Lord Mayor's Show 2026

The organisers describe their own event as the oldest, longest, best loved and least-rehearsed civic procession in the world, and every part of that is defensible — the last part especially.

The 2026 Show sets off from Mansion House at 11am on Saturday 14 November and fills most of the City of London. It is free and there is no ticket.

Eight hundred years of it

The Show dates to the early 13th century, when King John granted that the City of London could appoint its own mayor — on condition that the new mayor travel to Westminster each year to swear loyalty to the crown. The procession is that journey, still being made. It began as a mediaeval power play and it has never stopped being one.

In two hundred years it has been cancelled twice. It ran through the wars.

What actually comes past

The 2025 Show had over 7,000 participants from all over the world, in a procession more than three miles long when lined up. It is not a parade of floats: it is military bands, livery companies, charities, ceremonial carriages, school groups and a good deal that defies category, moving at walking pace for well over an hour.

Details of the 2026 Show — the processional order, the participants, the new Lord Mayor — are published around the beginning of October, once the next Lord Mayor is elected. They are not announced yet, so they do not appear here.

The City stops

Almost the whole of the City is closed on Show day, with no traffic in or out. Every bus route that would normally run through the City either turns back or goes around, and TfL publishes the detail in the week beforehand. Parking bays across the area are suspended from the Friday afternoon — partly to make space, partly so nobody gets shut in for the day. Residents’ parking at the Barbican is unaffected.

Cars and buses cannot get in, but tube, train and river bus all can, and the organisers point people at all three.

Watching it well

The procession is naturally accessible and free to all, and the organisers publish specific suggestions for wheelchair users and for anyone worried about crowds — which is a more useful page than most events of this size manage.

The practical note for everyone else: three miles of procession takes a long time to pass one spot, so the choice is not where the best view is but how much of the route you want to be near when it starts.