The Garden is full of botanical joy with summer flowers still in bloom, seedheads of grasses providing food for birds and habitats for minibeasts and interesting fungi popping up everywhere. We hope to see you here this month!
The Garden and Cafe are open all year round, however our opening times change seasonally so please make sure to check below:
October opening times:
Mondays: 1-8pm Tuesdays: 2-8pm Wednesdays: 1-8pm *Please note we will be closed until 5pm on Wednesday 14 October* Thursdays: 1-10pm Fridays: 1-10pm Saturdays: 12noon – 10pm Sundays: 12noon – 8pm
Please note that in the event of bad weather, we may close earlier than advertised.
As a social enterprise, we generate all of the income needed for the day to day operation and upkeep of the Garden from the proceeds of our Cafe Bar. We serve hot and cold drinks, freshly baked cakes and sweet treats and a range of wine, cider, spirits and beers, many produced in East London. So when you are enjoying any of these while relaxing in the plant filled surroundings of the Garden, you know you are supporting the Garden to stay open and free for all to enjoy as well as helping keep this part of Hackney green and a little bit wild!
Last year’s Dalston Pumpkin Lantern Festival attracted an unprecedented number of visitors – over 20,000 – with thousands of people queuing round the block every night for a week, sometimes for up to two hours. Our team of staff and volunteers worked incredibly hard to keep everyone safe and make the lengthy queues as manageable as possible. We prioritised entry for children and their families, plus people with special access needs. However, despite our mammoth efforts, ultimately the long queues led to many families giving up and leaving disappointed.
We know that our Pumpkin Lantern Festival is a seasonal neighbourhood highlight for many people and it has brought them and us much joy and treasured memories for the last 15 years. It’s our favourite time of the year at the Garden. Each year most of the visitors are the people who have carved the pumpkins – children, young people, adults, community groups – who then bring their friends and family back to proudly show off their creations when they are lit up nightly. However, last year we could see that most of the visitors were not carvers, and the number of adults was crowding out family groups. At times it no longer felt like the magical experience that our team of hard working staff and dedicated volunteers work so hard to create.
Taking a year off from the Festival has not been an easy decision. However, this Summer’s prolonged extreme temperatures, drought and hosepipe ban has meant that all of our focus and efforts have – and still are – going into keeping our plants alive, restoring the Garden and planning for future challenging environmental conditions.
Rest assured, Dalston Pumpkin Lantern Festival will be back next year, and between now and then, we will be exploring ways to make sure that it’s full of the community atmosphere that we all value so much.
