New Year’s Eve London: Where to Spend It and What to Book Early
New Year's Eve in London cannot be left until the day. Fireworks tickets sell out, restaurants switch to set menus, and by around ten o'clock a taxi becomes almost impossible to find.
New Year’s Eve in London rewards anyone who books ahead, because every part of it fills. Fireworks tickets have to be bought weeks before, any good restaurant moves to a set menu and sells out, and getting around decides where you can realistically be when midnight strikes.
The fireworks
The display takes place on the Thames beside the London Eye, and you need a ticket. They go on release in autumn and sell out quickly; none are sold on the night itself, and the viewing areas are enclosed by fencing. If you want a place inside, buy early and expect to arrive hours before midnight and stand in a crowd that barely moves.
What most Londoners do instead is watch from somewhere under cover. Riverside hotel bars and restaurants offer packages for the evening, warm and high above the crowds, and from there you see more of the fireworks than you would from inside the enclosure.
Dinner
Expect a fixed-price set menu, frequently needing a deposit, and it will probably be full by early December. The best ones go first. Start with our guides to Michelin-starred restaurants in London and London’s most romantic restaurants, and the smart move is an early table, around seven, so you have left and are on your way well before midnight instead of still waiting for dessert.
Drinks and parties
- Hotel bars. The safe bet: warm, reservable, and nobody turns you out at midnight. See our guide to London’s best bars.
- Clubs. All of them run a ticketed event, costing two or three times an ordinary Saturday. Buy directly from the venue, never from a promoter on the street. Our guide to London’s best clubs explains which is which.
- Boat parties. Out on the river, watching the fireworks from the water. Great with the right crowd, awful with the wrong one, and there is no getting off once it sails.
- A quiet night. A leisurely dinner, a bottle of something with a view, and home before the rush. More people choose this than will say so.
Getting home
Several lines run a night tube service and buses keep going all night, and in most years both are free on New Year’s Eve, though confirm this before you count on it. Taxis and ride apps surge in price and are practically impossible to get in central London from midnight until two. If you plan to stay out late, the practical answer is a hotel room booked in advance, or staying within walking distance of your bed.
Booking company for New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve is our most requested night of the whole year, and it is booked up weeks in advance. Three practical tips. Book early, which realistically means the end of November or the start of December. Book the evening, not an hour, because nothing on this night fits into an hour. And settle the plan beforehand, dinner, a bar and where the night finishes, so she can dress accordingly and knows when the booking ends.
Our guide to dinner dates and overnight bookings explains how longer bookings work, and our guide to Christmas in London covers the weeks leading up to it.
Where to next
Questions
Yes. The viewing areas by the river need a ticket. Tickets are released in autumn and always sell out, and you cannot buy them on the night.
From a restaurant or bar with a view, many of which sell packages for the evening, or from high ground away from the river. Either is better than four hours standing in a fenced enclosure.
No later than early December. Expect a fixed-price set menu with a deposit. An early table at around seven means you are free well before midnight.
The night tube and buses usually run free overnight, in most years, but confirm before you count on it. Taxis and ride apps are practically impossible to get from midnight until two.
At the end of November or the start of December. It is our most requested night of the year, and we book the whole evening rather than by the hour.