Birmingham Diwali Festival 2026

The Birmingham Diwali Festival returns to Soho Road on Sunday 25 October, and 2026 is a big one — it's the festival's 10th anniversary. For a decade it's been one of the city's biggest Diwali celebrations, and it's a standout in the West Midlands calendar. The day turns a half-mile stretch of Soho Road into an open-air cultural arena of illuminations, street gastronomy and live music, with the festive lights switch-on as the finale.

The setting is the UK's largest independently run high street, in the heart of Handsworth, which is described as the most multicultural community in the West Midlands, with 160 languages spoken across the BID area. It's a street celebration that draws on local South Asian communities and international visitors alike, and it's grown over the years — attendance went from around 18,000 in 2021 to more than 20,000 on the day.

Behind it is the Soho Road Business Improvement District, which stages the event on behalf of more than 500 independent high-street businesses, with Birmingham City Council support. It's a free, open-access street celebration with no tickets, so you just turn up and walk through.

It runs from 12 noon to 7:30pm on Sunday 25 October along the A41 corridor in Handsworth, and entry is free.