Newbury Show 2027 Is 18-19 Sep: How the 2026 Show Ran

Updated 3 October: the 2026 show ran on 19 and 20 September and has now passed. The society’s own site gives the next one as Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 September 2027. The 2026 details below are kept as the best guide until 2027 tickets and timetables are out.

The 2026 Newbury Show ran on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September at Newbury Showground, Priors Court Road, Hermitage, Thatcham RG18 9QZ. Gates opened at 8.30am on both days.

Two things have changed since we first wrote this page on 3 September, and both cost money if you get them wrong.

• Advance pricing has gone. The ticket site now offers one price band, headed “On the day”. Adult entry is £25.
• The ring timetables are out. The society has published them, so you can now plan the day around the Dancing Diggers and the Grand Parade rather than guessing.

We have also found the thing the society said would arrive “closer to the Show” and never published: the N10 shuttle timetable from Newbury Station and Newbury Wharf. It is on the bus operator’s site, not the show’s. The times are below.

Tickets: one price band now

These were the prices on the society’s ticketing site when we read it on the morning of Saturday 19 September 2026. The advance band has been withdrawn and the page now shows only “On the day”.

Two details worth knowing before you queue:

• Tickets are not day specific. The society’s FAQ says “They are not day specific”, so a ticket bought for this weekend does not commit you to Saturday or Sunday.
• You can leave and come back. Tell the gate staff on the way out and you get a hand stamp for re-entry.

Carers. A carer still goes free alongside a full-paying visitor, but the online route has closed. The ticket page says online carer requests shut at “5pm 18th September 2026, for any requests after this date please bring proof of carers to the show”. The FAQ confirms carer tickets are available on the gate with proof of eligibility.

The ring timetable, both days

The society’s combined 2026 timetables cover five rings. The two days run an identical programme until mid-afternoon, then split.

The hot air balloons are the one item that may not happen. The society’s visitor guide calls it the “42nd year of the tradition” and says the balloons launch as the show closes, “weather permitting”.

In the other rings, both days:

• Demonstration Ring: Bob Hogg 10am and 1.15pm, Lawn Mower Racing 11am, Mini Steamers 12pm, Shetland Performance meet and greet 12.45pm, Vintage 2pm.
• Countryside Ring: Hawk Walk 10am and 3pm, Kintbury Gundogs 10.45am, Meet the Beagles 11.45am, Berkshire YFC Games 12.15pm, Clwyd Valley Axe Men 12.45pm and 4pm, Vale and White Horse Line Dancers 2pm.
• Show Theatre: Schools Junior Masterchef 11am, then a podcast recording, NFU Farmers to Schools, and a Berkshire Trout producer slot at 3pm. Sunday swaps in an awards slot at midday.
• Live Music: five acts a day from 11am, one an hour.

Saturday night, the 1909 Party. No extra ticket is needed. The visitor guide lists The Station at 4.30pm, an unnamed “mystery band” at 5.45pm, Blink Of An Eye at 7.30pm and Moonraker DJ from 9pm.

Getting there by bus: the N10, and the last one home

This is the practical gap in the society’s own information. Its FAQ now says only that if you are “traveling by train or bus, check schedules with the relevant services”. The service does exist, and it has a published timetable.

Newbury and District runs the N10 between Newbury Rail Station, Newbury Wharf and the Showground on both days, picking up at stops along the route. Times are from the operator’s Saturday and Sunday N10 timetables.

To the Showground

• From Newbury Rail Station, stop T: 7.30, 8.30, 9.30 and 10.30am. That is all of them, and they are all in the morning.
• From Newbury Wharf, bay E: 7.45, 8.45, 9.45, 10.45 and 11.45am, then 1.45, 2.45 and 3.45pm. There is no departure between 11.45am and 1.45pm.
• The run takes about 20 minutes.

Coming back

• From the Showground: 11.10am, 12.10, 2.10, 3.10, 4.10, 5.10 and 6.10pm.
• Only the last three continue to the rail station, at 4.35, 5.35 and 6.35pm. Before that the bus terminates at the Wharf.

Fares are £5 adult single and £6.50 return, £2.50 and £4 for 18 and under, or £15.50 for a group of up to four, return only. You can tap on and tap off with a card, pay the driver by cash or card, or use the Newbury and District app.

The catch, if you are staying for the 1909 Party. The last bus off the showground is 6.10pm on both days. Saturday’s trade stands close at 6pm but the entertainment runs “late”, and the DJ plays to the end of the night. There is no shuttle home from that, so sort a lift before you go.

Our Newbury train times to London page has the rail service from Newbury Station if you are coming in from further out.

Parking: the White car park is only partly free

We got this wrong on 3 September and are correcting it. The society’s FAQ says flatly that “Free parking is offered in the White car park”. Its visitor guide, published since, is more precise, and it is the version that matters on the day: the White car park is “Paid & free”, with “paid parking is at the front, free parking is further back”.

So park deeper into the White car park if you want to pay nothing.

The full set, from the visitor guide:

• White: paid at the front, free further back. An accessible bay sits here, near Chapman Gate.
• Black, Oxford Road: free park and ride, with a free shuttle bus into the showground.
• Red: paid. The FAQ notes access is from the M4 and A34 junction only.
• Orange: paid, shared with exhibitor camping, off Blue Circle Gate.
• Priority parking: £10, first come first served.

Blue Badge holders park free. The FAQ lists disabled parking at the Red, Green and White car parks, and says to show the badge to the parking attendants on arrival. No pre-booking is needed. Our earlier version of this page named only Red and Green.

Bikes can be left at the entrance to every main gate.

Roads this weekend

Priors Court Road is shut. The society says the stretch “between Trentham Gate (Black) and Chapman Gate will be closed to all vehicles on Show days”, and its visitor guide warns against driving straight to the postcode: follow the diversion signs and the marshals instead.

Two closures away from the showground matter if you are driving across the district today:

• The M4 is shut in both directions between junction 10 (Winnersh) and junction 11 (Reading) from 9pm on Friday 18 September to 6am on Monday 21 September, while SSEN rebuilds overhead lines. (SSEN, 15 September 2026)
• Streatley Hill is closed for emergency drainage work, with a signed diversion of about 31 miles.

Both are on our Newbury roadworks and travel page, which we check against first-party sources each week. Town centre tariffs are on our parking in Newbury page, though the showground is seven miles north of Newbury and none of the town tariffs apply there.

Dogs, picnics, access and what you cannot bring

Dogs are welcome on a non-retractable lead, wearing a collar and tag with the owner’s name and address. They are barred from signposted areas, including the livestock sections. The society is blunt about cars: dogs left in them “will be reported and prompt action will be taken”.

Picnics are allowed and can be eaten on any of the green spaces. Benches are limited, and there are water taps and stations at the ends of some avenues.

Accessibility. Wheelchairs and mobility scooters can be hired from Advanced Mobility on 01274 297777, booked online and collected on arrival. Changing Places style toilets, which the society calls Revolootion facilities, are at the main entrance off the Red car park. Baby changing is at the main toilets on Avenue V, next to the livestock building.

Prohibited items. The society says security checks will be in place and lists weapons including knives, illegal drugs, fireworks, and drones or remote-controlled devices.

The site runs to 145 acres of mostly open ground, so the advice on practical footwear is worth taking literally.

How many people actually come

The story doing the rounds this weekend is that tens of thousands will attend. The society’s own published figures support the scale but do not agree with each other, and it is worth being straight about that.

• Its visitor information page says the show “has received an average of 30,000 visitors for the last 3 years”.
• Its show page says “The 2025 Show attracted over 30,000 visitors”.
• Its ticketing site carries the same sentence about 2025 with a different number: “over 27,000 visitors”.
• Its FAQ, in the section pitching to sponsors, says “over 32,000 visitors during the Show weekend”.

All four are the society’s own words, read today. Take the range rather than any single figure.

What it means for you

• Entry is £25 for an adult now. There is no cheaper online option left this weekend, so buying at the gate costs the same as buying on your phone in the queue.
• If you want the Dancing Diggers, arrive for 11.30am or 2.30pm. They are the only act in the Main Ring twice a day.
• If you are coming by bus, note the two gaps. Nothing leaves the Wharf between 11.45am and 1.45pm, and nothing reaches the rail station before 4.35pm.
• The last bus off the site is 6.10pm. Staying for Saturday’s party means arranging your own way home.
• Drive into the back of the White car park to park free, and expect to be diverted before you reach the postcode.
• Do not plan a route via the M4 between Reading and Winnersh. It is closed until Monday morning.

Sources. Every price, time and quotation above was read on Saturday 19 September 2026 from the Newbury and District Agricultural Society’s own show page, visitor information page, visitor guide, FAQ and combined timetables, from its official ticketing site, and from Newbury and District’s own N10 show timetables. The society is a registered charity, number 1003898. Nothing here is taken from a listings aggregator or another news outlet.

Update, 19 September 2026. This page was first published on 3 September, when the ring timetables and the bus times had not been released and advance tickets were still on sale. We have added both timetables, replaced the ticket prices with the gate prices now in force, and corrected two things we had wrong: the White car park is free only at the back, not throughout, and Blue Badge parking is available at the White car park as well as the Red and Green.