theatre has gone through multiple iterations over its 130-year history. First it was a theatre and opera house, then it was converted into a cinema, then a bingo hall and later a nightclub. This year, after more than a decade sitting largely vacant, it’ll become Jazz Cafe East, an offshoot of Camden’s iconic Jazz Cafe.
Trocadero
Back in October, Genting Casinos UK got the green light from Westminster Council to turn the iconic Trocadero building on Coventry Street into a two-storey casino and restaurant. The revamp will include two new shopfronts along Rupert Street, and a new shopfront and entrance on Coventry Street. It’s slated to launch in the autumn.
St. Clement Hotel
From Soho House founder Nick Jones comes the all new St Clement Hotel at 180 The Thames. There aren’t many details out there yet, but we know that it’ll have 90 bedrooms, 15 apartments, a gym and a rooftop restaurant, and will open at some point in the next 12 months.
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