The City, this week.
Openings, closures, planning and big days, in a minute's read. Written by us, with a link to every source.
- Culture
London Museum opens at Smithfield on 28/11/2026
Put 28/11/2026 in the diary. London Museum opens in the restored Victorian General Market at Smithfield, and its galleries are free. Inside: the Cheapside Hoard, the Lord Mayor's Coach and a six-metre window onto passing Thameslink trains. The £437 million project marks the museum's 50th anniversary, and the Poultry Market next door follows in 2028.
Source: londonmuseum.org.uk
- City life
Leadenhall's lights go on at 6pm on 19/11/2026
Thursday 19/11/2026: celebrations start at 5.15pm and the lights go on at 6pm. Expect a 26ft tree beneath the atrium, Beehive Passage turned into a tunnel of Victorian-style lights, live music and snow. The market says more of its Christmas programme is still to come.
Source: leadenhallmarket.co.uk
- Events
The new Lord Mayor arrives by river on 14/11/2026
For the first time since 2017, the Show begins on the water. At 8.30am on 14/11/2026, Bronek Masojada, who takes office at the Silent Ceremony the day before, sails from Westminster to HMS President aboard the Royal Shallop Jubilant with a flotilla of Livery boats. At 11am about 6,500 people set off from Mansion House for the Royal Courts of Justice and back. It's free, and many City roads close.
Source: news.cityoflondon.gov.uk
- Transport
No Santander Cycles over Lord Mayor's Show weekend
Plan another way home. Santander Cycles goes offline from the evening of 13/11/2026 to the evening of 17/11/2026, Lord Mayor's Show day included, while TfL switches to a new app. The old app stops working on 17/11/2026. After that, you scan a QR code on the bike to unlock it and pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Source: tfl.gov.uk, news.cityoflondon.gov.uk
- Transport
Monument junction: TfL wants your views by 24/11/2026
Eighteen collisions in three years, eight of them causing serious injury. TfL wants to make the Monument junction safer, with new crossings on Cannon Street and King William Street, a single-stage crossing over Gracechurch Street and wand-separated cycle lanes. Fish Street Hill could be pedestrianised, subject to talks with the City Corporation. Have your say by 24/11/2026.
Source: haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk, tfl.gov.uk