Capital's St Patrick's Day festivities

9:17am Saturday 15th March 2008

Large crowds are expected to gather in the capital on Sunday for the annual St Patrick's Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Covent Garden.

The St Patrick's Day parade and festival will see London's Irish community and other Londoners join marching bands, floats, costume characters, stilt walkers and street theatre as they make their way through city centre.

Starting on Park Lane at noon and finishing on Whitehall Place, the parade will pass through Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. The festival will kick off at 11.30am and is free.

Trafalgar Square will also play host to some Irish music and dance, from traditional to contemporary and stage the largest Irish travel exhibition in Britain. Performers on the main stage will include chart topper Róisín Murphy, guitar legend Joe Brown, and recent Meteor Award winners Aslan.

Covent Garden will host an Irish speciality food farket bursting with a wide range of Ireland's finest food, with Leicester Square hosting a giant Ceili where dancers of all ages and ability can come together and enjoy an afternoon of traditional Irish dancing.

Just around the corner, the Prince Charles Theatre will have an afternoon of free Irish Films starting at 2.30pm. The cinema will be screening Tell It To The Fishes', Irish And Proud of It' and Oscar winner Once'.