About Watford Fringe Festival
Entertaining audiences for more than nine years
The Watford Fringe Festival first started in 2016 as a way to support great local talent to develop and perform their shows and to bring high quality performing arts to local audiences to enjoy. It has grown and grown over this time, even temporarily going online during the pandemic lockdown. Every year, venues across Watford host an extraordinary live line-up of great theatre, music, comedy, dance, magic and family fun-filled shows.
2025 was our biggest yet – nearly 5,000 tickets sold for 136 performances across 21 performance spaces spread across the whole of July. We enjoyed an extraordinary live line-up of great theatre, music, comedy, dance, art, cabaret and family fun-filled shows. We had everything from pre-Edinburgh Fringe shows to a band hot off their set at Glastonbury, a musician who appeared on the recent series of Channel Four’s The Piano, the man who ‘discovered’ Wham!, the best in local talent and even live pro-wrestling!
2026 will mark our 10th Watford Fringe Festival so we’re really excited for 2026. Make sure to stay tuned to our social channels and newsletter for all the latest news.
The Fringe is only possible thanks to the support of Watford Borough Council, all our Fringe venues and the dozens of volunteers who give up their time to promote the shows and make sure our audiences were so well looked after.
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Fringe 2026 enquiries
If you have any questions about the upcoming 2026 Fringe Festival – whether you’re a venue, performer, volunteer, or partner – please contact Sharon Gaffney by emailing [email protected] or calling 0300 302 1299.
