The fair fills the town centre for four nights from Wednesday 14 October. Bridge Street, Cornhill, Market Place Road and part of High Street all shut.

Banbury Michaelmas Fair runs for four nights this year, Wednesday 14 October to Saturday 17 October 2026. Banbury Town Council has the dates on its events calendar, and Oxfordshire County Council has already published the traffic order that shuts the town centre around it.

This is the one that catches drivers out. The closures start a day before the fair opens and do not lift until the Sunday morning.

The road closures, in full

Oxfordshire County Council made the Banbury Michaelmas Fair (Special Event) Order 2026. Its statement of reasons is dated 3 September 2026, it covers the period 13 to 18 October, and the county council’s event page puts the traffic measures from 6am on Tuesday 13 October until 6am on Sunday 18 October.

No vehicles in these lengths of road:

  • Bridge Street, from its junction with the access road to the bus station to its junction with High Street and Broad Street, and from The Tchure along the northern and eastern sides of the Town Hall.
  • Market Place Road, its whole length.
  • Cornhill, its whole length.
  • High Street, from George Street (outside White Lion Walk) to Broad Street.
  • Broad Street, from High Street to George Street.

Two-way for the week: the one-way restriction in Parsons Street and Butchers Row is suspended, so both carry traffic in both directions, and waiting is banned in both.

Taxis move. The ranks in Bridge Street and Horse Fair are relocated to Broad Street and High Street for the duration.

Fairground vehicles get a parking exemption on the part of Wildmere Road on the industrial estate west of the Wildmere Road and Acorn Way section, which is where the lorries and living vans go.

Loading and unloading is still allowed at premises on High Street and Broad Street, and emergency vehicles and the fair’s own vehicles are exempt throughout.

Parking: assume the Market Place is gone

The order covers roads, not car parks. Cherwell District Council’s notice before the last fair said “road and car park closures will be in effect” from the Tuesday, and it has not yet published which car parks for 2026.

What we can say is that Market Place Road closes for its whole length, and the council’s 41-space Market Place car park is the ultra-short stay one right there. Do not plan on it. Bolton Road (150 spaces, pay on exit) and Calthorpe Street are the nearest long stay alternatives, and Castle Quay is the covered option. Tariffs are on our Banbury parking page, which was rebuilt after the 30 June 2026 price rise.

What time it opens

Nothing about nightly times is confirmed for 2026 yet. What the two councils have published is this.

Banbury Town Council says the fair has been “recently extended beyond its traditional 3-night run” and now runs on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Cherwell District Council, which delivers the event, said before the 2024 fair that it opened at 4pm on the Wednesday and at midday on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday, running to late evening on the Saturday. The same four-day shape is in place for 2026.

Treat those as the likely pattern, not a promise. Cherwell normally puts out a press release in the first half of October with the confirmed hours.

The golden key

This is the bit worth turning up for, and it is free.

At the opening, at around 4pm on the Wednesday, just after school finishes, the Banbury Town Mayor and the Chairman of Cherwell District Council are handed a large golden key by a member of the Wilson family, who own the fair. They then tour the fairground, and any ride they touch with the key gives a free go. Banbury Town Council says around 10 to 15 rides are usually made free this way, and that the ceremony is fully open to the public.

Bob Wilson’s funfair supplies the rides, from playhouses and a merry-go-round to dodgems and the big spinning and drop rides, plus the usual food stalls. No ride prices are published anywhere, by either council or the showmen, so take cash and expect the standard fairground scale.

In 2024 the Saturday was run as a family day with free street entertainment through the daytime, from balloon modelling to stilt walkers. Cherwell has not said whether that repeats.

The market

Banbury’s charter market did not run on the Thursday or the Saturday of the 2024 fair, and returned to normal the following Thursday. The council has not published the 2026 market arrangement. If you shop the Thursday market, check before you walk in.

Why it is here at all

The fair is chartered and has been part of Banbury for more than 400 years. It sets up in the streets because that is where the charter puts it, and the county council says so in the order itself: it is “satisfied that it is not appropriate for the event to take place other than on the public highways”.

The fair fills Horsefair, North Bar, Market Place and Bridge Street. Cherwell’s street cleansing team clears the town centre on the Sunday.

What is still to be confirmed

  • Nightly opening times for 2026. Expected from Cherwell in early October.
  • Which car parks close, and from when.
  • Whether the Thursday and Saturday markets are cancelled again.
  • Whether the Saturday family day and street entertainment return.

We will update this page as each lands. Our Banbury roadworks and travel page carries the rest of the county council’s closures for October, and things to do in Banbury has the museum and castle opening times if the weather turns.

Sources

Checked on 5 September 2026. The 2026 nightly times are not confirmed. Confirm with the organiser before you travel.