Fireworks, sparklers and smiles were on full display as millions of Brits prepared to see in 2026 in style.
Around 100,000 people will come together to attend London’s iconic fireworks across the River Thames. Tickets were sold out weeks ago but you will be able to catch them from elevated spots across the capital.
In 2024, more than 30,000 people gathered on Primrose Hill to welcome the New Year and watch the city’s fireworks.
This year, however, the park will be closed, with the Metropolitan Police warning the public not to attempt to enter.
In anticipation of the main event, fireworks have already lit up the sky in Central London, with people gathering at Parliament Hill viewpoint to ring in the New Year.
While in Edinburgh, tens of thousands are preparing for their iconic Hogmanay street party despite temperatures plunging thanks to Arctic air and strong northerly winds.
Lengthy queues have formed in the Scottish capital, as dozens of people pass through security checks for the highly anticipated fireworks display.
Organisers said more than 40,000 tickets have been sold for the event, which is seeing a return following last year’s cancellation due to poor weather.
One attendee for tonight’s Hogmanay festival is a primary school teacher from New Zealand.
Ann Bracefield, 55, said: ‘I have a teacher friend who tried to get in last year from New Zealand and he missed it because it was cancelled.
‘So, it was like, ‘right, I’m going to try’. So, to Scott from Bangkok, I actually made it.’
She expects it to get really busy, but is looking forward to the ‘fireworks and the entertainments’ and the ‘whole atmosphere.’
In nearly every major city from Belfast to Cardiff, Manchester and Newcastle have major events planned to ring in the New Year.
But there will be no celebrations in snowy Kyiv and Moscow, where both Ukrainians and Russians are prepared to see in the new year, expressing hopes of peace after nearly four years of conflict.
‘I wish for the war to end, I think that this is the main and most important topic for our country’said a woman in central Moscow who gave her name only as Larisa and said she had travelled from distant Altai Krai to see the Russian capital in the winter holidays with her family.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year’s address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine who are advancing slowly but steadily. He spoke about Russia’s destiny and the unity of its people, which he said guaranteed the sovereignty and security of the ‘Fatherland’.
‘Millions of people across Russia — I assure you — are with you on this New Year’s Eve,’ said Putin
Due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, a curfew begins in Lviv at midnight, so there will be no New Year’s celebrations in the city.
Many Ukrainians lamented that peace still seemed a distant prospect.
But wrapped up warm and visiting a Christmas tree set up in front of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, 9-year-old Olesia was more optimistic.
‘I think there will be peace in the new year,’ she said.
Most people spend time on the streets in the evening, listening to performances by street musicians.
In Australia, Sydney began 2026 with a spectacular fireworks display, as per tradition. Some 40,000 pyrotechnic effects stretched 7 km (over 4 miles) across buildings and barges along its harbour and featured a waterfall effect from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
This year, it was held under an enhanced police presence, weeks after gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish event in the city.
Organisers held a minute’s silence for the victims of the attack at 11 p.m. local time, with the Harbour Bridge lit up in white and a menorah – a symbol of Judaism – projected onto its pylons.
‘After a tragic end to the year for our city, we hope that New Year’s Eve will provide an opportunity to come together and look with hope for a peaceful and happy 2026,’ Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
Elsewhere, preparations got underway for the more traditional midnight toast.
In subzero temperatures in New York, organisers began putting up security barriers and stages ahead of the crowds that will flock to Times Square for the annual ball drop.
This year sees the largest ever ball take centre stage in the New Year celebrations at Times Square.
The one-minute-long descent down the flagpole has iconically marked the celebrations for more than 100 years, with nine different balls making the drop over the years.
This year’s ball, named the Constellation Ball, features 5,280 Waterford crystals and LED lights, with a diameter of 12.5ft.
Similarly, on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro – albeit with warmer weather – staging was being set up for a massive music and fireworks party known as ‘Reveillon.’
Organisers were hoping to beat their 2024 Guinness World Record for the biggest New Year’s Eve celebration.
In Seoul, thousands gathered at the Bosingak bell pavilion, where a bronze bell was struck 33 times at midnight – a tradition rooted in Buddhist cosmology, symbolising the 33 heavens.
The chimes are believed to dispel misfortune and welcome peace and prosperity for the year ahead.
Also in South Korea, drones lit up the sky to create an image of a red horse, which is the 2026 animal symbol in the Chinese zodiac, over a beach in Busan.
In Chinese tradition, the red horse is a symbol of strength, swiftness, boundless freedom and unyielding perseverance.
(Picture: Cheng-Chia Huang/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
