Regent Street Summer Streets 2016 brought a fashion show, a Magnum dipping bar and crowds of people out into the roadway. I spent the day walking through the event, stopping for coffee, watching the catwalk and trying a freshly finished ice cream. This longer film keeps those moments together as one London afternoon.
From the Roberts London archive: the original video was published on 14 August 2016. It records the final Summer Streets Sunday of that year, rather than a current event programme.
Coffee before Regent Street Summer Streets
The film opens near Piccadilly Circus before a detour to Rapha on the corner of Air Street and Brewer Street. Inside, the camera picks out the cycling clothing and café setting. Then I am back outside with a takeaway coffee, ready to return to Regent Street.
That short stop has its own Rapha film, but here it sits in the flow of the day. The street changes as the walk continues: shopfronts and familiar junctions give way to event barriers, banners and people gathering around the activities.
Room to walk, look and film
One of the pleasures of these scenes is seeing people spread out across the street. The road markings remain beneath their feet, while the long curves of the buildings form the backdrop. There is space to pause in the roadway and look around, with the shopping street serving as an outdoor event space.
Before joining the fashion-show audience, I filmed a playful outfit sequence of my own. The camera sits low to the ground as I stand out on the street, with the buildings stretching away behind me. An on-screen caption introduces it as one outfit and three looks. It is a light-hearted prelude to the organised catwalk.
An outdoor fashion show
The catwalk is the centrepiece of the visit. Spectators sit close to the runway, with more people standing behind them and watching from the edge of the event. Models pass through the open-air setting, framed by the Regent Street shopfronts rather than an enclosed show venue.
The footage includes a range of outfits and several passes along the runway. A caption credits Monsoon and Accessorize during part of the show. The wider shots are just as interesting as the clothes: they show the seated audience, the barriers and the crowd gathered around this temporary stage.
At the Magnum dipping bar
After the show, the film moves on to the Magnum area. The original event description listed a 16-station dipping bar as one of the attractions. In the footage, the counters and umbrellas sit directly on the street, with customers gathered around them.
I filmed the finishing process at close range, including the pale chocolate drizzle across the coated ice cream. Then I found a spot beside a doorway to try the result. The longer walk gives that food stop its setting, with the event still carrying on around it.
For a closer look at this part of the day, see my hand-dipped Magnum on Regent Street. That shorter archive focuses on the ice cream itself, while this film follows the wider Summer Streets visit.
The red bus and the rest of the afternoon
Further along the street, a crowd gathers around a red double-decker bus. The original description included dance classes on the bus and a live DJ among the day’s activities. The film records the busy scene around it before continuing the walk towards Piccadilly Circus.
The closing footage returns to some of the day’s images, from the catwalk to my own street-level outfit shots. Together, they preserve a particular summer event: coffee near Regent Street, a fashion show in the open air and an ice cream between stretches of walking.
Watch the full 2016 film
The original 33-minute video below follows the whole visit. For another walk from the same summer, explore Oxford Street and St Christopher’s Place in 2016.
