AboutLondon Laura – April 2025

Did you try any of my recommendations from last month? I’m hoping to see Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style at the Design Museum and Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur at The Wallace Collection. Both opened on 28 March so we have time.

I’ve been busy judging fancy tea and cakes for the Afternoon Tea Awards (these were the 2024 winners). There’s so much more to it than a three-tier cake stand with sandwiches, scones and cakes. Judging makes me hyper-critical of so many details but we are looking for the best of the best. I’ll let you know when the winners are announced. I have high hopes for one of the venues as it was amazing.

Things I’ve never done in London

By the time this newsletter arrives in your inbox, I will have moved out of London. I’ll still be back often though (probably two times this month).

But it got me thinking about the things I haven’t done in London. I’ve never…

… been to the St Patrick’s Day Parade.

… watched the New Year fireworks in real life.

… ice skated at Somerset House.

… had a sleepover at the Natural History Museum.

… seen the light switch-on at the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree.

… watched tennis at Wimbledon.

… chosen to go to the Notting Hill Carnival although I did live on the route one year.

… gone to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.

… eaten at Rules although I am vegetarian so it’s not aimed at me.

… visited the Fan Museum.

I mean, some of those are because I didn’t want to. But it’s a reminder that however long you have in this city, London still has lots more to offer.

But having the pleasure of writing about London for a couple of decades has meant I have had many excuses to be a tourist in my home town. And being a writer has given me lots of amazing opportunities such as watching William and Kate’s wedding arrival at Westminster Abbey from the London Eye. Or a stay in a five-star hotel suite with a butler. London is great and I’ve done a lot here.

My daughter joined me on London adventures from 2 weeks old. We would explore the capital at least 3 days a week. I remember her first school trip when she was four years old. We sat with the class in Trafalgar Square and asked the kids what they knew about where they were. One had seen pictures with her dad the night before and another had been for the St Patrick’s Day Parade. No one else knew the area. Except my daughter who stood up like a London tour guide and pointed out Nelson’s Column, told the kids about her favourite paintings in the National Gallery and pointed out the route down Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament.

London isn’t going anywhere and I’ll still get to enjoy the city. So, what have you never done in London?

What’s Happening This Month?

Anthony McCall – Solid Light at Tate Modern was due to close in April but has been extended until 29 June 2025.

Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists at the Freud Museum is on until 5 May 2025, as is The 80s: Photographing Britain at Tate Briain so this would be a good month to see both.

The Natural History Museum has an extra free gallery opening on 3 April 2025. Fixing Our Broken Planet is the first new permanent gallery in a decade. (The gallery looked like this in 1911 but will look a lot more modern for new visitors.)

Over at the London Museum of Docklands, Secrets of The Thames opens on 4 April 2025. It’s the UK’s first major exhibition dedicated to mudlarking.

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance opens at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace on 11 April 2025. It explores the lives and tastes of two of Britain’s most fashionable royal couples: King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary.

And Evelyn De Morgan: The Modern Painter in Victorian London opens at the Guildhall Art Gallery on 4 April 2025. Admission for this one is ‘Pay What You Can’ so you can pay as much or as little as you like for your ticket or visit for free.