Banbury Christmas Lights Switch-On: Sunday 29 November

Banbury’s Christmas lights go on at the Market Place on Sunday 29 November 2026, and the event runs 11am to 6pm. It is free, there is no ticket, and there is a fireworks display at around 5pm as the lights come on.

Banbury Town Council has the date and times on its own event page, read on 5 September 2026. Bicester and Kidlington are on different days, and both are covered further down.

Banbury, Sunday 29 November

Puritans Radio hosts from the main stage. Banbury Music Mix Radio is putting together the line-up of live music and dance, which the council describes as local favourites and rising stars. Father Christmas appears, and there is a second special guest the council has not named yet. Funfair rides run through the day.

Three things the council wants you to know before you come.

• There are no food and drink stalls at the council’s event. It says there are no plans to bring any. The pubs, cafes and takeaways in the town centre are the answer, and so is the Winter Market next door.
• There are no toilets provided. The Castle Quay toilets are open until at least 4pm, which is an hour before the fireworks.
• Well-behaved dogs on a lead are welcome, but the council warns it gets very busy in the evening and advises against bringing an anxious dog.

Why it is on a Sunday

People ask this every year. Banbury Town Council holds the switch-on on the last Sunday of November for two reasons it sets out itself: it wants the lights working for the whole of December, and a Sunday clashes with fewer of the events that pubs, restaurants and other local businesses run on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Winter Market runs alongside it

The Banbury Winter Market is a separate event, organised entirely by Banbury BID, and this year it is two days rather than three.

• Saturday 28 November, 10am to 7pm
• Sunday 29 November, 10am to 6pm

The BID expects over 10,000 people across the weekend. Its Sunday overlaps the switch-on, and the BID’s own description puts the town’s light switch-on and firework display at the end of its market weekend.

There are no barriers or perimeters between the two events, and the town council encourages visitors to move between both. If you have a question about a stall or about trading, that is the BID at info@banburybid.com, not the council.

For comparison, the 2025 market ran three days, Friday 28 to Sunday 30 November, with over 80 stalls. The BID has not published a stall count for 2026 yet.

Bicester switches on the day before

Bicester Town Council has its Christmas Light Switch On on Saturday 28 November 2026, 2pm to 7pm, at Market Square and Sheep Street, OX26. That is in its published 2026 event schedule.

Two more Bicester dates from the same schedule:

• Santa Fun Run, Sunday 6 December, 10am to 1pm. Venue still to be announced.
• Christmas Concert, Saturday 12 December, 4pm to 8pm, Garth Park, Launton Road, OX26 6PS.

The council has not yet published the programme, guests or road arrangements for the switch-on itself.

Kidlington is first, on Thursday 26 November

Kidlington Town Council’s switch-on is on the High Street on Thursday 26 November 2026. Its listing runs 5pm to 7pm, and the council’s own description is blunt and useful: the fun begins at 5pm and the lights are switched on at 6pm.

That makes Kidlington the earliest of the three, three days before Banbury.

Parking on the Sunday

This is the trap. Cherwell District Council’s car parks are not free on a Sunday. They charge until 6pm: £1.60 for up to an hour, then a £2.20 flat rate beyond that. An empty, unbarriered car park on a Sunday morning is still one you pay for.

Castle Quay is £1.60 all day on a Sunday, which beats the council flat rate and puts you a short walk from the Market Place with the only reliable toilets. Charging in the council car parks stops at 6pm, which is when the event ends.

Every tariff and every bay is on our Banbury parking page, rebuilt after the 30 June 2026 price rise. The Market Place car park itself is the ultra-short stay one, 41 spaces, and sits inside the event area, so do not plan on it.

Road closures

No traffic order for the switch-on has been published. Oxfordshire County Council’s large public events register and the Public Notice Portal were both checked on 5 September 2026 and neither carries one for 29 November. Orders for town centre events in Banbury have tended to appear a few weeks out, as the Michaelmas Fair order did, so this may change.

We will add the closures here if and when they are made, and our Banbury roadworks and travel page carries the rest of the county council’s notices.

What is still to be confirmed

• The Banbury stage line-up and running order, and the identity of the special guest. Expected in November.
• The Banbury Winter Market stall list and entertainment. The BID is still taking trader applications.
• Bicester’s programme for 28 November, and the Santa Fun Run venue.
• Any road closure order for any of the three switch-ons.

Sources

• Banbury Town Council, Christmas Lights Switch On, read 5 September 2026, for the 29 November date, the 11am to 6pm times, the Market Place and Town Hall location, the free entry, the 5pm fireworks, the hosts and performers, the absence of food stalls and toilets, the dogs advice and the council’s own explanation of why it falls on a Sunday.
• Banbury BID, “10,000 shoppers, fireworks, and a free pitch?”, read 5 September 2026, for the Winter Market’s 28 November 10am to 7pm and 29 November 10am to 6pm hours and the 10,000 expected visitors, and the 2025 market announcement for last year’s three-day, 80-stall format.
• Bicester Town Council 2026 event schedule, for the 28 November switch-on at Market Square and Sheep Street, the 6 December Santa Fun Run and the 12 December Christmas Concert at Garth Park.
• Kidlington Town Council’s events calendar, read 5 September 2026, for the 26 November switch-on on the High Street, the 5pm start and the 6pm switch-on.
• Oxfordshire County Council, large public events, read 5 September 2026, for the absence of any special event order covering a switch-on.
• Our own Banbury parking page for the Sunday tariffs and the Castle Quay comparison, taken from Cherwell District Council’s car park directory records.

Checked on 5 September 2026. Confirm times with the organiser before you travel.