In 1986, a group of Kiwis descended on the Pride of Paddington for the first time. Now, it’s one of London’s largest pub crawls, attracting nearly 10,000 expats a year, and some have questions about how New Zealand’s national day is celebrated in the capital.
In some ways, it’s pub crawl in name only, since the numbers the celebration attracts means the majority of revellers are boozing in the street—dressed up as kiwi birds, Lord of the Rings characters, and anything else New Zealand.
The team behind the pub crawl have three golden rules for the event:
1. Don’t be d**ks
2. Don’t do anything that will get you arrested
3. Don’t do the haka drunk
Nobody has ever been arrested thus far, though plenty of videos circulate of inebriated Kiwis doing.
(Waitangi Day Circle Line Pub Crawl) Kiwis in London celebrate Waitangi Day in 2019
Waitangi Day is celebrated on the 6th of February, marking the anniversary of a treaty between the British and indigenous Māori chiefs and is New Zealand’s national day. Many regard it as the moment the country itself was founded.
Though the day in New Zealand itself is a day of food and celebration, it is treated with a sombreness and reverence that isn’t reflected in London. In the town of Waitangi, there is prayer, speeches, and singing and the Prime Minister always attends.
Tom, a London-based Kiwi, feels uncomfortable with the way the day is celebrated in London.
“I went along to the Waitangi Day celebration in London last year out of intrigue and it was essentially a massive costumed Pub Crawl.”
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi [Māori name for the treaty] was signed in order to ensure Māori rights and protections of land from those European settlers that now celebrate with drinking and partying,” he thinks, “that feels like a perversion of what the celebration of what Waitangi Day should look like.”
(gg.govt.nz via Wikimedia Commons) Māori on Waitangi Day in 2025 in Akaroa, New Zealand
“If it is to be a festival of some description, it should be a celebration of Māori heritage, not a pub crawl.”
“In New Zealand,” he adds, “it’s a day for the Māori people, to celebrate their history and their freedom with speeches from Māori dignitaries and Māori cultural performances.”
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Headline40 years of Waitangi Day in London: “It should be a celebration of Māori heritage, not a pub crawl.”
Short Headline40 years of Waitangi Day in London
StandfirstCelebrations of New Zealand's national day in London divides opinion on both sides of the world.
In 1986, a group of Kiwis descended on the Pride of Paddington for the first time. Now, it’s one of London’s largest pub crawls, attracting nearly 10,000 expats a year, and some have questions about how New Zealand’s national day is celebrated in the capital.
In some ways, it’s pub crawl in name only, since the numbers the celebration attracts means the majority of revellers are boozing in the street—dressed up as kiwi birds, Lord of the Rings characters, and anything else New Zealand.
The team behind the pub crawl have three golden rules for the event:
1. Don’t be d**ks
2. Don’t do anything that will get you arrested
3. Don’t do the haka drunk
Nobody has ever been arrested thus far, though plenty of videos circulate of inebriated Kiwis doing.
(Waitangi Day Circle Line Pub Crawl) Kiwis in London celebrate Waitangi Day in 2019
Waitangi Day is celebrated on the 6th of February, marking the anniversary of a treaty between the British and indigenous Māori chiefs and is New Zealand’s national day. Many regard it as the moment the country itself was founded.
Though the day in New Zealand itself is a day of food and celebration, it is treated with a sombreness and reverence that isn’t reflected in London. In the town of Waitangi, there is prayer, speeches, and singing and the Prime Minister always attends.
Tom, a London-based Kiwi, feels uncomfortable with the way the day is celebrated in London.
“I went along to the Waitangi Day celebration in London last year out of intrigue and it was essentially a massive costumed Pub Crawl.”
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi [Māori name for the treaty] was signed in order to ensure Māori rights and protections of land from those European settlers that now celebrate with drinking and partying,” he thinks, “that feels like a perversion of what the celebration of what Waitangi Day should look like.”
(gg.govt.nz via Wikimedia Commons) Māori on Waitangi Day in 2025 in Akaroa, New Zealand
“If it is to be a festival of some description, it should be a celebration of Māori heritage, not a pub crawl.”
“In New Zealand,” he adds, “it’s a day for the Māori people, to celebrate their history and their freedom with speeches from Māori dignitaries and Māori cultural performances.”
