Annual Events in London

London is one of the most popular cities in the world, there are always some events for everyone. In London, many traditional events held annually and welcome everyone to attend in, we will introduce some of them.

You can scroll down to see the introduction of main annual events in London and also the venues and pictures of these events on the map.

Events are sorted by time.

NOW LET'S BEGIN

[1st Jan.]London’s New Year’s Day Parade

The London New Year's Day Parade (LNYDP) is an annual parade through the streets of the West End of London on 1st January, it is the biggest street event for celebrating New Year’s Day. The parade first took place in 1987. The route is two miles (3.2 km) long. Around a million spectators are attracted every year.

[April] London Book Fair

The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels.Basically being a book-publishing trade fair, the event attracts thousands of visitors every year. People celebrate the creativities and the written words together. In each year, London Book Fair focuses on different country and region in the publishing industry.

[late April] London Marathon

First held on 29 March 1981, London marathon now becomes an annual event, held in the late April. This marathon is run over a largely flat course around the River Thames, and spans 42.195 kilometres.It is not only a simple race also an event to join people having different background and ethnicities laugh and achieve the impossible together.

[May] Chelsea Flower Show

The Chelsea Flower Show is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Held at Chelsea since 1912, it is the most famous flower and landscape gardens show in the United Kingdom. It attracts visitors all around the world, also British Royal Family attend. Due to the limit of the capacity, only 157,000 visitors can attend each year all tickets must be purchased in advance.

[June] Trooping the Colour

Trooping the Colour, also called Queen's Birthday Parade, is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies.The Trooping of the Colour has marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for over 260 years. It held every first Saturday in June in Horse Guards Parade. The ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC, millions of audiences from all over the world watch it every year. and has a big international audience, being watched by millions from around the globe. Two major moments consist this ceremony, the flags of the battalion are passed down the ranks of soldiers and the Queen’s royal salute and inspection of her troops.

[Ju ne] Pr ide in Lon don

As an annually LGBT pride festival and parade in London, it aims to celebrate for the communities of the lesbian, gays, bisexual and trans+, there are many free festivity events in the main stage of Trafalgar Square. Thousands of people in different sexualities, races attend in it each year. Also, Pride in London has one of the longest running in the UK, attracts around 1.5 million visitors. In each year it has different themes.

[July]Hampton Court Garden Festival

The Hampton Court Garden Festival, the largest flower show in the world, held in early July every year by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) at Hampton Court. It held just after the Chelsea Flower Show, but they have different characters. The Hampton Court Garden Festival focuses more on environmental issues, selling gardening accessories, plants and flowers.

[July to Sept.] The Proms

The Proms,also called BBC proms, is an annual event daily which has orchestral classical music concerts daily and last for eight weeks from August held in the Royal Albert Hall in the London. The special point of this event is all audiences are free to walk around while the orchestra is playing.

[Aug.] Carnaval del Pueblo

The Carnaval del Pueblo is a yearly organized festival to celebrate Latin American culture which is held in Burgess Park in the first week of August. People can enjoy their culture, such as dancing, food and music. A spectacular procession with exotic floats, costumes, musicians and dancers is the biggest feature of the carnival.

[Aug.] Notting Hill Carnival

Notting Hill Carnival is led by the British West Indian community each August on the streets of the Notting Hill area. As one of the largest street festivals in the world as well as an important event for Black British, it attracts more than 2 million people each year. People can attend in the amazing atmosphere created by the bright-coloured costumes, the traditional music and the wonderful aromas of Caribbean food.

[Nov.]Lord Mayor's Show

Lord Mayor’s Show is one of the biggest annual events in London, held on the second Saturday in November now, it has more than eight centuries tradition whose origin can be back to the 16th century. It is a parade celebration for the new selected mayor, people following the new mayor to see the handover procession between previous mayors and the new one then back to the Mansion House. The parade will consist of thousands of traditionally dressed royal soldiers, hundreds of cavalry, dozens of beautifully decorated floats, carriages, drum horn bands, various organizations and tens of thousands of marchers. The wonderful fireworks display will start at 5 o’clock bringing the whole event to a climax. Nowadays, hundreds of thousands of people watch it along the street every year, and millions of people watch this wonderful parade through BBC television.

[Nov.-Dec.]Christmas Event

When it comes to the mid November, the London is illuminated by festive lights, Christmas trees and Christmas markets. One of the most popular light shows is in Regent Street, 300,000 LED lights have been handcrafted to form 45 spirit-shaped displays, creating a warm canopy over the neighbourhoods. Also, there are many Christmas events, such as Christmas discount in all shops, including the black Friday and boxing day。 In an atmosphere of joy and warm, people embrace the new year with happiness and expectation.