Fancy an evening in Horseguards Parade watching a military precision drill, with cannons, and finished off with fireworks?

The Household Division Beating Retreat are annual military concerts that are performed on Horse Guards Parade, each year on the week preceding the Trooping The Colour ceremony. In a way, it is sort of the same thing, lots of soldiers, horses and marching, but instead of the King, you get fireworks.

Military Beating Retreat concerts have a long tradition dating back to the 1690s. Originally the beating of the drum was used to order troops to break off fighting and withdraw to the safety of camp as darkness fell, later it signalled the closing of the camp gates at the end of the day and called troops back to base for the night. Today a Beating Retreat is an evening military concert with a marching display and usually marks the lowering of the Regimental flag at sunset.

This year the event will take place on Tues 4th, Wed 5th and Thur 6th July 2023 at 7:30pm each evening. Tickets range from £20 to £45 and can be booked here.

Proceeds from the shows go towards the welfare of the soldiers.