London’s Columbia Road carols cancelled after 7,000 descend on annual event

Columbia Road carols, one of London’s most popular annual Christmas events, has been cancelled due to safety fears after 7,000 people took part in the communal singing.

The festive singalong runs weekly on Wednesdays throughout the festive period and usually attracts a congregation of a few hundred across the two-hour period.

But this year, largely due to viral TikTok and Instagram videos, crowd numbers rose to an unsafe level, leading to organisers, St Peter’s Church in Bethnal Green, to cancel last night’s and next Wednesday’s event. 

Panic attacks had been reported last Wednesday, and local traders – open for late-night Christmas shopping – grew concerned the crowds would lead to damage to their properties.

Last night was an entire different picture, as shops stayed open but revellers stayed away. (pictured)

Columbia Road’s carols are a relatively recent Christmas tradition, dating back to 2012, when buskers and choirs were invited to line the street as shoppers enjoyed late-night trading down the famous East London street.

The first year saw around a hundred people enjoy the 20-minute sets of singing, and numbers grew to between approximately 1,500 and 4,000 in 2022. 

But prior to this year’s events, videos on social media platforms had racked up hundreds of thousands of views leading to over 7,000 revellers attending last Wednesday.

Rev Heather Atkinson, vicar of St Peter’s Bethnal Green, said: “The crowds of over 7,000 present last week were of such volume on the road that there was a danger to public safety. We are grateful to God and to those working at the event that there were no serious injuries.”