Tower Hamlets and the Bangla Town Business Association promise the biggest festival yet; a trader calls it a lifeline for the high street
Brick Lane Curry Festival Returned on 20 September, With Puppets, Saree Workshops and 20 Percent Off
Tower Hamlets and the Bangla Town Business Association promise the biggest festival yet; a trader calls it a lifeline for the high street
By Harper-Thames, Shoreditch correspondent
The Event
The Brick Lane Curry Festival took place on Sunday 20 September 2026, with the main day starting at midday and street entertainment running until 7pm, Tower Hamlets Council announced in August. The festival returns after a nine-year break, following a comeback in 2025, and organisers describe it as the biggest curry festival yet. It runs in Brick Lane, Banglatown, with an opening procession ending at the Brick Lane Arch. The announcement gives two starting points for the procession, Buxton Street in the main text and Allen Gardens in the programme section, so I am not sure which was used.
Three giant puppets made by Emergency Exit Arts feature in the procession. Khiyo is the headline act, with Nish, Mumzy and Osmani Soundz also performing. A family zone offers saree draping and lungi wrapping workshops, and visitors who register through Eventbrite get 20 percent off at participating restaurants across the weekend.
The Voices
Lutfur Rahman, Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said, “This year we’re building on that success with an even bigger, better and spicier festival.” Guljar Khan, Chairman of the Bangla Town Business Association, said, “This festival isn’t just a celebration of world-class food, it is a lifeline for our high street.”
Yasmin Haque, Secretary of the Brick Lane Community Forum, said the forum is proud to be one of the key organisers. The council worked with the Bangla Town Business Association again this year and promoted the event as part of its Love Tower Hamlets campaign.
Why a Lifeline
Khan’s remark is the interesting one. A street festival is a marketing event, and for restaurants facing higher costs it can be an important one. The pub trade body says 295 pubs closed across the country in the first nine months of 2026, and hospitality across London has said it is under strain. Brick Lane’s restaurants have the same pressures of energy, wages, rent and rates.
I do not have figures for the festival’s effect on takings, and the council’s announcement gives no attendance numbers beyond saying the 2025 festival brought thousands of people together. A festival that works for one weekend does not by itself fix a year’s costs.
A Street With a History
Brick Lane is the heart of the Bangladeshi community in East London, and the festival is part of an effort to keep that identity visible as the area changes around it. Shoreditch is a short walk away, and the two sets of streets share customers, landlords and arguments.
Gentrification is a word people use about Brick Lane often and with feeling. This article does not try to settle it. I note only that a festival organised by the Bangla Town Business Association and the Brick Lane Community Forum is an act of local ownership, and that the council describes it as such.
Eating There
Visitors who want to eat on Brick Lane might ask about the 20 percent offer and check which restaurants take part. The best advice is the traditional one: walk the street, look at the menus, and choose a place where the staff look busy. The offer ran across the weekend, which has now passed, and I will report if it is repeated.
I will add that the word curry covers a very large number of dishes, and Brick Lane’s best kitchens cook more than the standard list.
The Business Case
Street festivals bring customers who might not otherwise visit, and restaurants that join an offer gain a reason for diners to choose them. The 20 percent discount through Eventbrite registration also gave the organisers a way to count visitors who engaged, though the announcement does not say whether figures were gathered.
For a restaurant, a discount costs margin. For the street, it buys attention. The Bangla Town Business Association clearly judged that the trade was worth it, and Guljar Khan’s description of the festival as a lifeline suggests the margins are thin enough to need it.
What I Would Like to Know
I would like to know how many people came, how many ate, how much they spent and how many came back within a month. Without those figures a festival is a good day out and not a measured intervention. If the organisers publish a report, I will cover it.
The announcement is also silent on the mix of visitors from the borough and from outside, which would tell us whether the street is serving its neighbours or tourists.
Next Year
The festival’s return after a nine-year gap suggests the organisers see value in an annual event. Whether it continues will depend on funding, support from the council and the traders’ willingness to participate. It is the kind of event that people only notice when it stops.
Humour as a Mirror
Markets that worry are easy to laugh at, and the Cebu condominium story has drawn plenty of that: empty showrooms in Manila News, paperwork for British pensioners in the London Prat (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and long showings in Bohiney. See also prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, there is always The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/
