Please note that this event has already occured.
Key information
Date: Sunday 12 March 2023
Time: 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Venue: Trafalgar Square
Cost: Free
About the event
Come and celebrate London’s St Patrick’s Day Festival on Sunday 12 March in Trafalgar Square. There’ll be the best of Irish arts, culture, food, music to enjoy, and more, including the spectacular annual parade.
The Mayor’s annual shindig has become a highlight of London’s cultural calendar, as Londoners and visitors unite in celebrating the great contributions Irish people have made to the city.
St Patrick’s Day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the enduring strength of relationship between the British and Irish.
More than 50,000 people are expected to join the annual procession of Irish marching bands, dance troupes and pageantry. The parade starts at Hyde Park Corner, then travels through Piccadilly, St James’s Street, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street and Whitehall.
The action then moves to Trafalgar Square where your host Riyadh Khalaf will introduce a world-class line-up, in partnership with London Irish Centre. Expect family concerts, children’s films and youth performances, as well community choirs, schools, dance troupes and a singalong finale.
Alongside the main stage, International Chef of the Year 2019, Anna Haugh will be running food demos. There’ll also be children’s workshops run by Junk Kouture a creative program for youth that promotes the importance of sustainability.
If you can't make it to Trafalgar Square listen along live on the day from 1pm with Barra and Cal, exclusively on Maritime Radio, 96.5FM and on your smart speaker. Or listen again on catch up player straight after the programme has been broadcast on maritimeradio.co.uk
And if that’s not enough, there’ll also be events happening across London all weekend.
Watch a video about last year's celebrations
2023 line up
This year's line up, programmed by London Irish Centre:
- MC/Host - Riyadh Khalaf
- Biblecode Sunday's
- Celtic Youth Orchestra
- Celaviedmai
- Junk Kouture
- Craic Heads
- Leon Dunne -Spoken Word artist
- AIS X I Am Irish
- Roxanna Nic Liam
- Maguire O'Shea School of Dance
- Sharon Shannon & Band
- Sing-a-long with London Irish Community Voices Choir
- Irish Film London Screen programme
Event location
51.508066657777, -0.12832786600586
Event map
Image above shows a cartoon map of Trafalgar Square with a green background a yellow boxes representing each of the marquees labelled with numbers with correspond to a key.
At the top left of the map you find the bar running along the east side of Trafalgar Square.
Moving right around the map shows toilets in the Southeast of Trafalgar Square.
The stage is positioned at the base of Nelson’s Column.
Moving the right hand side of the map, shows the accreditation tent and the food provider Freewheelin’ Pizza.
Further along the bottom side of the map, show a run of food marquees along the west side of Trafalgar Square to include, Chick n’ Sours, Gully – Ultimate Indian Street Food, Clonakilty and Home Town Rolls, Anna Haugh, Myrtle Restaurant.
On Pall Mall East to the west of Trafalgar Square you will find the Children’s workshop to be run by Junk Kouture.
On the North Terrace above the main body of Trafalgar Square, you will find community stalls: Irish in Britain, London Irish Centre, Conradh na Gaeilge i Londain, Irish Film London, and the Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith. These are joined on the north terrace by Tourism Ireland and the Irish Post along with Trinity Hampers, Click Retail and London GAA.
The entrance to Trafalgar Square is by the Northwest on the square where you can also find the Mobiloo accessible toilet and the medical centre. You can exit Trafalgar Squared via any of the four corners of the square.
2023 St Patrick's Day Sponsors
Sponsorship opportunities
Interested in being part of the largest gathering celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in London?
Sponsorship opportunities are now open. Benefits include:
- association with a key Mayoral event
- on site branding at the iconic Trafalgar Square
- invitation to the official launch event
- face to face engagement with over 75,000 event attendees
- reach and awareness across key GLA social media channels
- platform to create compelling brand experiences
Please email [email protected] to speak with the team for more information.
Conditions of Entry to Trafalgar Square
Searching is a condition of entry to this event.
CCTV is in operation within Trafalgar Square.
No bags larger than standard A4 paper size will be permitted.
To help protect the safety and welfare of both visitors and staff the following is a nonexclusive list of items that are prohibited from being brought into Trafalgar Square.
• Bladed items, including; pen knives, fixed bladed knives and scalpels
• Offensive weapons e.g. tasers, etc.
• Imitation or toy weapons, including toy hand grenades and guns
• Items that could be readily converted into weapons
• Component parts of weapons
• Flares or fireworks
• Party poppers and party canons
• Helium filled balloons
• Strobe lights, high intensity torches and lasers
• Hazardous materials e.g. CS gas, pepper spray, gas canisters, acids and alkalis
• Spray paints or cans of paint
• Powders that are not personal prescription medicines or for cosmetic purposes
• Illegal drugs
• Opened bottles / cans of alcohol
• Pointed Scissors / pointed tweezers
• Knitting Needles
• Syringes (unless required for personal medical use)
• Placards, Banners and Flags
• Mobile phone jamming devices
• Full facial Masks
• Items that could cause loud audible disruption e.g. whistles, megaphones, sirens, air horns, large radios / cd players
• Covert surveillance and recording equipment
• Climbing and abseiling equipment
• Tools e.g. pliers, screwdrivers, wire cutters, saws, etc.
• Animals, other than assistance dogs
• Bottles containing liquid, water refill points are available within the Square
• Glass items
Any items considered to be suspicious or unacceptable by security staff that the owner cannot provide a reasonable explanation for possessing
Please also note that when full, we will operate a one in, one out policy.