Birmingham New Year’s Eve Fireworks 2025: Is There a Public Display This Year?

If you’ve just Googled “Birmingham New Year’s Eve fireworks 2025” or “Is there a public display in Birmingham this year?” – welcome, grab a brew, and let’s clear this up properly.

As of early December 2025, there is no officially confirmed, council-run public New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Birmingham city centre or Centenary Square to welcome in 2026. Centenary Square hasn’t hosted an official NYE fireworks show since 2016, and nothing suggests that’s suddenly changed this year.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t any fireworks in or around Birmingham – but it does mean you should be very wary of any random blog claiming that Birmingham's New Year Fireworks are happening.

Let’s talk about why.

What Happened Last Year in Birmingham?

New Year’s Eve 2024 into 2025 is going down in history as The Great Birmingham Non-Fireworks Display.

Here’s the gist...

In the run-up to NYE, a load of blogs and listicles started claiming there’d be a massive “Birmingham New Year Fireworks 2025 – Centenary Square spectacular”.

Many of them were generic “Best UK New Year’s Eve fireworks” round-ups, almost certainly written with the help of AI and not checked against anything vaguely official.

Those claims were then boosted on social media, including posts pointing people specifically to Centenary Square for a midnight display.

The problem?

Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Police had already said – very clearly – that there was no planned fireworks event in Centenary Square and urged people not to travel into the city expecting one.

Naturally, everyone listened, stayed home, and read a book.

Only joking.

Despite the warnings, thousands of people still turned up to Centenary Square on New Year’s Eve, from about 10:30pm onwards, wrapped up, phones ready, kids in tow… and absolutely nothing happened when the clock hit midnight. No official display. No council show. Just a lot of confused faces, some booing, and the odd rogue firework launched by spectators.

It could easily have turned nasty – packed crowd, no event, and a few frustrated folk deciding to start their own “display” in the middle of it all. That, right there, is why this question matters.

Why Are So Many Sites Still Saying “Birmingham New Year Fireworks – Confirmed”?

If you search for “Birmingham New Year Fireworks 2025 Centenary Square” today, you’ll still find:

• Blog posts confidently stating that Birmingham will celebrate the arrival of 2026 with dazzling fireworks over Centenary Square, often in suspiciously generic, cut-and-paste language.

• Round-up articles listing Centenary Square alongside the big, genuinely confirmed displays like London’s Thames show and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

• Event guides that quietly add a little line like “Centenary Square fireworks yet to be confirmed” while the rest of the page merrily assumes it’s all going ahead. 

Two big problems with a lot of these pieces:

1. No link to any official Birmingham City Council announcement.
   For a major, free, city-centre event, you’d expect the council, Visit Birmingham, West Midlands Police and local media to be shouting about it from the digital rooftops. They’re not.

2. The wording looks very similar to last year’s hoax content.
   Same timings, same “8pm–12:30am” window, same promises of food vendors and music, same cheery lines about “one of the most spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks displays in the UK.” It’s all very déjà vu if you were paying attention in 2024.

Are some of these articles malicious? Probably not. Most likely they’re:

• Written by people miles away from Birmingham

• Using AI or old info

• Copying each other

• More interested in clicks and affiliate links than whether you end up stranded in the drizzle at midnight

Either way, they’re not the people who decide whether fireworks go up over Centenary Square. The council and the police are – and last time this exact rumour went around, both explicitly said “no event”.

So… Is Birmingham Having a Public NYE Fireworks Display in 2025?

As of early December 2025 Birmingham City Council has not announced a free, council-run public fireworks display in Centenary Square or the city centre for New Year’s Eve.

Could Birmingham suddenly announce something at the last minute? In theory, yes. In practice, large council events don’t get organised on a whim – they’re expensive, involve serious safety planning, and tend to be publicised well in advance.

So if you’re thinking of travelling into Birmingham purely for a big, free, council-run midnight firework display, the sensible thing to do this year is to stay home or travel to a different city which does have a confirmed NYE display.

How to Tell If a Public Fireworks Display Is Actually Real

A few quick checks to save you from another Centenary Square situation:

1. Look for an official organiser.
   For city-centre events that usually means the local council, a major venue, or an event producer you can actually look up.

2. Check council and police channels.
   If it’s big enough to draw thousands of people, it’s big enough to appear on the council’s website and in their social feeds – and the police will usually mention road closures, safety advice, and so on.

3. Be suspicious of vague wording.
   Phrases like “Birmingham will ring in the new year with fireworks over Centenary Square” with no dates, times, or links are a huge red flag.

4. Compare multiple sources – not just multiple blogs.
   Three blogs copying the same wrong information does not magically make it true.

5. Remember last year.
   Thousands of people wasted their New Year’s Eve (and travel costs) on a non-existent show in Birmingham because they trusted glossy listicles and viral posts over the council literally saying “there isn’t a planned event this year.”

Learn from their misery. You deserve better.

Where Can You See Proper New Year’s Eve Fireworks?

If you’re set on watching a big, public display, you’ve got two main options:

1. Head to a Confirmed Display

Some cities and towns treat New Year’s Eve fireworks like a national sport, with proper ticketing, road closures and all the trimmings. For a full breakdown of the best options, we’ve already done the legwork for you:

• “Best UK New Year’s Eve Firework Spots Outside the Big Cities” – perfect if you fancy harbour views, coastal countdowns or somewhere scenic that isn’t jam-packed.

• “Best UK Cities to Spend New Year’s Eve 2026” – your guide to the big hitters: London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and more.

Between those two guides, you can pick a spot that suits your appetite for crowds, travel and late-night kebabs.

2. Skip the Crowds and Put On Your Own Show

Option two is increasingly popular: stay local, stay warm, and create a display at home.

Yes, we’re biased. We’re Epic Fireworks. But thousands of customers choose this route every year because:

• No ticket queues

• No last-minute cancellations

• No standing in the rain waiting for a show that might not exist

• Your own loos, your own playlist, your own dress code (slippers welcome)

And unlike generic supermarket multipacks, a properly planned home display with fireworks from a dedicated firework retailer can actually look and feel like a mini professional show – our fireworks are up to 5 times more powerful than what the supermarkets have to offer.

Why Buy Your New Year’s Eve Fireworks from Epic Fireworks?

Right, quick bit of trumpet blowing (firework themed, naturally).We are:

• The UK’s biggest online fireworks supplier, with a showroom based in South Yorkshire

• Home to the country’s largest range of consumer fireworks, including 1.3G barrages, rockets, fountains, mines and more

• Running Britain’s biggest fireworks showroom, with 300+ products and a 30-tonne storage licence to keep up with demand

• Known for unbeatable pricing – “half price or less” is pretty much our whole personality at this point and you get free, nationwide delivery on orders over £295 (some very remote areas excluded).

We don’t just dabble in fireworks seasonally. This is what we do. Day in, day out, for nearly four decades.

Ready-Made, Professionally Tailored NYE Display Kits

If you like fireworks but the idea of planning a whole show makes your brain fold in on itself, we’ve got you covered.

Our ready-made New Year’s Eve display packs (like customer favourites A New Dawn, Bells of Big Ben, Year End Party and more) are:

• Professionally curated – planned from opener to finale

• Supplied with a firing order – so you know what to light and when

• Designed for different budgets and spaces – from compact garden displays to full-throttle street shows.

You basically get to pick your pack, follow the plan, and take all the credit while people clap and assume you’re secretly a pyrotechnician genius.

Planning a DIY New Year’s Eve Display

If you’re swapping a mythical Centenary Square show for a real one at home, a few basics:

Know the Legal Cut-Off

In England, you can normally only set off fireworks until 11pm – but New Year’s Eve is one of the official exceptions. For NYE you can legally use fireworks up until 1am on New Year’s Day.

So a midnight countdown followed by a decent 10–15 minute show is absolutely fine, as long as you’re being sensible.

Choose the Right Space

Make sure you’ve got enough clearance from houses, trees and overhead cables. Always follow the distance instructions on each firework – especially for larger barrages and rockets. If your garden’s on the snug side, stick to products specifically labelled as suitable for smaller spaces – we’ve got loads.

Follow the Firework Code (Yes, It’s Boring. Yes, It Matters.)

• Read the instructions in daylight (ideally before you open the Prosecco).

• Use a stable, flat surface and secure cakes/barrages properly.

• Keep a bucket of water, sand or a hosepipe ready.

• Never go back to a misfire. Leave it alone, then soak it.

• Keep spectators – and yourself – at the recommended distance.

We’ve got full guides on our site if you need a quick refresher before the big night.

TL;DR – Birmingham NYE Fireworks

If you just scrolled all the way down (fair), here’s the summary:

• There is no officially confirmed, council-run public New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Birmingham city centre or Centenary Square for 2025 at the time of writing.

• Last year, thousands of people were duped into turning up for a non-existent Centenary Square display thanks to unverified blogs and social posts – despite the council and police explicitly warning there was no event.

• This year, similar unverified listicles are already claiming “Birmingham New Year Fireworks 2025/26” are happening, but they do not link to any official announcement and should be treated with extreme caution.

• If there’s no clear confirmation from Birmingham City Council / West Midlands Police, assume there’s no big, free, city-centre display – and plan accordingly.

Instead of risking another damp squib in Centenary Square, you can:

• Head to a confirmed display elsewhere in the UK (see our guides to the best cities and smaller spots), or

• Create your own New Year’s Eve fireworks show at home with Epic Fireworks – the UK’s biggest online fireworks supplier, with the country’s largest range, unbeatable prices, and ready-made NYE display kits that make you look like a pro. 

Either way, don’t let dodgy, poorly researched blogs and articles decide how you spend the last minutes of 2025.

If you want a New Year’s Eve display you can actually rely on?

Light it yourself. We’ll supply the bang.