Festival celebrating legendary TV show Friends coming to Clapham Common

A festival celebrating the legendary TV show Friends is coming to Clapham Common this summer.

Visitors will be led through replica sets of the television shows and be able to take photographs of themselves with them.

The festival is due to take place between June 25 and July 11.

It has previously been held at Haggerston Park and Kennington Park.

However, not everybody is happy about the event coming to Clapham Common this year.

At a Licensing Sub-Committee hosted by Wandsworth Council (April 28), five local residents told councillors about their concerns about the way Lambeth Council, which owns the Common, had been using the site.

Resident Suzanne Foster said events were taking place on sports facilities and the number of different events happening there "will turn this side of the Common into a theme park."

However, the licensing meeting held by Wandsworth was only meant to focus on the sale of alcohol on the site and could not consider the overall useage of the site by Lambeth Council.

George Wood, Managing Director at Luna Ventures, which runs the event, said he was "sympathetic" to the points raised, but asked residents not to "tar them with the same brush as previous past events."

He said the company has been producing the event at different locations since 2015, and had held other outdoor 'Covid-secure' events last summer.

"We know exactly who the demographic is and how the event works. We feel very comfortable that it lends itself perfectly to a site like Clapham Common," he said.

Because people have timed slots and it is largely outside, he said the event lends itself well to social distancing.

He confirmed that there will only ever be a maximum of 500 people on the site at any one time.

A decision will be published by Wandsworth Council in the coming days.