Eastbourne Bonfire Night 2026 was Saturday 3 October. No 2027 date yet: this page keeps the 2026 route, road closures and times until the society sets one.
Eastbourne Bonfire Night is Saturday 3 October 2026, and the first torchlit procession sets off at 7.15pm from the Crown and Anchor on Royal Parade. It is free, it is on the seafront, and it is a month before Bonfire Night proper. That last point catches people out every year: Eastbourne’s own bonfire is in early October, and 5 November is Lewes.
Updated 3 October, late evening: this year’s bonfire has now taken place. Eastbourne Bonfire Society has not yet published a 2027 date; we will add it here when it does.
Updated 3 October: the society published its road and beach closures on 2 October. Roads around the Crown and Anchor shut from 2.30pm, the seafront road from about 6pm, and rolling closures reach Trinity Trees and the War Memorial roundabout from about 8.30pm. Details below.
Eastbourne Bonfire Society confirms the date and the 7.15pm start on its own event page, and East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service lists Eastbourne against 3 October in its season-wide table of Sussex bonfire dates. This is the society’s 25th anniversary year, counted from the point it was rekindled, and that is why the night is bigger than usual.
The order of the night
The society describes three elements: two torchlit processions, a beach bonfire and a firework finale.
- 7.15pm, first procession. Sets off from the Crown and Anchor pub on Royal Parade and runs along the seafront. Visiting societies from across Sussex walk it, so expect several hundred people in costume, drummers and marching bands.
- About 8.30pm, second procession. New for 2026, this one heads into the town centre before returning to the seafront and finishing near the Wish Tower Slopes.
- Then the bonfire. Built on the beach and topped with an effigy that the society says is dragged through the streets and only revealed on the night.
- Fireworks last, fired over the seafront.
Eastbourne Bonfire Night 2026 is the society’s silver jubilee
Visit Eastbourne’s listing for the night says the Eastbourne Bonfire Society “celebrates 25 years this year”, calls it a silver jubilee, and says the society has “exciting new plans to make the celebration bigger and more memorable than ever”. That is the reason the route has grown: the town-centre leg is the jubilee addition, not a one-off diversion.
The two published histories do not agree, though. A silver jubilee in 2026 puts the society’s founding in 2001. The ESCIS community directory entry for the society says it has run annual celebrations since 2005, which would make this the 21st year rather than the 25th. The society’s own motto, “Burning for the Community”, appears on both. We have gone with the society’s own jubilee framing as carried by the council’s tourism service, and flag the gap because you will see both numbers repeated in listings this autumn.
Eastbourne News, reporting the route announcement on 8 September, says the society “was reformed in 2001”, and the society’s own event page counts the 25 years from when it “was rekindled”. That fits the jubilee arithmetic. Neither source explains the directory’s 2005 date.
The society also ran the Eastbourne Steampunk Festival on 5 and 6 September 2026, which is the other half of the jubilee year and is now past.
What has changed for 2026
The route is the change, and it is the biggest one in a decade by the society’s own account. Until this year the procession stayed on the seafront. For 2026 it is being extended into the town centre as well, which the society frames as a return to the town’s own history: in the late 1800s Eastbourne had seven bonfire societies and processions ran through both the seafront and the streets behind it.
Two things follow from that. Traffic disruption will reach further inland than in past years, and the published route matters more than usual, because the seafront-only route that appears in most listings is now only half the night. Visit Eastbourne’s own listing for the event still describes only the seafront leg, from the Crown and Anchor to Treasure Island and back to the Lifeboat Museum. The full route maps are in the society’s printed and digital programme.
What time are the fireworks?
Not published for 2026. The society’s page names a start time and nothing after it, and the tourism listings do the same.
For scale, in previous years the display has come late in the evening. Sussex Express reported the 2023 event as running from 7.30pm to 9.45pm, and the tourism listing that is now marked as passed gives a 7.30pm start with fireworks at 9.45pm. The 2026 night starts fifteen minutes earlier and has an extra procession in the middle of it, so treat 9.45pm as the shape of the evening rather than a time to arrive for. We will update this page when a firework time is published.
Eastbourne Bonfire Night 2026 road closures
The 2026 closures are now out. Eastbourne Bonfire Society set them out on Friday 2 October, the day before the event, in a statement reported by Sussex Express. On the evening of Saturday 3 October:
- Roads around the Crown and Anchor on Royal Parade close from 2.30pm to 11.30pm.
- The seafront road closes from about 6pm between the junction of Beach Road and the junction of Wilmington Gardens, and you cannot drive onto the seafront from the side roads between those two points.
- Rolling closures from about 8.30pm around Trinity Trees, the War Memorial roundabout, Lismore Road and Bolton Road, as the second procession goes into town. These are the town-centre streets the new route uses.
The beach is affected too:
- The RNLI car park is closed all day Saturday.
- The lower promenade and the beaches close from 6pm between Bistro Pierre and the Bandstand.
- Parts of the beach were also closed on Friday and Saturday daytime while heavy machinery moved in and the fireworks were set up.
The society says closures “may be changed at short notice based on conditions on the day”, with updates through its own page, PA announcements and marshals. On the morning of 2 October it called the weather forecast favourable.
How the closures surfaced
Before the society’s statement, no 2026 closures had been published anywhere we could find. We checked the society’s site, Visit Eastbourne, the councils’ street closure event register page and the traffic notices on the Public Notice Portal for the BN21 area. The register page publishes the Lewes district register only, so Eastbourne’s event closures never appear on it.
Re-checked on Tuesday 23 September, ten days out, and there is still nothing. No order has appeared on the councils’ register page, on the Public Notice Portal for the BN20 and BN22 area, or in the society’s or Visit Eastbourne’s listings. Eastbourne’s event closures are made by the borough council under street closure powers rather than by East Sussex County Council as a traffic order, which is why they do not show up in the county’s roadworks feed either. In 2023 the closures were reported nine days before the event, so if the same holds the 2026 order should surface in the next few days.
Checked again on Wednesday 30 September, three days out: still nothing. The borough council’s news page carries no bonfire item, the Public Notice Portal has no traffic notice naming the route for BN21 or BN22, and Sussex Express’s preview of the night on 29 September gives the start time and the new route but no closures. The society says the full route is in its event programme, so that remains the one place to see which town-centre streets the procession uses.
For comparison, the 2023 closures, when the procession was seafront only, as Sussex Express reported them:
- Royal Parade closed 5.30pm to 11.30pm, from the junction with Beach Road to Wilmington Square.
- Marine Parade closed 2.30pm to 11.30pm, between the junctions with Marine Parade and Seaside Road.
- Westbound diversion via Wilmington Square, Compton Street, Trinity Place, Seaside and Beach Road; eastbound via Beach Road, Seaside, Bourne Street, Pevensey Road, Lismore Road, Devonshire Place, Compton Street and Wilmington Square, with emergency access kept open throughout.
The 2026 set keeps the same seafront core and adds the rolling town-centre closures from about 8.30pm, which is the new route at work. Our Eastbourne roadworks and travel page carries closures as they are made.
Parking and getting there
Seafront parking is the wrong plan for this one. Royal Parade and Marine Parade are the route, the bays along them go early, and anything left inside a closure is stuck until the road reopens late in the evening.
The pragmatic approach is a central car park and a walk down. Two hours at Devonshire Park costs £2.10 against £7.05 for two hours in a central on-street bay, and Hyde Gardens is free on a Sunday but not on the Saturday of the bonfire. The full tariff picture, including which car parks charge until 8pm, is on our parking in Eastbourne page.
Is it free?
Yes. The society is clear that the whole night is free to watch and that it self-funds through fundraising, sponsorship and programme sales. Two ways to chip in on the night: buy the programme, and look for the volunteers with yellow collection buckets, a share of which goes to charities the society picks each year.
The 2026 programme is a double edition for the anniversary, with the route maps and timings in part one and the society’s 25-year history in part two. Minimum suggested donation is £2, digital copies through the society’s site and physical ones from its fundraising stalls.
The rest of the Sussex bonfire season
Eastbourne is one night in a season that runs from September to late November, and several of the neighbouring societies are within reach. From East Sussex Fire and Rescue’s 2026 table:
| Date | Society |
|---|---|
| Sat 3 October | Eastbourne |
| Sat 17 October | Seaford |
| Sat 17 October | Hailsham |
| Sat 24 October | Firle |
| Fri 30 October | Isfield and Little Horsted |
| Sat 31 October | Newick |
| Thu 5 November | Lewes |
That table is a starting point, not gospel. Its links to organiser sites go stale and at least one date on it has been carried over from the previous year, so check the society’s own page before setting off.
Frequently asked questions
Is Eastbourne Bonfire Night on in 2026?
Yes. Saturday 3 October 2026, confirmed on the society’s own event page and in the county fire service’s season table.
Why is Eastbourne’s bonfire in October and not on 5 November?
Sussex societies spread the season across September to November so that they can attend each other’s nights. Eastbourne takes an early October slot; Lewes holds 5 November itself.
Where does the procession start?
The Crown and Anchor pub on Royal Parade, at 7.15pm. The second procession heads into the town centre from around 8.30pm and comes back to the seafront to finish near the Wish Tower Slopes.
Do I need a ticket?
No. It is a free public event with nothing to book.
Will the roads be shut?
Yes. Roads around the Crown and Anchor close from 2.30pm to 11.30pm, the seafront road between Beach Road and Wilmington Gardens from about 6pm, and there are rolling closures around Trinity Trees, the War Memorial roundabout, Lismore Road and Bolton Road from about 8.30pm, according to the society’s statement of 2 October.
Can I park at the RNLI car park?
No. The society says the RNLI car park is closed all day on Saturday 3 October. Use a central car park and walk down to the seafront.
Sources
- Eastbourne Bonfire Society, Eastbourne Bonfire 2026 and 2026 programme announcement, 12 August 2026
- East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, bonfire season event dates
- Visit Eastbourne, Bonfire Society Procession and Fireworks
- Sussex Express, potential road closures to look out for before Eastbourne Bonfire, 2 October 2026
- Sussex Express, road closures for the 2023 Eastbourne bonfire procession, 28 September 2023
- Lewes and Eastbourne Councils, street closures and street closure event register
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