City Rooms

Chinese New Year is tomorrow, and the festivities have already begun! We’re welcoming in the ‘Year of the Rat’ at this huge celebration all across London. Join the largest celebrations of Chinese New Year outside of Asia, with an almost overwhelming amount of colour, traditional dancing lions, live music, and a ton of dragons too. The start of Chinese New Year is Saturday the 25th but the main London events will be happening on Sunday the 26th. So you still have time to plan out your day! Every year hundreds of thousands of people head down to the West End to enjoy the parade, music, acrobatics, and activities. Chinatown and Trafalgar Square will have a lot going on too! There’s also a lot of traditional chinese food obviously! Make sure to wish each other "Xin Nian Kuai Le" (Happy New Year in Mandarin) or  "San Nin Faai Lok" (in Cantonese) aswell! Starting with the incredible Chinese New Year Parade, which starts as soon as 10am hits. Starting at Charing Cross...

With the first month of 2019 over, we can jump into February with Chinese New year, a wonderful celebration with a colourful parade, street food stalls, fun activities, and a line-up of special performances in Trafalgar Square. This year, Chinese New Year falls on 5 February, with the main Chinese New Year London festivities happening on the 10th February. So we still have a week before the celebrations truly start. As a brief explanation, The Chinese zodiac moves in a 12-year cycle and each year has a corresponding animal. This year it’s the Year of the Pig, which means people born in 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995 and 2007 are all ‘pigs.’ For example, this year is the ‘Earth Pig,’ meaning those born in this year will be good at socializing and maintaining relationships. So now you know what we’re celebrating this year around, let’s talk about the festivities. All the fun in Trafalgar Square often starts with a beautiful thanksgiving ceremony with screen shows, firecrackers, speeches and...

So we’re already a couple of weeks into 2019, and we’re dealing with snow, Brexit, and all the other issues that come with being a Londoner. There is still a lot of high hopes for 2019, lots of new opportunities off the back of a fresh start. With so many events this year, lots of festivals, art exhibitions, and a lot of culture to take in aswell there’s no way you can’t let the fun distract for at least a few hours from the rest of the mess happening right now. We will be posting new blogs weekly about lots of events, tip, and tricks of London and more, but for now let’s talk about some of the biggest events this year so you have a few things to look forward to! Starting off with Chinese New Year Celebrations. In 2019, Chinese New Year will fall on the 5th of February and celebrates the Year of the Pig. With the majority of the festivities placed in Trafalgar Square and Chinatown on the 10th of February! You can watch the colourful Chinese New Year parade pass through the street...