London’s Union Chapel, the Grade I & II* listed Victorian Gothic venue and charity in Islington, will open its doors for a free day of guided tours, live performance, family workshops and more on Saturday 19 September 2026, as part of both Open House Festival and Heritage Open Days.
Open House Festival (12–20 September 2026) is the city’s annual festival celebrating London’s architecture and built environment, giving the public free access to hundreds of spaces across all 33 boroughs. Heritage Open Days (11–20 September 2026) is England’s largest festival of history and culture, welcoming over 800,000 people each year to explore the country’s architectural and cultural heritage free of charge. Union Chapel takes part in both, offering a rare opportunity to explore one of the capital’s most distinctive and best-loved buildings in depth.
Running from 11 am to 9 pm, the Open Day offers something for all ages. Highlights include guided tours of the chapel’s celebrated interior, tracing a legacy that stretches from its founding in 1799 to its present incarnation as home to an award-winning live music venue, inclusive working church, community hub, and frontline charity. The stage has hosted Amy Winehouse, Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Michael Kiwanuka, Damon Albarn and Mavis Staples, among many others, and the building’s renowned acoustics, designed from the outset for music performance, continue to draw artists and audiences from around the world.
A lunchtime organ recital will see teenage students perform on the venue’s historic 1877 Willis organ, one of the Open Day’s most consistently celebrated moments. Family workshops offer young visitors the chance to explore the connections between music, science and engineering through the Wooden One-Octave Organ for Young Technologists (WOOFYT).
The afternoon and evening programme will take place in the newly renovated Sunday School Hall. The line-up includes a series of community co-produced performances as part of the Your Story Festival finale, including a new theatre piece from Cardboard Citizens exploring lived experiences of homelessness and poverty; a spoken word showcase with Steam Down, rooted in Islington’s social justice heritage; and a fashion show with Grassroots Arts Studios, created by a Youth Panel of young designers, models and make-up artists. The day closes with a live set from DJ Ritu MBE, a pioneer of the Asian Underground and Bhangra scenes.
Self-guided tours are available throughout the day, and visitors are welcome to visit Union Chapel’s new archive room. Children can explore the building and its history with a Young Explorer’s activity pack. Free pre-booking is required for ticketed events, available from midday on Wednesday 19 August. All are welcome to turn up and explore the space without a ticket subject to capacity.
Union Chapel’s Your Story Festival is a season-long programme of free arts events inspired by Union Chapel’s archive, running until September 2026, marking the reopening of its restored Sunday School building and celebrating more than 200 years of cultural, social and architectural history, bringing together a vibrant programme of performances, exhibitions, screenings, workshops and community-led activity.
Union Chapel’s Grade II*-listed Sunday School building has been sensitively repaired and retrofitted as a new creative hub at the heart of the Islington community. Renovation works began in July 2024 and have been made possible by a £2.28 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players and other funders.*
At the heart of the project is Sunday School Stories, a major new archive. Spanning more than 200 years, the archive brings together material relating to Union Chapel’s Nonconformist roots, social history, architecture and evolution into a world-renowned live music venue.
Union Chapel, 19b Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN. Nearest tube: Highbury & Islington.
Full programme and free ticket booking: https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/news-views/union-chapel-open-day-2026
Sunday School Stories Project is made possible thanks to support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Players, as well as Historic England, City Bridge Foundation, the Wolfson Foundation, Foyle Foundation, Benefact Trust, Islington Community Energy Fund, National Churches Trust, Friends of Union Chapel, The Rose Foundation, Islington Archaeology & History Society, Union Chapel Members and individual supporters, with thanks to the Mayor of London.
