Alexandra Palace Fireworks Festival
Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY
2nd & 3rd NOVEMBER 2018 £11
Alexandra Palace fireworks has been running for over 150 years and is easily one of the biggest and most well-known displays around. This year had two dates to choose from, as well as a multitude of other activities, including: A Circus, Bonfire, German Bier Festival, Ice Skating, Fun Fair rides and Live Music.
Bonfire night falls on my best friends’ birthday, so it’s safe to say we’ve missed out on fireworks for the past few years due to other activities taking precedence. This year, however, she was feeling the firework shaped hole in her life and decided to fill it with the most recommended event of its kind to celebrate. By the time around 20 of us had made the slog from South to North, we had just missed the circus and so decided to head straight up to the top of the hill to secure a good spot for the fireworks display.
The grounds of Ally Pally are huge, a large bonfire welcomed you to event upon first entering, and there were plenty of food and drinks places around, as well as some posh portaloos which are always a nice surprise. Once you passed the funfair and family area, however, there was only one bar and a couple of places to grab food at the top. Neither the loo or bar queue took too long, although I did manage to spill a boiling hot cup of mulled wine all over myself due to the large number of people and the Londoner tendency to shove people (or sit on the floor in the most inconvenient of places).
I have no idea how many people were there, but in was in the 10,000’s, and at £11 a ticket the team here must have made a KILLING. Which is why I must admit I found the fireworks show slightly disappointing. The laser show to kick things off was horribly underwhelming and had nothing on Kew Garden’s Christmas show I saw last year. What followed was a 3D head of Guy Fawkes, dressed as a member of KISS, which admittedly was pretty cool. He managed to get the crowd psyched up for the show, and when it all kicked off and old Guy went up in flames, I really was expecting big things.
We got a good show, although it was surprisingly short, just shy of 20 minutes! You would have thought with all the resources, money and expectation surrounding the event they could have at least made it double that. I felt it had barely begun before it was over again, and I kicked myself for wasting precious moments taking photos rather than taking it in. After the show we were left a bit like ‘what to do next’, given that the event was advertised as a festival going on until 11pm, yet once the fireworks were over there was next to nothing to do: even the food vans ran out of grub, leaving you hungry after queuing for what felt like an age!
Overall, the hour’s trip it took us to get to Ally Pally, as well as the underwhelming show, crowded conditions and impossibility of being fed made the whole experience rather disappointing. This event has massive potential to be the best in the business, with stellar views of the capital (and all the other fireworks shows over London) from the top of the hill and a 150-year strong reputation. Hopefully they can get it right next year and give us the fireworks show we all deserve.
OVERALL RATING: ***
https://fireworks.london/
