Kent Cricket has confirmed its St Lawrence Ground display for Thursday 5 November. Early bird adults £14, juniors £6, and it sold out in advance last year.
Canterbury’s bonfire night display is on for Thursday 5 November 2026, and tickets are on sale now. It is Kent Cricket’s Fireworks Evening at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, on Old Dover Road, the only large organised display in the district, and the club confirmed it on Friday 4 September.
Updated 29 September: Kent Cricket has confirmed the date and opened sales. The cheapest priority tickets have sold out and early bird adult tickets are £14.
Buy early. This event sells out before the night. Kent Cricket said in 2024 that “the last four editions have all sold out in advance”, and in 2025 it confirmed the evening was “completely SOLD OUT, with no tickets available to purchase at the gate”. Over 5,000 people went.
Tickets and prices for 2026
These are the ticket types and prices listed on Kent Cricket’s own ticket shop, checked on 29 September 2026.
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Priority adult | £12.50, sold out |
| Early bird adult | £14 |
| Standard adult | £16.50 |
| Junior, aged 4 to 15 | £6 |
| Junior, aged 0 to 3 | free, ticket still required |
| Hospitality, MadeAV Harris Suite, adult | £37.50 |
| Hospitality, MadeAV Harris Suite, junior 4 to 15 | £30 |
The club’s announcement says there were “only 1,000 Early Bird tickets available” and that “Priority Tickets have already SOLD OUT”. The shop’s own header still reads “Less than 1,000 Early Bird tickets available”. When the early birds go, adult tickets move to the £16.50 standard price. That is £2.50 more than an adult paid in 2025 at the early price and £4.50 more than the £12 advertised last year.
The shop lists the event from 5pm to 8pm, which matches the 2025 evening (gates at 5pm, fireworks at about 7.15pm, finish at 8pm). Kent Cricket has not yet published the 2026 running order. So far it promises “a dazzling fireworks display”, “live music, a food village and much more to be confirmed soon”.
Buy only through Kent Cricket. In past years the club has warned about “fake ticket sellers on social media” once the event sells out.
What is still to be confirmed
- The running order and the fireworks time. 7.15pm is the time every recent year has used, and Canterbury BID’s events calendar also lists 7.15pm for 2026. The club itself has not confirmed a time yet.
- Hosts and acts. Canterbury BID’s listing names kmfm’s Garry and Chelsea as hosts. They hosted in 2024. The 2025 hosts were Ben Pearce and Andy Walker, so that copy has been carried over and should not be relied on.
- Parking and banned items. The club has published event guides and FAQs in past years but took them down after the 2025 event. In 2025 the full details came out on 23 October, less than three weeks before the night.
No road closure order has been made for it. Kent County Council’s bundles of temporary traffic orders for the Canterbury area have contained nothing for the display, and past years have not needed one.
The date follows the club’s usual pattern. The Spitfire Ground has held the evening on 5 November in 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025, whatever weekday that falls on. In 2026 it is a Thursday, a school night.
The 2025 event, as a guide to what to expect
These are last year’s published details, not this year’s. Treat them as the shape of the evening, not as a promise.
| 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Date | Wednesday 5 November |
| Ground opens | 5pm |
| Entertainment begins | 5.30pm |
| Last entry | 7pm |
| Fireworks | approximately 7.15pm |
| Event ends | 8pm |
| Adult | £12 |
| Junior, aged 4 to 15 | £6 |
| Under 4 | free, complimentary ticket required |
| Hospitality, MADE AV Harris Suite | £35 adult, £30 junior |
The display itself ran about 15 minutes. The rest of the evening was fire performers, stilt walkers, face painters, dance performances from Dance Warehouse, a live band and hosts from KMFM. Buying early is the only strategy that has worked lately: the club stated flatly that no tickets would be available at the gate in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The last year it sold on the night was 2019, when the on-the-door price was £10 an adult against £8 in advance.
The club published a separate event guide and an FAQ page covering parking, banned items and what to bring. Both were taken down after the 2025 event, and the 2026 versions have not appeared yet, so there is no current first-party statement on how to get to the ground or where to leave a car. Until there is, plan around the Canterbury parking situation and check what is closed or dug up on the roads before you set off. The ground sits on the south side of the city and the approach roads are narrow.
No, Herne Bay’s fireworks are not in November
If you are searching for a Herne Bay display around bonfire night, there is not one. Herne Bay’s fireworks are part of Herne Bay Festival in the summer: a free 10 minute display from the Harbour Arm, which in 2026 ran on Saturday 8 August from 9.30pm to 9.45pm, organised by the carnival team. Nothing equivalent is published for November.
We could not find an organised bonfire night display advertised for Whitstable either, by an organiser, a town body or the city council.
And Tyler Hill, the one people still search for
The district’s other big display was at Tyler Hill, a village bonfire run by the Memorial Hall committee that had been going for “well over 30 years” and drew thousands. Its last verifiable outing was Saturday 4 November 2023, for which Kent County Council made a road closure order covering Canterbury Hill, Wood Hill, Calais Hill, Summer Lane, Park Farm Close and part of Hackington Road from 5.30pm to 10.30pm, with parking pushed out to the university campus.
Nothing has been published since. The event’s own website is still live and still advertises that 2023 date in its header, with a page title left over from 2022, so it reads as current and is not. No order for a Tyler Hill bonfire has appeared in Kent County Council’s notices for 2024, 2025 or 2026. If you remember it, do not assume it is on.
What we will update here
This is the district’s fireworks page. We will update it when Kent Cricket publishes the 2026 running order, the fireworks time, and the parking and banned items guidance, and again if the event sells out.
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