What to do in London on New Year’s Day 2024
Make the most of 1 January 2024 by starting the new year as you mean to go on
What to do on New Year’s Day? How to kick off January as you mean to go on? Where to head to make the most of your final day off? The answer to that final question is easy: London. As well as London’s annual New Year’s Day Parade, come 1 January there will be a host of ways to start your 2024 with a bang. There are proms at the Barbican, services at St Paul’s Cathedral, and a ceilidh at the Southbank Centre (that’s a Gaelic dance-along, in case, like us, you were none the wiser). New Year’s Day also affords a last chance to visit Christmas at Kew Gardens and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.
Happy New Year!
The London New Year’s Day Parade 2024
That’s right, London has a New Year’s Day Parade. It may not rival the carnivals of Notting Hill or Rio De Janeiro but it does see some 10,000 musicians and performers take to the streets of central London on the first day of every January. What began in 1987 as a comparatively small event has evolved into a parade that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators. Proceedings kick off at midday, giving you plenty of time to sleep off the hangover, and start from Piccadilly, directly in front of The Ritz hotel. Look out for Samba dancers, giant inflatables and Chesney Hawkes, who will be performing live on stage.
Visit lnydp.com
New Year’s Day Proms at The Barbican
Purchase a ticket to the Barbican’s annual New Year’s Day Proms and this year you’ll receive a complimentary drinks voucher. You’ll also enjoy a two-hour celebration of classical favourites performed by the London Concert Orchestra and conducted by Anthony Inglis. Listed on the programme are Elgar’s Nimrod, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture and Verdi’s La donna è mobile. Guests can also expect rousing renditions of Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory.
From £18.50, 3pm-5.15pm (with an interval), visit barbican.org.uk
Choral Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral
While St Paul’s Cathedral may be better known for the Christmas carol concerts it hosts in December, the cathedral’s Evensong service on New Year’s Day is equally spectacular – and tends to draw fewer crowds. Lasting for around 45 minutes, Evensong invites guests to experience the voices of the Cathedral choir, who perform specially-selected choral works in one of London’s most iconic settings. Don’t worry if you are new to Evensong, you’ll be given an easy-to-follow order of service on arrival, which will guide you through each part of the ceremony.
Visit stpauls.co.uk
The New Year’s Day Cèilidh at the Southbank Centre
As part of the Southbank Centre’s Winter Festival, for New Year’s Day 2024 the venue’s Clore Ballroom will be hosting a ceilidh, or céilí. A social gathering with origins in Gaelic areas of Scotland and Ireland, a ceilidh brings people together against a backdrop of fiddles, flutes and folk music. The Southbank Centre event will be headlined by the Ceilidh Liberation Front band, which will combine music, dance and a sprinkling of theatrics to put on their own version of a ceilidh. Doors open at 1pm and the event is free to attend.
1pm, 1 Jan 2024, southbankcentre.co.uk
Last chance to visit Christmas at Kew
The UK’s original festive light trail has returned to Kew Gardens and runs until Sunday 7 January – so why not utilise New Year’s Day to see the lit-up installations before they disappear for another year? Eight installations make their UK debut this year, in an illuminated festival that includes three-metre-tall illuminated flowers, cascading lights suspended from tree canopies, and one of the longest light tunnels to ever feature at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Kew’s iconic Palm House is also putting on its own light show, while the Temperate House features a ‘fire garden’.
From £19.50, kew.org
Last chance to visit Winter Wonderland
If you couldn’t face the crowds before Christmas, why not experience Europe’s largest Christmas theme park at a more family-friendly point of the festive period – New Year’s Day. It’s the last chance to visit the Hyde Park mega-market before the stalls, fairground rides and Bavarian-themed beer halls are dismounted for another year. New Year’s Day is also classed as off-peak, which means the event is free to attend – another reason to avoid the sprawling attraction in the heady days of December.
Visit hydeparkwinterwonderland.com
Ride the London Eye
Despite being the focal point of the capital’s New Year’s Eve celebrations just a few hours before, unlike many of London’s top cultural attractions the London Eye remains open on New Year’s Day – making a trip on Europe’s second-largest Ferris wheel (Moscow’s version pips it by five metres) an inspiring way to see in the year ahead. Get a bird’s eye view of attractions like Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace from an elevation of 135 metres. Each year, the London Eye attracts some 3.5 million guests. Visit on New Year’s Day and be one of the first in 2024.
From £25.50, visit londoneye.com
