In Great Britain, the late Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the Queen Mother) used to present bowls of shamrock flown over from Ireland to members of the Irish Guards, a regiment in the British Army consisting primarily of Irishmen from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In 2002, London mayor Ken Livingstone organized an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade which takes place on weekends around the 17th, usually in Trafalgar Square.
Another tradition is the consumption of large amounts of Guinness in the hope of getting a "Guinness day Hat,"[citation needed] a hat that pubs give away after a certain amount of the beverage has been consumed. The horse racing at the Cheltenham Festival attracts large numbers of Irish people, both residents of Britain and many who travel from Ireland, and usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day.
The largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in the UK is held in Birmingham[4] over a two mile route through the city centre. The organisers describe it as the third biggest parade in the world after Dublin and New York. [5] Other Saint Patrick's Day parades take place around the country including in London where the largest minority community is Irish. The Lanarkshire town of Coatbridge where the majority of the town's population are of Irish descent also has a day of celebration and parades in the town centre.
Manchester hosts a two week Irish festival in the weeks prior to St Patricks Day, not surprising giving that the city claims the largest Irish population in Great Britain outside of London. The festival includes an Irish Market based at the city's townhall which flies the Irish tricolour opposite the union-jack, a large parade (claiming to be the biggest outside of Dublin and New York based on entrant and float numbers) as well as a large number of cultural and learning events throughout the two week period. The festival boasts itself as the largest in the UK