About Watford Fringe Festival
The Watford Fringe Festival is back in 2026 to celebrate its 10th anniversary, bringing you the best of festival entertainment right on your doorstep.
Entertaining audiences for ten years
Every year the Watford Fringe Festival hosts high quality national and international Fringe acts for local audiences to enjoy alongside supporting the best of local talent to develop and perform their shows.
From starting out as a small-scale weekend of performances, it has now grown to become a regular fixture in the local cultural calendar with shows taking place throughout the whole of July. Venues right across Watford now host an extraordinary live line-up of great theatre, music, comedy, dance, magic and family fun-filled shows.
2025’s festival was a record-breaking year with 136 live shows in 21 performance spaces and more than 5,000 tickets sold. There was 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!
This year’s Watford Fringe Festival will be the tenth and will officially kick off at a special launch event in the town centre on 4 July. Venues already signed up to host performances include the Watford Pump House, Watford Colosseum and Watford Palace Theatre.
Lee Farman, chair of the Watford Pump House which co-ordinates the festival, said: “When we first floated the idea of staging a performing arts Fringe festival here in Watford we had no idea that 10 years on it would have grown into the success it is today.
“I’d like to encourage as many local venues and performers, whatever your experience, to get involved and help us make 2026 the most memorable Watford Fringe Festival yet.”
Watford Fringe Festival is only possible thanks to the support of Watford Borough Council, all the Fringe venues and the dozens of volunteers who give up their time to promote the shows and make sure audiences are so well looked after.
The performer registration portal for this year has now opened to applications. Anyone and everyone is welcome to apply, there’s no selection criteria. All you need to do is register your act online before the end of May.
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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 Russ Clancy by emailing [email protected].
