Museum lates in London: which nights each museum opens late

Most of the big museums open late one evening a month, some one evening a week, and the lates are the best time to see them: fewer people, a bar, and the galleries lit for evening. The regular ones below are the pattern; the specific dates for this month are in the list underneath.

Every week

The National Gallery opens to nine every Friday and is empty after seven. The British Museum stays open into Friday evening for the main galleries. Tate Modern is open until nine every Friday and Saturday, and its collection is free. Tate Britain closes at six every day, with no regular late opening.

Once a month

The V&A Friday Late is the last Friday of most months, open to ten, with performance, film and DJs in the galleries and a bar in the courtyard in summer. The Science Museum Lates are the last Wednesday, adults only, with a silent disco and bars on each floor; they are free but ticketed and the tickets go the week before. The Natural History Museum runs lates in the main hall on a similar pattern. Sir John Soane’s Museum does candlelit evenings that are the most atmospheric of the lot and the hardest to get into.

How to do them

Arrive at opening; by half past seven the popular ones have queues at the door. The free ones that need tickets release them roughly a week ahead and they go the same day. Most lates end at ten sharp, so eat first or plan to eat after, and check whether the paid exhibition is included; it usually is not.

Our rule for this page

The patterns above hold most of the year but museums pause them around Christmas and in August. The list below is checked monthly and carries only confirmed dates.