Last month local resident and member of the Protect Brockwell Park group, Rebekah Shaman, took Lambeth Council and event organisers Brockwell Live to court, arguing that they did not have the correct planning permission for the events.

Ms Shaman’s claim centred around planning laws which prohibit the change of use of parks for more than 28 days each year. Last week, the High Court ruled in favour of this argument, saying that the park would be used for as many as 37 days due to the scheduled events this summer.

The event organisers, however, have now given an official update on the festivals’ status, which include Mighty Hoopla, Wide Awake and Field Day.

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Writing on Instagram, Brockwell Live said: “Brockwell Live can confirm that all events in the series will go ahead as planned.

“Friday’s High Court ruling dealt with a particular point of law and whether an administrative process can be carried out correctly… We take our stewardship of Brockwell Park seriously.

“As we prepare to deliver these much-loved, culturally significant events, we remain fully committed to its care, upkeep, and long-term wellbeing. With setup nearly complete, we look forward to opening the gates and welcoming festival goers later this week.”

This dispute has created much debate within the local area and beyond. Many residents, such as Ms Shaman, believe that such events are leading to an accelerated decline of the parks well-being, with Shaman responding to the ruling by saying: “This has been going on for years, it isn’t a one-off situation and it has been a consistent deterioration of the park.”

However, there are many that believe events such as these are essential to London’s vibrant culture and that they are crucial to the local economy.

 

 

 

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The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) have been one of the biggest supporters of Brockwell Live and Lambeth Council, saying: “The local economy – including independent shops, pubs, restaurants, and hotels – which sees a surge in business during these festivals, would be hit hard.”

Since the ruling, Wide Awake, Field Day, and Might Hoopla have all come out with separate statements (see above), confirming that all festivals will still take place and reiterating their “commitment to creating a safe and inclusive environment for all”.

The situation has also created much debate on social media, with one user on X/Twitter stating that: “Real rock and hard place with this… there used to be so many free park events in London.”

Real rock and hard place with this. Noise complaint NIMBYism has so much of LDN tightly within its grip, but I also think its basically bad private companies can enclose public space to charge extortionate fees for us to see music. There used to be so many free park events in LDN https://t.co/5fKZgmixI2

— Arbeitology (@Arbeit_Fish) May 19, 2025

The first of Brockwell Park’s festivals is due to kick off this Friday with Wide Awake. Politically charged hip-hop trio Kneecap will headline the festival despite calls for their performances to be cancelled after their controversial Coachella performance.

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The talented trio returned to the live stage with founding members Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy, after several line-up changes the group have officially re-formed with all three original band members. With four platinum albums under their belt, the band have become known as one of the UK’s most successful girl groups. The Brit award winning group treated ticketholders to a large collection of their hits including “Too Lost In You”, “Overload”, “Round Round” and “Push The Button”.

During their show stopping set, Buchanan said to the crowd, “This is our first show in so long. The last couple of years have been tough on all of us . . . But I’d like to think we’re way more resilient than people think. We’re all here today, right?”

The very special concert comes weeks before the group’s appearance at this year’s Glastonbury festival, the “Freak Like Me” singers will perform on the Field of Avalon stage on 24th June 2022. Buchanan spoke with The Sun newspaper last month concerning their upcoming set, “This is going to be something special for our fans. We can’t wait.”

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The original band members initially reformed in 2012 under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan, after confirming their reunion the group then began to tease new music. During the winter of 2012, the trio performed an intimate concert, after fan made videos of the set went viral the reunion was further established. Following several releases, Buchanan achieved ownership of the Sugababes name and trademark, in 2019 the trio reclaimed their former band name.

The group had originally planned their comeback for 2020 but due to the rise of COVID-19 and subsequent challenges the reunion was put on hold, the band scheduled their return to align with their anniversary. Buchanan took to Instagram live to discuss the group’s derailed schedule,  “We had so many plans for last year. 2020 was our anniversary year, we built it up to do so many things but it didn’t happen, so we have to restructure. We just have to be motivated to do it and passionate about it and once we are actually in the studio it flows really easily for us. But it’s about getting us all on the same page on the same date and the pandemic makes it really tricky. It just has to be organic and be on the same page as far as our schedules are concerned.”

Donaghy has also discussed the group’s plans, last year the singer stated that they have been working on new material, “There’s nothing concrete at the moment, but we are working on stuff all the time and definitely new music. We love making music together and that’s something we’re going to continue to do. And hopefully it won’t be too long now, now that we can be in the studio together again.“

The relatively new festival boasts a range of musical acts, ranging from new pop to nostalgic bangers. Headlining the ‘UK’s Best Pop Festival’ will be the iconic Cheryl. Becky Hill, Eve, Jimmy Somerville, Gabrielle and Atomic Kitten will also be performing upon one of the festivals 7 stages. Smaller acts include Savage Disco, Absolute., Kiddy Smile and many many more (even a guest appearance from Katie Price!). The Mighty Hoopla have stated ‘This year Mighty Hoopla promises to be bigger and better; the sixth special shindig of all things pop and sparky. It’ll be our greatest edition yet playing host to both the new and the nostalgic in the ultimate spectacular.’

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The 1 day festival embraces diversity and the sense of community, highlighting the best of pop, alt-pop and queer culture. The festival organisers said, ‘Hoopla also provides a focus for emerging and established LGBTQ+ artists, as well as delivering a safe and welcoming event for our diverse audience.’ As well as legendary music acts, the festival will host comedians, vogueing troupes, orchestras and mass karaokes. Lambeth Council have given the go-ahead for the festival to take place on the new, pushed back date – September 4th 2021. They said “ the decision taken by the production team following vaccine roll-out timing reviews and rapid testing” which  “allows a Mighty Hoopla the way it should be – all singing, all dancing.”

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The festival offers free tickets to NHS workers. Mighty Hoopla offered this to NHS workers in 2019, which will rollover to this years event with an added number of free tickets for the key workers. In a statement to The Festivals UK, the ultimate pop event stated, ‘Mighty Hoopla will also be increasing the allocation they annually offer to say a heartfelt thanks for their brave, incredible efforts during this crisis and all year around.’

Tickets for The Mighty Hoopla go on sale today (25th January) with many more acts to be confirmed. Tickets are £49.50 and can be found here.