The London Eye hosted the first major New Year’s Eve fireworks display at midnight in 2000.
The London Eye was opened to the public in 2000 as part of millennium celebrations beside the River Thames. Its large illuminated wheel became the centerpiece of London’s midnight fireworks, with pyrotechnics launched from and around the attraction.
The display helped establish a recurring public tradition that later became one of the United Kingdom’s most watched New Year events. The wheel’s height makes it a prominent viewing and launch structure, while the Thames provides a broad open setting for barges and reflections.
Big Ben is closely associated with the British midnight countdown because its clock tower’s bells mark the hour, but it is not the landmark identified with the first 2000 fireworks display. The Elizabeth Tower was called the Clock Tower until 2012, another detail sometimes confused with the London Eye’s history.