The event will still go ahead, but it will be greatly reduced in size and scale
The beautiful, bright colours of St Pauls Carnival 2023(Image: Sophie Grubb/BristolLive)
The organisers behind the annual St Pauls Carnival have confirmed that this year’s event will be drastically scaled back to make it safe and sustainable.
In March, Bristol Live reported that the new team in charge of the festival pledged that the event would belong to the community and ‘not over-reach itself’, after a year of listening to people across the area about what they want for the annual festival.
Suggestions that it would be scaled back have now come to the fore following an announcement by the St Pauls Carnival CIC, who today confirmed that a full-scale St Paul’s Carnival (SPC) “will not take place in 2026”.
In a statement posted online, it was announced that “Following extensive planning, operational review and ongoing discussions with Bristol City Council, Avon and Somerset Police and strategic partners, the organisation has concluded that it is not possible to safely and sustainably deliver Carnival at the scale and size the public, participants and the wider community have come to expect.
“Over recent months, SPC has explored several revised delivery models in an attempt to maintain full Carnival activity in 2026. This has included significantly reduced the geographic footprint and revising programming proposals. However, it is clear that a full-scale Carnival, including the procession, cannot be delivered this year without exposing the organisation to an unacceptable level of operational and financial risk.”
The St Pauls Carnival(Image: St Pauls Carnival)
A further statement from the SPC CIC board read: “This has been an incredibly difficult decision and one that we know will be disappointing for the community and the wider public. St Pauls Carnival is a unique and deeply valued celebration of African Caribbean culture, heritage and community, and we fully recognise the disappointment many people will feel.
“Over the past year, we have worked closely with the community, our partners and operational teams to explore how the full Carnival could return in a way that reflects both the cultural significance of the event and the operational realities involved in delivering a free-to-attend public street event which attracts 150,000 people.
“Despite considerable work to reduce costs and reshape the model, as a board we have ultimately reached the conclusion that delivering a full-scale Carnival in 2026 is not viable.
“Our responsibility must always be to protect the safety of the public, volunteers, artists, traders, staff and everyone involved in bringing Carnival to life. Delivering an event which has grown to this scale in recent years requires substantial infrastructure, safety management, staffing and financial resources.
“Like many cultural and live events organisations across the UK, we face increasing financial pressure on infrastructure, staffing, safety, security, compliance and delivery costs.
“Despite extensive fundraising activity and ongoing partner support, the gap between available resources and the costs required to deliver Carnival safely and responsibly remained too significant for 2026.
“While a full-scale Carnival will not take place this summer, our work to celebrate, protect and invest in Carnival’s cultural legacy absolutely continues. This is not the end of Carnival. It is a necessary reset to help ensure its long-term future.”
However, while the carnival has been pared back, the boards insisted it remained committed to delivering a programme of community and cultural activity throughout 2026.
This included:
- Mas Camps supporting carnival costume-making, creativity and community participation;
- The Schools’ Programme, continuing Carnival’s cultural and educational work with young people across the city;
- a family-focused Carnival celebration in St Pauls later this summer;
- continuation of year-round workshops and cultural activity;
- ongoing engagement with local artists, performers and community groups;
- continued work to support Carnival’s wider cultural legacy within Bristol.
In addition, the SPC board said it was currently developing Carnival Lab, a training and development programme designed to support local people to play a greater role in the future delivery of Carnival.
This programme would include experience and training opportunities linked to:
- event management;
- operations and site management;
- stewarding and live event delivery;
- creative event planning;
- licensing and community event awareness;
- and wider cultural and community programming.
The SPC board also said it was “continuing conversations regarding sporting and youth engagement activity linked to Carnival and wider community wellbeing.”
The St Pauls Carnival has had an up and down past decade or so. It was stopped by police and council chiefs from happening for several years in the mid-2010s, was then hit by the Covid pandemic and previous committees, and organisers have struggled to stage the huge event, which became a carnival, with 70,000 people estimated to pack the streets of St Pauls on Carnival Day on its first post-pandemic event in 2023.
Crowds seen at St Pauls Carnival 2023 as the event made a triumphant return after three year absence (Image: Sophie Grubb/BristolLive)
However, the SPC said it is looking ahead to 2027 and beyond, saying it is currently midway through a broader organisational restructuring process aimed at ensuring the long-term sustainability of Carnival.
Future work aims to continue to “strengthen governance and operational resilience, develop more sustainable funding and sponsorship models, improve long-term planning structures, deepen community engagement and participation, strengthen community training and development opportunities, and build toward a safe, sustainable and community-rooted return of Carnival in 2027.”
The teams revealed that planning toward the organisation’s 60th anniversary celebrations in 2028 would also continue as part of this longer-term development work.
The board said: “St Pauls Carnival remains committed to celebrating African Caribbean culture, creativity and community in Bristol.
“While 2026 will take a different shape, SPC believes this transition provides an important opportunity to strengthen the organisation, deepen community involvement, and help ensure that Carnival can return in future years in a way that is safe, sustainable, and worthy of its legacy.”