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The Sheffield culture guide written by in-the-know locals

Sheffield Festivals Guide

Sheffield is home to some incredible, and incredibly unique, cultural festivals.

Read on for what's to come in our guide to Sheffield's cultural festivals for 2025.

Featuring music, film, visual art, theatre, and more. Let us know if we've missed anything!

Rockin the Bowl

Sat. 6 September 2025

FORGE Warehouse, 148 Effingham Road, S4 7YS

"Forged in fire, set in steel." An all-dayer dedicated to rock and metal. Back for 2025 in its new venue of FORGE Warehouse.

Lick of Paint

Sat. 6 September 2025 — Sun. 7 September 2025

A weekend-long mural and street art festival. Bringing together local and international talent to transform the city's walls, underpasses and empty corners with powerful, high-quality public art. With battles, workshops, DJ sets and more.

Alpaca Festival

Fri. 12 September 2025 — Sat. 20 September 2025

A festival on algorithmic pattern-making in anything from heritage crafts to tech. With an algorave, a concert with pattern-based instrumental music, talks and workshops around patterns in juggling, textiles, music and more.

Powerlines

Sat. 20 September 2025

Crookes Social Club, Mulehouse Road, S10 1TD

A new independent metal festival for 2025 – by the fans, for the fans. Showcasing a lineup of local homegrown artists and national acts, open to all ages and types of metalheads.

Castlegate Festival

Sat. 20 September 2025

The city centre's annual free street party returns. With a skate jam, live music, family-friendly activities, food and drinks all day into the night.

Sheffield Heritage Open Days

Fri. 12 September 2025 — Sun. 21 September 2025

Ten days to explore heritage treasures across the city.

Float Along Festival

Sat. 27 September 2025

Float Along music festival returns to Sheffield city centre to do it all again for the third year running. Details of this year's lineup and venues to come...

Common Threads Festival

Wed. 24 September 2025 — Sat. 27 September 2025

A celebration of weaving and textile practices from all over the world. With sewing and repair workshops, natural fabric dying, weaving, and a multilingual folklore performance.

Spirit of Independence Film Festival

Fri. 26 September 2025 — Sun. 28 September 2025

The Light, The Moor, S1 4PF

A celebration of fiercely independent filmmaking, showcasing raw, bold and passionate films from around the world.

Sensoria

Thu. 2 October 2025 — Sun. 5 October 2025

Sheffield's festival of film and music. Expect a truly unique mix of performance, live film scores, screenings, exhibitions, and music industry activity.

No Bounds

Fri. 10 October 2025 — Sun. 12 October 2025

A weekend of bleeps, beats and sweaty grins – bringing together music, visual art and technology. Lineup for 2025 to be confirmed.

Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

Wed. 15 October 2025 — Sat. 18 October 2025

Kelham Island Museum

Sheffield CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) know a thing or two about good beer, cider and perry. Join them for their 2025 festival, set to take place on 15–18 October.

Celluloid Screams

Thu. 23 October 2025 — Sun. 26 October 2025

Showroom

Sheffield’s horror film festival returns for its 17th year in 2025. Getting you spooked just in time for Halloween.

Off the Shelf

Sheffield's festival of words, taking place each October. Look out for our guide to the writer talks, workshops and events in the 2025 programme in coming months.

Sheffield Chinese Lunar New Year Festival

Sat. 21 February 2026 — Sun. 22 February 2026

Peace Gardens, 50 Pinstone Street, S1 2HH

Welcome in the Year of the Horse in Sheffield with a festival extravaganza in the Peace Gardens. Come back closer to the time for details of the 2026 event.

Sheffield Adventure Film Festival

Fri. 20 March 2026 — Sun. 22 March 2026

Enjoy the great outdoors from the comfort of your seat. With some of the best new adventure films from around the world plus a spotlight on locally-made films. Come back soon for details of ShAFF 2026.

Sheffield Beer Week

7 days of beery fun. With brewery tours and tastings, beer and food pairings, pub walks, workshops tap takeovers, and more. Held each March – come back soon for details of Sheffield Beer Week 2026.

Sheffield Ceramics Festival

Sat. 18 April 2026 — Sun. 19 April 2026

Kelham Island Museum

Browse the wares of around 50 ceramic artists, potters and sculptors from South Yorkshire and beyond.

Get Together

Sat. 16 May 2026

Kelham Island

A joyous one-day festival of independent music, taking over warehouses, breweries and bars of Kelham Island and Neepsend. Save the date and come back soon for details of the Get Together 2026 lineup and tickets.

Sheffield Food Festival

Peace Gardens, S1 2HH

Three (hopefully) sunny days of food, food and more food. Come back soon for details of Sheffield Food Festival 2026.

Festival of Debate

Get informed, inspired and filled with ideas for positive change. With talks on big social, political, environmental and economic issues. The festival usually takes place in April and May – come back soon for details of the 2026 event.

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival

Playhouse

Nine days of intimate and inviting classical music performances for all ages. Sheffield Chamber Music Festival usually takes place each May – come back soon for details of the 2026 event.

Sheffield DocFest

Wed. 10 June 2026 — Mon. 15 June 2026

Showroom

The world of documentary film descends on Sheffield each June. With fascinating factual films, innovative storytelling exhibitions and inspiring talks. Come back soon for our guide to the 2026 festival.

Kelham Pride

Sat. 20 June 2026

Kelham Island

A parade and street party, celebrating and bringing together the local LGBTQ+ community and their allies. With live musicians, DJs, drag queens, comedians, family-friendly activities, fringe events, and more. Stay tuned for Kelham Pride 2026 details.

Migration Matters Festival

A celebration of culture, compassion, and the positive impact migration and refugees have in Sheffield. Held on and around Refugee Week each June – come back soon for details of Migration Matters 2026.

Crossed Wires Festival

Thu. 2 July 2026 — Sun. 5 July 2026

Bringing some of the UK's top names in podcasting from your headphones to the stage for one weekend. Come back soon for details of Crossed Wires 2026.

Tramlines

Fri. 24 July 2026 — Sun. 26 July 2026

Hillsborough Park

A three-day summertime celebration of music. Come back soon for details of Tramlines 2026 – earlybird tickets on sale now.

Chance To Dance

One big, free day of music and movement in four outdoor stages around the city centre. With over 30 dance groups performing and lots of chances to join in. Held each July – come back soon for details of Chance to Dance 2026.