London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks will not be going ahead this year, as the city’s mayor said they ‘couldn’t afford’ to see the usual number of people congregating for the event.
On LBC this morning (September 18), Sadiq Khan confirmed that the spectacle, which usually has an attendance of tens of thousands, would be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“There will not be fireworks on New Year’s Eve this year like in previous years,” he told presenter James O’Brien.
“We can simply not afford to have the numbers of people who congregate on New Year’s Eve.”
More than 100,000 people from across the country gathered by the Thames last year to welcome the arrival of 2020, with more than 12,000 fireworks being set off.
Instead, this year’s event will see people being asked to stay at home, and celebrate the new year from the comfort of their sofas, according to Mr Khan.
He told LBC: “We’re not yet in a position to say what we’re working on [instead], but what we’re working on is to do something that people can enjoy in the comfort and safety of their own living rooms, on TV.
“As soon as we’ve managed to bottom that out I’ll let people across the country know about that.
“But we can’t lose that slot - New Year’s Eve is a really good opportunity for the rest of the world to see how good our city is.”
The number of coronavirus cases has hugely increased over the past week, with more than 3,300 new cases being reported yesterday.
It’s for this reason that the capital’s mayor is making sure that ‘nothing will be happening in town’, to avoid giving people a reason to gather.
Mr Khan added that London will still take advantage of the opportunity to showcase itself to the world, but in a way that was safe for everyone.
“Particularly during a recession, we need to continue investing in our city and getting people coming to London,” he said.
