The Soho Village Fete is back, with a special Golden Jubilee celebration to mark 50 years since the event was first staged in 1975. Visitors can join the Soho Community for this one-of-a-kind, quirky but traditional fete in London’s most central village.
Starting at midday, expect all the usual madness in St Anne’s Gardens, from a Dog Show to Drag Queens and six hours of live music. This family day is packed full of entertainment, with a tombola, a cracking raffle, and all the drama of the Tug of War and the iconic waiter’s race through the streets of Soho.
This is not your usual village fete, with The French House running the Bar and a raffle featuring prizes, including a P225 Digital Piano from Yamaha Music London, a year’s membership at Ronnie Scott’s or an overnight’s stay at Hazlitt’s Hotel.
To celebrate the fete’s 50th anniversary and Soho’s flamboyant atmosphere, dig out your flares and hot pants, and head back to 1975, with a prize for the best-dressed.
The only non-commercial event in Soho’s calendar, the Soho Fete – first launched in the 1970s as a traditional village fete in the heart of the capital – is a firm fixture for community and visitors alike. The main draw is the Soho Waiters Race at 3pm, where Soho’s finest waiters, hospitality and bar staff weave their way through the streets of Soho in a bid to win a trophy and £100 cash prize. While Soho House provides the Prosecco, Dennys supplies the embroidered napkins. With three times champion, Endri from Dean Street Townhouse having relocated out of Soho, the field is looking wide open this year, and some restaurants are fielding five entrants.
The race starts outside the French House Pub, before the competitors run up Dean Street, round Soho Square and down past Bar Italia, to Romilly Street returning to the French House. The rules are strictly observed, Waiters must race, balancing a tray, bottle of champagne, a glass and ashtray for ballast, without holding on or dropping the tray. There are 100 volunteer marshals keeping an eye out for rule breakers.
After resulting in a draw last year, Soho Fire Station are looking for a win in the Tug of War over Soho Police after a two-year hiatus.
There is plenty for visitors to enjoy with the human fruit machine, snail racing, dog show, spaghetti eating contest, “More Tea Vicar!” with the Vicars of St Anne’s Church, Splat the Rat! and a bar run by historic French House Pub. There are 25 stalls from Soho Businesses and community groups including Soho Parish School, and six hours of live stage entertainment, including the Belles of London City Morris Dancers, Prince Charles Cinema Rocky Horror Sing-along, and two local performers: 80s-style band The Nightshift and Clifford Slapper headlining with a Bowie experience.
The Soho Fete and Waiter’s race is a Soho Community event organised by a team of volunteers from The Soho Society, a charity founded in 1972 to make Soho a better place to live, work and visit, The Fete brings together all those who live and work in Soho (and friends), and supports the Soho Society’s work in planning, licensing and protecting Soho’s heritage throughout the year. www.thesohosociety.org.uk
