Credit: Maria Pangoli
garden
Richard Frith, 1680
Soho Square, W1D 3QP
what3words: guitar.packet.alone
The West End Open House Neighbourhood Festival kicks with a celebratory musical and dance performance in Soho Square Gardens, reflecting the festival theme of "Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner!", celebrating the many communities that have come to live and work in the West End and and made London their home.
Leicester Square, Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road
Dance, Music and theatrical performance from groups representing the different communities that make up the West End
Credit: Maria Pangoli
14:00–18:00
Theatrical performance
The West End Open House Neighbourhood Festival is officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Westminster.
A programme of music, dance and performance from the different communities that have come and left their mark on the West End.
Maps, directions and information on the participating Open House venues.
Harmony in Diversity CIC presents an afternoon of art, dance, music and storytelling of Soho's lively and colourful history taking place in Soho Square Gardens from 2.-6pm.
The festival theme is based on the Cockney song written during an air raid, "Maybe it's Because I'm a Londoner". Performances include role portrayal of Air Raid Wardens narrating their story, songs representing the arrival of Europeans during the 1940s and onwards, including Cockney songs and a Pearly King and Queen with their story and appearance. This event shows how, through art, stories, mixing of different communities, and the Cockney spirit, Soho is now a diverse home for everyone with a proud London feeling. A fantastic line-up of artists, speakers and storytellers, including Queen of Soho, Anne Pigalle, with Balancing Act and Gideon Reeling, giving interactive storytelling and live experiences. Also the launch of the Soho Shuffle and a mesmerising magic act by Christian Lee. Get ready to explore the Bohemian side of Soho with dance, music and stories. Come and join us for the dance workshops and the crafts-making workshops in the Square with a fantastic DJ , live music and communities getting together.
Can't Be Arts is a collective of over 70 creatives who have pulled together the festival with support from Westminster City Council. Established in 2024 they developed the first Westminster neighbourhood festival in Soho. Last year they expanded the festival to Chinatown and now the West End (including Fitzrovia & Covent Garden).
Harmony in Diversity CIC organises events of music and dance with workshops, shows, holistic therapy workshops and general entertainment to promote good mental and physical wellbeing to all. Gideon Reeling design & deliver immersive theatre, interactive storytelling & live experiences. They have created the Soho Shuffle. Balancing Act Theatre Arts. They deliver community theatre workshops that use theatre games and the devising process to boost wellbeing and have been working with residents in Westminster for the last 2 years creating several performance pieces. Most recently a devised piece for the festival inspired by the theme ‘Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner’.
Co-Produced by Textural Beats/Can't Be Arts & Harmony in Diversity
Guided tour
Hear about the history of Soho on a walk around some of the sites associated with colourful characters of yesteryear. From Soho's beginnings as a fashionable suburb in the seventeenth century up to the 1950s, I regale you with delicious snippets of history. We end the tour with the option of refreshments at the birthplace of British RocknRoll.
Guided tour
The area post 1700 became very cosmopolitan with immigrants mainly from Europe, and their influence on food and drink became increasingly important. This tour is based on food and drink, passing by restaurants, pubs, coffee bars, pâtisserie and delis that have been present for decades, finishing at a relatively new site.
