The best things to do in London this January

The new year brings with it a thrilling lineup of fresh openings and events across the capital. Food and drink standouts include a new neighbourhood bakery and restaurant in Queen’s Park and chef Jackson Boxer’s latest project in Notting Hill. There are plenty of exhibitions to explore while the winter chill lingers, including a cutting-edge digital art show at Tate Modern and a print exhibition showcasing the works of Pablo Picasso at the British Museum. You’ll also find the best places to celebrate the incoming Year of the Snake at Chinese Lunar New Year. Read on to get the lowdown on the hottest things to do in London this January.

The best things to do in London this January

Chinese Lunar New Year

When: 29 January 

The first new moon of the lunar calendar – which falls on 29 January this year – ushers in Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake. In London, a parade will take place on 2 February, with colourful floats, snakes and dragons set to dance from Trafalgar Square through Chinatown to Soho. Stage performances will spotlight traditional Chinese dance and opera, while food pop ups along Shaftesbury Avenue and Leicester Square will also mark the occasion. For those looking to celebrate, Emily Yeoh (of Two Hot Asians!) is hosting a supper club on 29 January starring dumplings and Hainanese-style roast chicken at Mama Shelter in Shoreditch, Bunhouse in Chinatown is dishing up a lantern bun tea set for the New Year, while RedFarm in Covent Garden is the perfect spot for traditional dim sum.

Don’t Tell Dad, Queen’s Park

Location: 10-14 Lonsdale Road, London NW6 6RD
Price: TBC

Track down the white brick exterior with striking red lettering on Lonsdale Road, and you’ll know you’ve found Queen’s Park’s coolest new bakery and restaurant. At the bakery, you’ll find excellent breads and pastries like hazelnut butter croissants, pistachio danishes and triple decker sandwiches. In the restaurant, you’ll find Anglo-French food courtesy of chef Luke Frankie (previously of Noble Rot, Forza Wine and Spring). Expect bold dishes such as truffle and cheddar beignets, crab tart with charred corn, and roast pumpkin with brown butter. As for the interiors, a low-lit, moody setting is made inviting with candles, wood accents, red-tiled floors and an open kitchen where guests can enjoy a front-row seat to their food being prepared at leather counter stools.

Dove, Notting Hill

Location: 31 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2EU
Price: Starters from 5 GBP; large plates from 10 GBP

Missed out on visiting Jackson Boxer’s acclaimed Notting Hill restaurant Orasay before it closed in 2024? Fear not – the chef is launching a new concept at the same Kensington Park Road address on 7 January. Unlike Boxer’s former seafood menu inspired by the Scottish Western Isles where he holidayed in his youth, seasonal dishes at Dove will focus on what he wants to cook and eat right now. Early highlights include deep-fried taleggio and truffle lasagne, lemon and ricotta dumplings with lobster cream, pork and duck meatballs, and steamed hake with grilled cabbage, capers and lemon. Guests can expect the same natural palette of wood, creams and terracotta hues that the original space was known for.

Bar Valette, Shoreditch

Location: 28 Kingsland Road, London E2 8AA
Price: TBC

Bar Valette is the newest addition to east London’s food scene, serving up modern European plates inspired by chef-owner Isaac McHale’s love of French and Spanish cooking. The restaurant has a distinctly more relaxed vibe than its two-Michelin-star sibling, The Clove Club, which is just a five-minute walk around the corner. Here, menus are organised by small plates such as slow-cooked duck egg with shaved chestnut and trompette mushrooms, and larger plates like chops, steaks, and grilled fish, while the wine list, showcases indigenous varieties from France and Spain. The 40-cover space has an open kitchen and tables topped with white tablecloths and candles, and linen cafe curtains mask the outside bustle of Shoreditch.

Osteria del Mare, Strand

Location: 366 Strand, London, WC2R 0JF
Price: Antipasti from 15 GBP

The team behind Italian fine-dining restaurant Bocconcino turn their attention to seafood with the launch of this casual new restaurant on London’s Strand. Inspired by Italy’s classic casual eateries, Osteria del Mare transports diners to the Italian coastline of Forte dei Marmi. Moscardini in red wine sauce, paccheri with red mullet, and an indulgent crudo platter are some of the dishes you can expect on the menu, designed by Italian chef Matteo Massafra, accompanied by an Italian wine list. The restaurant is housed in a former bank, and features a private dining room in the vault for up to 18 guests. For fans of seafood and Italian cuisine, this is definitely one to check out.

Berberè Pizzeria, West End

Location: 52 St Giles High Street, London WC2H 8AP
Price: Pizzas from 7.90 GBP; cocktails from 8.50 GBP 

Italy’s much-loved Berberè Pizzeria is rapidly expanding across London, with its third location just opened in the vibrant St Giles Square, right on the edge of Tottenham Court Road. Here, Calabrian brothers Matteo and Salvatore Aloe serve their signature artisanal sourdough pizzas – made using 24-hour proofed sourdough, prepared daily using organic type one flour and a starter dating back to 2010. Try the Norma, piled high with baked aubergines, organic tomato, fiordilatte mozzarella from Napoli, smoked  and aged ricotta, and basil and walnut pesto. It’s worth grabbing a handful of the crust dippers to mop up any leftovers; the spicy ‘nduja and honey is a great choice. This location has a more polished vibe than its siblings in Kentish Town and Clapham Common with walnut wood, gold detailing and a feel-good disco playlist.

Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism at Royal Academy

Location: Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD
When: 28 January – 21 April 2025
Price: 25.50 GBP

Brazilian Modernism is well known for its 20th-century architectural legacy, with works by Oscar Niemeyer – not least his design of the country’s purpose-built capital, Brasília – celebrated across the world. However, just as much innovation and creativity was also happening in the world of painting. From the 1910s to the 1970s, Brazilian artists adapted contemporary trends, international currents and Brazilian traditions to produce a new form of modern art, informed by the cultures, identities and landscapes of Brazil. Here, the Royal Academy celebrates this movement through more than 130 works by ten significant Brazilian artists working during that period – including Anita Malfatti, who led the movement, and Tarsila do Amaral, who is celebrated as a leading figure of Brazilian Modernism. The exhibition also includes an artist of indigenous descent, Afro-Brazilian artist Rubem Valentim, and performance artist Flávio de Carvalho.

The 80s: Photographing Britain at Tate Britain

Location: Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG
When: Until 5 May 2025
Price: From 20 GBP 

This group exhibition traces the social and political landscape of 1980s Britain with nearly 350 images from celebrated British photographers such as Martin Parr, Don McCullin, Willie Doherty and Syd Shelton. The show depicts the miners’ strikes, race uprisings, Section 28 rebellion and the Aids pandemic as its central themes. In the opening room, images portray the struggle of activists, with one hard-hitting image by John Harris showing a mounted policeman attacking a female demonstrator with a truncheon during the miners’ strike in South Yorkshire. Elsewhere, photographs from Anna Fox’s ‘Work Stations’ (1988) and Martin Parr’s ‘The Cost of Living’ (1986) are a stark contrast to bleak images of the deprived East End by Markéta Luskačova’s series ‘London Street Musicians’ (1975).

Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet at Tate Modern

Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG
When: Until 1 June 2025
Price: From 22 GBP

Tate Modern champions innovations in digital and immersive art in a new exhibition with more than 150 works from the 1950s to the dawn of the internet age in the 1980s. The exhibition traces how artists used cutting-edge tools to expand art and design, exploring themes of abstraction, kineticism, perception and cybernetics. Visitors will find Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz Diez’s captivating Chromointerferent Environment (1974-2009), a projection which uses moving lattices of light to challenge the perception of colour and space, and Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s striking kinetic paintings which were coded on the Amiga 1000 (the world’s first commercial computer). The show concludes with an interactive installation by Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss, where visitors are invited to play with their reflection on a touchscreen that acts as a pool of digital water.

The World of Tim Burton at the Design Museum

Location: 224-238 Kensington High Street, London, W8 6AG
When: Until 21 April 2025
Price: From 19.69 GBP 

For those captivated by the work of boundary-breaking director Tim Burton, this six-month exhibition charts his magnificent 50-year career with objects, sketches, props, costumes and set designs from his early childhood to his most recent film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). Marking the finale of the exhibition’s decade-long world tour – which has visited 14 major cities including Paris, Barcelona and Tokyo – the show’s narrative has been reimagined specially for London. Visitors will find iconic costumes such as Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman suit from Batman Returns (1992) and the striped dress worn by Christina Ricci in Sleepy Hollow (1990), as well as a detailed insight into Burton’s creative process for some of the biggest films of the past five decades, including Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

Picasso: printmaker at The British Museum

Location: Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG
When: Until 30 March 2025 
Price: From 11 GBP 

This engaging exhibition at the British Museum celebrates the work of Pablo Picasso through an exciting new lens, uncovering his relationships with wives and lovers through themes of sex and identity, as well as his connections with printers and publishers throughout his career. More than 100 pieces including intaglio prints, lithographs, linocuts and 28 unseen artworks from his series ‘347 Suite’ (1968) are on display. Picasso’s first professional print, The Frugal Meal (1904), depicts two wasted figures in an intricate etching technique, and is considered one of the greatest masterpieces in printmaking. This work opens the exhibition, before the show moves onto thought-provoking pieces from his acclaimed ‘Vollard Suite’ (1930-1937) series.

London Short Film Festival

Location: Various
When: 17-26 January 2025
Price: Screenings from 11.55 GBP

The UK’s leading short film festival is holding its 22nd iteration this year. Founded as the Halloween Film Society in the early 1990s, The London Short Film Festival is now a BAFTA- and BIFA-qualifying independent festival. Screenings of multiple short films under different themes will be held across London for the ten days of the festival, interspersed with live events, Q&As and workshops. Between 250 and 500 films are presented each year, selected from more than 5,000 submissions. Explore the programme on the website for unconventional film techniques, lesser heard voices and other surprises.