London’s Lord Mayor’s Show Canceled for First Time Since 1852

(Bloomberg) --

The Lord Mayor’s Show, an annual event that traditionally features a three-mile-long procession through the streets of the City of London, is being canceled for the first time since 1852 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The cancellation comes amid an increase in virus cases in the capital, an impending winter surge, and an expected tightening of coronavirus restrictions. The event was due to take place on Nov. 14 as a televised spectacle with no public access, but the decision was taken to cancel the event on Monday, the statement from the City of London said.

According to historical records, the last cancellation of the Lord Mayor’s Show was to allow for a period of national mourning for the Duke of Wellington, the former British prime minister famed for ending the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

“It seems likely that, as we head towards winter, London and the U.K. will face increasingly challenging times so, with deep regret, the board of directors of the Lord Mayor’s Show Limited has taken this difficult decision,” the Tim Hailes, chairman of the show, said in the statement.

“Instead of relaxing the public health restrictions, they look set to be tightened, so it would have become untenable, if not impossible, to hold this popular event, even in its scaled-back format,” he said.

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