Chinese New Year in London

Published 20 September 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

London's Lunar New Year celebration is free, it runs across Trafalgar Square, Chinatown and Leicester Square over a weekend in late January or February, and the streets are full by mid-morning. The parade starts at 10:00 and the main stage programme runs from midday to 6pm.

The event is organised by the Greater London Authority together with the London Chinatown Chinese Association, the body that represents Chinatown's businesses and community organisations. That partnership matters: the ceremonial parts of the day are run by the community itself, not staged for tourists, and they follow a fixed order that is worth understanding before you go.

Our guide to Chinatown covers the area all year round, and London in February places the celebration among the month's other events. This page is about the day: what happens when, what the ceremonies mean, and how to get anywhere once a hundred thousand people are in the same four streets.

Two names for the same festival

You will see the day called both Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year, and City Hall now uses the second. The reason is straightforward: the same lunar calendar date is the most important festival of the year for Vietnamese, Korean, Malaysian Chinese, Singaporean and other communities, many of whom live in London and take part in the celebration.

In Chinatown itself, and in most London Chinese businesses, you will still hear Chinese New Year. Neither term is wrong and nobody will correct you.

The date changes every year because it follows a lunar calendar, falling between late January and late February. Each year is associated with one of twelve zodiac animals, and the cycle repeats. 2027 is the Year of the Goat.

What happens, and where

The pattern has been stable for years, and 2026 is a fair guide to what a future year will look like.

Everything is free and nothing needs booking. The spread across four locations is deliberate, and it is your main tool for avoiding the crush: Leicester Square and Dean Street are always less packed than Trafalgar Square.

The eye-dotting ceremony, and what the dances mean

The ceremony that opens the main stage is the part most visitors watch without knowing what they are seeing.

A lion in Chinese tradition is a two-person costume, one at the head and one at the tail, and the lion is considered inanimate until its eyes are dotted with ink or red paint by a person of standing. That act, the eyes-dotting, wakes the lion. Until it happens, the lions on stage stay still. It is why the ceremony comes first and why the crowd falls quiet for it.

A lion and a dragon are different things. The lion has two performers and moves like an animal, crouching and leaping. The dragon is a long body carried on poles by ten or more people and moves like a wave, chasing a pearl held on a pole in front of it. Both appear in London's celebration and they are not interchangeable.

During the weekend you will see lions visiting individual restaurants and shops in Chinatown, where they are fed a red envelope of money at the door. This is not a performance for the crowd; it is a blessing for the business, and it is the oldest part of the day.

Red envelopes, known as lai see in Cantonese and hongbao in Mandarin, are given by older relatives to younger ones and contain money. If someone offers you one, accept it with both hands.

The 2027 date

The lunar new year itself falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. London's celebration is not always on that date: in 2026 the new year was in mid-February and the main event was held on Sunday 22 February, more than a week later.

The London date for 2027 had not been published when we checked in September 2026. It is announced on the Mayor of London's events pages and on the London Chinatown Chinese Association's own site, usually a few weeks into the new year. We will not guess it.

The practical consequence is that if you are booking a February trip around the celebration, book flexible accommodation, or check in early January when the announcement is close.

How early the streets fill

City Hall's own advice is that the area around Chinatown and Trafalgar Square gets very busy, and this is an understatement by mid-afternoon.

The parade at 10:00 is the easiest thing to see, because the crowd has not fully arrived. By 12:00, when the main stage begins, Trafalgar Square is dense and entry is managed. By 14:00, Gerrard Street moves at a shuffle and the side streets off Shaftesbury Avenue are the only way through.

If you want photographs of Chinatown under its lanterns without a wall of people, go on one of the weekdays before the celebration. The decorations go up well in advance and stay up for weeks.

Eating in Chinatown on the day

Every restaurant in Chinatown is full on celebration Sunday from about 12:00 until late evening, and most do not take bookings for that day at all. Queues of an hour outside the busier places are normal.

Three things work. Eat early, before 11:30, when the kitchens are open and the crowds have not arrived. Eat late, after the main stage closes at 18:00 and the day-trippers have started for home. Or eat somewhere that is not Chinatown: our guide to Chinese food beyond Chinatown covers the restaurants in Bayswater, Colindale and elsewhere that are serving the same cuisine without the queue.

Street food stalls appear around the squares on the day, selling dumplings, bubble tea and snacks, and they have their own long queues but they move.

Note that many Chinese restaurants close for a day or two around the new year itself so that staff can celebrate with their families, which can catch people out in the week before the public event.

What to expect from the crowd

This is a family celebration rather than a drinking event, and it feels different from most large London gatherings because of it. Grandparents, small children and whole extended families make up much of the crowd, and the mood in Chinatown is closer to a village festival than a street party.

Firecrackers and confetti cannons are used at points during the day, and they are loud. If anyone in your group is sensitive to sudden noise, stay out of Gerrard Street while the lion dances are working their way along it.

Photography is normal and nobody will object to you photographing the dances or the decorations, but the lions visiting individual restaurants are performing a blessing for that business, not for an audience, so do not block the doorway to get the shot.

Accessibility and children

The Trafalgar Square site is level and step-free, with a hearing loop on the north terrace and accessible viewing arrangements that City Hall publishes with each year's listing. Westminster and Charing Cross stations are both step-free, and our guide to step-free transport explains how to plan a route that avoids stairs.

Chinatown itself is harder. The streets are narrow, the pavements are crowded, and a wheelchair or a pushchair in Gerrard Street after midday is difficult. The pushchair guidance that applies to any crowded London event applies here with force: go in the morning or not at all.

For children, the Leicester Square family activities are the best part of the day. They run from midday to 17:00, they are free, and there is more room than anywhere else in the celebration.

The fifteen days, and the Lantern Festival

The new year is not one day. Traditionally the festival lasts fifteen days, ending with the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth night, when the first full moon of the year rises.

London's public celebration compresses this into a single weekend, but Chinatown's decorations, special menus and smaller events continue through the period. Walking through Soho and Chinatown on an ordinary Tuesday evening in that fortnight is a much calmer way to see the lanterns.

If the weather is against you, the British Museum has substantial Chinese collections and is a short walk away; our guide to a rainy day in London has other options in the same part of town.

For staying nearby, our page on staying in Soho and Covent Garden covers the area, though be warned that a room overlooking Gerrard Street is not a quiet room on celebration weekend. London's other big free street celebrations, including St Patrick's Day in March and the New Year's Eve fireworks, follow a similar pattern of early arrival and late departure, and our list of free things to do in London has the rest.

Frequently asked questions

When is Chinese New Year in London in 2027?

The lunar new year falls on Saturday 6 February 2027, the Year of the Goat. London's public celebration is often held on a Sunday a week or more after the lunar date, and the 2027 date had not been announced as of September 2026. Check the Mayor of London's events pages and the London Chinatown Chinese Association site in January.

Is the celebration free?

Yes. The parade, the Trafalgar Square main stage, the Leicester Square family activities and the Chinatown lion dances are all free and none requires a ticket. Food, drink and anything bought from stalls is not.

What time should I arrive?

Before 11:00 if you want to see the parade and move around comfortably. The parade starts at 10:00 and takes about two hours. By midday Trafalgar Square is full and entry is controlled; by mid-afternoon Chinatown is very slow going.

What is the eye-dotting ceremony?

A lion costume is considered inanimate until its eyes are dotted with ink or paint at the start of the celebration. The ceremony, performed by invited guests on the main stage, brings the lions to life and formally opens the day. It happens at midday, before the dances begin.

Can I get a table in Chinatown on the day?

Only with difficulty. Most restaurants do not take bookings for celebration Sunday and queues of an hour are normal from midday to the evening. Eat before 11:30 or after 18:00, or go to one of London's Chinese restaurants outside Chinatown.

Sources

• Greater London Authority - Lunar New Year, the Festival of Spring 2026 (checked September 2026)
• Greater London Authority - Lunar New Year event listing (checked September 2026)
• Chinatown London - Chinese New Year (checked September 2026)
• Hong Kong Observatory - Gregorian-Lunar calendar conversion table 2027 (checked September 2026)
• Transport for London - Journey Planner (checked September 2026)