The Lord Mayor’s Show dates back to the early 13th century, when King John rashly allowed the City of London to appoint its own Mayor. The King insisted that each newly-elected Mayor should come to Westminster and swear loyalty to the Crown, and the Mayor of London has been making that journey for over 800 years. Around him (and her) grew up the noisy, colourful, joyous procession that over the centuries became known as the Lord Mayor’s Show.
The 694th Lord Mayor of London will be Alderman Nicholas Lyons of the Tower Ward.
The 2022 Procession and running order are now available in outline; more information will be added as the Show approaches and on Show day you will find a live captioning service on this site. Stand by the route and the site will tell you about each passing float.
Details vary slightly from year to year but essentially the whole City area is closed for most of the day of the Show, admitting no traffic at all. Buses are diverted while the Show is on and parking spaces suspended from the Friday afternoon.
Sorry: cars and buses are no help on Show day. Tubes, boats and bicycles are much better, the new Elizabeth Line station at Farringdon is ideally placed and there are many nice ways to walk into the City when it is free of traffic.
Some suggestions for different ways to watch the Show depending on how much you like a crowd and what else you might like to do that day.
Please click through for advice, suggestions and access-pass forms that we hope will be helpful to disabled visitors to the Show.
