Newbury Christmas Lights Switch-On: Sat 14 Nov, 6.30pm

Newbury’s Christmas Lights Switch On is on Saturday 14 November 2026, with a free day of entertainment across the town centre from 10am and the lights going on at 6.30pm. Newbury BID has now published it as its own event listing, read on 3 October 2026.

Updated 3 October: Newbury BID has confirmed the date, Saturday 14 November, 10am to 7pm, with the switch-on at 6.30pm. Santa moves to a new grotto at the Waterside Centre.

The quick answer

• When: Saturday 14 November 2026, 10am to 7pm. Lights on at 6.30pm.
• Where: Newbury town centre, with the finale in Market Place in recent years.
• Cost: free.
• New for 2026: Santa’s “brand new grotto at Waterside Centre”, where it was in the Kennet Centre in 2025.
• Thatcham: Saturday 28 November, 12pm to 7pm, switch-on and Christmas market on one day.

What the BID has confirmed

The BID’s listing says: “Join us as we celebrate the start of Christmas in Newbury, with a full day of entertainment leading up to the Switch On at 6:30pm. Expect a full day of live music across Newbury town centre, festive market and gift fairs, the chance to meet Santa in his brand new grotto at Waterside Centre, and much more!”

That is all it has published so far. There is no stage running order, no named celebrity, and nothing yet on fireworks, the accessible viewing platform or road closures. The weekend runs on: the Antique and Vintage Street Market on Sunday 15 November, 10am to 4pm, free on Northbrook Street, “forms part of our Christmas Lights Switch On weekend”.

The 2023 date and times come from the BID’s own announcement article, published 1 November 2023. The 2024 ones come from Newbury Today’s report of 15 November 2024. The 2025 ones are on the BID’s event record, which now reads “This event has passed”.

The old 2025 page has gone

Until September the BID’s landing page at visitnewbury.org.uk/newbury-christmas-lights-switch-on still described the 2025 event (“Join us from 9am on Saturday, 15th November”). On 3 October it returned “Page not found”. If an old link or a cached search result shows you Saturday 15 November, that is last year: 15 November 2026 is the Sunday market day.

What the day usually involves

The BID has not published the 2026 programme. The 2025 one is the best picture of what to expect, and all of it came from the BID’s own event page.

• Charter Market on Northbrook Street, with the regular traders joined by seasonal ones.
• Live music on multiple stages around the town centre, organised by Good Vibes Music Academy.
• Santa’s Grotto in the Kennet Centre (in 2026 it moves to the Waterside Centre), a Nativity Petting Farm in Inch’s Yard, and a festive funfair on Bartholomew Street.
• A Christmas Gift Fair at the Corn Exchange.
• Paddington, appearing several times through the afternoon.
• The finale in Market Place, which in 2025 included a light show and a firework display of under 10 minutes, with no strobe lighting.

In 2024 there was also an after party at Newbury Racecourse with a DJ set from Denise Van Outen, from 7pm to midnight. That has not been a fixture.

Access and crowd control, which changed in 2025

Two things the BID put in place last year are worth knowing about in advance, because one of them needs booking:

• A wheelchair-accessible viewing platform in Market Place, with a view of the main stage. It was free but had to be registered for in advance, and space was limited.
• A BSL interpreter on stage from 5.30pm.

The BID also managed crowd flow into Market Place under a safety plan agreed with Thames Valley Police. From 5.30pm, access to Market Place was only via Mansion House Street, and every other street was exit-only. Expect something similar, and expect it to be signposted on the day.

Where the lights actually are

The BID’s own description puts the town’s Christmas tree in Market Place, with lights in Northbrook Street, Bartholomew Street, Cheap Street, Market Street, The Broadway and London Road. Parkway Shopping runs its own display, including illuminated baubles. The lights are up through November, December and early January.

Thatcham: Saturday 28 November, and a new format

Thatcham’s switch-on is two weeks after Newbury’s. Thatcham Town Council’s event listing puts it on Saturday 28 November, 12pm to 7pm, on the High Street and The Broadway, and says the format has changed:

“Brand new for 2026, the Christmas Lights Switch On and Christmas Market will come together for one festive day on Saturday 28th November.”

These used to be two separate occasions. For 2026 the council is running them as one day, with commercial, charity and community stalls, Christmas shopping, food and drink, live entertainment, Santa, the steam train and the switch-on itself. The council says “more information to follow”, so there is no running order and no time for the switch-on moment yet. Enquiries go to enquiries@thatchamtowncouncil.gov.uk.

Hungerford: no date, and a search result that will send you wrong

Hungerford’s Victorian Extravaganza is the biggest festive night in the west of the district, and its 2026 date had still not been published on 3 October.

The organisers’ own site, hungerfordextravaganza.com, still leads on Friday 12 December 2025, its 33rd year: a street fair from 5pm with stalls, steam engines, festive food, a big wheel and fairground rides, Santa’s Grotto, carriage rides and a farmyard nativity, then the parade at 7.30pm with the Reading Scottish Pipe Band, Rock Choir, the Community of Hungerford Theatre Group and Hungerford Lanterns. Entry is free. It is run by Hungerford Chamber of Commerce with support from Greenham Trust and Hungerford Town Council.

The trap is the Chamber’s own events entry. Its page for the Extravaganza reads as current and gives a full running order: “the 27th Hungerford Victorian Extravaganza on Friday 10 December”, parade at 7:30pm, fireworks viewable from Canal Bridge at 8.30pm. That page is dated Friday, December 10, 2021. It also contradicts itself, calling the event both the 27th and “now in it’s 29th year”. Do not plan around it.

If the event holds to the second Friday in December, 2026 would be Friday 11 December. The organisers have not said so.

The rest of Newbury’s Christmas is already dated

Three more things in the season are confirmed.

• Festival of Light, Sunday 13 December. The Corn Exchange’s lantern procession through the town centre. Free, no booking. Lantern bearers arrive at 4pm and the procession starts at 4.30pm, going along Northbrook Street and into Market Place. Lantern-making workshops run from Saturday 28 November to Sunday 6 December, with a further pair on 5 and 6 December. Details are on the Corn Exchange’s event page.
• Newbury Antique and Vintage Street Market, Sunday 15 November, 10am to 4pm, free, on Northbrook Street.
• Both pantomimes open in late November. Dates, prices and access performances for Sleeping Beauty at the Corn Exchange and Pinocchio at the Watermill are on our Newbury pantomime page.

Parking on the day

The town centre pedestrian and cycle zone covers Bartholomew Street, Bridge Street, Mansion House Street, Market Place, Northbrook Street and Wharf Street, and since September 2026 it reopens to traffic at 5pm rather than 11pm. On a switch-on Saturday, assume the event footprint overrides the normal hours and that Market Place is closed to vehicles well past 5pm.

Car park tariffs, free periods and permit prices are on our parking in Newbury page, and anything live on the approaches is on Newbury roadworks and travel.

When to check back

Every date, time and quotation above was read from Newbury BID’s own Visit Newbury site (the 2026 listing on 3 October), Thatcham Town Council’s events list (3 October), the Hungerford organisers’ own site (3 October), the Corn Exchange’s own event pages, and Newbury Today’s contemporaneous 2024 report.