Venue
Westminster and Lambeth, London, United Kingdom
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London New Year's Eve Fireworks guide
Big Ben, barges and the Thames at midnight.
In short
The Mayor of London's fireworks on 31 December suit those happy to plan ahead for a ticketed riverside view. Gates open in the evening, from 8pm, and the display starts as Big Ben strikes midnight, launched from barges and the London Eye. Around 100,000 people fill the embankments, so arrive early and plan your route home.
London's New Year begins with the bongs of Big Ben. As the last chime fades over Westminster, fireworks burst from barges on the Thames and from the rim of the London Eye, turning the river between the bridges into one long mirror of colour for the first minutes of the year.
The Mayor of London stages the show, and it has grown into the city's shared moment of the winter. A crowd of around 100,000 packs the embankments and bridges, while far more follow it live on television. Each display takes the year just ending as its theme, mixing pyrotechnics, lights and music into a tightly choreographed piece.
For visitors the draw is the setting. Midnight arrives against the clock tower of Parliament, a giant observation wheel and a tidal river, watched from streets closed to traffic for the night.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: London, United Kingdom
Venue: Victoria Embankment and South Bank by the London Eye
Held: Every year
Type of event: Party Events, Live Events, Cultural Events
Nearest airport: London (LHR) · 2 flight routes
Currency: Pound sterling (£ GBP)
Time zone: GMT (UTC+0), BST (UTC+1) from late March to late October
Language: English
Map
Close to the venue
- London Eye Attraction · 10 m
- The London Dungeon Attraction · 70 m
- Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament Attraction · 590 m
- Westminster Abbey Attraction · 700 m
- The Savoy Hotel · 760 m
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Named tickets, photo ID and the official seller
Buy only from Ticketmaster, the sole authorised seller: tickets from anywhere else are refused at the gate. The lead booker may be asked for photo ID matching the name on the booking, such as a passport, a photo driving licence or a clear photocopy of one. If you used the London postcode discount, carry proof of address as well. There are no refunds. You can resell at face value through Ticketmaster's Fan-to-Fan Resale, or pass a ticket on as a gift by changing the name before the night.
Age limits and advice about young children
City Hall says plainly that the event is not suitable for young children and strongly advises against bringing them. Anyone under 16 must be with an adult, and babies need a ticket like everyone else. Groups should all book the same colour area: once inside you cannot move between zones, and friends in Blue and Red will not see each other until well after midnight.
Standing for hours in the viewing areas
Blue, Red, Pink, Green and White are standing areas. There is no seating and you are not allowed to bring a stool or folding chair. Wear warm, waterproof layers and shoes you can stand in for four hours, and keep valuables zipped away in a crowd that presses hardest at the entrances and along the river wall. Agree a meeting point with your group in case someone drifts off to the toilets near the countdown.
The Orange area for visitors with access needs
Choose Orange when booking if you or someone in your party has access needs. It sits on Albert Embankment on the river side of St Thomas' Hospital and has some seating, and you may bring fold-up seats. A vehicle drop-off point lies about 700m away; use it before the 8pm road closures. Accessible toilets, including a Changing Places unit with a hoist and changing bench, are within 300m, and there is a hearing loop, a first aid point and dedicated stewards. Public transport is about 2km away, so plan the last stretch carefully.
What happens on the day
- From noon
Roads close
Vehicle restrictions around Westminster and the South Bank begin at 2pm, and in some streets from noon. Parking is suspended in the event area.
- 8pm
Gates open
Enter through the numbered gate printed on your ticket. Music plays over the sound system while the riverside fills.
- 10:30pm
Entry closes
Nobody is admitted after this, ticket or not.
- Midnight
Big Ben and the fireworks
Big Ben strikes twelve and rockets go up from barges on the Thames and the rim of the London Eye for about 12 minutes, set to a soundtrack about the year just ending.
- 12:30am
The event closes
Stewards move the crowd out through the closed streets. Expect long queues at every station.
Choosing a ticketed viewing area by the Thames
Everything hinges on the ticket. The display has six fenced viewing areas, each named after a colour, and nobody gets into any of them without one. Blue, on Victoria Embankment between Westminster Bridge and the Golden Jubilee Footbridge, is the only zone that faces the London Eye head-on. It is priced in the dearer Category A, together with Pink on Waterloo Bridge and White on Westminster Bridge. Red, further east along the Embankment towards Temple Avenue, and Green, tucked behind the wheel itself, are in the cheaper Category B. Expect a side or partial view anywhere except Blue.
Buy on release day if you can. The first allocation goes quickly, and the later second batch is smaller. Decide the group before you click, because each buyer is capped at four tickets and you cannot swap areas on the night.
How London's fireworks began in 2000
London came late to big public New Year fireworks. The first organised display marked the arrival of 2000. It lasted 20 minutes, and around three million people are thought to have watched it in person on the night the London Eye was formally opened. Regular shows only settled in from New Year's Eve 2004.
Since then the Thames has been the stage. Rockets go up from barges moored mid-river and from the wheel, which now fires more than 2,000 of them on its own. On New Year's Eve 2011, fireworks were even launched from the top of Elizabeth Tower. Tickets arrived at the end of 2014, when Mayor Boris Johnson brought in a £10 charge for the official areas and drew plenty of grumbling for it.
The pandemic broke the run. Two New Years passed with no public event, only televised shows using fireworks and drones over landmarks across the city. The crowds came back to the South Bank for the countdown into 2023, and the show has stayed ticketed ever since. City Hall says it makes no profit from those tickets and spends the money on staging the night.
Getting there
Flying in
London Heathrow is linked to Paddington by the Heathrow Express (15 minutes, or 21 from Terminal 5), and to the centre by the Elizabeth line in about 35 minutes. From Gatwick, Thameslink runs into St Pancras. Long-haul options include Dhaka to London flights and Bangkok to London flights.
The station for your gate
Blue: Victoria, Charing Cross or Embankment for gates 1 and 2. Red: Holborn or Blackfriars for gates 4 and 5 (Holborn has no step-free access). Pink: Southwark for gate 6. Green, White and Orange: Waterloo. The White area cannot be reached from Westminster Underground.
Crossing the river
Westminster, Golden Jubilee, Lambeth, Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges close before and after the show, so you stay on your own bank of the Thames all night.
Paying for travel
Both Heathrow and Gatwick are inside the Oyster and contactless area, so a contactless bank card works as your ticket from the airport to the gate.
Where to stay during the festival
Book on the same bank as your viewing area. Waterloo and the South Bank suit the Green, White and Orange areas; the streets around Charing Cross and the Strand suit Blue and Red. With the bridges shut, a room on the wrong side of the river means a long loop home in the small hours.
Weather and what to pack
December nights by the Thames are cold and often damp. Met Office 1991–2020 normals for Kew Gardens give an average December high of 8.9°C and a low of 2.3°C, with 59 mm of rain spread over about 11 wet days.
You will be outdoors for up to four and a half hours, mostly standing still, and the wind off the river makes it feel colder than the figure suggests.
Worth packing
- Your ticket on your phone, fully charged, plus a power bank
- Warm layers, a hat and gloves
- A waterproof jacket
- A small bag to get through searches quickly
- Comfortable shoes for a long stand and a slow walk out
- Contactless card for the Tube home
Flights to London for London New Year's Eve Fireworks
The busiest routes into London (LHR).
FromTo DAC LHR DhakaLondon Available airlines1 airline- Biman Bangladesh Airlines
FromTo ZYL LHR SylhetLondon Available airlines1 airline- Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Car hire in London
Airport transfer to London New Year's Eve Fireworks
Met at arrivals at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and driven door to door to Victoria Embankment and South Bank by the London Eye.
- London Heathrow Airport (LHR) → Victoria Embankment and South Bank by the London Eye
- 28 km · 45 min
Restaurants and food in United Kingdom
Places to eat in United Kingdom before or after the celebrations.
Magpie Café
14 Pier Road, Whitby YO21 3PU, United Kingdom
Cuisine:SeafoodFish and chips
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Ubiquitous Chip
12 Ashton Lane, Glasgow G12 8SJ, United Kingdom
Cuisine:ScottishModern British
- Dine-in
- Bar
The Kitchin
78 Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6LX, United Kingdom
Cuisine:Modern ScottishSeasonal
- Dine-in
Dishoom Covent Garden
12 Upper St Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9FB, United Kingdom
Cuisine:IndianBombay café
- Dine-in
- Bar
- Outdoor seating
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Need help?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Booking
Not from the official viewing areas. Stewards turn away anyone without a ticket, whatever their age, and the riverside around the London Eye is fenced off for the night. Without one, the realistic option is the live television coverage.
Not necessarily. The first batch was released at noon on Friday 23 October 2026 on Ticketmaster. A second, smaller batch follows later in the year, and City Hall publishes its date on the official event page.
More than 2,000 are fired from the wheel itself, on top of those launched from barges moored in the river. The whole display lasts about 12 minutes.
No. The Mayor's office says it takes no profit and that ticket income goes into delivering the event. Its research also found visitors spent an average of £138.75 each around the 2023 show.
Prices & payment
The dearer category is £55 a head and the cheaper one £40, with VAT already included. Ticketmaster then adds its own booking fee, which goes to the ticketing provider.
Yes. Buyers with a London billing postcode pay £35 for Category A and £20 for Category B. The postcode is verified at checkout and stewards can ask for proof of address at the gate.
General
Blue, on the north bank of the river. Every other area sees the display from an angle, from one of the bridges or from behind the wheel.
No. Your ticket lets you into one colour zone through its own numbered gate, and stewards do not let people cross between areas during the night.
BBC One carries them live inside its New Year's Eve programme, and ITV and Sky News broadcast the display too, so it is easy to catch from a pub or hotel room.
Stay & facilities
Yes. Every area has stalls selling food and drink, along with accessible toilets and a first aid point, so you do not need to leave once you are through the gate.