London's main New Year's Eve fireworks are launched beside the River Thames.
The display is staged around central London, with launch points including the London Eye and nearby river barges. The Thames provides a broad open corridor for the pyrotechnics and a long series of viewing areas along both banks. The London Eye, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament commonly appear in broadcast images, but the river is the geographic setting that connects the show.
Modern London fireworks became a major annual televised event in the early twenty-first century. The city introduced an organized fireworks display for the 2000 New Year celebrations, and later shows developed into a large ticketed event. Midnight is marked by the clock at the Elizabeth Tower, popularly known as Big Ben, followed by fireworks and music.
A common confusion is naming Big Ben as the launch location. Big Ben is the nickname of the great bell inside the Elizabeth Tower, not the riverfront venue. The fireworks are coordinated across the central Thames area, while crowd-control zones and ticketing requirements can change from year to year.