As London gears up for the biggest queer celebration of the year, the city's West End and beyond transform into a whirlwind of parties, cultural pop-ups, and community events. From bookworms to clubbers, cinephiles to runners, here is a curated guide to the coolest things to do in the capital this Pride season.
Aesop Queer Library and Reading Room
Soho's Aesop store clears its shelves of luxury cosmetics to stock queer literature for Pride weekend. This year's theme focuses on queer bodies, featuring works by 33 LGBTQIA+ authors including Kate Tempest and Jason Okundaye. Each visitor receives a free book of their choice. For the first time, Aesop also opens a Queer Reading Room in Spitalfields. July 3-5. Library: 41 Lexington Street, W1; Reading Room: 75-77 Brushfield Street, E1.
Club Camionera Day Party
East London's chic lesbian bar La Camionera hosts Club Camionera on Sunday, July 5, featuring a wet T-shirt contest, DJs playing R&B, reggaeton, and baile funk, a kissing booth, and free shorts for the sexiest outfits. Dress code: 'Summer break Playboy Mansion cowgirl Baywatch baddie'. 1-10pm, 243 Well Street, E9.
Barbican Cinema: Queer 60s Season
Barbican Cinema presents a season focusing on 1960s queer cinema, a decade when homosexuality was still illegal in most countries and culminating in the 1969 Stonewall Riots. The series concludes on July 7 with 'Winter Kept Us Warm', a 1965 intimate drama about two university students in Toronto. Barbican Centre, EC2Y.
Sounds Queer: Amplified
Grassroots organisation Sounds Queer, founded in 2022 to champion LGBTQIA+ talent, takes over the W Hotel's Perception Bar on Friday, July 3. The lineup includes soul/R&B artist Lie Ning, alt-pop Leah Cleaver, and HRH Princess Julia. 7pm-late, 10 Wardour Street, W1.
Howl
Howl returns for a second year, taking over Hackney Wick with five venues (including Colour Factory and Hackney Bridge) and 10 stages for 16 hours of dance music. Highlights include NYC favourite Juliana Huxtable, Latinx-club purveyor Manuka Honey, and Tsatsamis. Ticket holders receive 15% off Howl's CBD-infused lube. July 4, 2pm-6am, Hackney Wick.
Queer Britain Museum
The UK's first LGBTQIA+ museum, Queer Britain, now features new exhibits including a panel from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt and football jerseys worn by Justin Fashanu, the UK's first openly gay football player. Pride season brings a temporary exhibit on the UK's ban on LGBTQIA+ people serving in the Armed Forces. A special late viewing occurs on July 16. 2 Granary Square, N1C.
Transcend Running Club
Transcend, Hackney's queer and trans-exclusive running and walking event, returns on July 19, hosted by Queer Running Club. Participants can choose 5km or 10km, and half the entry fee funds community members' gender-affirming surgeries. It takes place two weeks after London Pride and a week before London Trans+ Pride. Hackney Marshes, E10.
FILTH
FILTH offers a grassroots alternative to corporate Pride celebrations, held in a secret central London location on July 4, 12-10pm. Features include an open-air venue, lunchtime yoga, a queer-run market for food and tattoos, drag performances, and music by Angel D'Lite and LA's DeBasement.
Rhizomatic
Hackney Wick's new craft café, workshop space, and wine bar Rhizomatic is a FLINTA+ (Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-binary, Transgender, and Agender) third space created with help from 300 strangers. For its first Pride season, it hosts a late-night art fundraiser for Mermaids on July 3 and a party with speed dating, drag, palm readings, and a sex toy raffle on July 15. 83 Smeed Road, E3.
Pride at the National Theatre
The musical adaptation of the BAFTA-nominated film 'Pride' (2014) premiered at the National Theatre to rave reviews. It tells the true story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign during the 1984 miners' strike, with music by Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen, and DJ Wade. Until September 12, The National Theatre, SE1.
