Five of East Bank's six institutions are open and free to walk into or past: V&A East Museum, V&A East Storehouse, Sadler's Wells East, London College of Fashion and UCL East. Only the BBC's music studios are still to come, and they are due in 2027. Above them on the bank sits Stratford Cross, an office district around Endeavour Square where the park's Information Point is and where the Financial Conduct Authority has its head office.
This is the part of the Olympic Park that did not exist ten years ago and is not about 2012 at all. It is a cultural quarter built on the waterfront opposite the stadium, deliberately, to give east London the kind of institutions that had all ended up in South Kensington and the West End. For a visitor the striking thing is how much of it costs nothing.
Our guide to Stratford covers the neighbourhood and our overview of the park as a whole covers the venues. This page is about what has actually opened on East Bank and Stratford Cross, what you can get into, and what is still fenced off.
East Bank, September 2026
- V&A East Museum
- Opened 18 April 2026. Free. Daily 10:00-18:00; Thursday and Saturday to 22:00. There may be a queue.
- V&A East Storehouse
- Opened 31 May 2025. Free, no booking. Same hours. Near Hackney Wick.
- Sadler's Wells East
- Opened February 2025. A 550-seat dance theatre. Ticketed.
- London College of Fashion, UAL
- Students arrived autumn 2023. Public exhibitions, showcases and performances.
- UCL East
- Fully open, around 4,000 students, with events and creative learning open to all.
- BBC Music Studios
- Due 2027. The last of the six to open.
- Where
- Stratford Waterfront and Tessa Jowell Boulevard, on the west side of the park opposite the London Stadium.
- Nearest stations
- Stratford and Stratford International, both a 15 to 20 minute walk; Hackney Wick for the Storehouse.
What Stratford Cross actually is
Stratford Cross is the district of tall offices and paved squares between Westfield Stratford City and the park, built around a street called Endeavour Square. It is not a cultural quarter and there is nothing to buy a ticket for. You walk through it, and it is worth knowing three things about it.
First, the park's Information Point is here, in the Pavilion at 9 Endeavour Square, E20 1JN, open 11am to 4pm every day. That is where the free trail maps are, and it is the only staffed information desk in 560 acres of park.
Second, this is a working government and financial district, not a leisure one. The Financial Conduct Authority's head office is at 12 Endeavour Square. On a weekday lunchtime the squares are full of people with lanyards; at the weekend they are empty.
Third, it is the pedestrian route. Coming from Stratford station, you walk through Westfield, out through Stratford Cross, and down onto the waterfront. Our walking route through the park uses that line.
Photo: The wub · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
V&A East Museum: the one to plan for
The museum opened on 18 April 2026, and it is the reason most people now come to this side of the park. Entry is free and there is no booking, but the V&A warns on its own visitor page that there may be a queue to get in, which is unusual for a free London museum and worth taking seriously in the first year.
It opens daily from 10:00 to 18:00, and until 22:00 on Thursdays and Saturdays. Those two late evenings are the best time to come: the queue is shorter, the building is lit, and the walk back to Stratford through the park is quieter. Our round-up of museum late openings in London sets them beside the other free evenings in the city.
This is not a smaller copy of South Kensington. It is a separate museum with its own displays, and if you want the Cast Courts, the fashion galleries and the jewellery rooms you still need the V&A in South Kensington, which is also free.
Both V&A East sites stay open until 10pm on Thursdays and Saturdays, at no charge. That gives you a free evening in a part of London where almost nothing else is open late, and it pairs with dinner beside the canal at Hackney Wick rather than a rushed afternoon.
V&A East Storehouse: the other half, ten minutes away
The Storehouse, which opened on 31 May 2025, is the museum's working store and it is a genuinely different experience: shelves and racks of the collection, visible, with walkways through them. It is free, needs no booking, and keeps the same hours as the museum, including the late evenings.
The two are not next to each other. The Storehouse is at the north-west edge of the park, about eight minutes' walk from Hackney Wick station, while the museum is on the waterfront. Doing both in one day means a walk across the park or a train, and our page on V&A East Storehouse explains the difference, the Order an Object appointments you have to book two weeks ahead, and the bag rules.
Sadler's Wells East, and what you can see for the price of a ticket
Sadler's Wells East opened in February 2025 as a 550-seat dance theatre, the first purpose-built one in this part of London. The programme is deliberately wide: the park's own description of it runs from hip hop to ballet and from kathak to krumping, which is a fair summary of how the parent theatre in Islington programmes too.
It is the only ticketed cultural venue on East Bank, and it is small, so performances sell out in a way the museums cannot. Our guide to Sadler's Wells and dance in London covers booking and what the different stages suit.
The two universities, and why they matter to a visitor
London College of Fashion, part of University of the Arts London, moved its whole operation here in autumn 2023 into one building, having previously been spread across six sites. UCL East, south of the Orbit, is now fully open with around 4,000 students.
Neither is a tourist attraction and you cannot wander into teaching space. What they do run is a public programme: exhibitions, showcases and performances at the fashion college, and events, creative learning and activities open to all at UCL East. Both put work on for nothing and neither advertises much beyond the park's own listings, so check what is on before you assume there is nothing.
What is still a building site
One venue: BBC Music Studios, due to open in 2027. It is the last of the six East Bank partners to arrive, and until then that part of the waterfront is hoarding.
What it will be is more interesting than a studio block. The BBC describes its purpose as performing, recording and broadcasting live music across all genres, and says the building will be the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the BBC Singers, with an occasional presence from the BBC Concert Orchestra, in facilities that carry on from the corporation's Maida Vale studios in west London. It is intended to host recording sessions and live performances, from established names to new ones.
What has not been published is how much of that a member of the public will be able to attend, or how tickets will work. Anyone planning a trip around a BBC concert in Stratford should wait for the BBC to say. Our guide to classical music in London covers where those orchestras play in the meantime.
The park's own East Bank page still says four venues are open. Five are: the V&A East Museum opened in April 2026 and some pages have not caught up. If a listing tells you the museum is "coming soon", it is out of date.
The squares, and the free events on the waterfront
Two new public squares between the East Bank buildings are open to anyone, and they are used: outdoor events, public art and, in practice, a lot of people eating lunch. Free festivals run on Stratford Waterfront and in South Park through the summer, including dance performances and music events staged with the East Bank partners.
There is no reliable annual calendar yet, because the quarter is new and the programme changes each year. Check the park's what's on listings for your dates rather than expecting the same events as last year.
How long it takes, and what a day looks like
East Bank on its own is a half-day if you go into one building and a full day if you go into two. A realistic plan:
- Half a day. Stratford station, through Westfield and Stratford Cross, down to the waterfront, two hours in V&A East Museum, lunch on Aquatics Walk, and out.
- A full day. The museum in the morning, a walk north through the park past the Orbit and the sports venues in the middle of the day, the Storehouse in the afternoon, and out at Hackney Wick.
- An evening. Arrive at 18:00 on a Thursday or Saturday, do the museum until 22:00, and eat in Hackney Wick.
All of it works in the rain, which makes East Bank one of the better wet-weather options in east London; see our list of things to do on a rainy day. The same cannot be said for the rest of the park, which is exposed.
Getting there, and the mistake people make
Stratford station is served by the Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, the DLR, the Overground and National Rail, and Stratford International adds Southeastern high-speed trains from St Pancras. From either one, East Bank is a 15 to 20 minute walk through the shopping centre and the park, which is longer than people expect from a station this well connected.
The Elizabeth line is the fastest way in from Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road and Liverpool Street. If you are heading for the Storehouse rather than the museum, get off at Hackney Wick on the Overground instead and save yourself a mile. And note that Westfield Stratford City is not an obstacle to be endured: it has the toilets, the cash machines and the only reliably open food between the station and the park.
For what else survived from 2012 and what was taken apart, see our page on the Copper Box and the other venues. For more free galleries across the city, see free museums in London.
Frequently asked questions
Is V&A East Museum free?
Yes. General entry is free and you do not need to book, although the V&A warns there may be a queue. It opens daily from 10am to 6pm and until 10pm on Thursdays and Saturdays. Some temporary exhibitions and special displays may charge separately.
What is the difference between East Bank and Stratford Cross?
East Bank is the cultural quarter on the waterfront: the two V&A East sites, Sadler's Wells East, London College of Fashion, UCL East and the BBC studios to come. Stratford Cross is the office district above it around Endeavour Square, with the park's Information Point in the Pavilion and the Financial Conduct Authority's head office at number 12.
Has everything at East Bank opened?
All but one. London College of Fashion arrived in autumn 2023, UCL East is fully open, Sadler's Wells East opened in February 2025, V&A East Storehouse in May 2025 and V&A East Museum in April 2026. BBC Music Studios is due in 2027.
Can the public go to the BBC Music Studios in Stratford?
Not yet, and it is not clear on what terms. The building is due to open in 2027 as the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the BBC Singers, and it is intended for recording sessions and live performances. The BBC has not published how public audiences or tickets will work, so do not plan a trip around it.
How long does it take to walk to East Bank from Stratford station?
Fifteen to twenty minutes, through Westfield Stratford City and Stratford Cross and then down to the waterfront. For V&A East Storehouse, use Hackney Wick station on the Overground instead, which is about eight minutes' walk away.
Sources
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - What is East Bank? (checked September 2026)
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - BBC Music Studios (checked September 2026)
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - Visitor information (Information Point at the Pavilion, Stratford Cross) (checked September 2026)
- Victoria and Albert Museum - Visit V&A East Museum (checked September 2026)
- Victoria and Albert Museum - Visit V&A East Storehouse (checked September 2026)
- Financial Conduct Authority - Contact us (head office, 12 Endeavour Square) (checked September 2026)