New Year Parade Venues in London
The 2012 London New Year’s Day Parade is shaping up to be something special. The 26th Annual New Year’s Day parade will not only be the first public event of the 2012 Olympic year in London but also marks the very first official event of the Diamond Jubilee of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To mark the beginning of an exciting New Years in London, 10,000 participants from 20 different countries will showcase their performances. Officials also expect close to half a million viewers lining the streets during the event that will also be telecast on most major local and international channels.
The New Year´s Day Parade London
Address: Research House, Fraser Road, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 7AQ View Map
Contact: + 44 20 8566 8586
Visit: The New Year´s Day Parade London website
Instructions
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Timings
The parade will take approximately three hours to complete its route across London. The starting time is scheduled at 11.45am on Piccadilly, in front of the Ritz Hotel. This should give late night revelers enough time to recover after New Year Eve parties from the night before. Organizers expect the parade to reach Parliament Street by 3pm and mark the close of the event.
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Parade Route
The defined route of the 2 mile parade will go past some major landmarks in London. The procession will start off from Piccadilly and wind its way past Piccadilly Circus. It will then move on to Lower Regent Street, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street and hit Trafalgar Square. Finally the performers and parade participants will make their way past Whitehall and finally end up on Parliament Street.
Click Here to see the parade route and location.
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Things to do at Parade
The major attraction is the parade itself, which will have a special feature of 33 acts that will hail from all the London Boroughs and two cities. The London New Year’s parade also has marching bands, cheerleaders, clowns acrobats and kites. Avid Londoners can also get a glimpse of British celebrities, politicians and Royalty that will be attending the event.
Another exciting official event that is taking place is the Festival Concert Series. The concerts will be taking place in the London's high-tech Cadogan Hall, home base for The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The dates for the concerts start from December 29th and last to the 3rd of January, leaving enough time to grab a ticket.
Festival Concert Series
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History
Today’s London New Years Day Parade started off on a much smaller scale as the Lord Mayor of Westminster's Big Parade on 1st January 1987. Back then no one had quite seen such a display in London and people flocked to get a view and join the fun. The parade has grown over the last 25 years into one of the great street spectacles in London yearly calendar. The name of the parade was officially changed to London Parade in 1994 and then its newest version in 2001. The parade is also a major fund raiser for charity events and helps each borough that participates to gain money. This tradition started off in 1997 when the 1997 “Let's Help London Appeal and Challenge” was initiated.
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Road Closures
Since the parade has a long route to take, a lot of the streets and surrounding areas will be closed for security reasons. You can find out about all closures by clicking here.
