10 Fun And Frolic Festivals In London

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Which Reflect The Country’s Celebrations At Its

Best!

Written by
Ruchika Anand

The city of London is known for its art, culture, clubs, and castles. One of the biggest
metropolitans in the world, London has played a significant role as a hub for theatre,
cinema, fashion and other fields for many years now. The city is a global center and
every year thousands come from different corners of the world to enjoy the beauty and
glory of the British capital.

There are lots of ways to enjoy and have fun in the city, from hopping on the famous
red double-decker buses to popular art galleries and a night-walk in the lush green
central parks – London has something for everyone. There are in fact a number
of festivals in London, where you can enjoy with the natives as well as your friends
and family.

10 Lively Festivals In London One Must Attend

Read on to know more about some of the best festivals in London that you should
definitely attend once in a lifetime!

1. British Summer Time

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One of the biggest music festivals in London, British Summer Time is the perfect place
to witness popular international artists like Bruno Mars, Van Morrison, Paul Simon and
Eric Clapton, all of whom performed here last year. Not just music, but open air movie
screenings, performances and what not – this is the festival to attend in the British
summer. Produced by Barclaycard, this wonderful festival is also a great way to land
tickets of iconic summer events like Wimbledon!

Location: Hyde Park, London

British Summer Time Dates 2023: Sun, Mar 26, 2023 1:00 AM – Sun, Oct 29, 2023
2:00 AM
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2. Citadel

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The Citadel Festival in London has moved to the Gunnersbury Park for 2018, and the
fourth edition of this wildly popular music festival in London is expected to be a bigger
blast than last year. Set up over six different stages, the Citadel festival happens the
day after Lovebox, adding to the delight of music fans in London. The festival has been
headlined by some pretty big stars over the four years, including the Bombay Bicycle
Club, Leon Bridges and The Horrors.

Location: Gunnersbury Park, London

Citadel Dates 2023: May 5, 2023
3. London Yoruba Arts Festival

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This arts festival is held every year in Hackney, London and is an annual celebration of
the culture of the Yoruba. Comprising of everything from workshops to music
performances to African food fairs, the Yoruba arts festival is a colourful and rich annual
tribute to Yoruba culture. The African food market is a great place to explore exotic
food imported from Africa or made right here in the UK. For music lovers, there are also
plenty of events showcasing the intensely funky music coming out of the continent,
including Juju, Afrobeats and jazz.

Location: Hackney, London

London Yoruba Arts Festival Dates 2023: 15th to 16th July

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City In England!

4. South West Four

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Usually referred to as SW4, the South West Four is probably the best music and dance
festival in London. Held every year in August, the festival has performers from different
music genres like house, drum, techno and the famed EDM. Some of the best global
brands perform at the festival with the crowds going crazy. One of the best lineups in
the continent come together to create a popular summer festival.

Location: Clapham Common, London

South West Four Dates 2023: Update Soon

5. New Year’s Day Parade

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Every year the city of London comes together to be a part of the Day Parade at the
start of the new year. The parade started around thirty years back and has come to be
one of the biggest events of its kind. Covering places like Parliament Square, going up
to Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly and ending at Green Park, the parade gets millions to
come out. It also raises funds for different London charities with marching bands from
different cities around the world performing in the parade.

Location: West End, London

New Year’s Parade Date 2023: 1st January

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6. Taste of London
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The Taste of London is a festival hosted by a company that organises a series of food
fests around the world, the chief of them being the London edition. If you are a foodie,
this will be a dream come true for you as the festival showcases the best restaurants,
chefs as well as food recipes that have been cooked up in London’s crucibles. The first
edition of the festival took place at the Regent’s Park in June 2018, where about 50,000
people from all around the world took turned out.

Location: Tobacco Dock

Taste of London Dates 2023: 14 – 18 June 2023.

7. The Great British Beer Festival

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The Great British Beer Festival is probably the best beer festival in London, organised
by the Campaign for Real Ale. Cask ales, unpasteurized and unfiltered in addition to
being conditioned and served out of casks, are the central feature for beer lovers who
participate in this very popular festival. First organised in 1978, the GBBF also has a
sister festival called the GBBF Winter that specializes in porter and stout beer.

Location: Olympia, London

The Great British Beer Festival Dates 2023: 1 – 5 August 2023

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You Must Not Miss

8. Notting Hill Carnival

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A beautiful carnival held for last fifty years in the city of London, Notting Hill Carnival is
basically helmed by the West Indian community in Britain. Attended by over one million
people every year, this beautiful carnival is probably the biggest street festival in the
whole world. People of Carribean roots coming together and celebrating their heritage
sets this festival aside from the typical carnivals held in London or other parts of the
UK. With people dancing on traditional music genres like reggae, rumba, meringue and
zouk as well as food like jerk chicken and goat stew dominating the streets, this
beautiful festival is a celebration of dance, music, and culture, which brings people of
the city together, making it one of the most prominent festivals and events in London.

Location: Notting Hill, London

Notting Hill Carnival Dates 2023: Sun, Aug 27, 2023 – Mon, Aug 28, 2023

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Like Never Before!
9. London Jazz Festival

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Probably the biggest jazz festival in London, this music festival brings connoisseurs and
players of jazz – famous and upcoming – at one place once every year. Started around
twenty year back, this week long festival is a way to provide patronage to jazz and
celebrate the culture of it. Presented by Serious, this live music festival stays true to
everything London stands for. Today, it is not just limited to London, but has emerged
as one of the biggest international events for jazz.

Location: Different Clubs in the city

London Jazz Festival Dates 2023: 10th and 19th of November

10. Wireless Festival

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Another grand music festival, Wireless Festival in London has acquired an iconic
position in the London festival scene over the years. Held over the weekend, the
festival has taken place in popular spots like the Olympic Park and Hyde Park. Many
popular and loved artists from different genres like The Who, James Blunt, Jay-Z,
Kanye West, Weeknd, David Guetta, Drake, Avicii and many more have performed here
in past editions. Wireless has become synonymous with the latest music scene around
the globe. Attended by thousands every year, it is the best place to spend your summer
nights at.

Location: Finsbury Park, London

Wireless Festival Dates – Fri, Jul 7, 2023 – Sun, Jul 9, 2023
The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean Carnival event that has taken place in London
since 1966[2] on the streets of the Notting Hill area of Kensington, over the August Bank Holiday
weekend.[3]
It is led by members of the British Caribbean community, and attracts around two million people
annually, making it one of the world's largest street festivals, and a significant event in British African
Caribbean and British Indo-Caribbean culture.[4][5] In 2006, the UK public voted it onto a list of icons of
England.[6]

History[edit]
The roots of the Notting Hill Carnival that took shape in the mid-1960s had two separate but
connected strands. A "Caribbean Carnival" was held on 30 January 1959[7] in St Pancras Town
Hall as a response to the problematic state of race relations at the time; the UK's first widespread
racial attacks, the Notting Hill race riots in which 108 people were charged,[8] had occurred the
previous year.
The 1959 event, held indoors and televised by the BBC, was organised by the Trinidadian journalist
and activist Claudia Jones, often described as "the mother of the Notting Hill Carnival"[9] in her
capacity as editor of influential black newspaper The West Indian Gazette, and directed by Edric
Connor. It showcased elements of a Caribbean carnival in a cabaret style. It featured the Mighty
Terror singing the calypso "Carnival at St Pancras", The Southlanders, Cleo Laine, the Trinidad All
Stars and Hi–fi steel bands dance troupe, finishing with a Caribbean Carnival Queen beauty contest
and a Grand Finale Jump-Up by West Indians who attended the event.[10]
Another important strand was the "hippie" London Free School-inspired festival in Notting Hill that
became the first organised outside event, in August 1966. The prime mover was Rhaune Laslett,[11][12]
[13]
who was not aware of the indoor events when she first raised the idea. This festival was a more
diverse Notting Hill event to promote cultural unity. A street party for neighbourhood children turned
into a carnival procession when Russell Henderson's steel band (who had played at the earlier
Claudia Jones events) went on a walkabout.[14] By 1970, "the Notting Hill Carnival consisted of 2
music bands, the Russell Henderson Combo and Selwyn Baptiste's Notting Hill Adventure
Playground Steelband and 500 dancing spectators."[15]
Duke Vin, full name Vincent George Forbes,[16] is credited as being a co-founder of Notting Hill
Carnival, having brought the first sound system to the United Kingdom in 1955 when he was a
stowaway on a ship from Jamaica to the United Kingdom,[17] and brought what is thought to be the
very first sound system to the Notting Hill Carnival in 1973, which paved the way for the many sound
systems that operate at carnival today.[18] Duke Vin became a legend in Ladbroke Grove and had a
huge influence on the popularisation of reggae and ska in Britain, and played at Notting Hill Carnival
with his sound system, "Duke Vin the Tickler's",[19] every year from the year it was founded until his
death in 2012.[20]
Emslie Horniman's Pleasance (in the Kensal Green district of the area), has been the carnival's
traditional starting point.[21][22] Among the early bands to participate were Ebony Steelband and
Metronomes Steelband.[23] As the carnival had no permanent staff and head office, the Mangrove
restaurant in Notting Hill, run by another Trinidadian, Frank Crichlow, came to function as an
informal communication hub and office address for the carnival's organisers.[24]
Leslie Palmer, who was director from 1973 to 1975, is credited with "getting sponsorship, recruiting
more steel bands, reggae groups and sound systems, introducing generators and extending the
route."[25][26][27] He encouraged traditional masquerade, and for the first time in 1973 costume bands
and steel bands from the various islands took part in the street parade,[28] alongside the introduction
of stationary sound systems, as distinct from those on moving floats,[29][30] which, as Alex Pascall has
explained, "created the bridge between the two cultures of carnival, reggae and calypso."[31] "Notting
Hill Carnival became a major festival in 1975 when it was organised by a young teacher, Leslie
Palmer."[23] The carnival was also popularised by live radio broadcasts by Pascall on his daily Black
Londoners programme for BBC Radio London.
By 1976, the event had become definitely Caribbean in flavour, with around 150,000 people
attending. However, in that year and several subsequent years, the carnival was marred by riots, in
which predominantly Caribbean youths fought with police – a target due to the continuous
harassment the population felt they were under.[32] During this period, there was considerable press
coverage of the disorder, which some felt took an unfairly negative and one-sided view of the
carnival. For a while it looked as if the event would be banned. Prince Charles was one of the few
establishment figures who supported the event.[14][1] Leila Hassan campaigned for Arts Council
England to recognise the Notting Hill Carnival as an art form.[33] Since 1978 the national Panorama
competition is held on the Saturday preceding the carnival.[34]
Concerns about the size of the event resulted in London's then mayor, Ken Livingstone, setting up a
Carnival Review Group to look into "formulating guidelines to safeguard the future of the Carnival".
[35]
An interim report by the review resulted in a change to the route in 2002. When the full report was
published in 2004, it recommended that Hyde Park be used as a "savannah" (an open space to draw
crowds away from residential areas),[36] though the proposal of such a move attracted concerns,
including that the Hyde Park event might overshadow the original street carnival.[37][38][39]
In 2003, the Notting Hill Carnival was run by a limited company, the Notting Hill Carnival Trust Ltd. A
report by the London Development Agency on the 2002 Carnival estimated that the event
contributed around £93 million to the London and UK economy, set against an estimated £6–10
million costs.[40] However, the 2016 residents' survey commissioned by local Conservative Member of
Parliament (MP) Victoria Borwick found that while 6% of businesses reported an upturn in trade,
many others boarded up their shopfronts and lost business due to closure.[41]
For 2014, a Notting Hill Carnival illustrated guide was created by official city guide to London
visitlondon.com. The infographic includes Carnival tips,[42] transport information and a route map. The
book Carnival: A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival,[43][44][45] by Ishmahil
Blagrove and Margaret Busby, was also published in August 2014 by Rice N Peas.[46][47]
In 2015 there was controversy when the Carnival Trust charged journalists £100 to cover the event,
and demanded copies of all work produced relating to the event within three weeks of the end of the
Carnival.[48] The National Union of Journalists organised a boycott of the event.[49] In 2016 the charge
remained; however, in June 2017, the Carnival's new event management team introduced a revised
media policy, with no request for any accreditation fees.[50][51]
In 2016, when the Golden Jubilee of Notting Hill Carnival was celebrated,[52][53][54] 42 hours of live video
coverage was broadcast by music live-streaming platform Boiler Room from the Rampage,
Deviation, Aba Shanti-I, Channel One, Nasty Love, Saxon Sound, King Tubbys, Gladdy Wax and
Disya Jeneration soundsystems.[55][56][57][58]
The 2020 carnival was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,[59] although free live-
streamed events were shown online across four channels.[60][61] On 18 June 2021, it was announced
that the 2021 Carnival would not take place either, due to "ongoing uncertainty and Covid-19 risk".[62]
[63]

In 2022, Notting Hill Carnival returned after two-year hiatus. It started with a run to remember 72
victims of the Grenfell Tower fire from 2017.[64] The 2023 carnival will run 27-28 August.[65]
What is the history of the Great British Beer Festival?
Styled as “the biggest pub in the world,” the first GBBF was held in 1977 at Alexandra
Palace in London; the festival has been held every year since, with the exception of
1984 (when there was a fire in the hall in which the festival was to be held).

> Great British Beer Festival

Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) is an annual beer festival in the UK organized by the
Campaign for Real Ale. See campaign for real ale (camra). Styled as “the biggest pub in
the world,” the first GBBF was held in 1977 at Alexandra Palace in London; the festival
has been held every year since, with the exception of 1984 (when there was a fire in the
hall in which the festival was to be held). Over the years the festival’s venue has been in
Leeds, Birmingham, and Brighton, but London has been its permanent home since 1991,
when it was held in Docklands Arena. It moved to its current home in 2006 at Earls Court
after it had outgrown Olympia, where is had been since 1992.

Today the festival hosts more than 600 beers from around the world, though its prime
focus is cask-conditioned “real ale,” of which more than 450 are from UK brewers.
However, it has also become a showcase for craft beers from many countries including
Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, and the United States. Traditional British cider and
perry is also available.

The festival is usually held during the first full week in August and runs from Tuesday to
Saturday, with more than 60,000 people attending. It is staffed by more than 1,000
CAMRA volunteers. The festival is also home to the prestigious and influential
Champion Beer of Britain awards.

The GBBF is complemented by CAMRA’s Winter Ales Festival, held in January, which
focuses on porter and stouts.
The GBBF was not CAMRA’s first large beer festival; that honor goes to the Covent
Garden Beer Festival, held in London in September 1975.