Fairground attractions: South Norwood Rec had record crowds for the 2026 festival
There will be no South Norwood Community Festival in 2027.
The announcement of the cancellation was made on social media this week. The reasons given: rising costs and lack of experienced volunteers. Staging costs have more than doubled since 2019, while although the organisers provided training for 100 volunteers, on the day of this year’s festival in July, just 10 showed up to help.
The event has been staged successfully since 2011, when with a budget of £150, a group of volunteers staged an event on the streets around Norwood Junction.
This year’s festival attracted 16,000 people to South Norwood Rec. Had each of those visitors paid even a modest £1 entry fee, there might have been enough cash in the bank for the 2027 festival. But the South Norwood Community Festival is free to attend…
Staging costs: as the SNCF got bigger, so the demands on the volunteer organisers grew, too
From a team of 20 active committee members, the organising group was this year down to four stalwarts.
On the SNCF’s Facebook page they said: “It is with huge regret that we announce that South Norwood Community Festival 2027 is not able to go ahead.
“We realise that this is going to be unexpected, unwelcome and sad news for everyone, not least our committee members, volunteers and everyone who has been part of the festival, including our lovely South Norwood community who have come together for the last 15 years to celebrate all that is wonderful about South Norwood.
“Unfortunately over time, we have lost funding opportunities whilst our costs have risen sharply due to significant challenges in terms of the hoops we have had to jump through to make sure that we were compliant with local and national legislation and council licensing requirements.
“This meant massive increases in base costs. In 2019, our festival cost £11,000 to put on. In 2026, our final costs will be in the region of £21,000 and next year is projected to be well over £25,000.
“Additionally, at our peak, we had 20 active committee members, complimented by a further 10 external support businesses who provided that support at no cost. These volunteers were professionals in grant applications, fundraising, sponsor relations, planning, CAD drawings, day-to-day admin, bookkeeping, health and safety, electrical inspections, sound, bands, security, counter terrorism, stallholder management, marketing, social media and other areas.
“This year we had four.
“On the day, we need around 25 people putting in a couple of hours each. This year we put over 100 people through the training now legally required for festival volunteers and on the day, we had 10 people turn up.
“We’ve spent the last month looking at various options, including charging a nominal fee to get through the gates, but this would have just added another layer of complexity to an already complex event and we would need a significant number of additional volunteers to do it. It also meant moving away from the core value of SNCFest – to make it free and open for everyone to attend.
“Our 2026 festival had a footfall of over 16,000 visitors which was a record. This equates to around a cost of £1.25 per person while also putting thousands back into charities, local businesses and the area.
“We are and will remain very proud of what we were able to achieve over the last 15 years – a free, community-led and -run festival for the community.
“We would like to thank everyone who has been part of the wonderful journey our festival had, from a small group of people outside the station taking a day to celebrate, through to the massive, well-known and loved celebration it became.”
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