Asda staff in Wembley mark Navratri with garba dance on the shop floor
Staff in saris and festive clothes formed a garba circle in the middle of the supermarket. Shoppers stopped their trolleys to watch during the Hindu festival of nine nights.
Staff at Asda in Wembley swapped stacking shelves for dancing when they formed a garba circle on the shop floor to celebrate Navratri.
Footage shared with UB1UB2 shows a group of women in saris and bright festive outfits, with colleagues in traditional dress, dancing in a circle near the fruit and vegetable section. Music played as they danced.
Shoppers are seen stopping with their trolleys to watch the celebration, which took place among the aisles in the middle of the store. The footage circulated on Sunday 18 October.
A festival of nine nights
Navratri, which means "nine nights", is one of the main festivals in the Hindu calendar. It honours the goddess Durga in her different forms. In 2026, Sharad Navratri began on Sunday 11 October and ends with Vijayadashami, also known as Dussehra, on Tuesday 20 October.
Garba is a circle dance from Gujarat, traditionally performed every night of the festival. Dancers move in rings around a central lamp or an image of the goddess, clapping and turning in time to the music. It is often danced alongside dandiya raas, where dancers use pairs of decorated sticks.
Across Brent, Harrow and the wider North West London area, community halls, temples and schools hold garba nights throughout the festival. Many people stay out late into the evening, dressed in colourful chaniya choli, saris and kurtas.
A community celebration in Brent
Brent has one of the largest Gujarati communities in the UK, and Wembley is known well beyond London for its Navratri and Diwali celebrations. Many families in the area mark the festivals each year.
Asda's Wembley superstore is on Forty Lane, near Wembley Park and the London Designer Outlet. It is a large shop with an optician and a pharmacy, and it is a donation point for Brent Foodbank.
Asda has not said whether the dance was organised by the store or arranged by staff themselves. Supermarkets in areas with large South Asian communities often run festive displays and stock special products for Navratri and Diwali, and similar garba celebrations have been seen in other London stores in past years.
After Navratri ends, many families will start preparing for Diwali, the festival of lights, which follows a few weeks later.