LewesGo Your local guide to Lewes
Photo: Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0

Thursday 5 November 2026

Lewes Bonfire

Firelight, remembrance and neighbourhood tradition, carried through the streets by the town's bonfire societies.

Lewes Bonfire is not one organised display. It is a town-wide tradition of separate societies, each with its own processions, costumes, banners, bonfire and fireworks, and it is one of the most distinctive nights in the Sussex calendar. The date is fixed, but the 2026 road and rail arrangements are usually published in October. Until then, the closures below are last year's, and are marked as such.

Fire sites and road closures

Each society ends its night at its own fire site, most of them ticketed. The pins are ours, placed on OpenStreetMap from Visit Lewes's list of sites; the official street-by-street closures and parking restrictions are on the council's Lewes Bonfire map.

The map needs JavaScript. The fire sites and closures are listed below.

Fire site Road closed in 2025 War Memorial. Select a mark for details.

Fire sites, by start time

  1. South StreetRailway Land, close to the Cliffe Bridge and the Precinctapprox. 8.30pm, the earliest
  2. WaterlooMalling Recreation Ground, behind Tescoapprox. 9.30pm
  3. CliffeHam Lane, access via Pinwell Laneapprox. 9.45pm
  4. Commercial SquareLandport, off the Offham Roadapprox. 9.45pm
  5. Lewes BoroughLandport Bottom, at the top end of the townapprox. 9.45pm
  6. SouthoverMountfield Road (the Convent Field)approx. 9.45pm

From Visit Lewes, checked 30 September 2026. Times are approximate; each society publishes its own programme and ticket details.

Road closures 2025 arrangements · 2026 to be confirmed

In 2025, roads into Lewes closed from 4.45pm and reopened at 2am, or when Sussex Police say it is safe. The closure points were:

  • A27 at the A277 Brighton Road (Ashcombe Roundabout)
  • A275 Offham Road at the B2116 Plumpton Road, Offham
  • Kingston Road at Wellgreen Lane, Kingston
  • A26 at the A2029 Malling Street
  • A26 Church Lane at Mayhew Way, South Malling

Parking restrictions began from noon, and residents were asked to have vehicles home before 4pm.

Trains. Trains did not call at Lewes, Falmer, Cooksbridge, Glynde or Southease from 5pm on 5 November 2025 until the next morning; the last trains from London Victoria that stopped left at 3.24pm and 3.54pm. Visit Lewes's current page says no trains will stop at Lewes after 3pm. Check Southern's journey planner before you set out.

Closures from East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove News, quoting Lewes District Council, East Sussex Fire and Rescue and Sussex Police. We will update this when the 2026 notice is published.

The Fifth in pictures

Why Lewes remembers

The Fifth in Lewes brings together three things: the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605; the seventeen Protestant martyrs executed in Lewes between 1555 and 1557; and the town's own long tradition of bonfire societies. Seventeen burning crosses commemorate the martyrs. At the War Memorial, societies also remember those who died in war. Around that remembrance are the colours, costumes and friendly rivalries of the societies themselves.

The societies

Six societies organise the main celebrations on the Fifth. Nevill Juvenile Bonfire Society is the seventh Lewes society and celebrates separately. Each society publishes its own programme, so follow its website for this year's details.

Before the Fifth

Where we check Bonfire information