London Events

London’s calendar is crowded, and two events in particular are worth arranging a trip around.

Notting Hill Carnival — August bank holiday weekend

Europe’s largest street festival, and the most important cultural event in the London year. It began in the 1960s, growing out of an indoor Caribbean carnival organised in response to the racist violence of 1958 and the murder of Kelso Cochrane, and became a street procession claiming public space for a community that had been told it did not belong. It now draws well over a million people across two days: a route through west London with costumed mas bands, steel pan competitions, and around thirty static sound systems, each with its own following, playing everything from reggae and soca to dub and house. Sunday is family day; Monday is the main parade. Go on foot, expect to be unable to move at times, and understand that the sound systems switch off at seven.

The Proms — July to September

Eight weeks of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, with standing tickets in the arena for a few pounds on the day — the largest classical music festival in the world and genuinely democratic in a way few are.

New Year fireworks — 31 December

Ticketed and enormous, fired from the Eye and the river.

Open House — September

Several hundred buildings normally closed to the public — livery halls, private houses, government offices, infrastructure — open their doors free for a weekend. It is the best chance anyone gets to see inside the city, and the more popular buildings ballot months ahead.

Pride and the marathon — summer and April

Both close large parts of the centre and both are worth seeing.