Best Art Galleries in Mayfair and Soho to Visit Free
The best art galleries in Mayfair hold work by some of the most significant artists alive, and almost every one of them will let you walk in off the street for nothing. That is the part visitors miss. These are commercial galleries: they exist to sell art, so the door is open, the shows change every few weeks, and nobody minds that you have no intention of buying a Rothko. Here is where to go, what you will find, and how to do a W1 gallery afternoon properly.
Pair a gallery walk with our guides to Mayfair and where to eat in W1, or make a full day of it with afternoon tea in Mayfair.
Why the galleries are free
London's museums get the attention, but the commercial gallery scene in W1 is a genuine free cultural resource hiding in plain sight. A gallery like Gagosian or Hauser and Wirth mounts museum-standard exhibitions, often with a printed catalogue and a scholarly hang, and charges nothing at the door because the business model is the sale room, not the turnstile. The only real barrier is a psychological one: the frontages are discreet, the rooms are quiet, and it feels as though you need a reason to be there. You do not. Push the door.
Cork Street and Savile Row
Cork Street has been the centre of the London art trade since the 1920s, and it remains the densest short walk in the city for contemporary work.
- Stephen Friedman Gallery, 5 to 6 Cork Street, W1S 3LQ. The gallery moved here from Old Burlington Street in October 2023 into a considerably bigger space. Strong international programme across painting, sculpture and installation. Open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 11am to 5pm.
- Alison Jacques, 22 Cork Street, W1S 3NG. Known for championing artists whose reputations were overlooked in their lifetimes alongside a serious contemporary roster. Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 6pm, Mondays by appointment.
- Hauser and Wirth, 23 Savile Row, W1S 2ET. Two exhibition spaces, the North and South Galleries, in the middle of the tailoring street, opened here in October 2010. Worth singling out because it runs Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, closed Monday: one of the very few galleries in the district open on a Sunday. All public areas are wheelchair accessible.
Mayfair proper: Grosvenor Hill to Dover Street
- Gagosian, 20 Grosvenor Hill, W1K 3QD. Designed by Caruso St John, this is the largest of Gagosian's London spaces, with two double-height rooms that can take work at a scale most galleries cannot. The shows here are frequently the closest thing to a free blockbuster in London. Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm.
- Thaddaeus Ropac, Ely House, 37 Dover Street, W1S 4NJ. The setting is half the point: a 1772 townhouse built by Sir Robert Taylor for the Bishop of Ely, now a gallery across several floors. Contemporary work in Georgian rooms, and the staircase alone justifies the visit.
- David Zwirner, 24 Grafton Street, W1S 4EZ. A tightly curated programme in a handsome Mayfair building. Note the hours carefully: Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm, and closed at weekends, which catches people out.
- Pace, 5 Hanover Square, W1S 1HQ. Another weekday-only space, Monday to Friday, closing early at 4pm on Fridays. Worth timing a visit around rather than turning up on spec.
Soho and the edge of Fitzrovia
- Sadie Coles HQ, 62 Kingly Street, W1B 5QN. One of the most influential galleries in Britain since it opened in the 1990s, and a reliably sharper, more provocative hang than most of Mayfair. Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm. The gallery also runs spaces on Savile Row and Bury Street.
- The Photographers' Gallery, 16 to 18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LW. The exception to the free rule, because this one is a public gallery rather than a dealer, and it charges: currently 12 pounds on the door, 10 pounds booked ahead, with concessions. But entry is free for members and under-18s at any time, and free for everyone on Fridays after 5pm. If you can shape your week around it, that is a genuinely good hour of photography for nothing.
The one museum you should not skip
The Wallace Collection at Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1U 3BN, is not a commercial gallery, it is a national museum, and entry to the permanent collection is free. It holds Frans Hals's The Laughing Cavalier, Fragonard's The Swing, and one of the great armour collections in Europe, in a townhouse that has barely changed. Ten minutes north of the Cork Street cluster and a completely different experience: where the dealers show you what art is now, this shows you what a nineteenth-century collector thought it should be forever.
How to do a gallery afternoon
Go on a Thursday or Friday if you can. Most of Mayfair runs Tuesday to Saturday, but the weekday-only spaces (Zwirner, Pace) drop out on a Saturday, and Monday is the deadest day of the week. Start at Cork Street, work through Savile Row to Grafton and Dover Street, then cut across to Grosvenor Hill: that is a dozen exhibitions inside a square kilometre, on foot, for free.
Pick up the printed room sheet at the desk, which lists works, materials and often prices. Nobody will approach you unless you want them to, and if you do have a question, ask: gallery staff generally know the work extremely well and are pleased when someone is interested. Bags may need to be checked in the larger spaces. Photography is usually allowed but not always, so look for the sign.
Exhibitions typically run six to eight weeks and are almost never announced far in advance, so check GalleriesNow or the individual gallery sites for what is on the week you visit. Hours shift around art fairs and installation weeks too.
For more on the district, start from The W1 London homepage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are art galleries in Mayfair free to visit?
Almost all of them, yes. The commercial galleries of Mayfair, including Gagosian, Hauser and Wirth, David Zwirner, Pace and the Cork Street galleries, are in the business of selling art, so admission is free and open to anyone who walks in. The Wallace Collection on Manchester Square is a public museum and its permanent collection is also free.
Do you need an appointment to visit a Mayfair gallery?
Not for public exhibitions. Walk in during opening hours, and no one will ask why you are there. Some galleries do list Monday as by appointment only, and viewing rooms holding stock rather than the current show may need one, so check the individual gallery's site if you are making a special trip.
Where are the main gallery streets in Mayfair?
Cork Street is the historic heart, with Stephen Friedman at 5 to 6 and Alison Jacques at 22, and Savile Row, Dover Street, Grafton Street, Hanover Square and Grosvenor Hill are all within a few minutes' walk. The whole cluster sits between Piccadilly and Oxford Street, so you can see a dozen shows in an afternoon on foot.
Is the Photographers' Gallery free?
No, unlike the commercial galleries it charges admission, currently 12 pounds on the door or 10 pounds booked in advance, with concessions available. Entry is free for members and for under-18s at all times, and admission to the exhibitions is free on Fridays after 5pm, which is the moment to go if you want to see it at no cost.
When are Mayfair galleries open?
Most run roughly Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am or 11am to 6pm, though it varies more than you would expect. David Zwirner and Pace are closed at weekends entirely, while Hauser and Wirth on Savile Row runs Tuesday to Sunday and is one of the few open on a Sunday. Check before travelling, particularly for a Saturday or Monday visit.
Can you buy art in these galleries as an ordinary visitor?
You can ask about anything, and the room sheet at the desk often lists prices. Realistically the headline names carry six and seven figure prices, but many galleries also sell editions, prints and works by younger artists at a fraction of that. Asking costs nothing, and no one will judge you for looking rather than buying.