As a key local organisation, HyPER attended the Royal Parks’ stakeholder meeting on Thursday 9th May. The meeting was an opportunity for HyPER to receive updates about Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, including the summer events programme. We’ve included a summary below, which includes key information about forthcoming events and road closures.
Welcome from Chief Executive
The meeting started with a welcome from the Chief Executive, Andrew Scattergood, who reiterated the strategy of the Royal Parks and provided an update of the progress in achieving it.
Hyde Park update
Jason Taylor, the manager of Hyde Park provided his update. This included a look back over the last few months of activities, including Winter Wonderland, which was considered very successful. The first large gathering after this was the unofficial World Cannabis Day event, which fortunately was not as impactful as expected. This was helped by the heavy police attendance on the day.
The second large event was also unauthorised, which was the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Publicised at short notice, the event required the short notice closure of the park’s roads.
The General’s Parade was a large official event, including the parading of 220 horses, whilst the King’s Coronation gun salute was moved to Green Park for health & safety reasons.
See the events section below for information on forthcoming events this year.
Serpentine Bridge remains damaged following a vehicle hitting it on Christmas Eve. Repairs are planned but the start date is unknown at this time. Alexander Gate has also been the victim of a vehicle collision, this time by a lorry leaving the park.
Kensington Gardens update
Andy Williams, the manager of Kensington Gardens gave his update. The main project is the refurbishment of the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground. This has been approved with a budget of £3.5m. Originally opening in the year 2000, the playground was a trailblazer for its design, allowing children to freely explore and run wild in a controlled environment. The play equipment is now reaching the end of its life and the accessibility needs improving. The pirate ship will be replaced entirely; the mermaid rock fountain will be replaced with a more reliable design and the tree house will have new trees. Everything else will be renewed.
As part of the design process there will be focus groups and engagement with users, with planning permission being sought late this year. The playground will be closed entirely from October 2025 to Easter 2026. A tour is being offered of the current site on the morning of Wednesday 29th May – let us know if you would be interested in attending on behalf of HyPER.
Events update
An update on the summer events programme was given. The first major activity will be the use of Hyde Park as a fan meeting point for the Champion’s League final on Saturday 1st June. This will be primarily for visiting fans to congregate before making their way to the match, although there is some entertainment planned and the arena will be in action all day until late evening. All roads in Hyde Park will be closed throughout the day.
British Summer Time is taking place in the same format as last year, with the main concert events taking place 28-30th June, 4-7th July and 12-14th July. Sound checks will be taking place the day before each event. After each event Park Lane will be closed from 10pm for approximately one hour. All roads in the parks will be closed from 11am on the day of each concert. As last year, Stanhope Place will be closed to pedestrians after each event.