Bonfire Night in Newcastle 2026

Bonfire Night 2026 falls on Thursday 5 November, and the honest answer for anyone searching from the middle of Newcastle is that nothing goes up over the city centre. There is no council display, no Quayside display in November, and nothing on the Town Moor, Leazes Park or Exhibition Park. Every option below means travelling out, and most of them are a single Metro journey.

It is worth saying plainly, because the search results do not. Aggregator sites keep listing a free Newcastle fireworks show with a start time attached, and it is an echo of events that stopped running years ago.

Why there is no city centre display

Newcastle City Council does not run a public bonfire or firework display. Its fireworks page is about the law rather than a listing: you must be 18 to buy adult fireworks, illegal sale or use carries a fine of up to £5,000 and a six-month prison sentence, and noise complaints go to Northumbria Police rather than the council. It asks people to think twice before buying fireworks for home use at all.

The two displays that used to fill the gap are both gone. The Ouseburn fireworks at the City Stadium off Warwick Street, once billed as Newcastle's largest free display, last ran on 5 November 2019 and did not survive the pandemic; our sister site covers what happened to it in detail. And the Quayside fireworks that people half-remember are a New Year's Eve event, not a November one.

So the city's big nights are racecourse, park and club events on the edges of town.

Blue Flames, Benton — Thursday 5 November

If you want to be watching fireworks on the night itself, this is the one. The display at Blue Flames Sporting Club, Whitley Park, Whitley Road, Benton NE12 9SF, is held on Thursday 5 November, which almost nothing else in the region is. Gates open at 5.30pm and the display goes up at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £8.50 adult, £5.50 child and £25 for a family, and they are sold online only — there are no sales on the gate, so book before you travel. From the city centre it is the yellow line from Monument to Benton, then about five minutes on foot.

Best for: anyone set on fireworks on Bonfire Night itself. It is the only major display in the area on 5 November, and a straight Metro run from Monument.

Newcastle Racecourse, Gosforth Park — Friday 6 November

The Firework and Funfair Racenight at Newcastle Racecourse, High Gosforth Park NE3 5HP, is on Friday 6 November. It is a floodlit evening race meeting with a funfair, food stalls and games before the display, rather than a fireworks event with racing attached, so budget for a longer night than a standard display.

Ticket tiers and prices change year to year and are sold through the racecourse rather than on the gate, so check the racecourse website for the current options. There is no Metro station at the course; the usual approach from town is the green line to Regent Centre or Bank Foot and a bus or taxi from there, and the racecourse publishes its own travel advice closer to the date.

Newcastle Round Table, Gosforth — Saturday 7 November

The bigger ticketed community night is the Newcastle Round Table Fireworks Extravaganza at Gosforth Sports Association, Broadway West NE3 2NH, on Saturday 7 November. Gates open at 5pm and the fireworks start around 7pm, so aim to be on site by 6.45pm. Money raised goes to local charities.

Tickets are £8.50 adult, £6.50 for children aged 4 to 15, and £25 for a family of four or £28 for a family of five. Under-threes are free but still need a ticket. As at Blue Flames it is online only with no gate sales, and there is no parking at the ground, so the organisers ask people to travel by Metro: the green line from Monument or Haymarket to Regent Centre is the nearest stop to Broadway West.

Whitley Bay — Sunday 1 November, and free

For a night that costs nothing, North Tyneside's borough fireworks display is on The Links at Whitley Bay NE26 1TQ on Sunday 1 November. The site opens at 6pm, the display starts at 7pm and lasts around fifteen minutes. There are no tickets and no booking, so you just turn up.

The Metro makes it easy: the yellow line runs from Monument round the coast to Whitley Bay, then it is a walk down towards the seafront. Wrap up properly, because the Links in November is not a sheltered spot.

Best for: a night that costs nothing, and for anyone whose school week rules out a late finish. No tickets, no booking, and the earliest start of the five.

If fireworks are not the point

Two city centre alternatives run through the same stretch of the calendar. Northern Lights is an after-dark illuminated trail of about a kilometre through Leazes Park, running nightly from 20 November to 31 December, with entry from 4.15pm, timed tickets and two neuro-inclusive evenings for anyone who would find a busy, high-stimulus trail difficult. It is a few minutes' walk from St James Metro.

And if the plan is simply a dark evening and somewhere warm afterwards, the city centre is still where most people end up. The Crown Posada on The Side, the Bridge Hotel by the Castle Keep and The Centurion inside Central Station are all within a few minutes of a Metro platform, and down in the Ouseburn the Cluny, the Cumberland Arms and the Free Trade Inn sit within a short walk of each other.

A few practical notes

Almost every organised display bans sparklers and personal fireworks on site, so leave them at home rather than have them taken off you at the gate. Both of the ticketed displays above are online-only with nothing sold on the night, which catches people out every year.

Dogs are generally better off indoors with the radio on than at a display. If anyone in the household finds bangs difficult, the earlier starts are worth seeking out, and the low-noise, music-choreographed displays that several venues across the region now run are a gentler introduction than a traditional bonfire.

For the full regional picture, including displays in Northumberland and County Durham, see our round-up of Bonfire Night in the North East.

Know of a Newcastle bonfire or firework event we have missed? Get in touch via our contact page.