Hockley Hustle will mark its 20th edition on Sunday 25 October 2026, bringing 500 acts to 50 bars, pubs, cinemas, chapels and galleries across Nottingham’s independent quarter. Early Bird wristbands are £15 plus booking fee, with student tickets at £10 plus booking fee, and they give entry to every venue and performance.
The music and arts charity festival is promising a full orchestra in an historic church, a huge carnival parade, drag shows, a line dancing flashmob and a citywide showcase of grassroots music. Every October, thousands of people fill the streets and venues of Hockley and Sneinton, from 70 piece orchestras with world class vocalists to packed rooms built around an acoustic guitar, samba in the streets, silent discos, choirs on Broadway’s steps and beatbox battles at Bodega.
One of the standout headline events will see the UFO Orchestra play St Mary’s Church. Over the years they have been joined by some of the city’s best known vocalists, including Liam Bailey, Natalie Duncan, Tiger (Divorce), Rob Green and Alfie Sharp, with special 20th anniversary guests still to be revealed.
It is not just a Sunday. Channel One Sound System will warm things up on Saturday 24 October in collaboration with Our Yard and Brickworks. An exhibition charting the festival from the start will run all week at Broadway Cinema, long the main Hustle hub, while three specialist music films from artists and crews who have helped shape the event will screen there in the lead up.
The Hustle parade is being billed as the biggest yet, with streets given over to music, dancing and a carnival atmosphere. Step N Groove will lead an attempt at the world’s biggest R&B line dancing flashmob, with tutorials on Broad Street beforehand. After last year’s expanded queer programme went down a storm, eight LGBTQIA+ crews will be involved this time.
Founded in 2006 as part of Oxjam, the UK wide series of DIY music events raising money for Oxfam, Hockley Hustle began with seven venues and a budget of £1,000. It soon became a festival in its own right and started raising money for local causes. To date it has raised £250,000 for 27 charities, from mental health organisations and refugee support groups to hospices and youth services. For the 20th edition, organisers want to raise £20,000 for six local charities.
Sleaford Mods, Jake Bugg, Alt Blk Era, Natalie Duncan and Myles Smith all played earlier in their careers, and the festival still leans on new names each year. It also runs a mentorship scheme for emerging promoters and industry days, backing grassroots artists, local promoters and independent venues.
Founder Adam Pickering said it was “impossible to imagine 20 years ago that Hockley Hustle would still be going now,” recalling 18 year old him “running around Nottingham asking promoters (like our now-Director Tommy Farmyard) to host venues to raise money for Oxfam.” He added that Drop in the Ocean had already shown how quickly people would “throw a party for a good cause,” and that Hockley’s mix of creativity, independent venues and neighbourhood feel, plus Nottingham’s community, is what has kept it going. “We might be a small cub of a city, but we roar like a lion. I wouldn’t say we’ve got the best creative community in the world, but we’re certainly in the top one.”
Artist, promoter and producer Ben Trekkah called it “our annual celebration of the creativity that bursts out of our great City” and “a general celebration of Nottinghamness.” Promoter Rasterella of Cultural Vibrations said she started her promoter path through Hockley Hustle in 2009 and has since built platforms for ethnic, global and world music artists. “Twenty years of Hockley Hustle is twenty years of backing Nottingham’s creativity, community and charitable spirit.”
Hockley Hustle is supported by Arts Council England, Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, It’s in Nottingham and Gigantic. Alex Flint, CEO of It’s in Nottingham, said the festival “represents Nottingham’s brilliance in arts” and is “a great opportunity to explore the city and its live music venues.” Full details are at hockleyhustle.co.uk.
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