{"id":346954,"date":"2026-01-01T20:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/346954\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T20:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:36:09","slug":"birmingham-revellers-turn-out-for-non-existent-fireworks-for-second-new-year-in-a-row-birmingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/346954\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham revellers turn out for non-existent fireworks \u2013 for second new year in a row | Birmingham"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new year got off to an anticlimactic start for hundreds of people in Birmingham<\/a> who were tricked into attending a non-existent New Year\u2019s Eve fireworks display. Again.<\/p>\n

Crowds of revellers gathered in the city\u2019s Centenary Square, hoping to catch a glimpse of a pyrotechnics display to welcome in 2026.<\/p>\n

They were left disappointed, however, after they discovered no display would be taking place and that they had fallen victim to false news spread online.<\/p>\n

A similar incident happened last year<\/a>, when thousands of people gathered in the city centre after claims online promised a spectacular display with food vendors and performances.<\/p>\n

One online advertisement this year claimed there would be a dazzling fireworks show where attenders could \u201cexpect a lively atmosphere featuring music alongside the brilliant show as the city welcomes the new year\u201d.<\/p>\n

West Midlands police had said on Tuesday that there were \u201cno official firework displays or city-organised events happening in Birmingham city centre on New Year\u2019s Eve\u201d and blamed the spread of rumours online every year about \u201cbig celebrations in the city\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, these false claims often lead to confusion and disappointment,\u201d the force said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Despite the warnings, footage shared on social media showed a large group of people gathered in front of the ferris wheel at Centenary Square, a focal point in the city, on Wednesday evening. The video\u2019s caption read: \u201cWhen you queue for fireworks and the sky stays silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not just people in Birmingham who have fallen victim to such hoaxes. Tourists were dismayed last month when they visited Buckingham Palace<\/a> after an AI-generated image had circulated on social media showing a picturesque scene of a Christmas market. Visitors arrived to find it was fake.<\/p>\n

West Midlands police said misinformation incidents such as the one on New Year\u2019s Eve could create \u201creal safety issues in the city\u201d, and that when \u201clarge crowds gather for an event that doesn\u2019t exist, it puts pressure on public transport, emergency services, and can lead to congestion in the city centre\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Year’s Eve: from Sydney to London, how the world ushered in 2026 \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Elsewhere across the UK, millions of people gathered at events and parties to welcome in 2026. London staged its biggest pyrotechnic display to date, with about 12,000 fireworks set off in front of a crowd of 100,000 people watching on the banks of the Thames.<\/p>\n

In Scotland, tens of thousands of revellers attending the Hogmanay street party enjoyed a display that lit up Edinburgh Castle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new year got off to an anticlimactic start for hundreds of people in Birmingham who were tricked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-346954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}