Newbury Fireworks: Lions Sat 7 Nov £14, Thatcham Fri 6th

Bonfire night 2026 falls on a Thursday, 5 November, and neither of the district’s two displays is on it. The Lions Club display at Newbury Racecourse is Saturday 7 November, gates 5pm, display around 7.30pm. Thatcham’s low-noise display at Kennet School is Friday 6 November, gates 6pm, display 7.30pm.

Updated 3 October: the Lions have now published 2026 tickets. Adults £14.98, children (5 to 16) £7.49, family £31.80, display around 7.30pm, free parking. Thatcham tickets are on sale at flash-sale prices (adult £9) until Saturday 10 October.

Updated 12 October: the Lions’ own site now confirms 2026 in-person outlets (Tesco Pinchington Lane and Northbrook Street, Newbury Building Society branches, and their Newbury Market stall in October) at £14 adult, £7 child, £30 family, under 5s free. Thatcham’s flash sale has ended: adult £10, child £5, family £20, and the music theme is superhero movies. The Michaelmas Fair at Northcroft also has a free firework display on Friday 16 October.

Visit Newbury, which is Newbury BID, now carries the Lions’ own 2026 announcement, under the organiser name Newbury Lions, as Newbury Lions Club Charity Spectacular Fireworks: Saturday 7 November at Newbury Racecourse, RG14 7NZ, listed from 5pm to 9pm, “returns for its 53rd year”. Its booking link goes to See Tickets. Read on 3 October 2026.

That makes this the town’s main organised display. Newbury Racecourse’s own what’s on calendar does not carry the fireworks, because the Lions hire the site rather than the racecourse promoting it. Its November fixtures are the BetVictor Jumps Season Opener on Thursday 5 November, Coral Long Distance Hurdle Day on Friday 27 November and Coral Gold Cup Day on Saturday 28 November. None of those is the fireworks night.

Newbury Lions: tickets, times and the evening

The 2026 announcement gives the shape of the night: “Before the display you’ll be able to enjoy some great food with the Lions BBQ and other food concessions. As always there will be plenty to do, with stalls and games being organised by local charities, magical shows, and of course, the chance to meet Roary!” Then: “The firework display will start around 7:30pm, with gates opening at 5pm. There’s free parking, and ticket prices are the same as in 2025.”

• Adults (16+): £14.98
• Children (5 to 16): £7.49
• Family (2 adults, 2 children): £31.80
• Under 5s: free, per the Lions’ own FAQ.

Why the prices end in 98p. Those are the online prices through See Tickets. The Lions’ own fireworks site, now updated for 2026, gives the prices as £14 adult, £7 child (5 to 16) and £30 family, so the difference is the online booking fee. We could not open the See Tickets page itself, which blocks automated reading, so check the basket total. Buying in person at one of the outlets below avoids it.

The Lions’ main fireworks site, newburyfireworks.org.uk, now opens with “FIREWORKS 2026 will be on Saturday 7 November” (read 12 October). The fireworks page on newburylions.org.uk may still show 2025: if a page shows you Saturday 1 November, that is last year.

Past years, for comparison

The 2023 figures come from Kennet Radio’s report of 21 October 2023, which recorded that year as the 50th. Counting on from there gives 53 in 2026, which is exactly what Visit Newbury calls it. The 2025 figures are from the Lions’ own fireworks page. The family ticket covers either two adults and two children or one adult and four children.

Where tickets are sold for 2026: online through See Tickets, and in advance in person at the Tesco stores on Pinchington Lane and Northbrook Street in Newbury, at Newbury Building Society branches in Newbury, Thatcham and Hungerford, and from the Lions’ stall at Newbury Market during October. That list is from the Lions’ own fireworks site, read on 12 October 2026.

Parking and getting in

The Lions say parking at the racecourse is free, including disabled parking, and that entry is via Hambridge Road and over the bridge. That is the route to use; do not aim for the racecourse’s main race-day entrance out of habit.

One practical point from their own page that matters in November: the public area is all hardstanding, so this is not a display where you sink into a field. Normal shoes are fine.

By train, Newbury Racecourse station sits on the racecourse site itself, on the Reading to Bedwyn line. There is no published shuttle for the fireworks.

Town centre car park charges and free periods are on our parking in Newbury page if you would rather park in town and walk out. Anything live on the roads that week will be on our Newbury roadworks and travel page.

One more rule from last year that changes how you plan. In 2025 the Lions said tickets were limited and had to be bought before the event, “due to the popularity of the event and to ensure the safety of all attending”. Do not assume you can pay on the gate. Their weather policy is the opposite of cautious: “the display will go ahead whatever the weather unless stated on our social media.”

Thatcham: Kennet School, Friday 6 November, confirmed in full

Thatcham has its own display the night before Newbury’s, and this one has every detail published. Kennet School PTAC, working again with Francis Baily PTA, holds the 2026 Thatcham Fireworks at Kennet School on Friday 6 November, with gates at 6pm and the display at 7.30pm, on the school field at Stoney Lane, Thatcham RG19 4LL. That is from the PTA’s own event page.

It is a professional low-noise display set to superhero movie music, with food, drink, glow products and indoor stalls selling arts and crafts. This is the seventh year the PTAs have run it. One change from last year: the 2025 listing named a third organiser, Friends of Whitelands Park, and the 2026 one does not.

Tickets are on sale now: adult £10, child (4 to 18) £5, and a £20 family ticket for either 2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children. Under-4s are free but need a free ticket, and a family must arrive together. Those are the prices since the flash sale (adult £9) ended on Saturday 10 October. Tickets are e-tickets to print or show on a phone. All from the PTA’s own booking page, read on 12 October 2026.

For a guide to price and length, the 2025 display ran on Friday 7 November 2025 with the same 6pm gates and 7.30pm start, and was a 15-minute low-noise display set to music from the movies. Online sales closed before the night, but adult tickets were £10 and child tickets £5 on the gate, cash or card.

Bonfire night falls midweek this year

Thursday 5 November 2026 is bonfire night itself, and neither display is on it. The Lions have run theirs on the nearest Saturday for years, and 7 November is the first Saturday after the 5th. Thatcham takes the Friday. So you can do both.

Beyond those two, no other bonfire-night display is advertised in the district as of 12 October. One earlier, free option: the Michaelmas Fair, the funfair at Northcroft Leisure Centre (RG14 1RS) from Wednesday 14 to Saturday 17 October, has a “free giant firework display on Friday evening”, 16 October, according to its Visit Newbury listing. The fair is free to enter and open 4pm to 11pm that day; the listing gives no display time. Newbury BID’s November events calendar lists the Lions display and no other fireworks, and West Berkshire Council does not run one. Hungerford’s fireworks are not a bonfire-night event at all: they close the Victorian Extravaganza in December, and are covered on our Christmas lights page. Village and club displays are typically announced in October, so this page will be updated when they are.

When to check back

Every fact above was read from the organisers’ own material: the Lions’ 2026 announcement on Visit Newbury (3 and 12 October), the Lions Club of Newbury’s own websites (12 October), Kennet School PTAC’s booking pages (12 October), Newbury Racecourse’s fixture calendar and Kennet Radio’s contemporaneous 2023 report.