Humans Of Lambeth 2026 (part II)

Our Humans Of Lambeth series returns for 2026 to celebrate the individuals behind the Lambeth Fringe Festival. Up first this year is Carole from This Is Clapham, the Business Improvement District.

“I live and work in Clapham, very luckily. I remember coming here to the Bread & Roses when it first opened in the ’90s for birthdays and dinners. Now I live in Clapham Old Town, and this is actually my younger brother local. He comes here all the time, he knows everybody, and he met his girlfriend here. My dad died last year and we held his party afterwards here and it was amazing. So Clapham’s really important to me. I used to walk across Clapham Common to school, and we lived down there on the housing estate. This is our area. It’s the characters that make it, just as it is anywhere in London, isn’t it? I don’t want to talk to everyone, but I like recognising everyone. I love the diversity, and I mean that in all different ways. When I went to school, I went to school with people who were very wealthy, who weren’t, and somewhere in between. There’s nowhere else where you can have that group of friends that’s from everywhere and everything. You’ve got a mansion house next to a council estate. And that's due to deliberate London planning. When people think that Clapham is just posh – and it is – but there’s still big social housing, so there is that mixture. I like the diversity of Lambeth. There are still independent businesses. You’ve got Michelin-star restaurants and kebab shops. There’s something for everyone here.”

“I work for the Business Improvement District. There’s 360 of us in the country at least, maybe over 90 in London. We always work with all the businesses to promote the area, make the area safer, lobby the government and the local authority. We spend money on events, marketing and public realm, like trying to get grants and funding. We pay for all the planting and Christmas lights. We pay for Pride. And we also support and sponsor the Lambeth Fringe.”

“The things I’m most proud of working on over the last two years are Voltaire Road, which has been recently pedestrianised, and we’ve also grown Clapham Pride. Whilst the central role is for LGBTQ+ businesses and artists, the whole business community gets involved. They’ve all embraced Pride and really got involved. It’s a joyful celebration, while remembering the origins of Pride as a protest for equal rights and visibility. This year also marked 30 years since Pride was on Clapham Common, when the march culminated there. I really enjoyed getting to know the businesses and getting everybody involved - the Japanese, the coffee shop and the wine shop, they’re not particularly gay-owned businesses, but they’ve all embraced Pride and really got involved. They fund it all. They may break even, but they’re not making money from it. It’s just a great celebration, very joyful. And then the Christmas events. I have a penchant for dressing up, so I always dress up as Mother Christmas. We have a snow machine and mince pies and all of that stuff going on during the day, and I try and accost people as Father Christmas or Mother Christmas and get them involved because they can’t help themselves. During the day we have a big bag of silly stuff to give away. In the evening they give me loads of presents to give away, which are a bit more adult. We have to ask people whether they’ve been naughty or nice. If they say they’ve been nice, they’re not allowed a present. I love that.”

“With the Lambeth Fringe, it’s just such an amazing thing that they’ve done with this small team. It’s just so amazing to start this small thing, and what they’ve done as a team to grow it across Clapham, across Lambeth. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re doing the Lambeth Fringe.’ And I’m like, ‘Did you know, it started in Clapham at the Bread & Roses?! We’re the OG.’ My colleagues from Waterloo and Brixton keep talking about the Lambeth Fringe now, because there’s bits in those places too. I think it’s amazing with that small team, how much they’ve done without as much support, really. It’s just grown. It’s spread so big now. It’s amazing. It’s really great. It’s good to have something in Lambeth. It’s such a creative place.”

Humans Of Lambeth is put together by Beatrice Updegraff for Mobius Industries.