Peña Flamenca de Londres

The Peña Flamenca de Londres is the UK’s largest flamenco club, founded in 1984.   We operate like a peña flamenca in Spain to promote flamenco in a friendly club atmosphere.  

The peña puts on shows most months of the year at the Church Hall of the Holy Apostles on Cumberland Street in Pimlico.  Shows are open to members and non-members. 

Our President is the world-famous flamenco guitarist Paco Peña.

We feature the best flamenco artists from Spain and the UK (see below).  Most shows are professional but twice a year we have ‘juergas’, where anyone can apply to our events co-ordinator to perform.  We also host the Feria de Abril de Londres each year in partnership with Ilusión Flamenco which is just like the feria in Seville, with sevillanas dancing all afternoon!

We also launched the first flamenco dance prize in the UK, The Ron Hitchins Prize for Flamenco Dance, a bursary which we award to up-and-coming flamenco dancers.

The Peña Flamenca de Londres publishes Flamenco Update once a month (replacing Flamenco News Magazine).  The Constitution of the Peña is here.

Committee Members

The Peña Flamenca de Londres is run a committee of volunteers:

Flamenco at the Peña

Peña Flamenca de Londres features the best flamenco artists from Spain and the UK.   Most of our events are professional shows.   We also hold juerga shows where students can perform alongside professionals in a friendly atmosphere like any peña in Spain.   Over 1,000 professionals and amateur flamencos have performed on our stage since we began forty years ago!

Visiting flamenco artists from Spain in the past who have performed at the peña have included major names, including celebrity flamenco singer Miguel Poveda, who performed with the renowned guitarist Chicuelo.  Major guitarists we have featured include Águstin Carbonell ‘El Bola’, the nephew of the great flamenco guitarist Sabicas.  As well as our President guitarist Paco Peña, we have hosted UK-based guitarist Juan Martín.  We were recently honoured to host Pepe del Morao, grandson of the great Manuel del Morao and nephew of the late great Moraito Chico.  Up-and-coming guitar star José Almarcha has been very popular at the Peña, visiting twice with his partner, superb dancer Lucía Ruibal.  From Granada we have featured guitarists Emilio Maya and Manuel Carvajal and well as Marcial Heredia, with his sister, the singer Chonchi Heredia.  We often partnered with Flamenco Express who has brought great singers to the Peña, such as Antonio ‘El Pola’.  The highly respected Sevillian tablao flamenco singer Natalia Marín recently sang at the Peña.  We have had very notable dancers at the Peña including Sara Sánchez, Ángela Granados, Titi Flores, David Romero, Ana María Blanco, Álvaro Guarnido, Victor Fernández, Juan Polvillo, Rebeca Ortega and with Group Maya years ago we hosted Manuel Liñan and Ana Cali before they became famous!

And sometimes we have had world music and jazz-flamenco guest artists as guests, such as the Ladino singer Yasmin Levy, jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth, jazz pianist Johnny Crawford and award-winning Oud player and guitarist Zayn Mohammed.

We also have great flamenco artists resident here in the UK who are regulars at the peña, including dancers such as Jesús Olmedo, Felipe de Algeciras, Carmela Romero, Lola Rueda, Anita la Maltesa, Ángela Alonso, Natalia García Huidobro, Noelia Valdés, Carlos Otero, Lola Rueda, Sam Quy, Lourdes Fernández, Talia Cohen and many more.  Regular guitarists include Angus Cruickshank, Mario Basilisco, Ramón Ruíz, Tito Heredia, Jorge Bravo, Jingle, Adrián Solá and Tony Tonks.  Great percussionist include Demi García Sabat and Pablo Domínguez. Our regular singers include Jasmin Villalobos, Abraham, Leo Power, Manuel de la Malena, Manuel de Cádiz, Fernando de Tottenham, Javier Macías, Ulises Díaz, Lola Rueda, Julio López, Carlos Lobo and Olayo Jiménez.  

Finally a word for London based flamenco greats we have lost over the years who put so much into the Pena’s early success: El Niño Leon (Lionel Basilisco), Ron Hitchins, Willy Basilisco, Fernando Reyes, Rogelio de Malaga, Rafael de Córdoba, El Osito, Felipe Rompesillas, Angel (Andy) Pino, Antonio Navarro, Mauricio and our much missed former co-president, Maribel la Manchega.