Secret cinemas and pop-up screenings in London, 2026

London does proper cinema brilliantly — the BFI, Curzon, Prince Charles, the Garden — but the genuinely interesting stuff in 2026 is in the pop-ups. Rooftops, warehouses, repurposed cinemas, secret venues that get sent to you 24 hours before with a postcode in EC2.

Eight series and venues to track this summer, plus how to actually get tickets before the good ones go.

The single best way to track London pop-up cinema events week by week is the London events page on Rifio — it pulls in the smaller one-night screenings the big sites miss.

1. Secret Cinema

The big-budget immersive thing. Full sets — proper sets, walking-around-and-touching-things sets — costumes you are encouraged to wear, hours of world-building before the film starts. £40-90 a ticket depending on the wave you book in. Sells out in days.

The 2026 season is rumoured to include a Wes Anderson tribute. Worth booking on the email list pre-sale rather than waiting for general release.

2. Rooftop Film Club

Three London locations across summer — Stratford, Peckham (Bussey Building), and a third rotating site. Bussey Building is the best of the three — proper roof, sensible bar, Brixton crowd, fairy lights. £18-25.

May through early September. Bring a jumper, the Peckham roof gets cold by 10pm.

3. Backyard Cinema

Year-round themed pop-ups in warehouses — past iterations have included a snow-covered forest set for Frozen, a tiki bar for The Beach, an Egyptian temple set for Death on the Nile. Themes are corny on paper, the room is genuinely impressive. £18-22.

The bar serves themed cocktails. Some are good, some are mainly food colouring. The film-watching is the point.

4. The Prince Charles Cinema late screenings

Not strictly pop-up but worth including — the late-night sing-alongs, one-off 35mm screenings, marathons (Lord of the Rings extended editions back-to-back, anyone?), and the cult film bookings are the canonical London cinema experience. £12-15.

Walk-in works for most weeknight screenings. The big sing-alongs sell out a fortnight ahead.

5. Pillow Cinema

Watch films on bean bags in repurposed east London warehouses. Underrated bookings — proper cult films, recent indie releases, the occasional retrospective. £15-20.

The bean bags are surprisingly comfortable. Bring a hoodie.

6. Luna Cinema

Outdoor cinema in stately home grounds, Royal Parks, and historic London locations. Kenwood House is the picture-postcard one — the lawn slopes down to the screen, the lake reflects the projector light. BYO picnic, alcohol allowed within reason. £18-25.

Royal Parks usually have £25-30 tickets and the canonical picnic crowd.

7. The Garden Cinema (Holborn)

Independent cinema in Covent Garden. Not strictly secret, but the Saturday matinees and the curated double-bills go quietly under the radar — programmed by people who genuinely love film, not by an algorithm. £14-18.

Sundays have a brilliant Q&A series with directors and critics.

8. Genesis Cinema late shows (Mile End)

Mile End independent cinema with a late-night midnight movie series. The Saturday cult bookings are the move. £12-15. The bar is sound, the popcorn is fresh, the audience cares.

How to find the smaller ones

The properly small pop-ups — the Hackney Wick warehouse screenings, the Peckham rooftop one-offs, the Brixton Tate Britain summer outdoor things — are easiest to track on:

• Rifio — the London events page catches Eventbrite, Resy and direct submissions, which is where most of these are listed.
• Curzon Mayfair and BFI mailing lists for the proper one-night-only retrospectives.
• The ICA's calendar for the experimental and double-bill stuff.

What to avoid

Anything advertised as a "luxury cinema experience" with a £45 ticket and a champagne tier — you are watching the same Netflix release. Anywhere advertising "watch under the stars" that is actually a tarpaulin in a car park. The Secret Cinema knock-offs that started after the original — most are bad sets and worse organisation.

For pop-up cinema, screening series and one-night film events in London, the London this-week page on Rifio is the live feed. Save the search.