Lord Mayor's Show

The Lord Mayor's Show features possibly the most dangerous and amazing of all the public fireworks shows in the capital: river barges are piled high with explosives and set adrift on the Thames with several fearless firework-ers on board. This annual event has been taking over the streets of London for nearly 800 years now with a parade which involves over 6,000 people, military marching bands, Chinese acrobats, a procession of decorated floats and a gilded State Coach that the Lord Mayor travels in. The procession starts at 11am with an RAF flypast and goes on until about 2.30pm, covering the whole area between Bank and Aldwych with the mayor departing from Mansion House for the Royal Courts of Justice where he takes an oath of allegiance to the Queen. Between the procession and the fireworks you can take part in a free guided walk which starts at 3pm departing from No 1 Poultry. It's a fun family day out but the grand finale is what really draws the crowds - the day finishes with one of London's most impressive fireworks displays at 5pm, set off from a barge moored in the Thames between Blackfriars and Waterloo Bridges. Anywhere along the river is a good place to watch the fireworks but the best vantage points tend to be around Embankment and Gabriel's Wharf.