London will get a new museum next April, as the V&A has confirmed the delayed opening date for its V&A East Museum in the Olympic Park.
V&A East Museum – Oct 2022 (c) ianVisits
The five-storey hermit crab shaped building in the park’s East Bank development will open on Saturday 18th April 2026, with an inaugural exhibition that will take a look at 126 years of Black Music in the UK. To coincide, V&A East will launch a major partnership with BBC Music, including complimentary programming inspired by the exhibition.
Across two floors, the museum will showcase more than 500 objects drawn from the V&A’s world-leading collections, arranged across ten thematic displays spanning art, architecture, design, performance and fashion. Additional features include a ground-floor café, two levels of free permanent galleries and a dedicated temporary exhibition floor above. A fourth-floor roof terrace will give visitors wide views across the Olympic Park towards the London Stadium.
Entry to V&A East Museum will be free, with opening hours from 10am to 6pm daily and late nights on Thursdays and Fridays until 10pm. Tickets for the inaugural paid exhibition will go on sale in early 2026.
Historically, the new museum sits in a former heavy industry area of East London, on a site that was the Channel Sea tallow works and later Yardley’s soap factory. If the gift shop isn’t selling V&A lavender soaps, I will be very disappointed.
