St. Patrick's Day Festival 2026

Today was when they celebrated St. Patrick's Day in London - I decided to take myself along to the festival. A Meetup group called Explorers was going, but I don't know anyone in it well, so I did my own thing - besides, 210 people signed up! It must've been like a small army..

Naturally, with no specific time to be there, I wasn't up early. I'd expected the buses to be curtailed, so got one to Waterloo and walked from there. By 'eck, it was windy - but sunny, at that point. Saw a sign (the small white one, in the photo) on the bridge that read: "Anti-graffiti paint has been applied to this asset.". And immediately afterwards:

Guess they missed a spot! ;-)

The parade was finished by now, of course. Lots and lots of Irish paraphernalia to be seen, on sale and being worn:

I made my way over, arriving at about 2.30, and found an entrance.. and a really long queue. 11 minutes, to be precise - as we got closer, we could hear the strains of Whiskey in the Jar, which turned out to be the last song of the Phil Lynott tribute, and which I was singing away to softly.. I'd actually heard them being announced as I came over, so it wasn't a very long tribute!

Bag checks over, we were in, and in the long, long gap before the next performance, I perused the stalls. First one to catch my eye was the emporium of paraphernalia - if you hadn't got yours already, never fear, here was the world's supply!

By the looks of it, the zogabongs proved particularly popular. The Old Bog Cottage was back! Now, I grew up around these, and with nobody to show around it, I skipped the queue - if you haven't seen it though, it is worth a look: and they give you a free piece of soda bread (with optional butter)!

The "Irish in Britain" would like us all to keep in touch - and there'll be many a lonely immigrant glad of it:

There seemed to be quite a bit of interest in the Irish language lessons:

And, of course, the London Irish Centre made an appearance:

Never heard of Trinity Hampers - I use Gifts Direct, myself! But if you want one based in the UK..

On the lower level were lots of food stalls - including the one for Korean fried chicken - all stall names translated into Irish. Crikey, I never knew there was an Irish word for "Korean"..

When they finally put another act on stage (had they not expected the last one to finish so quickly?), it was The Wran. I wandered over in that direction. This is an Irish folk group, four brothers from Waterford - the name comes from the tradition of hunting the wren (pronounced "wran" in country areas) on St. Stephen's Day (aka Boxing Day). They don't actually hunt them anymore, but in some parts of the country, wrenboys still go from house to house, dressed in fantastical costumes, performing and collecting money. Not still a thing where I'm from, but it was when I was a kid.

All of this has pretty much nothing to do with the group, but that's where the name comes from. Anyway, with a beardy chap on percussion, a couple of guitarists (one looking very folk, long hair and what looked like a Viking necklace), and a guy in a jester's cap playing the banjo, they looked the part. A guy was actually signing the words, to the side - from my side, he was obscured by a poster; I only noticed him when I saw him on the screen that was showing the stage to the folks at the back.

They started with a rousing rendition of The Rocky Road to Dublin, which was a good choice. I didn't recognise the next couple of songs - but that was probably down to me not being a huge fan of Irish folk, rather than them being obscure; certainly, someone behind me was singing along to one. They're a good group. But then they turned a bit mystical.. mood music sort of stuff.. and with the promised rain beginning to descend, I gave up on the festival and headed in search of food. Crossing roads was easier than usual, of course - most of them were blocked off. On those, the only vehicles were already cleaning up:

The places nearby were crammed, of course - I decided to head in the direction of home, and specifically to Bella Italia Strand, and sure enough that turned out to be far enough away. Plenty of empty tables, but with a sign asking customers to wait to be seated, I did. And waited.. one waiter was dealing with a table upstairs, taking ages.. another cleared a table near me, and I thought surely, now.. no! I was completely ignored for what must have been over five minutes. Damn near left - instead, I moved further along the bar. Even the customers at a nearby table were looking at me. FINALLY, the waiters deigned to notice me, and sat me beside the people who'd been looking at me. I mean what, did I not look like a potential customer?

To be fair, it all went swimmingly after that. I started with dough balls - the chicken fries are lovely, but can often be served burnt - and would have liked the tortellini, but they don't seem to have them, here! Crikey, I hope Bella Italia in general haven't removed them from the menu, just as they've become a favourite of mine.. I had the chicken milanese, which I have to say was the nicest I've had in a long time, piled high with cheese. The wine could have been colder, but was fine. And I had time for dessert, so just had a couple of scoops of vanilla gelato with chocolate sauce. Service was impeccable once I was seated.

And by the time I left, buses were running normally again.

Tomorrow, Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) is off to another spooky thing - It Walks Around the House at Night has an actor playing the ghost that inhabits a remote manor house, scaring visitors.. only to discover that he's not the only one there! Mwah-hah-haa.. Showing at Southwark Playhouse. My sometime dinner companion has suggested we eat afterwards, it being over early - as I suggested, we could try the Mercato, although it was closed last time we tried to do that, despite the website saying it'd be open much later!

Then, two days of films, catching a couple I've had my eye on for a while.. On Tuesday, Paddy's Day itself, my thought was to go to a film with an Irish connection.. not a great choice of them amongst the highly rated though! I finally plumped for seeing Hamnet at last, my justification being that it has two Irish stars - Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. They play Shakespeare and his wife, respectively - although her name seems to have changed from Anne to Agnes! Mind you, it is based on a novel. Deals with the death of their son, Hamnet, and how that provided the inspiration for the play Hamlet. Closest showing to me is in Rich Mix - which I've booked, because I also booked to eat in The Blues Kitchen beforehand, and figured I'd better book the one, since I'd booked the other.

And on Wednesday, finally heading to see No Other Choice, a dark comedy about a middle-aged Korean man who, finding himself unexpectedly unemployed and with a family to support, and faced with competing with younger, brighter applicants in the jobs market, decides that the only reasonable course of action is to eliminate them.. Handiest close showing to me is in the Curzon Bloomsbury - I've booked it with the last of my year's free tickets. Always good to use a free ticket for something that's not a documentary, and so is priced higher..

And then three days of Meetup. On Thursday, back with UITCS for the opening night of Body and Soul at Sadler's Wells, eating at The Wilmington beforehand as usual.

On Friday, back with The Hideout at last, to see Dead Lover - the trailer is so ridiculously OTT, I can only hope the film is worth it! About a gravedigger, finally finds the man of her dreams, and he goes and dies! Naturally, what can she do but resurrect him..? Showing in the Prince Charles, and we're meeting in Victory House beforehand. Now, I'd normally book at my favourite restaurant for this - but would you believe, by the time I decided what I was doing, they were fully booked for early evening! Eating at the Bear and Staff instead, I know they're good.

And on Saturday, finally back with LoMAZ for their bi-monthly birthday bash - meeting at Benugo in Waterloo, then having a self-guided history tour (ahem) within the station, and repairing to the Union Jack..