Tower Hamlets (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – More than 22,500 people attended Tower Hamlets Council festivals in east London on 21 and 22 September 2025, with 20,000 at the Brick Lane Curry Festival and speeches from Lutfur Rahman and Abida Islam
As the East London Advertiser reported, more than 22,500 people attended 2 festivals in East London over the weekend. The events were organised by Tower Hamlets Council to celebrate migration, culture, and local heritage. The programme followed a far-right march in central London the week before.
The festival featured food from local restaurants, live music, and cultural performances. Brick Lane has long been linked with the Bangladeshi community and is known as a landmark of migration in the East End.
What brought over 22,500 people to Tower Hamlets festivals with Rahman and IslamAnother 2,500 people gathered at Tower Hamlets Town Hall for celebrations. Both events were free to the public. Council leaders said the turnout showed strong community spirit across the borough.
Executive mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said:
“These festivities right here in East London are the antidote to the scenes we saw in central London the previous week.
The East End has always stood up to prejudice and division; at the Battle of Cable Street in 1936, after the racist murder of Altab Ali, when we stopped the EDL from marching through our streets a decade ago, and against the far-right today.”
The Brick Lane Curry Festival’s street stalls offered signature dishes, and chefs presented pop-up cooking demonstrations. Visitors joined henna workshops, heritage walks, and Bangla dance classes. Local curry houses gave discounts during the weekend.
The programme included musicians, DJs, stilt walkers, and dancers, ending with a parade of floats and live shows. The festival closed with speeches from Bangladeshi High Commissioner Abida Islam, author Dina Begum of The Brick Lane Cookbook, chef Oli Khan MBE, and Mr Rahman.
Mr Rahman added,
“There will always be those who try to divide us.
But this weekend shows that the East End remains united and that the forces of division will never prevail here.”
A Bollywood brass band led a procession to the entrance, where Mr Rahman and the acting young mayor unveiled new dual-language plaques. The Town Hall hosted Celtic dancers, steel bands, Klezmer musicians, and Bengali, Somali, and Chinese acts.
The Pearly Kings and Queens told stories from the East End. Tours of the former Royal London Hospital, now part of the Town Hall, were also held, with 544 people taking part in visits to the historic site.
The Brick Lane Curry Festival began in the late 1990s and ran for several years before it stopped in the mid-2010s. The festival returned in 2025 after almost 10 years, as Tower Hamlets Council worked to revive cultural traditions and boost local businesses.