Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.

Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.

Barbican Arts Centre

Header image for Barbican Arts Centre
 

About Barbican Arts Centre

A cultural hub based in the concrete brutalist estate next to the Barbican tube station, it was built in the 1960s by the City of London to encourage people to live and socialise in the city.

Today is it one of the UK's leading art and theatre venues, with regular events every day, art exhibitions and films.

The art centre is free to visit and wander around, and some of the art exhibits are also free, but most of the theatre/film events have to be paid for.

There is also a public library, which often has local artist exhibitions in the foyer, and the Music Library regularly has related exhibitions as well.

The conservatory is the second largest in London and is also open to visit.
 

Address

Barbican Arts Centre,
Silk Street,
London,
EC2Y 8DS

Ticket prices

The main building is free to visit, as is the library and library exhibitions.

Other exhibitions and events may charge.

Prices last checked June 2023

Link to Barbican Arts Centre's website

Opening Hours

The main building is open from 9.30am to 11pm every day, and between noon to 11pm on Bank Holidays.

Individual exhibitions and the library will have different opening hours though, so check before making a special trip.

Opening hours last checked June 2023

Accessibility

The building is fully accessible with lifts to all floors.

Note, it's much easier to arrive via the Silk Street entrance.

The full details for accessibility are here.

What's the nearest railway station to Barbican Arts Centre

The nearest station is Barbican Tube Station which is 0.2 miles away.

News

A feast of fabric at the Barbican

Mar
11
2024

Friday and Saturday lates at the Barbican Conservatory

Mar
06
2024

Barbican’s brutalist building about to be covered in a giant sheet of purple fabric

Feb
06
2024

Memories in Monochrome: Barbican celebrates the impact of Two-Tone

Jan
16
2024

London Underground portraits on show at the Barbican

Jan
09
2024

Ranjani Shettar’s floating sculptures grace London’s second-largest conservatory

Nov
30
2023

An unexpected discovery behind a Barbican sign

Nov
02
2023

Barbican Art Centre starts £25 million upgrade

Jul
20
2023

The magic of music concerts captured in photography

Jun
21
2023

There’s a scale model of the Barbican estate in the Barbican Arts Centre

Jun
15
2023

Comic sketches of London’s architecture in the Barbican Library

Jun
08
2023

Alice Neel at the Barbican Arts Gallery

Feb
27
2023

There’s a Status Quo exhibition at the Barbican

Feb
21
2023

Barbican celebrates women from pre-revolutionary Iran

Dec
13
2022

Behind the scenes tours of the Barbican theatre

Dec
06
2022

Get the Barbican Blues – with a music exhibition

Aug
23
2022

Tickets for ‘Anything Goes’ at the Barbican now from just £20

Aug
19
2022

See Doctor Who on the big screen at the Barbican

May
16
2022

Barbican Centre to spend up to £150 million on major revamp

Apr
28
2022

Rare photos of The Jam and Paul Weller at the Barbican

Jan
14
2022

See old fashioned travel display boards at the Barbican

Jan
05
2022

Noguchi at The Barbican – all lamps and sculptures

Oct
28
2021

Reimagining Spaces with Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative

Sep
22
2021

More News from the archive

 

Exhibitions open at the moment

Concrete and Clay - Archiving the Barbican
This free installation invites visitors to orient themselves in the buildings and their complex, fascinating histories in an exciting new display at the heart of the Barbican’s Foyers.
Concrete and Clay - Archiving the Barbican
All Day
Barbican
Ends on Fri 5th April
2023-04-06
2024-04-05
From the Caribbean to Coventry - Plotting the Rise of Two Tone
An exhibition for the fans by the fans going some way to explain not just what 2Tone is but why and how we got there.
From the Caribbean to Coventry - Plotting the Rise of Two Tone
9:30am to 5:30pm
Barbican
Ends on Sat 25th May
2024-01-12
2024-05-25
Unravel the Power and Politics of Textiles in Art
Using textiles, fibre and thread, 50 international artists challenge power structures and reimagine the world in this major group exhibition.
Unravel the Power and Politics of Textiles in Art
10am to 5pm
Barbican
Ends on Sun 26th May
2024-01-13
2024-05-26

Forthcoming events

German organist Sebastian Heindl creates an improvised soundtrack to 1922 silent horror film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.
2024-04-16
Tuesday, 16th Apr 8:30pm to 10pm
 
Barbican
Barbican