Bonfire Night 2026 falls on Thursday 5 November. London’s two biggest firework displays are both on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November. Neither one happens on Bonfire Night.
Battersea Park and Alexandra Palace, the two largest organised displays in the city, have both moved to the weekend after. If you arrive in London on the fifth expecting the sky to be full, it will not be, and if you plan around the fifth you will miss both.
Here is what is actually happening, on which night, at what time, taken from the organisers themselves.
The two big ones, and the ninety minute trap
Battersea Park Fireworks
Run by Enable, a not for profit working in partnership with Wandsworth Council, and billed as London’s biggest and brightest display. Two nights, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November, ticketed, with live entertainment before and after the fireworks on both.
Read this next part carefully, because the two nights are not the same shape.
Saturday 7 November: the display is at approximately 8:30pm, with Rudimental’s DJ set starting the evening at 7:30pm, Fiesta Latina with the Latin band Conjunto Sabroso also before the display, and a Disco Ceilidh afterwards.
Sunday 8 November: the display is at approximately 7pm, a full ninety minutes earlier, with the Lords of Lightning show from Arcadia starting at 5:45pm, a Taylor Swift tribute called Fearlessly Taylor before the fireworks, and a Pop Anthems afterparty in the big top with DJ Josh Lovatt. The Sunday gates open at 4.30pm and close to new arrivals at 6.30pm, against 8pm on the Saturday.
So a Saturday arrival time on the Sunday night means you miss the fireworks completely. Same park, same weekend, same ticket page, ninety minutes apart. This is the single most useful thing on this page.
Getting there. The nearest Underground stations are Battersea Power Station on the Northern line and Victoria on the Victoria, Circle and District lines. Buses 19, 170, 319 and 345 run directly past the park. The organisers actively promote arriving by public transport, which on a night when tens of thousands of people leave a park at once is advice worth taking.
Battersea Park Fireworks
- Address
- Battersea Park, SW11
- Nearest
- Battersea Power Station or Victoria. Buses 19, 170, 319 and 345
- Hours
- Saturday 7 November 2026, display approximately 8.30pm. Sunday 8 November 2026, display approximately 7pm
- Booking
- Ticketed, with separate booking links for each night. No entry after 8pm on Saturday or 6.30pm on Sunday, and no readmission
- Price
- Adults 16 and over from £10.60 at super early bird to £18.10 at final release. 5 to 15 year olds £11.50. Under 5s free, but they still need a ticket
- Standing
- Billed as London’s biggest and brightest display, run by the charity Enable with Wandsworth Council
How to get in
The display time moves ninety minutes between the two nights, which is the thing to get right. Two practical notes from their own information page: the site is CARD ONLY, with no cash accepted at any bar, food outlet or merchandise stand, and the fireworks are designed by Titanium Pyrotechnics, who produced the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Eve displays in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Alexandra Palace Fireworks and Drone Festival
Also 7 and 8 November, and no longer just fireworks: Ally Pally now runs it as a Fireworks and Drone Festival, with a drone show alongside the display.
Tickets start from £11.50, and the two nights are different evenings: Saturday has a headline DJ and a German beer festival, while Sunday starts earlier and is built around families. The site is the draw as much as the show. Alexandra Palace sits on a hill in north London with one of the widest views of the city from anywhere in the north, so the display happens in front of a skyline rather than against a fence.
One warning about researching this one. Alexandra Palace still has an older Fireworks Festival page live on its own website advertising 1 and 2 November, and those are 2024 dates. The current listing on its What’s On calendar says 7 and 8 November 2026. If you land on the wrong page, and it is easy to, you will plan for the wrong weekend.
Alexandra Palace Fireworks and Drone Festival
- Address
- Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY
- Nearest
- Alexandra Palace or Wood Green
- Hours
- 7 and 8 November 2026, per its current What’s On listing
- Price
- From £11.50
- Standing
- Fireworks plus a drone show, on a hill with one of the widest views in north London
How to get in
No longer just fireworks: the drone show now runs alongside the display. Check the date on whichever page you land on, because an older listing advertising 1 and 2 November is still live on their own site and those are 2024 dates. The same site runs an ice rink through the winter, which is the cheapest proper ice in London.
Why nothing is on the fifth
It is not a coincidence and it is not London being difficult. Bonfire Night 2026 is a Thursday.
A ticketed display for tens of thousands of people needs a night when those people can stay out, get home late and not work the next morning. A Thursday delivers a fraction of a Saturday’s attendance for the same fireworks, the same road closures, the same stewarding and the same licence.
So when 5 November falls midweek, the large organised displays move to the following weekend almost without exception, and the fifth itself is left to back gardens, pubs and whatever the local park is doing. Expect the city to be louder on the Saturday than on the actual night.
What to do on Bonfire Night itself
If you are in London on Thursday 5 November specifically, the big displays are not the answer and you should plan a different evening rather than hunting for fireworks that are not there.
A pub with a fire is the honest answer, and it is what the city actually does on a cold Thursday in November. The oldest pubs in London are mostly small dark rooms built for exactly this weather.
Or go up somewhere. Clear November nights are among the best of the year for a view, and the air is sharper than in summer. The best views in London covers which are free, including Horizon 22 on Level 58, which costs nothing and has no time limit on your visit.
Or treat it as an ordinary good evening. London after dark covers what is still serving late on a weeknight, which is a shorter list than the city’s reputation suggests.
What a ticket costs
This page previously said that neither organiser published a price. Rechecked on 28 September 2026, both now do. Battersea’s list sits in its own frequently asked questions: an adult ticket, 16 and over, runs from £10.60 at super early bird to £18.10 at final release, with early bird, standard and late release tiers in between. A youth ticket for 5 to 15 year olds is £11.50, and under 5s go free but still need a ticket. Alexandra Palace lists its tickets from £11.50.
The tiers are the point. The same Battersea adult ticket costs £7.50 more at final release than at super early bird, so the day you buy on moves the price more than the night you choose.
And the two nights are sold separately, through different links, so check which night is in your basket as well as which tier.
Take a card and no cash. Their own information page states that every food outlet, every bar and all merchandising is card payment only, with no cash accepted. On a cold night in a park with tens of thousands of people, a cash-only assumption is an expensive mistake.
Practical notes for a display night
Buy in advance and check which night you bought. Battersea sells Saturday and Sunday separately through different links, the display times differ by ninety minutes between them, and there is no entry after 8pm on Saturday or 6.30pm on Sunday, and no readmission once you leave.
Arrive for the support, not the fireworks. At Battersea the entertainment starts at 7:30pm on Saturday and 5:45pm on Sunday, and both are included in the ticket. Turning up ten minutes before the display means queueing at a gate while a band plays inside.
Do not drive. Both venues sit inside residential areas with road closures on the night, and both actively push public transport. The buses past Battersea Park are the 19, 170, 319 and 345.
Dress for standing still in the cold. A firework display is ninety minutes to three hours outdoors in early November, most of it not moving. This is the single most common mistake and it is the one that ends the evening early.
Expect a slow exit. Tens of thousands of people leaving one park at once is the part nobody photographs. If you are with a group, agree where you will meet outside before you go in, because phone signal at the end of a display is unreliable.
What to know
Bonfire Night 2026 is Thursday 5 November, and the big displays are not on it. Battersea Park and Alexandra Palace are both on 7 and 8 November.
Battersea’s Saturday display is at about 8:30pm and its Sunday display is at about 7pm. Ninety minutes apart, same weekend.
Alexandra Palace is now a Fireworks and Drone Festival, and its own site still carries a stale 2024 page with the wrong dates.
Both organisers now publish their prices. Battersea runs from £10.60 to £18.10 for an adult depending on when you buy, and Alexandra Palace from £11.50.
Everything above was taken from the organisers’ own published pages and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Firework displays are licensed year by year and dates and times move, so confirm the night before you travel, and confirm which night you have bought.
Where to go next
Halloween in London is five days earlier and the trap is the opposite one: 31 October 2026 is a Saturday, so nothing moves and everything lands on the same night. It also means the Night Tube runs for Halloween and not for this.
London at Christmas picks up where this weekend leaves off, and the Christmas markets and the Winter Wonderland dates are the next thing to book once the fireworks are done.
The best parks in London covers Battersea and the rest of them on an ordinary day, and things to do at the weekend covers the rest of a November Saturday.
Everything sits inside our main London guide.
Questions we get asked
When is Bonfire Night in London in 2026?
Bonfire Night itself is Thursday 5 November 2026, but London’s two biggest organised displays are not on it. Battersea Park Fireworks and the Alexandra Palace Fireworks and Drone Festival both run on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November. When 5 November falls midweek the large ticketed displays almost always move to the following weekend, because a Thursday draws a fraction of a Saturday crowd for the same cost.
What time are the Battersea Park fireworks?
It depends which night, and the difference is large. On Saturday 7 November the display is at approximately 8:30pm, with entertainment from 7:30pm. On Sunday 8 November the display is at approximately 7pm, with entertainment from 5:45pm. That is a ninety minute gap between the two nights of the same event, so arriving at the Saturday time on the Sunday means missing the fireworks entirely.
Where can you watch fireworks in London?
The two biggest organised displays are Battersea Park, run by Enable in partnership with Wandsworth Council and billed as London’s biggest, and the Alexandra Palace Fireworks and Drone Festival in north London, which pairs a firework display with a drone show and sits on a hill with a wide view of the city. Both run on 7 and 8 November 2026 and both are ticketed.
How do you get to Battersea Park Fireworks?
By public transport, which the organisers actively encourage. The nearest Underground stations are Battersea Power Station on the Northern line and Victoria, which is on the Victoria, Circle and District lines. Buses 19, 170, 319 and 345 run directly past the park. Driving is a poor idea: the area is residential, there are road closures on the night, and tens of thousands of people leave at the same moment.
Is there anything free on Bonfire Night in London?
The large organised displays in London are ticketed: Battersea from £10.60 for an adult and £11.50 for 5 to 15 year olds, with under 5s free, and Alexandra Palace from £11.50. On the night of the fifth itself, with the big displays moved to the weekend, the free version of the evening is a pub with a fire or a high vantage point on a clear November night. Horizon 22 on Level 58 is free, has no time limit and is the highest free viewing platform in the City.
Why are London fireworks not on the 5th of November?
Because in 2026 the fifth is a Thursday. A ticketed display for tens of thousands of people carries the same cost in stewarding, licensing and road closures whichever night it runs, but a midweek night draws far fewer people, so organisers move to the nearest weekend. That is why both of London’s biggest displays are on 7 and 8 November and why the city is louder on the Saturday than on Bonfire Night itself.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 152 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
