Regent Street Festival

The annual Regent Street Festival takes place this Sunday 2 September and this year it takes the theme of an Indian Summer and is the last major event in London’s India Now festival marking 60 years of Indian independence.

Regent Street will be closed to traffic for the day and the free festival will run from 12noon to 8pm. Visitors can enjoy a Goan beach with palm trees, stalls and restaurants selling Indian food and handicrafts, music and dance on stages set up in Regent and Heddon streets and circus acts.

Among the groups performing are Dhol Academy from the UK who have teamed up with performance group Walk the Plank for a spectacular processional performance called ‘In the Dholdrums’ featuring a giant drum, costumes, stilt-walkers and fireworks, the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band from Rajasthan who will be accompanied by dance and circus acts, and stilt performers from Orissa and a Manipuri martial arts troupe. If you’re looking for the latest sounds from the British Asian music scene get down to the main Regent Street stage where DJs from the BBC Asian Network will be playing.

Should be a good chance to enjoy one of central London’s major streets pedestrianized for a day. Heddon Street is on on the western side of Regent Street about about 500m up from Piccadilly Circus. Map