St Patrick’s Day 2025 in London: events, parties and celebrations

The Irish are experts when it comes to partying. They’re so good, in fact, they even have a special untranslatable term – the craic – to describe their unique brand of conviviality. With Trafalgar Square as the setting for London’s official bash in celebration of their patron saint, a blast is pretty much guaranteed.

When is the London St Patrick’s Day parade?

This year, the extravaganza is taking place the day before the official St Patrick’s Day celebrations, on Sunday March 16. It’s set to see more than 50,000 turning out for Irish food, dancing and a huge parade featuring pageantry, floats and music that will wend its way from Hyde Park Corner along Piccadilly, St James’s Street, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street and Whitehall.

Once it ends up in Trafalgar Square, there’ll be plenty more entertainment, with a main stage featuring Irish acts, as programmed by the London Irish Centre, plus a film festival (this year will have a sustainability theme). Elsewhere, expect stalls, food and a whole heap of fun as attendees paint the town green.

Read our guide to St Patrick’s Day in London.

Believe it or not, there are more ways to celebrate St Patrick’s Day than just sinking Guinness at your local (although we aren’t against that method at all). If you want to learn a little about all those who have migrated to the capital from the Emerald Isle before you start on the pints, we’ve got just the thing. This brilliant walking tour begins at Parliament Square and meanders all the way through the theatre district to explore Ireland’s cultural and literary contributions before finishing in Soho. But the craic doesn’t end there – the guide will certainly be rounding off the trip at the pub.

40FT brewery is teaming up with neighbouring ‘live fire’ restaurant Acme Fire Cult for a proper Irish knees-up this St Paddy’s Day. The Dalston brewers will be launching their Nitro Deep Stout for the occasion, with boozy Jameson Boilermaker cocktails also on offer. On the food menu? Spice bags! For anyone unacquainted, these are an Irish takeaway staple, featuring chips, fried chicken and peppers all shaken up in a paper bag with loads of spices. Chef Andrew Clarke’s take on them will feature grilled, herb-fed chicken, chicken fat potatoes, peppers, onions and chicken skin doused in a special Acme Vadouvan curry sauce. And there’ll also be DJs on from 7.30pm. 

Big Penny Social knows good craic – you can tell from the fact its annual St Patrick’s Day party always sells out. This year, the festivities run for one hour longer and will feature performances from Coppermill Folk and Irish dancing from the Maguire O’Shea Dance Academy. There’ll be plenty of stout and baby Guinness shots to get you in the party mood, plus Taytos and coddle (a kind of Irish stew, to the uninitiated) to tuck into should you get hungry.

The Sun Tavern always does its best to honour our favourite Celtic celebrations and St Paddy’s Day is no exception. The action kicks off at midday with a lively céilí band and Teeling Whiskey cocktails to keep the vibes rolling on into the afternoon when Oyster Boy will be shucking some squelchers for you to swallow whole. Make a night of it by sticking around to listen to Dublin post-punk quintet The Murder Capital will be spinning tunes until late. No mentions of Guinness here, though we’re sure it’ll be flowing. 

Head to either of Waxy O’Connor’s central London locations – the sprawling superpub on Wardour Street or the slightly smaller outpost on Rupert Street – for great craic on St Paddy’s Day. Good fun and lashings of Guinness is guaranteed; wearing a shamrock-green bucket hat is optional.

It’s pure trad vibes at The Audley’s Public House St Paddy’s Day celebrations. Fuel up on Guinness before dancing to the live ceilidh band, Banish Misfortune, playing from 3pm on Saturday and get your strength back after all that reeling with a bowl of Irish Lamb Stew or Guinness rarebit. If you’re after a fiddle-filled feet-stomping riot, you’ll find it here.  

Legendary London music venue and Irish boozer is getting in the Paddy’s Day spirit with a big ol’ knees-up – or a ‘big feck off party’ as they call it. This year, they’re joined by the energetic ‘Pogues-meets-the-Dubliners’ band Skimmington Ride and punk, pop, ska and reggae mixers Riff Raff. We Got The Killers will be on the decks after the bands are done, lining up plenty of Irish floor-fillers to get you dancing.

Hackney’s very own ceilidh band Cut A Shine is back with another of its seasonal dances in the beautiful Round Chapel on Glenarm Road. Its St Patrick’s Day celebration promises a night of dancing as well as food stalls selling traditional Irish stew and a bar stocked with enough stout and whiskey for even the most hesitant dancers to join in the ‘barn dance proper’ which will kick off at 9:30pm (there’s low key dancing from 8pm to help you learn the moves). 

St Patrick’s Day isn’t just about how much Guinness you can drink. It's also about celebrating Irish culture and there’s nowhere better to do that than the London Irish Centre. This year, they’re throwing a Family Day party, where young and old can gather to revel in music, storytelling and more from the Emerald Isle. On the bill for the show are Kíla, an award-winning band who spool out jigs on traditional Irish folk instruments, and Olivia Armstrong, a storyteller from County Down who specialises in folktales, myths and legends.

As is now an annual tradition, beloved Brixton boozer and gig venue The Windmill will once again transform into Paddy’s Pub, the iconic drinking hole from long-running sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, for its St Patrick’s Day celebrations this month, laying on a brilliant roster of Irish indie music for the occasion. This year’s line-up features Cork-born alt-pop singer Balderdasch, new wave-inspired electronic duo Nixer and experimental producer, Neil Kerr AKA Mount Palomar, who has previously Bicep and Joy Orbison. 

You might not be able to make it to rural Ireland for St Paddy’s Day, but The Pig’s Ear is helping you get pretty damn close. The Chelsea pub (reopened last year by restaurateurs the Gladwin brothers) will be putting on a programme of live Irish folk music accompanied by hearty Irish dishes, ‘perfectly poured Guinness’ (we’ll let you be the judge of that) and plenty of opportunity to get your jig on to some trad tunes. It’ll take place on actual St Patrick’s Day (a Monday), so let’s hope they’ve got Guinness 0.0 on tap too. 

Master your ‘Jockey to the Fair’, get the hang of ‘the Garden of Daisies’ and perfect ‘Three Sea Captains’ at the London Irish Centre’s St Patrick’s Céilí. Irish set dancing pros will be on hand to guide you through traditional dances from every county on the Emerald Isle. The Céilí has been a mainstay event at the centre since 1990 and is open to everyone from fresh beginners to seasoned veterans. There’s no booking needed, just turn up and have £10 cash on hand for entry.

What do Bavarians and the Irish have in common? Their love for shindigs and getting schlossed on really good beer, that’s what. Leading up to St Paddy’s, Albert’s Schloss Soho is honouring its Celtic brethren and serving Guinness on tap with a menu of Guinness-based grub. For the big day itself, festivities at the beer hall will be led by traditional Irish folk singers and a walkabout trio band.

Trust Boxpark to throw a deadly sesh for Ireland’s big day. For its St Paddy’s Weekender, Boxpark Croydon is hosting a St Patrick’s bingo experience while Boxpark Shoreditch is putting on a ‘Baddies Love Paddy’s’ bottomless brunch complete with dance-offs, musical bingo and ‘Paddy’oke’. Both venues will wrap up festivities with a Big Fat St Patrick’s Day Quiz on March 17. Festivities will also be going down at Boxpark Wembley. If you prefer a dram of whiskey to a pint of ruby red stout, you’ll be pleased to know that Jameson whiskey is the main character in Boxpark’s celebrations, with giveaways and discounts throughout the weekend. 

For one day only, Dram is being taken over by leading Norn Iron bars to show off Irish whiskey, Bushmills. Bartenders from Belfast’s Rattlebag and The Merchant will be rustling up exclusive cocktails with the single malt whiskey to accompany trays of Irish oysters, soundtracked by a live Irish band. On March 14 and 15, the bar’s mews room will be turned into a snug inspired by proper Irish pubs, where Bushmills will host ticketed tasting sessions.

Gather your brood and join Hackney’s ceilidh band Cut A Shine for its afternoon of family friendly St Patrick’s barn dancing. The bandmembers will teach you and the little’uns all of the crucial ceili moves and ensure that everyone is kept fueled with traditional Irish stew and champ (vegan option available). Things will round off at 3.30pm with a disco where the kids can show off all their newly-learned Celtic choreography. Oh, and there’s a fully stocked bar of Guinness and whiskey for the grown ups. 

The black stuff will be well and truly flowing at O2 Kentish Town Forum on St Patrick’s weekend. We mean it. For £32, you can sink as many pints of Guinness as you like. From 2pm to 9pm, live bands and DJs at the venue will bring the vibes with Irish singalongs, high-energy folk tunes and plenty of crowd-pleasers. This is, apparently, the biggest indoor St Paddy’s fest the city has to offer. There’ll be interactive games, Irish dancers and traditional Irish eats to help keep the party going.