Thousands of revellers line the streets of London for New Year's Day Parade
1 January 2023, 15:04 | Updated: 1 January 2023, 23:30
Thousands of revellers have lined the streets of London to welcome in 2023 with the New Year's Day Parade.
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Entertainers from across the globe brought a colourful carnival of culture to the West End as the event moved from Piccadilly to Parliament Square for the first time since 2020 due to the pandemic.
The three-and-a-half-hour parade - dubbed by Toploader, one of the bands making an appearance, as the "perfect hangover cure" - featured more than 8,000 performers in 70 performance groups.
The route started at Piccadilly, heading eastward to Piccadilly Circus, then down Regent Street and St James's, and passed Pall Mall to the end point in Westminster.
Over the years, the parade has become an annual tradition, having first begun in 1987.
This year's event is filled with marching bands, cheerleaders, pearly kings and queens, dancers, drummers, cycling clubs and giant balloons.
Read more: Brits hail ‘beautiful’ tribute to late Queen and support for Ukraine in New Year fireworks
Bob Bone, founder of the parade, said: "This year the parade is back to its brilliant best.
"We are delighted to see that so many performers have travelled from around the world.
"This is the first mass gathering of the parade since Covid. This is the first time since 2020 we have had a parade.
"It is amazing. It is what we do. It is what we love and it gives London this incredible opportunity to showcase itself to the world, to give the world a wave and say 'come on over'."
Apart from the 500,000 people who turn out to see the event in person, the parade is also watched on TV by more than 500,000,000 annually, according to the organisers.
There are about 20 nations represented among the acts - including an El Salvadorian band who travelled from the rain forest, plus performers from China, Peru, Colombia, Brazil and others from the US, UK and Europe.
Mr Bone said: "It is a hugely cosmopolitan carnival. It's culture, colour and terrific fun."
It has "raised billions for London and the UK as a whole" over the years, along with £2 million for London charities, the organisers said.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said there was "no better place to welcome in the New Year than London".
It comes after viewers hailed the firework display that welcomed the new year in the capital.
Big Ben bonged in England's capital as a crowd of more than 100,000 people gathered along the Thames Embankment in central London to watch 12,000 fireworks streak across the sky.
The sold-out show was designed to send a message of "love and unity", as it highlighted the Lionesses' history-making Euro win at Wembley, marked 50 years of London's Pride with a message from Peter Tatchell from the Gay Liberation Front, and sent a message of support to Ukraine.
The display also paid tribute to the late Queen, featuring a voice recording from her as drones formed into a coin with her face.
