News / street party
Much-loved annual event to stop after 14 years
In the end, Cotham Hill Street Party became too popular.
What had started as a small community event to help promote the traders along the street attracted 125 people at its first iteration in 2011. Lead organiser Simon Baines knows this exact number as he counted each and every person.
By 2025, there were around 3,000 people in attendance.
With the increased costs of organising the street party and the fact that he is no longer the manager of Oxfam bookshop on Cotham Hill, Simon has stepped away from running the event meaning that in all likelihood it will no longer take place in its current form.
On a recent morning at Coffee & Beer on Cotham Hill, Simon was keen to stress that the street party would not have happened at all if it were not for the help of his fellow organisers, traders, and volunteer stewards and litter pickers over the years – many of who were also volunteers at the Oxfam shop.
The second Cotham Hill Street Party in 2012 was a much more chilled affair than what it turned into in later years – photo: Elisa Snaden
Simon admitted that the street party in May 2022 was the first one to have “a bit of an edge to it”.
“People just really wanted to party after two years of Covid and everything that had meant. People really wanted to go for it and it was a great day, but it was definitely more about the partying than about the traders.”
Will he miss the annual event? “I honestly think it was getting so big that crowd control was the biggest issue and I think that there will be those that won’t miss it.
“Some of the residents will be very happy that it’s come to an end and that’s very understandable…
“These things grow and then they reach a point where either you need serious funding or you just have to call it a day.”
For Simon, the highlight over the years has been seeing how happy people are.
He added: “The initial idea came from a meeting about how to promote Cotham Hill in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
“We were trying to find a way to promote the street, and I think it’s fair to say between us we succeeded with the street party on the one hand and also the thriving businesses now on the street.”
Main photo: Rob Browne
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