Police urge London church to cancel carol services as 7,000 turn up after viral Tik-Tok video

Dec 13, 2023 by Jill

by Ros Mayfield, Premier:

Every church hopes their Christmas carols will be well attended, but for one church in East London, it was a case of being careful what you wish for.

St Peter’s Bethnal Green had to cancel its traditional singalong at the local Christmas market for the rest of Advent after the event went viral on social media, bringing record crowds 7-thousand people strong.

Ten years ago, the local Traders Association approached the church asking if they’d like an opportunity to be at the annual Christmas market, and bring some carol singing, and Wednesday night carols was born.

Local vicar Heather Atkinson, tells Premier, when they considered how best to take part in 2013, they decided to use what they had, which in their case was a old honky-tonk piano in the church hall. “[the piano] sounded so bad and clunky, we thought it wouldn’t really matter if we did move it. So we stuck it on a sort of trolley on wheels, put some fairy lights on and some tinsel and wheeled it out.”

The result was such a resounding success, they were invited back, and over the last ten years word has spread far and wide, with people coming from as far away as Leicester, to join the tradition that the whole Columbia Road community looks forward to. Their following has also grown thanks to members of the public sharing it on social media, and the event each year has led to some great conversations. Rev Atkinson says one couple came to do the Alpha course, which introduces people to Christianity, after they discovered the church through the carol singing.

But eventually their size became a problem. This year, the event went viral after being shared on TikTok, which has proven to be its demise – at least for now.

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