High Tide Festival - Sunday 30 July 2023

What is High Tide? 

High Tide is a community-led festival that aims to reignite the spirit of Eel Pie Island in its heyday here in the heart of Twickenham.  We seek out and showcase a diverse selection of the best young and established bands and musicians across 20 stages.   

And, while all the music is free to watch, we make sure that the artists get a fair reward for the enjoyment they bring to our community over the weekend. 

The festival is delivered thanks to a collaboration between Eel Pie Records, Discover Twickenham BID, Richmond Council, The Friends of Twickenham Green and a wide range of local Twickenham businesses.   

We do not seek large corporate sponsors, preferring to maintain the independence and free spirit that represents and benefits Twickenham. 

How we started High Tide

When we (Kevin and Phil) set up Eel Pie Records, we had a very clear ambition to be more than just a shop. We wanted to be a community hub, a focus for music locally and a foundation from which to catalyse music-based activities and events.  

Our shop was the start.  We then introduced music evenings, where anyone can drop in to share and celebrate new musical discoveries over a glass of wine.  But we wanted more.  Our vision included creating a free music festival for the whole of Twickenham.   

And in 2019, the High Tide Festival was born.  A free festival for everyone to enjoy! 

The festival is non-profit making - we take no income from the festival, although we do hope to benefit from the massively increased footfall on the day, as can any other Twickenham business! 

High Tide 2023 

Twickenham is a hive of creativity and the more we celebrate the musical talent we have on offer, the more we see new, diverse bands and artists wanting to participate and our community wanting to enjoy them. 

High Tide has already become one of London’s biggest free music festivals.  This year, on 30th July, we are going to expand further, covering most of Twickenham. 

A new stage that we are particularly excited by is the one on Twickenham Green which we are working with the Friends of Twickenham Green to bring to life. 

What we need from you 

High Tide is supported by local businesses and Richmond Council.  This valuable support means that we can start planning the festival and booking bands and musicians. High Tide has also always been very generously supported by the local community through crowdfunding.

Inflation means that transport and infrastructure costs have increased dramatically. So we need the communities support now more than ever before if we are to make High Tide happen. More stages in more places also costs more.  And we want to remain committed to paying artists a fair rate.  

We also want the festival to remain led by the community for the community, not a corporate sponsored event so we are not seeking support from large corporations. 

Your support would mean that we can deliver this community-led, diverse festival that remains free to everyone.  Every contribution you make will go directly towards paying the High Tide artists properly for their time and talent and the staging costs. 

Further information 

Where will The High Tide stages be? 

There are four external stages. 

Main Stage, Civic Centre  (Junction of Church Street and Arragon Road) 

Jazz Stage, Diamond Jubilee Gardens  (Along the Riverside overlooking The Thames.) 

Youth Stage, Church Lane (In car park behind Eel Pie Records) 

Twickenham Green Stage  

And there will be performances at venues around Twickenham: 

• The Eel Pie Pub, Church Street 
• Brewery Market, Church Street 
• The George Pub, King Street 
• Twickenham Club, Church Street 
• The Cabbage Patch, London Road 
• The Exchange, London Road 
• Heatham House, Whitton Road 
• The Barmy Arms, The Embankment 
• Orleans House Gallery, Orleans Road 
• Emporium, Heath Road 
• …….with others to be confirmed.

How Do I Find Out More About High Tide?

Full details of the festival stages, a map and the stage line ups are on the new High Tide Festival website www.hightidetwick.com