Wall Games returns to Northampton town centre over the Bank Holiday weekend, 10am to 6pm daily and free to attend. Here are the 10 locations being painted.
More than 330 street artists will paint across Northampton town centre over the August Bank Holiday weekend, when Wall Games returns from Saturday 29 to Monday 31 August. The festival runs 10am to 6pm on each of the three days and is free to attend, according to organiser Wall Games and West Northamptonshire Council, which supports the event alongside Northampton BID.
Wall Games was founded by Northampton curator James Thompson and previously ran in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Both the organiser and the council describe it as one of Europe’s largest live street art events. This year’s programme covers live painting of large-scale murals, street art battles and competitions, workshops, interactive games, live DJs and music, and chances to meet the artists while they work.
The 10 locations being painted
The most useful thing the organiser publishes is not on the front page. Wall Games runs a free Code Breaker Challenge on Monday 31 August, 10am to 4pm, and its entry form lists the locations with a QR code to find. That list doubles as the map of where the painting is happening, 10 spots across nine streets:
- Towcester Road (two locations)
- Green Street
- Mare Fair
- Horse Market
- Lady’s Lane
- Wellington Street
- The Ridings
- St Giles Street
- Guildhall Road
To play, you need a smartphone with a camera, the what3words app and something to write on. Each location hides a QR code that reveals a letter; collect them all, rearrange them to spell a final location, and go there to finish the challenge. The organiser gives a what3words reference for each spot on the form.
The after-party is a separate, paid, over-18 event
The festival itself is free, but the official after-party is not, and it is worth being clear on the details because they sit on two different pages. Wall Games says the after-party is at The Roadmender on Lady’s Lane on Sunday 30 August, 7pm to 11pm, at £15 in advance “or more on the door”, headlined by Manchester hip-hop collective The Mouse Outfit with DJ Format, alongside FFSYTHO?! and DJ Mark Ski, Leo, HXRMZ, Napps, Reality and live B-boys. The Roadmender’s own listing gives the same date and a 7pm start, and states the event is 18 plus.
What it means for you
If you are coming in for the weekend, plan around the streets rather than a single site: the painting is spread from Towcester Road and Mare Fair on the west side of the centre to Wellington Street and The Ridings on the east, so it is a walking event, and 10am to 6pm each day gives plenty of room to see it in stages. The Code Breaker Challenge only runs on the Monday, so leave that for the Bank Holiday itself if you want to do it.
Two parking notes matter this particular weekend. St Giles Street, one of the painting locations, is in the council’s new premium parking zone, where on-street charges rise 25 per cent from Monday 17 August to £2 an hour. And Mayorhold, the large multi-storey beside Horse Market, is closed until further notice, with about 160 spaces at Upper Mounts also going out of use from 1 September, the day after the festival ends. On the Monday itself, bank holiday rates apply: most council car parks charge £3 for any stay between midnight and 6pm, but Commercial Street South charges £3 up to three hours then £5 for each hour after that, and Wellington Street £3 up to five hours then £6.40 an hour.
The full line-up is on the Wall Games website. For the rest of the year, see our guide to things to do in Northampton.
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