Christmas lights in London come in all shapes and sizes, with the big and bright beams of Oxford Street, the OTT extravaganza of the Churchill Arms pub, and Regent Street is angelic. The highest? Well, that honour goes to the Shard of course, which wheels out a new set of colours every year to act as a beacon of festivity across the capital. In fact, the display at London’s tallest building is also Western Europe’s highest festive display of its kind!
For 2024, they’ve just revealed when they’ll be returning and what the daily beams will look like, with a November 14 return based on, with an ode to the nation’s love of Christmas carols. It takes the four most beloved carols by Brits (as found in a new study), and four 15-minute sequences based on each one will take place each hour. The nation’s favourite? Why, that’s We Wish You A Merry Christmasof course.
It’s probably going to be stuck in your head for a good chunk of the end of the year, and you’ll sit with fine company since it’s just been found to be the Britian’s favourite Christmas carol – with Bristol Unversity lecturer Arthur Warrell’s 1935 version still gripping the nation. The red and white lights on the decoration invoke the spirit of the carol, and the switch-on of the lights at the spire will even be welcomed alongside a Christmas-cracking performance of the song by an extra-special guest!
As with each year at the Shard, it’ll be the top 20 storeys of the building that take on a new life during the festive period and the Christmas carol sequence will shine four times every hour, with carols including We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Jingle Bells, The Twelve Days Of Christmas and Deck The Halls. The 575 LED lights using updated efficient lighting are being used to power the display, which promises to be another beauty this year!
Catch the Shard’s festive display every evening from November 14.
