Local news, what's on and the information you need for Newbury, Thatcham and west Berkshire.
The Newbury Times

Newbury & district · Local news you can trust

Thatcham Thatcham Festival 2026: 9 to 18 October, Nothing Over £7 Thatcham Thatcham Fire Was Accidental, Started by a Battery Newbury Newbury PSPO: Have Your Say Before 9 November

Coming up

All The events
  1. On now to 14 Nov Murder Before Evensong The Watermill Theatre · From £20
  2. Thu 8 Oct Newbury Charter Market Market Place
  3. 9 to 18 Oct Thatcham Festival Venues across Thatcham
  4. 9 to 31 Oct 4 Kingdoms Halloween Nights: Dinos in the Dark 4 Kingdoms Adventure Park · From £10
  5. 9 to 31 Oct 4 Kingdoms Halloween Nights 4 Kingdoms Adventure Park · From £10

Latest news

West Berkshire West Berkshire Council £9.3m Over Budget on Children's Care West Berkshire Council forecasts a £9.3m overspend, £8.2m of it in children's services. Its main reserve could fall from just over £10m to about £1m. · 6 min read West Berkshire Grazeley Solar Farm: Council Backs £15m, Bids to Supply AWE West Berkshire Council has backed £15m for a 20MWp solar farm near Grazeley and will bid to sell its power to AWE. The detailed figures are confidential. · 5 min read Events What's On in Newbury: Halloween, Fireworks, Lights on 14 Nov Thatcham Festival from 9 October, pumpkin patches, fireworks on 6 and 7 November and the lights switch-on on 14 November. Every date, checked 5 October. · 10 min read Remembrance Newbury Remembrance Sunday: 10.30am Parade, 8 November Newbury's Remembrance parade is confirmed: Sunday 8 November, 10.30am from Pelican Lane to Market Place. Thatcham's leaves the Kingsland Centre at 10.30am. · 4 min read Christmas Highclere Castle at Christmas: Dates From 18 Nov, Tours £65 Highclere's Christmas season runs 18 November to 19 December 2026. The cheapest way in is the 3 to 6 December carols days at £65, £15 a child. Every date here. · 5 min read Christmas Newbury Christmas Markets: Switch-On Market 14 Nov, 5 More Newbury's festive market and gift fairs come with the switch-on on Saturday 14 November; Thatcham's market merges with its own on 28 November. All the dates. · 5 min read Christmas Santa's Grotto Newbury 2026: Free at Beale Park, 10 Dates Father Christmas is free with admission at Beale Wildlife Park on 10 December dates. Headley's Magical Christmas Adventure runs 28 Nov to 24 Dec. Dates here. · 5 min read Roads West Berkshire Highways Group: Questions Due 26 September Five councillors will meet in public on 6 October to review West Berkshire's road programme. Residents can send questions, but only until Saturday 26 September. · 6 min read Newbury Newbury Manor Hotel: 25 Homes, None Affordable, £75,367 Policy required eight affordable homes on site. The developer will build none and pay £75,367, cut by £25,373 at the meeting itself to fund GP capacity. · 7 min read Books Roy Larner Novel A Casuals Game: Book Two Due 1 December Roy Larner and Dean Rinaldi followed The Lion of London Bridge with a 1980s crime series. Book two lands 1 December, book three on 1 February 2027. · 5 min read Newbury Show Newbury Show 2027 Is 18-19 Sep: How the 2026 Show Ran The next Newbury Show is Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 September 2027. The 2026 show charged £25 on the gate; its ring timetable and shuttle times are below. · 10 min read Hungerford Hungerford Chestnut Walk Approved, Security Not Conditioned Councillors approved the former care home for up to 16 residents. Police wanted 24-hour security conditioned; officers said that is not a planning matter. · 7 min read
See all Newbury news

Newbury sits on the Kennet where the canal and the A34 cross, with the racecourse on one side and the downs rising north and south. Thatcham is next door and nearly as big, Hungerford is west along the canal, and the district runs out through Lambourn, Pangbourne, Theale, Burghfield and the villages of the Berkshire downs.

The Newbury Times covers all of it. West Berkshire Council has been a unitary authority since 1998, so planning, bins, roads, licensing and council tax are all decided by the same body. It publishes the evidence for those decisions in registers few people open. We open them and write down what they say, with a link to the document each time.

Start here

  • Newbury house prices: the middle Newbury home sold for £335,000 in the year to June 2026, against a district average of £400,698.
  • Trains to London: 40 minutes at best, £80.10 for a peak return and £6,356 for the year.
  • Roadworks and parking: what is shut this month, and which car parks actually have space.
  • Things to do: twelve of them, six free, with this month’s prices checked against each venue.
  • Planning news: 317 homes approved on the Kennet Centre site, and a new Local Plan open for comment until 4 September.

Everything else is filed under Local Info.

If we cannot show you the source, we do not print the claim.