Events
Events
Annual Covent Garden barbecue.
Event for CGCA members & their guests.
Sunday 7th September 2025. 1-5.30pm at The Phoenix Garden.
Please see your member email for details and booking information.
Archive Film Screening & Drinks party
Event for CGCA members & their guests.
Wednesday 4th June 2025. 6.30pm at Hines HQ & rooftop terraces.
On Wednesday 4th June 2025 we will screen ‘Every Day except Christmas’ by Lindsay Anderson (1957) followed by drinks on the top floor terrace of Hines’ new office building in Dryden Street, who are kindly hosting us.
This affectionate tribute to working-class life, depicts the hustle and bustle of Covent Garden market. ‘Every Day Except Christmas’ Won the Grand Prix at the 1957 Venice Film Festival.
Doors will open at 6.30 pm. The screening will start at 6.45 pm with a welcome from Hines management and an introduction from Victoria Childs, a local resident and the Film Programmer and Events Chair of London Socialist Film Co-op.
Following the screening, the owners of this superbly refurbished building have invited us for drinks on their top floor terraces. Please note that our host is very kindly providing drinks after the screening.
This is a ticketed event with a cost of £5 to cover the screening licensing rights. Tickets on sale are, for now, limited to one ticket at a time per member and per “family or relation” of the member. Please email us if this is an issue.
Tickets can be booked using this link: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/coventgardencommunityassociation/1674672
Due to the size of the room and its fire regulations, we are limited to 60 tickets. Please only book a ticket if you are sure you will attend. Don’t delay, the tickets might go very quickly, as they did for our event at Space House last month.
Hines office is located at 6 Dryden Street, London WC2E 9NH. Dryden Street links Drury Lane and Arne Street, see https://maps.app.goo.gl/ALFTMGW1Nv4DLPnC6
Annual May Fayre & Puppet Festival
Sunday, 11th May 2025. 11am to 5.30pm in St. Paul’s gardens.
The nearest thing that we have to a Village Fete in Covent Garden.
Everyone is welcome to this beautiful, fun, free event in the garden of St. Paul’s by the piazza.
The weather is forecast to be almost entirely sunny! Please come, chat to your neighbours and get in the mood for Summer.
Local volunteers for CGCA will be at our stall all day. We always have some plants for sale … but that’s just a front for catching up with everyone.
There are plenty of other stalls, games, food and perfomances to enjoy.
Of course, the main event is Mr. Punch’s 362nd anniversary – since Samuel Pepys first recorded seeing him in May 1662.
Punch and Judy ‘professors’ come from all over the UK, and even internationally, to present their versions of the more-than-incorrect puppet drama.
Things kick off with a Grand Procession and band at 11am, followed by the special church service at 12 Noon with Mr. Punch in the pulpit. Then music, workshops and dance performances continue until 5.30pm.
More information can be found at these links for Alternative Arts and St. Paul’s.
We hope to see you there.
Sunset Panorama drinks party
Event for CGCA members & their guests.
Thursday 3rd April 2025. 6.15pm on the 17th floor roof terrace at Space House.
Space House on Kingsway / Kemble Street has been refurbished to its former glory at a cost of over £100 million. The building’s owner, Seaforth Land, has kindly offered us the penthouse space for our members to enjoy as the sun goes down.
The 17th floor is not yet fitted-out, but it has a stunning, 360 degree view. And this is the last chance for us to go up there before the corporate tenant fits it out and takes up occupation.
Numbers are limited. But subject to availability each member can book one subsidised £5 ticket for themselves, and take a guest at the £10 price that covers our costs of drinks and nibbles and the booking portal fee. If you would like to bring more guests, please email us at: Events@CoventGarden.org.uk. If more spaces free-up at a later date then we will get back to you.
Please note that we all need to be escorted by staff in the lift to the top of the building, so everyone needs to arrive by 6.15pm. Please don’t book a spot if you are unavailable at that time. Sorry!
Tickets can be booked via our account on ‘Ticket Tailor’at: https://buytickets.at/coventgardencommunityassociation/1612541
Some interesting information about the 1960s building and its 2020s refurbishment can be found here: https://www.onlondon.co.uk/travis-elborough-the-relaunch-of-space-house/
Annual Community Carol Service
followed by CGCA’S 53rd Anniversary Christmas Reception
Monday 9th December 2024. 6.30pm at St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden.
The most convivial event in the Covent Garden calendar!
Everyone is welcome, of any faith or none, as we celebrate Christmas and look forward to a New Year.
There will be carols, readings, music, opera, food and drink at this beautiful church in the heart of our neighbourhood.
As well as our rousing voices, we have talented performers from the local area.
Come in through the entrance gate on Bedford Street (postcode WC2E 9ED).
Please stay on afterwards to chat with friends old and new, to meet your neighbours and to
bring in the festive season.
Complimentary drinks are provided by CGCA, and a light buffet is kindly sponsored this year by the Covent Garden Area Trust.
Click for a clip of some past performances
You can print off a simple flier, or use it as a small poster for your window/building – click here.
Let us know if you need posters delivered by a volunteer.
Archive Film screening & Refreshments: The Battle for Covent Garden in the 1970s & 80s.
Event for CGCA members & their guests.
Saturday 19th October 2024. 11.30am at the Garden Cinema.
On Saturday 19th October 2024 we screen two exceptional films at the charming Garden Cinema in Parker Street.
The first film sets the scene by depicting “Life in Covent Garden Market in the 1970s” (45 min) when the wholesale fruit and vegetable market for the whole of London was still squeezed into a few streets in the shadow of the Royal Opera House.
The second film, “The Battle for Covent Garden” (34 min), covers the actions of local people to save the area from the bulldozers after the market was moved to Nine Elms. This left the heart of London almost lockdown-level quiet. Only the residents were left.
Covent Garden market in the days of Horse & Cart – already squeezed.
But the plans were to bring developers in to flatten 65 of our 100 acres, to tarmac over historic areas like Seven Dials with a 4-lane highway, and to build concrete complexes where people once lived.
The plans seem almost unbelievable now, but without the foresight and energy of local people they would have destroyed Covent Garden in the same way as Elephant & Castle.
It was a battle waged against great odds, but eventually most of our streets were saved, along with most of the buildings that had survived World War II.
The CGCA was established to fight this battle in 1971.
The screening will start at 11.30am, with an introduction from Jim Monahan, who was one of the leading figures who fought the Battle for Covent Garden.
Doors will open at 11am to give people a chance to mingle with residents and with others who have an interest in this fascinating history. The cinema has a café that serves coffee and soft drinks.
This is a ticketed event for members and their guests. Included in the ticket is a light snack provided by CGCA to keep us all going if we want to stay and chat afterwards.
Please reserve your free member ticket at this link: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/coventgardencommunityassociation/1411735. Further tickets for your guests are only £5 to cover some of our costs.
The Garden Cinema is at:
39-41 Parker Street WC2B 5PQ, on the corner of Parker Street & Newton Street.
See: https://www.thegardencinema.co.uk/about-us/
