FOI - New Years Eve 2025 [Jun 2026]

1. I am seeking disclosure of recorded information held by the Greater London Authority relating to the London New Year’s Eve fireworks and associated celebrations held on 31 December 2023, 31 December 2024, and 31 December 2025 (welcoming 2024, 2025, and 2026 respectively). This request concerns only recorded factual information on expenditure, income, attendance, and specified impact assessments. It does not seek explanations, opinions, interpretations, decision rationales, internal deliberations, risk assessments, or speculative material.
2. Specifically, I request the following recorded information, as at the date of this request:
3. For each of the three events listed above:

• The total gross expenditure (final outturn figure where reconciled and held; otherwise the latest approved budget or forecast held).
• A breakdown of gross expenditure by major recorded categories, including (where held) event production (including fireworks/pyrotechnics/creative/broadcasting), security/stewarding/crowd management, infrastructure/staging/licensing, marketing, staffing and other operational costs, and any other significant recorded line items.

2. For each of the three events listed above:

• The total income received directly in relation to the event, split by recorded source, including (where held) ticket sales (gross and net of fees/refunds), sponsorship (cash and/or in-kind, with approximate recorded values), broadcast or licensing income, and concessions, stalls, or other event-related income.
• The net cost or subsidy to the GLA after deducting all recorded income from expenditure (i.e. the net public funding required).

3. For each of the three events listed above:

• The number of tickets sold.
• The ticket price bands used and, where separately recorded, the number of tickets sold per band.

4. Any recorded market research, visitor surveys, or economic impact assessments (or the most recent equivalent documents covering these events) that include:

• Estimated average spend per ticketholder in London.
• Estimated total additional revenue generated for London businesses or the London economy from ticketholders (and non-ticketholders where separately estimated).
• The methodology used for these estimates, where documented in recorded form.

5. For each of the three events listed above:

• The proportion of attendees from outside Greater London (domestic or international), based on ticket sales data or surveys where recorded.

6. Copies of the relevant Mayoral Decision (MD) documents (or relevant extracts) that set the budget, authorised expenditure, or approved ticket pricing for the periods covering these three events (including, but not limited to, MD3009, MD3172, MD3220, and any subsequent updates or related decisions held).

I have been unable to locate complete outturn figures, detailed breakdowns, or recent impact assessments for all three events in the public domain, including on london.gov.uk, within published Mayoral Decisions, or in the FOI disclosure log, although partial information exists for earlier years or events.

Our response

London’s world-renowned New Year’s Eve fireworks is watched by many millions of people around the globe – over 10m on the BBC alone - with an incredible display of fireworks, music and animation, illuminating the night sky around the London Eye and providing an incredible advert for the capital. Bringing in 2026 we sent a message of togetherness and that London will always be a city of hope and a place for everyone.

The event generates over £25m economic benefit to London from ticketholders alone. Further intangible economic benefit is generated through the positive promotion of London nationally and internationally as a global city, strengthening its reputation across the UK and overseas, and raising confidence to visit, study and do business in London.

1. Since 2024, the scope of the event increased to include further security and safety provisions in ‘Zone-Ex’ – areas of shared responsibility between the event site and key transport hubs – resulting from Martyn’s Law, the new Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.

• For the event held on 31 December 2023, the gross expenditure was £5.84m
• For the event held on 31 December 2024, the gross expenditure was £7.28m
• For the event held on 31 December 2025, the gross expenditure was £7.20m

2. Commercial income for each year is exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) commercial interests*.

• For the event held on 31 December 2023, the GLA spend for the event was £4.1m, with additional costs being supported by revenue of £1.7m.
• For the event held on 31 December 2024, the GLA spend for the event was £4.4m, with additional costs being supported by revenue of £2.8m.
• For the event held on 31 December 2025, the GLA spend for the event was £4.1m, with additional costs being supported by revenue of £3.1m.

3. Available tickets are based on the site capacity, which is impacted by the changing topography of London.

• For the 2023 event 106,696 tickets were sold.
• For the 2024 event 89,244 tickets were sold.
• For the 2025 event 90,457 tickets were sold.

The number of tickets sold per band is exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) commercial interests*.

The prices bands were as below:

3. The event generates over £25m economic benefit to London from ticketholders alone.

Regarding spend per ticketholder and additional revenue generated for London, a post-event survey was sent to all ticket holders. They were asked a series of questions regarding spending during their visit to London to see the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Eve Fireworks, which excluded the cost of their ticket. Estimates of economic impact is analysed from this data to estimate an average spend per ticketholder. This spend was then multiplied by 80% of the ticketholders, to account for anomalies.

Ticketholders undertook a range of other activities during their visit, including going to restaurants/pubs and clubs (58%), shopping (42%), visiting parks and gardens (31%), museums/galleries (27%), historical/heritage sites (24%), and theatre/music/arts performances (20%).

The data for 2023 is not held.

The results for 2024 and 2025 are below:

e) proportions of ticket holders from outside London:

5. Mayoral Decisions:

• MD3009 New Year’s Eve 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 | London City Hall
• MD3172 New Year’s Eve 2023 | London City Hall
• MD3220 New Year’s Eve 2023 – additional support
• MD3392 Delivery Plan – Supporting community, cultural and sporting events in London | London City H…

Regarding the final part of your request, Impact assessments are included as part of MD process, and dynamically as part of the planning process working with multi-agency partners and local authorities.

As set out above, the following information is exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

• Commercial income for each year
• The number of tickets sold per band