London events in January

Joining a crowd of over 8,000 people might not sound like the best cure for your NYE hangover, but its hard to stay miserable when you’re surrounded by the mirth of the London New Year’s Day parade. The route will move from Piccadilly, through Regent Street and St James’s, along Pall Mall and through Whitehall, ending at Westminster. Along the way, there’ll be Pearly Kings and Queens, street dancers, brass bands, samba bands and much more making the first day of the new year an absolute blast. Updates on the logistics and performers will be posted on the LNYDP’s website and social media.  

RECOMMENDED: Read our full guide to New Year in London.

Bring in the new year by rollicking around to a colourful ceilidh band. Expect dynamic ceilidh dancers, banjoes and fiddles brought to you by traditional London-based troupe. Get ready for a hoedown New Year extravaganza at The Royal Festival Hall’s Clore Ballroom. 

In what has become a London tradition, the Lions Part theatre company are once again mixing ancient customs with contemporary celebrations for their big Thameside Twelfth Night celebration. Beginning on the Bankside near Shakespeare’s Globe, the company lead a procession to celebrate the ancient Midwinter festival with pagan icons, the Green Man and the Holly Man making an appearance, to ‘bring in the green’ and ‘wassail’.

The procession will pass by the Bankside Jetty for a performance of the Folk Combat Play of St George – a seasonal event recorded from the Crusades, which features wild verse and action, and characters such as the Turkey Sniper, Clever Legs and the Old 'Oss. Two of the cakes distributed at the end of the play have a bean and a pea hidden inside – those who find them are crowned King and Queen for the day, and lead the people to Soap Yards where storytelling and revelling await. 

The bright lights of Canary Wharf's towers are quite the spectacle after dark, but the business district will glow brighter than usual in January thanks to the addition of sparkling illuminations created by artists from around the world. The Winter Lights festival returns for its ninth edition with a new set of dazzling artworks, installations and interactive experiences, plus some old favourites from previous years.

There’ll be 11 immersive illuminations dotted across the area, including some intriguing sounding sculptures like a ‘towering stack of bathtubs pulsing with light and sound’, an orbiting pylon emitting a ‘tornado’ of light, luminous saris fabric, an iridescent mirage on Montgomery Square and a 20m-wide sink hole encircled by light. There’ll be sweet treats and hot drinks to warm you up between the installations. 

This glorious independent film festival is back with a packed programme featuring more than 50 short films, including exciting directorial debuts and award-winning like Spirit of Place starring Mark Rylance, Dammi with Riz Ahmed, Weightless starring Toyah Willcox and Keep with Phil Davies. Look out for panel discussions, workshops and, of course, live screenings, before the festival culminates in a fantastic award ceremony, recognising the best student film, the environmental impact award, and everything in between. All audience members also get to vote for their favourite film at the festival, the results of which go towards the audience favourite award.

A Full Festival Pass lets you watch all 52 films screened live at the SohoLIFF in the Dean Street screening room. You will have to book into each screening block you choose to attend, and you will have one vote overall for your favourite film.

Come wintertime, Chelsea Physic Garden is the home of snowdrops in London with many ancient and unusual varieties growing among its greenery. As the white flowers start to bloom, head down to this little Eden in the city to learn the Japanese art of Kokedama making. Expert gardeners will help you craft the ancient ‘moss balls’ which let you display small plants in a soft moss-covered sphere to use as decoration at home. Each workshop will provide you with all the materials you need to craft a kokedama using seasonal snowdrops.

The Montreux Jazz Festival continues its London residency with this night celebrating the late, great Nina Simone. The Nu Civilisation Orchestra will be playing some of Simone’s best known and impactful songs accompanied by a roster of illustrious guests including Leeds-based singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, neo-jazz singer Ni Maxine, singer-songwriter China Moses, jazz and neo-soul singer Laura Mvula and electronic music producer and singer-songwriter Tony Njoku. Expect a show-stopping night championing Simone’s work and the things that mattered to her, including Blackness, womanhood and the power of music.

Settle in for a night of poetry as your host Ian McMillan introduces ten talented wordsmiths, who have been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. The ten poets taking part are Raymond Antrobus, Hannah Copley, Helen Farish, Peter Gizzi, Gustav Parker Hibbett, Rachel Mann, Gboyega Odubanjo, Carl Phillips, Katrina Porteous and Karen McCarthy Woolf. It’s a chance to hear some of the most exciting verse coming out of the UK and Ireland right now and to make your mind up about who you think should win the much-coveted accolade. 

Not had enough fun this New Year? Get yourself down to KOKO for a special edition of Glitterbox, Defected’s long-running party, for the first big bash of the year. The lineup is still TBA, but if you’re looking for an inclusive, welcoming and uplifting place to let your hair down, you can’t go wrong here.

Soil – it’s not something you really think about, unless you’re doing the gardening. But this new exhibition at Somerset House will change all that, shining a light on its important role in our world, including the part it plays in our planet’s future. Top artists, writers and scientists from across the globe are all involved in the thought-provoking exploration, which aims to stop you thinking of soil as mere dirt and start considering it as something far more powerful instead.

In a city brimming with bars, breweries and prosecco-based pop-ups, it would seem that drinking in London without actually, erm, drinking is an impossibility. Leave your beer goggles at home for one night, however, and you’ll see the selection of non-alcoholic cocktails and booze-less blends available in the capital is pretty extensive. In some venues, the alcohol-free offerings are even more creative and tastebud-seducing than their liquor-rich counterparts. Don’t believe us? Have a sip on one of these teetotal tipples...

Is there anything more wonderfully wintry than wrapping up warm, pulling on some ice skates and gliding around a frosty slab of ice with your loved ones? Each winter, London fills up with pop-up rinks, from the legendary Somerset House to the newer Glide at Battersea Power Station. At all, you’ll find festive vibes ramped up to the max, especially come December – and a lot of fellow Londoners vying for a spot on the ice. Book in advance to guarantee you can show off your best ice moves (or your ability to stay upright, at the very least). Here are some of the best rinks to soar across this winter.

Burns Night always falls on January 25 (which is a Thursday in 2024) and gives London an excuse to celebrate Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, with lots of food, whisky and partying. 

Yes, it's cold out. It's also quite wet. The leaves have fallen from the trees and turned the pavements into a slimy, slippery ice rink. But we're lucky to have some amazing, huge, parks in London, and walking around in them on a crisp winter's day is genuinely one of life’s great joys. Whether you're a Royal Parks stan or a fiend for Hampstead Heath, there are loads of parks to choose from. So, get out there.