St Patrick’s Day in London

Saturday is St Patrick’s Day and like a lot of places around the world outside Ireland, London will be having its own celebration of the day. Irish people have always come over to London in search of work but the period from the 1950s onwards saw a big surge in immigration. Given that, its only been in the last few years that an official St Patrick’s Day Parade has been organised by the Mayor and London Assembly.

The main events in London are actually taking place on Sunday 18th March, with the St Patrick’s Day Parade starting at noon from Park Lane to Hyde Park Corner, then on down to Piccadilly Circus, turning south on Regent Street to Trafalgar Square, finishing up at Whitehall Place. That’ll be followed by the St Patrick’s Day Festival taking place in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Covent Garden.

In Trafalgar Square a large stage will feature new and old Irish music as well as traditional dancing and they’ll be food and drink stalls and a number of exhibtion stands.
Leicester Square will host the Irish Cultural Village with an area called the Ceili Mor where you can hear Irish ceili music and try your hand at Irish dancing on their hard floor area. There’s music and entertainment for adults and children and a display of crafts by the Crafts Council of Ireland. The Prince Charles Theatre is screening a number of Irish short films as well as the feature The Wind That Shakes The Barlet, the Cannes Festival winner.

Covent Garden will have an Irish Food Market and a music stage with acts including the London Irish Symphony Orchestra, Julie Feeney, Iain Archer, David Kitt, Declan O’Rourke and Comhaltas.

If you feel like pushing the boat out you can attend the Mayor’s St Patrick’s Day Dinner at the Savoy Hotel on 17th March, it starts at 7pm and tickets are £150.
Also on the 17th March the London Borough of Brent is having its St Patrick’s Day Parade starting at 2pm at Willesden Green followed by an afternoon of music and dance events on their music stage outside the Willesden Green Library Centre. Its free to attend.

On 17-18 March there are a series of free walking tours being given by the Blue Badge guides under the heading Irish Luminaries In London, which looks at the London links of some of the famous names in Irish history including W.B.Yeats, Michael Collins and Oscar Wilde. The walks last around 2 hours and take place at 10.30am and 2.30pm each day, if you’d like to go along just turn up outside Blackfriars Tube station at either one of those times.

Also on the 17th is the St Patrick’s Night Party at the Hammersmith Irish Centre with Irish band Murphy’s Mob and family group The Mullin Family. Tickets are £12. On the same day there’s a musical celebration of St Patrick’s Day at St. Martin’s In the Field featuring the Locrian Ensemble and the London Irish Sinfonia with tickets from £6-£18.

Whatever you do don’t forget to get stuck into the Guinness at some point on St Patrick’s Day.