Bright lights, big city: Diwali's festive spirit takes over London

On a crisp Sunday afternoon in mid-October, Trafalgar Square shimmered with saffron, music, and expectation. London’s flagship civic space had once again become the stage for Diwali on the Square, the city’s official Festival of Lights, held this year on Sunday, October 12.

From the opening dance to evening workshops, it affirmed that Indian traditions are alive and resonant in London’s public fabric.

The programme included a 200-strong dance troupe, main-stage performances from across Hindu, Sikh, and Jain communities, sari-tying workshops, yoga sessions, a children’s zone, and stalls serving vegan and vegetarian South Asian food.

As the festivities unfolded, Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke of the event’s significance: “Diwali On The Square is a wonderful opportunity for Londoners and visitors to come together to celebrate light overcoming darkness, hope overcoming hardship, and unity in our diversity… I am proud that this free, family-friendly, inclusive celebration will once again unite people of all backgrounds in the heart of our capital to spread the message of peace and hope.”

If Trafalgar Square was the public heart of London’s Diwali, Knightsbridge offered its most private spectacle. Ever famous Harrods is collaborating again this year with British-Indian artist Natasha Kumar on a store-wide Diwali installation. “My Diwali is synonymous with celebration, culture and colour… I was delighted to be invited to collaborate with Harrods on a design that would connect in so many different ways, not only in store but across the digital world and into the rhythm of everyday life,” she said.

Harrods’ creative director Alexander Wells-Greco added: “The Harrods façade is one of our most recognisable brand codes, known and admired across the world. To illuminate this iconic London landmark with a colourful light display in celebration of Diwali is a very special moment for our store — and a first for Harrods. Diwali, a festival of light and colour, is a time for joy, togetherness and new beginnings. The bold, dancing colours of our Diwali light display have been designed intentionally, to evoke the emotions and traditions of this important celebration.”

Elsewhere, West End shops and high streets are gearing up in their own ways. Fortnum & Mason, Liberty, and Covent Garden boutiques are decorating windows with marigolds, installing miniature oil lamps, and blending East and West in their gift offerings.

In Soho, Fatt Pundit is serving complimentary ‘masala chai’ and ‘kaju katli’ over Diwali weekend, already prompting social-media buzz. A few streets away, Dishoom will host a curated Diwali House Party with live tabla, DJ sets, and a communal aarti, a contemporary ritual recast in sound and light.

In the City, Devonshire Square will host open-air performances: kathak dancers swirling in glass-skinned courtyards, rangoli artwork spilling onto pavements, incense mixing with café espresso. Organisers describe it as “a meeting of the sacred and the secular”.

Across the Thames at Canary Wharf, the “Diwali Lights Up” programme will extend the festival into the financial core with floating floral installations, family craft workshops, and nighttime illumination along the waterfront.

Diwali’s glow has even reached Downing Street. In earlier years, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty lit diyas on the doorstep of No. 10, marking the first time a British leader of Indian heritage celebrated Diwali inside the official residence. Photographs of that moment, candles flickering under the famous black door, are still shared online each October as emblems of a changing Britain.

And the celebration no longer stops at the Channel. Across Europe, Diwali events are multiplying: Paris’s Hôtel de Ville is illuminated in saffron and gold; Berlin’s Indian community gathers at the Brandenburg Gate for a ‘Festival of Lights’ concert; and in Rome, diyas line the steps of Piazza Venezia, sponsored jointly by the city and the Indian embassy. Europe, like London, is learning to translate the symbolism of light over darkness into its own civic language.

What’s striking is how thoroughly Diwali now weaves itself into London’s and Europe’s autumn calendar. Once limited to temple halls or community centres, its imagery — light over darkness, generosity over isolation — now pulses through public squares, landmark buildings, and high streets.

Walking home from Trafalgar after dusk last Sunday, I saw families carrying leftover sweets, sparkler fumes curling upwards. The National Gallery’s façade glowed faintly under streetlights, as though echoing the day’s brightness.

A young girl tugged at her father’s sleeve and said, “It’s like London has its own Diwali now.”

Maybe she’s right. Between the dancers in the square and the bold projections on Harrods, between rangoli in the City and chai in Soho, London this October belongs to the light.