15 brilliant ways to celebrate the August bank holiday in London

Summer in London wouldn't be summer in London without Notting Hill Carnival. Taking place on August bank holiday weekend each year since 1966, it’s grown into Europe’s largest street festival, attracting more than two and half million people annually. With parades, masquerade, floats, dancing, steel bands and soundsystems, as well as the outstanding Caribbean food stalls, Carnival is a feast for the senses. 

Over the last six years, All Points East has garnered a reputation for building some of the most exciting and interesting festival line-ups in the UK. Its headliners are often indie or dance-focused big-hitters, while its undercards are packed with cult heroes and rising stars you can say you saw first. If your music preferences lie in the Venn diagram of indie and electronic then this is the festival for you. Over this year’s bank holiday weekend look out for line-ups including indie sleaze party-starters LCD Soundsystem and a double-hitter of the Ben Gibbard-fronted The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie. August 24 will see the return of All Points East’s collaboration with Field Day, topped by French electro maestros Justice.

You can always rely on the annual free Greenwich + Docklands International Festival to have plenty of spectacle on its line-up. This year’s 17-day programme will focus on both activism and climate change with the big 2024 showstopper likely to be Australian physical theatre company Legs on the Wall’s ‘THAW’ (Aug 24-25), an epic eight hour aerial performance staged on a two-and-a-half-tonne block of ice suspended high in the air by a crane. Need something to entertain the kids? Look out for ‘Pram People’ (Aug 25-26), a show for little ones (and their parents) by Australian company which involves an interactive performance around a weird and wonderful series of prams.

You’ve watched ‘Paris is Burning’, now see the moves for real. Head down to Somerset House to see its grand Georgian Courtyard filled with dressed-to-kill shapeshifters at this huge open-air vogueing competition. Watch international ballroom talent walk the runway and compete for trophies in this alfresco extravaganza of dance, fashion and music. Stand back – the vogue battles are about to begin.  

If you went to RALLY’s first edition in Southwark Park last summer and came away singing the day fest’s praises, you'll be happy to hear it's back for a second iteration. This year, the festival has taken a serious step-up. Headlined by UK electronic titans Mount Kimbie, in what’ll be the duo’s first British festival show in seven years, it's got an eclectic line-up of musical talent on offer, including live acts like Nilüfer Yanya, bar italia, Armand Hammer, Sorry and ML Buch. When it comes to the DJs, you've got DJ Marcelle, Call Super, Lena Willikens and Moopie all to get excited about. All this will take place during the Bank Holiday, on August 24, joining a bumper weekend of live music happenings in London that weekend.

Looking for a way to fill up those extra hours over the August Bank Holiday weekend? Use all that sweet time off to embark on one of the Prince Charles Cinema’s famous film marathons. This time around it’s Peter Jackson’s epic film franchise of JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth adventures. Not only does this marathon feature all three of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films played back-to-back, it begins with all three ‘Hobbit’ films – that’s a whopping 1260 minutes of otherwordly adventure. The screenings starts at 8pm on Sunday and finishes at 5:15pm on Monday. Think you can hack it? 

Music streaming platform Boiler Room are returning with their biggest party yet. The 2024 festival will feature full-stage takeovers from the likes of Club Heartbroken and Teletech, while the line-up is stacked with names that’ll make you go ooh. Look out for Giggs, Skream & Benga, Mr Scruff, Optimo, Marlon Hoffstadt on the line-up and there’s still a secret stage announcement to come, too. 

Erased, forgotten, overlooked, subjugated and dominated; Judy Chicago saw what history, what society, had done to women, and she did something about it. The pioneering American feminist has spent decades using her art to call out injustice at the hands of the patriarchy. Chicago sees society being destroyed, nature being eviscerated and women being exploited; her art is her response, and it’s a vicious, technicolour, satirical attack on the patriarchy, shot through with ecological activism. Her real target, is power; who wields it, who is oppressed by it. And when she’s got it in her sights, she’s pretty unstoppable. 

The great and good of the city’s queer nightlife scene are once again coming together for this massive day-to-night festival celebrating LGBTQ+ clubbing culture in London and beyond. Now in Southwark Park for its biggest and best edition on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday, acts incluing Adonis, Big Dyke Energy, Little Gay Brother, Love Child, MARICAS, NYC Downlow, Pxssy Palace, Queer House Party, Riposte and unfold are just a handful of the 25+ clubnights and collectives involved this time around. 

Over the August bank holiday, Battersea Park will become a stage for the very best classical, West End, and jazz, with a sideshow of fantastic food stands. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra will take to the stage for Prom in the Park on Saturday, and Sunday will be filled with tunes from Chicago, Rent, Six, The Greatest Showman and Grease performed by Jenna Lee James (‘We Will Rock You’) and Ricardo Afonso (‘The Voice UK’ series 2). Finally, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra will provide the tunes on Bank Holiday Monday. 

Walthamstow’s Big Penny Social already lays claim to the title of the UK’s biggest beer hall. Now, it will opening its doors over the August bank holiday weekend to a sprawling drinks festival, dubbed the Big Swig. A £5 ticket will get you entry to the bevvie bonanza and a keepsake festival pint glass to take home. From there, the venue is your oyster, with over 170 keg and cask beers on offer from a host of independent breweries across the UK’s southeast, plus ciders, wines and spirits if hops aren’t your thing. While you sup on some suds, there’ll be live music to entertain you, and indoor and outdoor seating to perch up on.

The excellent electro day festival is calling in at north London's Lee Valley Showground this August with its biggest line-up to date. Headliners Jamie Jones and Joseph Capriati will preside over a slate of house, disco, techno and more, all surrounded by the pretty waterways and forests of this natural beauty spot. The lineup for the main stage includes the likes of Sarah Story (British DJ and radio producer from Radio 1 Future Dance) and Seth Troxler (Michigan-born record producer). At Disco Disco, legendary electronic duo Groove Armarda on the programme, as are eclectic Amsterdam-born DJ Ruby Savage and dance music giant Argy. 

Edinburgh isn't the only place with a bursting, brilliant fringe, and indeed as the Scottish capital’s iconic event becomes ever more expensive, the once scrappy outsider Camden Fringe looks ever more like a serious alternative for the London-based. Returning for its eighteenth edition, it’s smaller than Edinburgh by a long shot, but still boasts hundreds of events all over Camden, taking in everything from the expected stand-up sets and experimental theatre to kids’ shows, dance, and even magic. Runs tend to be for a night or two rather than the entire month, and prices are bargain basement by London standards, usually less than a tenner. 

If a trip to Hampton Court has been on your to-do list, why not time your visit to coincide with this foodie extravaganza? Over the August Bank Holiday weekend entrance tickets to Henry VIII’s former gaff give you access to more than 150 speciality food stalls, so you can feast like like a Tudor king in the palace's gorgeous green spaces. There are also pop-up bars, kids’ activities, and an array of local musicians taking to the bandstand to soundtrack your culinary adventure. 

A major influx of owls is coming to Haringey this summer. No, not the flying kind, but 30 giant sculptures of the bird, all painted in bright colours and designs. The installation of these new feathered friends is all part of North London Hospice’s latest fundraising event, the Big Fun Art Adventure, which is creating a walkable trail of art across the area. Some of the owls on display will be painted by famous faces, like Matt Lucas and Rob Biddulph, and when the trail closes in October, the sculptures will go under the hammer to raise money for the hospice. You’ll be able to find the route on an app or paper map, if you prefer, and while it’s free to walk around the trail, you can sponsor an owl to help with fundraising efforts.