RPFlanagan

We are going to be in London for the holidays this year and I am looking for something fun to do...we are not huge partiers but still want to expericence a great dinner, fireworks and a good party. Any suggestions??

PatrickLondon

Last year, there was a huge free fireworks display along the Thames, which (on TV) looked to attract even huger crowds. You'd need to keep an eye on public announcements nearer the time to see what arrangements there'll be next time.

RM67

I know that some of the Conran Restaurants by Tower Bridge ( Chop House, La Pont etc) do New Year Eve specials, and you can usually see any fireworks quite well from the terraces along there.

BTW It's 'Christmas', not 'Holidays', and 'New Year' without a 's' in this part of the world 8-)

RM67

Or Le Pont, before someone corrects my french....

audere_est_facere

Book as early as possible and stay in that venue all night. I cannot begin to explain how utterly horrrible London is on New Year's Eve (see many threads passim).

We locals wouldn't be seen dead in Central London on NYE and if you have other alternatives I would strongly recommend exploring them.

Pretty much any other day of the year London is the finest place to be on the planet - but NYE is vile.

mar1120

I have been in London on New Year's for the past 7 years. We go to a local restaurant (in my case Indian) that offers a regular menu. Afer that it is back to the hotel where we have watched the fireworks from our hotel - sometimes from the room if we're lucky. There is a big parade on New Year's Day that you may want to go to instead in Tragalgar Square. One thing to be careful of - if you do go out on New Year's check the tube schedule. Trains do not run all night and it is impossible to catch a taxi.

flanneruk

What Audere means is that we middle-aged locals wouldn't be seen dead in the centre of town. And on the rare occasions I've been persuaded to go to a paid-for dinner or whatever, it's been extortionate, really, really mediocre and close to anti-social (you and the half-dozen chums you're sharing a table with have nothing to talk to the strangers at the adjacent tables about, so you really might as well have gone to someone's house where there'd have been more people to socialise with, the food'n'drink would have been better and you wouldn't need to starve for the next month to pay the bill.)

But that's because if you live here there are lots of people's houses to go to.

If you're visiting, though, Londoners (especially over 30) are a really lousy source of advice about New Year's Eve. Domestic parties are better, and when we were under 30, public celebrations were little more than half-hearted riots by rainsodden drunks against the police riots (the police invariably won hands down) in Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.

Now, though, the 2006/7 fireworks display looked terrific on telly. I wouldn't automatically use that as a recommendation to go to the riverside and watch them: they looked great because the weather last time was tailor-made for TV coverage. It's just as likely to be wet and cloudy, making the spectacle on the river seriously unspectacular. But the crowds watching live all seemed to having the kind of good time that was unthinkable a decade (or in some of our cases, several decades) ago.

Don't be put off by us. One possible source of ideas for what to do before going to or near the river is last year's Time Out listings (www.timeout.com/london/clubs/features/2268.html), or - from late November - the same search function on the then-current Time Out site.

audere_est_facere

If you are going into London for NYE make sure you have a reserved place to go. Almost everywhere will work on a ticket only system and you can't wander from place to place. Without a ticket you will be a part of the throng of disappointed people who wander through the west end pressing their noses up against the windows of places they can't get into.

Do you know where you're staying as it may be that there are options local to that.

And to clear up any confusion: The tube does run all night (and it's free) and the night bus service runs as per usual (and is included on your travel card). However overground trains do not run overnight - so if you're staying in the suburbs you might need to be aware of this. Also you will not get a taxi from Central London - so don't even consider it.

I know there's going to be a big club night at the O2 as I've been asked if I want to work it (not on your nellie), so that's one possibility.