Street festivals or parties are a particularly British tradition, that have evolved considerably since their creation in 1919. ‘Peace Teas’ as they were then known, were created as a treat mainly for children, many of whom were orphaned and living in hardship after World War I.

Since then, the reason for putting on a street party has been more of a public celebration, to bring local communities closer together and to celebrate national events, such as coronations, or jubilees.

Or just because you want to.

However, setting up an area in a busy town or city centre, where people can safely walk on the roads, where stalls can be set up, children can play, and where you can listen to live music – is problematic. Roads need to be closed, and people protected from hostile or errant vehicles.

At Crowdguard, we protect people and places in partnership with event organisers and local authorities, to keep people safe and secure, so that they can get on with having a good time.

Last weekend, we secured the Bermondsey Street Festival in London, and the Stratford Food Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Bermondsey Street Festival, London

What originally began as a small gathering between a dog collar shop and a couple of restaurants in Tanner Street Park, has now grown into a major street party that attracts visitors from far and wide.

Organised by a team of dedicated local volunteers, this ‘Village Fete in the City’ took place on Saturday 21st September. This colourful annual festival spans Bermondsey Street, Leathermarket Gardens, and Tanner Street Park and showcases the vibrant community spirit and independent businesses. The day’s attractions include food stalls, artisan and craft booths, performances, live music, wellness activities, and even a dog show!

To keep the thousands of visitors on the bustling streets safe, we worked with the organisers, and deployed 14 Husson H-Stop temporary HVM barriers in a number of key locations.

 

The ease of deployment and removal of the H-Stop makes it the perfect solution. Units can be stored at the side of the road overnight, before being quickly deployed by one operative at each location in a configuration previously marked out by our teams, when we conducted an in-depth site visit, in the weeks before the event started.

 

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Stratford Food Festival, Stratford-upon-Avon

This 2-day food festival, on the 21st & 22nd September, attracts over 100 stallholders along Henley Street and Bridge Street in the town centre. There is walkabout entertainment, live cookery demonstrations and music for the thousands of visitors, who are eager to taste mouth-watering temptations from the global cuisine selection on offer.

Working in partnership with Stratford-upon-Avon BID, and event organisers LSD Promotions, we deployed 14 H-Stop at pinch points and high traffic areas, to keep famished foodies safe from errant vehicles, so that they could enjoy the culinary experience to its fullest.

Our previous work with Stratford BID for their Victorian Fayre and Christmas Lights switch on, meant that we knew the town centre layout, and the key ingress/ egress sites that could be vulnerable to a vehicle as a weapon attack. Nonetheless, we carried out a comprehensive site visit beforehand around the Henley Street and Bridge Street areas, to assess the best possible deployment configuration of the H-Stop units.

On this occasion, we noticed that a couple of the automated bollards in a key location in the town centre was in need of maintenance, and not functioning effectively – so we deployed a H-Stop to do their job, until the maintenance crew could come to service it.

Andy Green, Leisure Events and Markets Officer at Stratford-upon-Avon district council:

Having taken on advice from the Police, we wanted to ensure that visitors to the Stratford Food Festival had protection from any errant vehicles on the streets, so that they could have the best possible experience and were safe to enjoy the wide selection of delicious food on offer. Having Crowdguard provide the vehicle barriers, which were put in place quickly at 11am and then removed at 6pm, was an easy call for us. They know Stratford town centre, having provided HVM for previous events here, and came highly recommended. The H-Stop allowed us to keep our visitors safe during the day, and then be removed from the roads at the end of the day, so that cars could pass through again.”

 

If you’re planning an event (small or large-scale), get in touch with the Crowdguard team to discuss your requirements. We will give you the best possible advice and provide a turnkey service to help you plan and implement strategies to keep people safe in crowded places, with market-leading solutions installed by experts, designed to help you mitigate risk.

Tel: 0161 507 3434

Email: info@crowdguard.co.uk