Fireworks at london on New Year

Transport Arrangements

I’ll start of with something that isn’t that exciting, but essential!  Having transport arrangements is very important and knowing what is running, when it is running to and so on will be vital to a safe and enjoyable New Years.

I think I should start of by saying, use public transport.  It will be much more efficient than trying to drive around the streets.   It also means you can safely drink!  Best of all, the public transport over New Years is free!  You can use the trains, trams, tubes for free on nearly all journeys!  It will be free between 23.45 and 04.30.  The night buses and 24 hour bus routes will run as normal, however if you need to catch a bus service leaving central London then due to road closures there won’t be as many of these routes running between the hours of around 19:00 to 03:00.

If you are going to London to see the fireworks then the Transport for London have this very useful firework route planner.

If you don’t fancy using public transport then you could always get a black cab.  You’ll need to bring a little bit of extra as there is an additional £4 charge between 20:00 on 31 December 2008 and 06:00 on 2 January 2009.  If you are going to use taxi’s, make sure you ask how much it will cost (or for an estimate) and only licensed taxis.

If, against my wiser advice you do decide to drive, you do not need to pay the congestion charge.  The congestion charge isn’t being enforced from 25th December to 1st Jan.  You will have to pay it again on 2nd Jan (so if you stay overnight be aware!).  If you do drive you might be sitting in your car, in traffic as the year end comes and goes.

London’s Firework Show

On New Years London will be having a fantastic firework show.  If you look at the start of this post you can see a little photo from a previous years’ display.  There’s a fantastic video of the 2008 display on youtube.

The fireworks start straight after the midnight chime from Big Ben.  Certain areas are set aside for people to view the fireworks, but these places are limited to 180,000 people.  That may sound like a lot, but in London it’s not!  Here is a map to show you the firework viewing location.

Map of Firework viewing locations

When the viewing locations are full they will be closed and you will not get in.   It may pay to try and get in a little earlier!  If you don’t get in I’m sure you’ll still be able to find a location to watch the fireworks, just the view might be a little bit hidden behind buildings or what not.

Another quick tip, unlike in past years, nothing is going on at Trafalgar Square this year.

Other Night Life

The fireworks are not the only thing to do in London over New years.  There are plenty of other events going on, such as clubs and pubs, music concerts and river cruises.

Pubs

It may pay to find pubs before and see what they’re doing.  Many will charge entrance fees in an attempt to keep numbers down (as well as to make more money).  You may need to book places so it would pay to do a little bit of research before hand.  As well as an entrance fee drinks prices will no doubt be inflated too.

Clubs

The best clubs to go to this New Years include Ministry of Sound, Pacha and Fabric.

Ministry of Sound has space for 5000 people and a sound system that would blow your mind!  They only ever play it at 45% capacity (if they played it on full it would create the loudest, man made sound).

Pacha, a famous Ibizi night club is now in the UK.  It’s meant to be a must see place, but is quite expensive to get in normally so New Years will only cost more!

Fabric has a 24 hour drinking licence and space for 2500 people.  It’s located near lots of small cafés so you can get your breakfast as you leave!  They also have speakers in the floor so you can feel the bass go through your body!  Only thing to note is, they do have UNI-sex toilets.

There are plenty of other great clubs you can go to London to too, these are just a few good ones to name!

Music Gigs

There will be a collection of smaller gigs going on, but the big one this New Year is Elton John at the O2.  Will Young and X Factor winner will also be making guest appearances.  You can book your tickets on the O2 website.

River Cruises

There are three big companies doing river cruises on new years.  They are City Cruises, Silver Fleet and Bateux London.  The advantage of a river cruise is that you’ll get a fantastic view of the fireworks, right up close on the river!  Prices aren’t cheap…expect to pay around £200!

Anything Else?

There are other things to do in London over New Years, such as restaurants and other things.   What I’ve covered are the main things.   If you are planning on doing anything I mention here please do post a comment and let me know what .

I hope you all found this useful!  Have a great New Year!

Going out

For new year parties there are really two options, go out or stay in.  The disadvantage of going out on new year’s eve is it’s really, really expensive depending on where you go.  Entrance to clubs can easily be in excess of £20…or £20 more than they usually charge depending on if you’re going to a big city or a smaller place.  For example, prices in London start at about £25/35 (and a booking fee)…and go up to over a hundred pounds or two depending on the venue and event!  As it’ll be new years eve, if you find the right venue the place will be buzzing!

If you can’t afford to go into the big clubs and places on New Year’s eve it does pay to see what events are going on.  For instance, this year I’m planning on going to London with a box of beer, watch the fireworks with friends and generally have a good time.  My friend’s sister lives in London so we can stay with her and continue the party there.  For those of us who are a bit more frugal with our money then this should still result in a fantastic night!

Staying in (but still partying the night away)

The other option is to have something at home, or preferably someone else’s.  House parties can be great fun.  If you’re having it at your house only invite people you trust otherwise there is a very big chance of things getting broken.  I’ve heard many stories about plumbing needing replacing, TV’s damaged or stolen, sick and other bodily functions over walls, floors and so on.  For the slightly more mature of you reading this might be less likely to happen if you invited people over.

Because of the risks involved with having a large house party it’s always much better to have one at someone else’s house.  This way you can enjoy the coming of a new year, without worrying about your house looking like a bomb site in the morning.  Be sure to bring plenty of your own drinks (might need to keep a close eye on it).

Having a House Party

If you are going to have a house party for New Year’s Eve there are a few things to bare in mind.  How large can it be and who will come?  What will you do?   What other arrangements need to be made?

House parties are generally open so anyone and 10 of their mates.  This is why there can be ‘complications’ with them.  I don’t mean to put you off but do be careful.  I’ve had smaller house parties where I’ve only invited people I actually like.  That way I don’t have to worry about people not respecting the my place.  The other advantage of this is that, if you have unfriendly neighbours, if you’ve got slightly less people it might be slightly quieter and be more respectful – saves having the Police shut it down.

They say how you start the new year is how the year will continue, so maybe that should be with close friends rather than trying to stop people vandalising your home.  It might mean you won’t find someone at midnight, but on the other hand after a few drinks and the lights turned down any friend might do and you just don’t need to speak about it again.

As for other arrangements, people need to be made aware.  Facebook and social networking sites can make easy application of this.  Otherwise a text or a few phone calls can do the job nicely.   Last year I organised a party at mine at lunch time on New Year’s eve by sending some texts out.  Facebook might have been easier with having to reply to comments, but a lot of people wouldn’t of found out about the night until a week later when they checked their facebook account.

Secondly you may want to get some snacks, drinks and so on…maybe even a few decorations.  £10-20 should be enough to get some snacks and a few drinks.  People should be more than willing to bring their own drinks to share around for the evening.  You could put a few decorations up…maybe even make a few silly games to get a bit of atmosphere to start with.  Short quizzes are simple to do and can just be stuck onto walls for people to have a go at.

The main consideration for a new year’s party at home is a reasonable sound system to belt those tunes out!

Start Thinking!

So start thinking about what you’d like to do.  I’ll try to post some more New Year’s advice up over the next week .   Not long to go!