Britain welcomes 2025: spectacular fireworks light up the Thames as rain and wind hit New Year celebrations

31 December 2024, 23:59 | Updated: 1 January 2025, 00:31

Britain welcomes 2025: spectacular fireworks light up the Thames as rain and wind hit New Year celebrations.
Britain welcomes 2025: spectacular fireworks light up the Thames as rain and wind hit New Year celebrations. Picture: Getty

By Katy Ronkin

Crowds across the UK are ringing in the new year as fireworks displays go ahead in London.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Around 100-thousand people are watching the display along the River Thames tonight - with 12 thousand fireworks and hundreds of lights bringing in 2025.

Many celebrations elsewhere across the UK - including in Newcastle and Edinburgh - have been cancelled because of heavy rain and strong winds.

Sadiq Khan told LBC that this year's fireworks display is "the greatest the city has ever seen".

Read more: Horizon scandal victims recognised in New Year Honours list - as Southgate and Sadiq receive knighthoods

Read more: Edinburgh's Hogmanay, Blackpool and Newcastle fireworks cancelled as 'severe weather' dampens New Year's Eve

He said: "You’re going to bear witness to the greatest fireworks this city has ever seen. We’ve had a crew of more than 32 working since December 27, day and night, to make sure these fireworks are fantastic.

"The biggest fireworks taking place anywhere in Europe, more than 120,000 fireworks, hundreds of lights being displayed and a great soundtrack with a taste for every generation."

Auckland became the first major city in the world to welcome 2025.

Thousands of revellers counted down to the new year and cheered as colourful fireworks launched from New Zealand's tallest structure, the Sky Tower, as part of a light show.

Many also climbed the city's ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point, as well as a light display recognising Auckland's Indigenous tribes.

Countries in the South Pacific Ocean are the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking a full 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York.

New year celebrations are also taking place across parts of the Middle East and Central Asia with cities putting on spectacular displays to usher in 2025.

Dubai has prepared 15,600 pyrotechnic elements for its fireworks display at the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa.

A display of soaring water jets from the Dubai Fountain is also synchronised with the show.

There were also fireworks over the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand.

Back in the UK, the royal family shared a clip wishing everyone a Happy New Year to mark the start of 2025.

In Australia, more than one million people went to Sydney Harbour for the traditional fireworks.

Brit star Robbie Williams is leading a singalong and Indigenous ceremonies and performances will acknowledge the land's first people.

Meanwhile, much of Japan has shut down ahead of the nation's biggest holiday.

The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth - alluding to the reptile's shedding skin.

In South Korea, celebrations have been cut back or cancelled as the country observes a period of national mourning following the crash on Sunday of a Jeju Air flight at Muan that killed 179 people.

Sydney Harbour
Sydney Harbour. Picture: Alamy

Over in the UK, several New Year's celebrations have been cancelled due to bad weather.

Newcastle is the latest to affected by the 'severe weather', with its fireworks display having been cancelled.

It comes after Edinburgh's Hogmanay street party and Blackpool's fireworks events were cancelled due to high winds.

The fireworks display in London is still due to go ahead, with mayor Sadiq Khan saying there will be nods to some of the biggest milestones from 2024, including the Olympics and D-Day commemorations.

"You’re going to bear witness to the greatest fireworks this city has ever seen," Mr Khan told LBC.

"We’ve had a crew of more than 32 working since December 27, day and night, to make sure these fireworks are fantastic.

"[It is] the biggest fireworks display taking place anywhere in Europe, with more than 120,000 fireworks, hundreds of lights being displayed and a great soundtrack with a taste for every generation."

He added: "There’s lots to look back on, but I’m really keen to look forward, look forward with hope and optimism.

"I really do think the best days for our city and our country lay ahead of us rather than behind us."

Meanwhile, NHS staff are preparing for one of the busiest nights of the year as New Year's Eve celebrations get underway.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Birmingham refuse workers strike

Bin strikes could spread to rest of UK, union chief warns - as she claims Labour 'doesn't understand basics' of row

The ladies pocket watch is set to fetch £50,000

Titanic victim's pocket watch set to sell for £50,000 at auction

Police crime scene tape UK

Horror as crossbow seized after mass brawl in Salford, with children among seven arrested after 'gun spotted'

Former corporal Aaron Stelmach-Purdie (pictured), 34, ran the swindle between November 2014 and January 2016 whilst he worked as a clerk at the Ministry of Defence's administrative headquarters i

Soldier who stole £1 million from MoD to pay for hair transplant and teeth whitening faces jail

Jonathan Meijer

Inbreeding fears after man 'fathers 1,000 children' by donating sperm, as dozens more mass donors revealed

Exclusive
LBC visits jail which could solve UK prison crisis with Texas-style "Intensive Supervision Courts"

LBC visits jail which could solve UK prison crisis with Texas-style 'Intensive Supervision Courts'

The boy was on holiday with his family in Planos, Greece

British toddler, 3, drowns in pool at Greece holiday villa 'after wandering off’

Singer Katy Perry has said she feels "super connected to love" after returning to Earth following her trip on Jeff Bezos's New Shepard NS-31 embarking on the Blue Origin programme.

Katy Perry will write song about her experience after returning to Earth from all-female space voyage

The article calls for the appointment of an independent National Cancer Director and an office of support to take data-driven actions across the UK.

UK cancer care system is facing a 'critical breaking point', experts warn

Patients should be treated earlier with statins and the cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe, researchers at Lund University in Sweden and Imperial College London said.

Combination of drugs could prevent thousands of heart attacks

Katy Perry has returned to Earth after a space trip

Katy Perry becomes first artist to sing in space during all-female space voyage

Flowers on sale at the Chiswick Flower Market, London.

Warm weather and Mother’s Day spending gives retailers March boost

A 29-year-old man, who has not been named, from Halifax, West Yorkshire was at the Funky Flamingo bar on March 22 when the incident occurred.

Brit dies on Benidorm stag do months before wedding after falling off bar stool backwards

Staff arrived on Friday morning to find out the foodbank had been broken into and vandalised.

Charity workers 'devastated' as church foodbank in Glasgow trashed and vandalised during 'break-in'

Jamie Redknapp working as a pundit in 2024.

Jamie Redknapp banned from driving for 12 months after being caught speeding twice

The graves of 'babies and young children' have been defaced at a cemetery in Watford

'Unspeakable act' sees 85 graves vandalised in 'Islamophobic hate crime' including graves of 'babies and children'