NYE but daytime London

[Huckleberries]

Advice, please about London during the day on the 31st of December

Have a relative who thinks it would be a great idea to go and have lunch. And see a matinee show.

Is this a terrible idea? I was thinking that with the closures for the evening, there's bound to be a knock on effect during the day.

Or is it just normal London during the day?

Of all the days we could go, I think that's mad. We are not going out in the evening so it doesn't matter, we can get home reasonably easily if we leave at six I think.

I have seen some other threads about Christmas lights and it sounds like it's horrendously busy but does that calm down after actual Christmas Day?

Thanks for any input we would be around the West End. She hasn't even decided what she wants to see! But she doesn't have a great Christmas planned, she will be on her own, (not that she doesn't have an invite to ours but - family issues so she doesn't want to come and also she doesn't want to stay the night - so I think she really wants to do this to cheer herself up and be with some family members for another important day)

I don't understand it, but I would love to hear opinions, especially if anyone has been in London on New Year's Eve, during the day , in recent years

she thinks it's probably normal until all the evening drunks descend, but she doesn't know either, she's just speculating

There is the London NYD parade, some parts of that route will be very busy during the parade rime - 12-2.30 ish in west end (Piccadilly / Trafalger Square)

edited to say ignore me - you said NYE

Google London New Year’s Eve and on the London.gov page you can see the street closures from 2pm onwards. I guess you are using the tube, it will be very busy.

Thanks
Relative is not at all worried about the street closures
To be fair, all the West End theatres are still accessible

I just think it's going to be a pain logistically and very crowded and if anything goes wrong there there's no buses to get to the stations either

The busyness of it doesn't put her off at all

She needs to get home from a train station that is within the zone, but she's got some other options, I guess

I just think it's totally mad, but to be honest, I don't know how to put her off. People do obviously go to shows on that day it will be running normally I suppose

Now what can we think of to talk her out of it! She's not bothered about crowded streets or crowded trains. I think she finds it quite exciting.

I think it would be ok. They need to keep tubes and trains running to get people into the area for the evening. I have been I. Town on NYE and never had a problem.

It's fine during the day, I usually take the dcs out on public transport and it just seems normal, maybe a little quieter as a lot of people are away or off work. We've never been to the areas that are affected by the parade closures though, but I would think that getting to theatres would be fine.

It is likely to be busy, but if she doesn’t mind busyness I can’t see it would be a problem. I know a few people who are going to shows in the afternoon, plus people going out later might come in earlier for dinner etc

Right thanks

good to hear actual experiences