Record 6,688 unique visitors joined more than 230 exhibitors and 110 speakers for the event’s largest edition to date
London Packaging Week has delivered the biggest edition in its history, welcoming 6,688 unique visitors to Excel London and recording more than 16% year-on-year growth.
The milestone caps two years of exceptional growth for London Packaging Week. More than 5,000 visitors attended in 2024, rising 15% to 5,752 in 2025 and by a further 16% to 6,688 this year. In just two years, the show has grown its audience by around a third.
Held on 16–17 September, the 2026 edition also brought together more than 230 exhibitors, as brands, designers, suppliers, retailers, and packaging professionals from across luxury, beauty, drinks, and FMCG converged on the capital.
Built around the theme of ‘Discovery’, the record-breaking edition significantly expanded the visitor experience. New additions included the Design Hub powered by Pentawards, Discovery Theatre, Podcast Studio, Start-Up Zone, and Inner Circle Bar, alongside an expanded Innovation Gallery and a programme of networking events designed to create new connections across the packaging community.
Nisha Verma, Senior Packaging Development Manager at Charlotte Tilbury, says, “We’ve had people from marketing, procurement, and design here today, as well as our quality team, because we all come together to design the best products in the industry that we possibly can. The show is a great meeting spot because it’s hard to get time out of the office to see everyone. It’s nice to have everyone together on the show floor.”
More than 110 speakers also took to the stages, tackling issues spanning Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), consumer behaviour, AI, design, sustainability, and materials innovation.
Headline moments included PackUK Chief Strategy Officer Esther Carter sharing new insight into the development of EPR, the UK premiere of the Schweppes Skittle Evolution Bottle from Coca-Cola and Unhidden, and the public debut of deltaH Innovations’ Cool>Can, a push-button self-cooling beverage can developed in partnership with Brains Brewery.
Radhika Patel, Packaging Innovation Specialist at Molson Coors Beverage Company, says, “I discovered so many different brands that were able to expand my knowledge from a packaging perspective and help me understand what we can do from a sustainability, EPR, and DRS point of view.
“I will definitely come back again next year and will actually bring more of my colleagues with me from around the company. There are so many opportunities here to expand our business in the brewing sector, get more ideas and expand into the sector far more than we are currently doing.”
The London Packaging Week Innovation Awards provided another major highlight, with Prada, Jack Daniel’s x McLaren, Heinz, Hotel Chocolat, Fortnum & Mason, Refy, and HairGym among the brands taking home trophies, while Margaret Bates received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Marks & Spencer was named Packaging Team of the Year.
Josh Brooks, Divisional Director for Packaging at Easyfairs, says, “To welcome 6,688 unique visitors through the doors is a fantastic result and a landmark moment for London Packaging Week. Growing attendance by more than 16% in a single year, following significant growth in 2025, shows the incredible momentum that has built around the event.
“But the numbers only tell part of the story. What really stood out was the energy throughout Excel London. From the exhibition floor and conference stages to the Innovation Gallery, networking events and new features, there was a genuine appetite to discover new ideas, meet new people, and understand how packaging is changing.
“Packaging is navigating enormous change across regulation, sustainability, technology, materials, and consumer expectations. Bringing this community together matters because nobody has all the answers in isolation. The conversations and connections that happen here can help businesses respond to those challenges and identify the opportunities within them.
“We are incredibly proud of what the packaging community created with us this year. To have grown from just over 5,000 visitors in 2024 to 6,688 in 2026 gives us an exciting foundation to build on as we look towards London Packaging Week 2027.”
The record attendance continues a period in which London Packaging Week has grown both in scale and scope, establishing an increasingly significant annual meeting point for the brands, suppliers, designers, and decision makers that are influencing the direction of packaging.
London Packaging Week will return to Excel London on 22–23 September 2027, bringing the packaging community back together in the capital for another two days of discovery, innovation, and connection.
