Free town council fireworks on Thursday 5 November at Goldsmiths Recreation Ground: gates 7pm, beacon 7.15pm, display 7.30pm. Parking shuts about 6.45pm.

Crowborough’s own fireworks display is on Thursday 5 November 2026 at Goldsmiths Recreation Ground, and it is free. Gates open at 7pm, the Town Mayor lights the beacon at 7.15pm and the display starts at 7.30pm. The theme this year is 90s dance music, so the display is set to those tracks.

Crowborough Town Council, which organises it, has confirmed the full evening in a press release and on its council events page.

What the council has confirmed for 2026

  • Date: Thursday 5 November 2026
  • Where: Goldsmiths Recreation Ground, Eridge Road
  • Entry: free
  • Theme: 90s dance music
  • Charity: collections on the night for the Mayor’s charity, Artytime
Crowborough Town Council poster for the 90s dance themed fireworks on 5 November at Goldsmiths Recreation Ground
The poster for the 90s dance themed fireworks at Goldsmiths Recreation Ground. Photo: supplied by Crowborough Town Council

How the evening runs

The council’s press release, sent to us on 7 October, sets out the timings:

  • 6.30pm: the Crowborough Miniature Railway opens for train rides, running until the crowds disperse, normally about 8pm. The railway’s own 2026 timetable marks 5 November as an after-dark service from 6pm to 8pm, so the first trains may run a little earlier.
  • 7pm: gates open and Ashdown Radio is live from the ground.
  • 7.15pm: a welcome from the Town Mayor and the lighting of the beacon.
  • 7.30pm: the display.

There is hot food and drink to buy before the fireworks start. Entry is free, but the council is raising money for Artytime, the Mayor’s charity, so bring some cash for the collectors. If you do not carry cash, the council takes donations online on its Mayor’s charities page.

Parking: arrive early or walk

Parking is the pinch point. The council says parking is limited at the recreation ground and advises visitors to use the free car parking in the town centre. Once the car park at Goldsmiths is full, which is typically around 6.45pm, it closes, and no vehicle movement is allowed until after the display finishes.

If you drive to Goldsmiths and arrive late, you may not get in, and if you get in you are staying until the end. Our parking in Crowborough page covers the town centre car parks.

For anything else about the evening, the council’s community team is on 01892 652907.

Every bonfire night near Crowborough this season

Sussex bonfire is a season, not a night, and eight societies within reach of Crowborough hold theirs between early September and early November. The dates below are each society’s own, except where noted.

Date Society Confirmed by
Sat 12 Sept Crowborough Bonfire & Carnival Society The society’s own Carnival 2026 page
Sun 13 Sept Fletching Bonfire Society The society’s own site, “Save the date”
Sat 19 Sept Mayfield Bonfire Society, 6pm to 10.30pm The society’s own events calendar
Sat 26 Sept Buxted Bonfire Society, 7pm to 10.30pm The society’s own events list
Sat 3 Oct Rotherfield & Mark Cross Bonfire Society, procession 7.45pm The society’s own 2026 Bonfire Night page
Sat 10 Oct Heathfield & District Bonfire Society, procession 7.15pm The society’s own 2026 event page and programme
Sat 17 Oct Hailsham Bonfire Society The society’s own site, programme printed
Fri 30 Oct Isfield & Little Horsted Bonfire Society The society’s own site
Sat 7 Nov Wadhurst Warriors, gates 5.30pm The charity’s own event page

Three of those are worth a closer look.

Heathfield is Saturday 10 October, not Sunday 11 October. The fire service’s season list gave 11 October when we checked it on 5 September. Heathfield & District Bonfire Society has now published its own date, “Saturday the 10th of October 2026”, on its 2026 event page. Its programme says societies form up at the Heathfield Tavern for about 7.15pm, and roads including Station Road, the High Street and the A265 Cross in Hand Road close from 6.30pm to 10.30pm. Entry to the fire site at Heathfield Community Centre is by pre-paid ticket only.

Rotherfield has published its timings. The procession moves off at about 7.45pm on Saturday 3 October, and the society’s roads close from 7pm to 11pm. We have the full evening for Rotherfield and Heathfield here.

Wadhurst is the only ticketed one on the list. The Wadhurst Warriors publish full detail for Saturday 7 November: gates 5.30pm, bonfire lit 6.30pm, fireworks 7.30pm, gates close 9pm, at early bird prices of £10 for adults (£12 full price), £5 for children aged 6 to 16 and free for under 5s. There is a barbecue, a licensed bar with Lakedown Brewing beers, a cocktail and prosecco bar and mulled wine.

Isfield & Little Horsted is at the other end: free to attend, in the Isfield Community Enterprise field behind the Laughing Fish pub, with donations asked to cover the next year’s display. The society holds it on the last Friday in October every year.

Uckfield’s carnival was on 5 September. Because of the dry ground, Uckfield Bonfire & Carnival Society cancelled its Friday night firework display and dropped the traditional torches from the Saturday procession, using battery lanterns instead.

Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day

Both fall in the same fortnight and both close a road, so they belong here. Full detail is on our Crowborough Remembrance Sunday page.

Remembrance Sunday is 8 November. The parade assembles in the lower car park at Croft Road car park at 10.20am and marches to Chapel Green for wreath laying at 11am, followed by a service at All Saints Church. Church Road is closed between 9.45am and 11.30am. There is a separate service at St Michael & All Angels, Jarvis Brook, at 10.30am.

Armistice Day is Wednesday 11 November, 10.45am to noon at the war memorial on Chapel Green. Proceedings begin at 10.55am with a welcome from the President of the Crowborough & District Veterans, then the Last Post and the Exhortation. Maroons are fired at 11am to start the two minutes’ silence and again to end it. Church Road is closed between 10.30am and noon.

Before you go

Check Crowborough roadworks and travel for anything on the A22 or the Uckfield road that would affect the drive, and see our Crowborough Carnival page for the town’s own torchlit procession in September.

Updated 15 October 2026: the Crowborough Miniature Railway’s own timetable gives its fireworks-night running as 6pm to 8pm. Council details unchanged.

Updated 7 October 2026: the council has confirmed the 2026 arrangements: free entry, Ashdown Radio live from 7pm, the Mayor’s welcome and beacon at 7.15pm, the miniature railway from 6.30pm, collections for Artytime and the 6.45pm car park closure.

Updated 1 October 2026: the council’s events page now gives the Remembrance parade muster as 10.20am and Armistice Day as 10.45am to noon, with proceedings from 10.55am. Fireworks details unchanged.

Updated 27 September 2026: Heathfield’s date corrected to Saturday 10 October from the society’s own site, which now publishes it; the earlier Sunday 11 October came from the fire service list. Rotherfield’s timings added.

Sources