High Tide Festival fills Twickenham's pubs and streets with free live music

Twickenham has a proud musical past, with a lively live music scene in the 1950s and 1960s. High Tide Festival was created to bring that spirit back, and it has quickly become one of the highlights of the summer in south west London.

The festival was dreamed up in 2017 by Kevin Jones and Phil Penman, co founders of the Eel Pie Records shop, with the aim of reviving Twickenham's live music scene. The first festival took place in 2019, and it is run as a not for profit venture by volunteers. Leila Jones joined as co curator, handling artist liaison.

The format is simple and generous. High Tide is free to attend, with stages outdoors and in local pubs, so the whole town centre comes alive for a day. The 2025 edition, held on Sunday 27 July, used a main stage alongside venues including The Rose and Lion, The Eel Pie pub and The Basement Door Stage.

The line ups mix emerging acts with established names. Over the years the festival has welcomed bands such as Goat Girl, Sonic Daze, Dodgy and The Selecter. In 2025 the reviewers from Fresh On The Net caught an all female Afro Latin funk and jazz band, Colectiva, on the main stage, a German style oompah quartet wandering the streets, and a very young guitarist wowing the Basement Door crowd.

Their verdict was glowing, describing High Tide as "one of the most well-organised and expertly curated FREE festivals anywhere in the UK", attended by thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds, with food stalls and independent cafés and restaurants joining in.

The festival's story was celebrated in summer 2026 with an exhibition at The Patch on York Street, created with St Mary's University's School of Theology and the Arts. It displayed memorabilia, photographs and programmes dating back to the first festival, alongside memories from local traders and festival goers. St Mary's describes High Tide as one of London's largest free and independent music festivals.

The 2026 festival took place on Sunday 26 July. For news of next year's dates, follow High Tide Festival on social media or call into Eel Pie Records in Twickenham.