Gabriel’s Wharf is giving over two Saturdays in September to free live jazz, swing dance lessons and drop-in art workshops, with nothing to book and nothing to pay on either day.
The Gabriel’s Wharf Arts Festival returns on Saturday 5 and Saturday 19 September, noon to 5pm both days, filling the little riverside courtyard between the Oxo Tower and the National Theatre with New Orleans jazz, vinyl DJ sets, swing dancing and craft tables. It’s programmed as a nod to the Wharf’s place in the South Bank’s cultural story, which runs back to the Festival of Britain and the reinvention of this stretch of riverside that followed it.
Both days follow the same shape, live music and dance from noon, workshops running through the afternoon, and the Wharf’s independent shops and food stalls open around it. The lineups are completely different, though, so going to both is a genuinely different day out twice.
Saturday 5 September: New Orleans jazz and a 40-year-old swing school
The first Saturday opens at noon with Double Agent 7, a DJ duo playing 50s blues and 60s R&B and soul floor-fillers entirely on original vinyl 45s, who have taken the same setup to Glastonbury and Secret Garden Party. They come back for two more sets across the afternoon, at 2.30pm and 4.30pm.
Between them, Doolally Tap bring hot New Orleans jazz led by trombonist and vocalist David Lalljee, playing 1pm and again at 3pm.
SwingdanceUK perform at 1.45pm and 3.45pm, and each performance rolls straight into a 30-minute beginners’ swing workshop led by Simon Selmon. Worth knowing who’s teaching you: Selmon founded the school more than 40 years ago and was one of the people who kicked off the UK swing revival in the first place, and the same school now trains dancers from absolute beginners up to professionals at Ballet Rambert.
Saturday 19 September: a prize-winning harpist and the Cable Street Rag Band
The second Saturday opens bigger. Harpist Alina Bzhezhinska and saxophonist Tony Kofi play together from noon, a contemporary jazz set from two genuinely serious names: Bzhezhinska is the first harpist ever to win a Parliamentary Jazz Award, and Kofi plays live with Cymande. He’s also on the bill for World Heart Beat’s autumn season in November if you want more of him.
Swing Patrol take the 1.15pm and 3.15pm slots, performing first and then running a 30-minute dance workshop each time. They’re a 1,500-strong community of Lindy Hop and blues dancers led by Scott Cupit, with weekly classes across London.
Closing both halves of the afternoon, at 2pm and 4pm, is The Cable Street Rag Band, a group that formed at the Cable Street studios in Limehouse and plays old-style jazz, rags, blues, foxtrots and dance music from around the world.
Free art workshops, both days
Two drop-in sessions run each Saturday, and both are genuinely free rather than free-with-a-catch. Paint Like An Artist runs 2pm to 4pm with Smita Sonthalia of Skylark Galleries, a London artist whose work draws on her Indian heritage and who founded the Samarpan Art School. It’s open to adults as well as children, which is rarer than it should be.
Flags For The Future runs 1pm to 4pm with artist educator Laura X Carlé, who has run workshops for Tate and the Southbank Centre. On 5 September it’s printing techniques to make a banner or flag inspired by Festival of Britain design and the Britain of today. On 19 September it switches to embossing, making an emblem, necklace or brooch. Both are for ages 5 and up.
The shops, the food and one offer worth knowing
Gabriel’s Wharf’s permanent draw is the ring of independent studios and shops around the courtyard, and the makers are in and behind the counters on both festival days. Food and drink traders run through the afternoon too, so it works as a lunch as much as an event.
One deal on the list: Vendula is doing drinks and nibbles in store on both dates, with £5 off purchases over £50 and a free gift over £100.
The London x London Take: free events on the South Bank usually mean standing in a crowd watching something from a distance. This one hands you a 30-minute swing lesson from the person who helped revive swing dancing in this country, and then a paintbrush, and asks for nothing. Go on the 19th if you have to choose, the Bzhezhinska and Kofi set is the strongest thing on either bill, but the 5th is the better one to bring children to.
Need to know
- Where: Gabriel’s Wharf, 56 Upper Ground, South Bank, SE1 9PP
- When: Saturday 5 and Saturday 19 September 2026, noon to 5pm both days
- Price: Free, no booking, drop in
- Ages: All ages, with the craft workshops aimed at 5 and up
- More: the Coin Street festival page
Making a day of it? Our South Bank area guide has the rest of the riverside, and there’s more in our roundup of free things to do in London.
