Lord Mayor’s Show fireworks display reprieved

The 1979 Lord Mayor Sir Peter Gadsden thought Lord Mayor's Day was an anticlimax once the Lord Mayor's Show had passed by and that year began the custom of an early-evening fireworks display.

With a few exceptions the display has been a fixture of the day's schedule ever since.

The fireworks are launched from a barge moored between Blackfriars Bridge and Waterloo Bridge, and the incoming Lord Mayor starts the display from the HQS Wellington.

Crowds line the two bridges, as well as the South Bank and the Victoria Embankment, to enjoy the spectacle.

Last month we reported that City of London Corporation officials were proposing to divert the £125,000 fireworks budget to a light show centred on the Bank junction in the Square Mile.

However, the proposal failed to win the backing of elected members at last week's Guildhall meeting.

"Members of the City of London Corporation's policy and resources committee did not approve the report, so the plans for the annual Lord Mayor's Show fireworks display continue," a spokesman for the Square Mile local authority told the SE1 website.

"Proposals are also underway to expand the Lord Mayor's Show, which is held on the second Saturday in November, to make it more relevant and accessible to a wider audience.

"Food stalls, themed exhibitions, and an 'Open House Weekend' type-event are among the examples already being planned.

"We can confirm that the flotilla has been cancelled. It was designed to run as a one-off in 2011, but it has continued into recent years."

This year's Lord Mayor's Show will take place on Saturday 10 November.