Party on: Notting Hill Carnival returns for its 54th edition
(Picture: Niall Green/Second Screen Pictures)The only thing better than a weekend? A three-day weekend, of course.
August’s end brings with it the promise of a sun-soaked mini break, with no lack of fun to fill it up with. There’s the return of London’s biggest party after three years away, and packed roster of music and food festivals, family-friendly fairs, and plenty more.
Here’s our guide to making the most of the bank holiday bonanza.
Celebrate the return of Notting Hill Carnival
It’s the big one, back for the first time since 2019. Europe’s biggest street carnival returns to Notting Hill for its 54th edition this bank holiday weekend, bringing its boisterously brilliant medley of exuberant costumes, banging sound systems, non-stop dancing and all the rest. The party gets started at 6am on Sunday morning and runs until Monday evening.
Free, August 28-29, nhcarnival.org
Sing your heart out at a music festival
It’s a busy weekend for music festivals in the capital. The National, Disclosure and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are headlining All Points East in Victoria Park from Friday to Sunday, while Lee Valley Showground is the site of dance-focused Eastern Electrics on Saturday, and the eclectic Maiden Voyage on Sunday. Meanwhile, Junction 2 — the excellent DJ gathering that got cancelled in June due to the Tube strikes — resurrects as a two-dayer at Tobacco Dock on Saturday and Sunday.
Drink up at the Blackhorse Beer Mile
The Blackhorse Beer Mile is back on the pints for its summer party. Bringing together six breweries and taprooms — Truman’s Social Club, Exale Brewing, Wild Card Brewery, Hackney Brewery, Beerblefish Brewing and Signature Brew — all within 10 minutes’ walk of each other, the offering ranges from DJ sets and live music to Japanese grub and a Dutch shuffleboard (and, obviously, loads of beer).
Free, August 28, E17, blackhorsebeermile.co.uk
Travel back in time at Victorian Vauxhall
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens will be plunged back 150 years or so this weekend as a Victorian-style funfair lands in the green space. Expect circus acts, performers, fish and chips and vintage games, all of which are geared towards families with kids. It’s free to attend, but if you register for tickets in advance, you’ll be entered into a prize draw for a VIP tour of Vauxhall City Farm.
Free, 2pm-7pm, August 27, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, SE11 5HL, beinvauxhall.com
Chow down at Hampton Court Palace Food Festival
Stuff yourself silly at this food festival, which is promising more food traders than ever before. With upwards of 100 stalls to pick from — offering cheese, brownies, churros, gelato, gin, beers and much more — there will also be live music in the bandstand, and family-friendly activities including face, arts and crafts, and even Shire horse rides.
Free with general admission ticket (adults from £26.10, children from £13), August 27-29, KT8 9AU, hrp.org.uk
Catch the final weekend of This Bright Land
For the month of August, Somerset House’s courtyard has been the scene of This Bright Land, a new festival that has brought together everything from street food and DJ sets to vogue balls and a great big ferris wheel. This is the final weekend, and although Saturday’s vogueing event has sold out, there’s still space left for the Daytimers club night on Friday, and the Sunday street party.
Various prices, until August 29, Somerset House, WC2R 1LA, somersethouse.org.uk
Grab a bargain at Hackney Flea Market
Hackney Flea Market, which has popped up in various guises from Peckham to Walthamstow since first launching in 2013, will return to Stoke Newington this weekend. It’s a treasure trove of vintage and second-hand wares that you might not find anywhere else, as well as an excellent place to peruse the goods of local, independent creatives.
Free, August 27-28, Abney Hall, 73a Stoke Newington Church Street, N16, hackneyfleamarket.com
Tuck into Arcade Food Hall’s Summer Party
Arcade Food Hall — the gastronomic complex that houses hit Thai restaurant Plaza Khao Gaeng, among many others — is throwing a summer bash over the weekend. A special barbecue menu, which ranges from a BBQ eel sushi sando to a grilled peach donut with honey-whipped mascarpone, is the star attraction, with DJs providing the tunes until late each night.
August 25-28, 103-105 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DB, arcadefoodhall.com
Catch a movie at an al fresco cinema
The free outdoor cinema that’s been operating as part of Underbelly Festival in Earl’s Court will run throughout the weekend with a crowd-pleasing programme: The Sound of Music, Mamma Mia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Breakfast at Tiffany’s are just a few of the screenings. A rather more out-there selection can be found at the Barbican’s al fresco screen, from classic Japanese monster movie Mothra to French animated fantasy Planète Sauvage.
Underbelly Festival, Empress Place, SW6 1TT, underbellyfestival.com / Sculpture Court, Barbican, EC2Y, barbican.org.uk
Get cultural at the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival
A 17-day, free-to-attend programme of dance, theatre, art and circus performances will kick off in south-east London on Friday, as the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival returns for its 2022 edition. Highlights include a new digital artwork created in response to the Ukraine war, a multidisciplinary exhibition that melds “geology, sci-fi and rave culture”, and one installation that will cover the Greenwich Peninsula in technicolour foam.
Free, August 26-September 11, festival.org
Experience the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
There’s an excellent programme of Proms action lined up at the Royal Albert Hall over the bank holiday weekend, from the Earth Prom — an audiovisual celebration of the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, featuring scores from Hans Zimmer and others — to a chance to hear the venue’s famous organ, played by American musician Nathan Laube.
Various prices, Royal Albert Hall, SW7 2AP, royalalberthall.com
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