FOI - Fireworks 2024 [Feb 2025]

Your request 

1. How many fireworks were released during the 2024 celebrations at Westminster?
2. How much did the production cost?
3. How many tickets were sold, and how much was made from ticket sales?
4. How much was made from selling food and drink in the viewing areas?
5. How many people were employed specifically for the event (Security, setting up and taking down equipment, food and drink stalls, cleanup crews)?
6. I understand high winds would have stopped drones from being used, but were they originally supposed to be part of the production?

Our response

Thank you for your email about London's New Year's Eve celebrations.

The Mayor was delighted to welcome in 2025 with London’s incredible show. Featuring the world-first use of hologauze animation alongside our unique combination of fireworks, lighting and music for the millions watching at home and around the globe, we sent a message of unity, hope and love to the world, showing that London is for everyone.

Data from the GLA’s previous events indicates that NYE ticketholders alone spend, on average, £138.75 in the capital, generating more than £14m of additional revenue for London’s businesses and economy, not including the additional revenue generated from visitors without tickets visiting. The GLA makes no profit from the event.

In 2021, a report by professional services firm Hatch, and promotion organisation London & Partners, revealed that major events contribute more than £600m on average to the capital’s economy every year. The report also found that these events can be a huge catalyst towards London’s recovery from the pandemic. It estimated that every visitor to a concert and cultural event generated, on average, £23 to the London economy.

1. Approximately 12,000 fireworks were released.

2 & 3. The final cost for this year’s event is still being reconciled so we are unable to share the costs at this time. However around 100,000 ticketholders joined together in central London to welcome 2025. The GLA budget for the 2023 event was £4.1m with additional costs being supported by ticket revenue of £1.75m.

4. Please note that this information is exempt from disclosure under the exemption for Commercial Interests at section 43(2) of the FOIA. Section 43(2) provides that information can be withheld from release if its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person. A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity and in this instance we are unable to share the income from concessions as this forms part of a competitive bid process and would jeopardise commercial viability.

5. Multiple partners and key stakeholders are involved in the delivery of the event and the GLA does not hold this information for all those categories. There were over 3300, security, stewards, managers and response teams deployed on the ground on the night.

6. No, drones were not planned to be part of the show for 2024