Welcome to the first LewesGo Insight, a weekly magazine about Lewes, out every Thursday.
Each issue has a cover, a feature, what's on for the week ahead, culture, food and drink, sport, and pages written by you. Articles and letters for next week's issue are due by Tuesday at 6pm.
There are two ways to read it. The standard edition is written in our usual guide voice. The journalist edition tells the same stories in news style, from the listings and sources linked in each article. Both editions carry the same facts, and you can switch at any time.
At the back you will find the LewesGo directory, A to Z, and every week we focus on one corner of it. This week it is coffee. Tell us what you would like to read about next.
The LewesGo team
Standard edition. The plain LewesGo guide voice, written from the same listings and sources. Read the journalist edition.
Red smoke drifting over the rooftops and a church spire on a past Bonfire Night. Send us your own photograph of Lewes for next week's picture of the week.
Roads into Lewes close from 4.45pm on Thursday 5 November. Residents are asked to get vehicles home before 4pm, and visitors are asked not to bring cars into the town. Source: East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service
No trains stop at Lewes on the night
Trains are not expected to stop at Lewes, Falmer, Cooksbridge, Glynde or Southease from 5pm on Thursday until the start of service on Friday. Source: East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service
Remembrance weekend
Remembrance Sunday is 8 November. The Lewes Singers give a concert of Remembrance at St Michael's Church on Saturday 7 November. Source: Lewes Singers
Christmas Emporium on 14 November
The Lewes Creatives Christmas Emporium, an art and craft market with a café, is at the All Saints Centre on Saturday 14 November. Source: Visit Lewes listing
Under-26s free at the Christmas Concert
Tickets for the Lewes Chamber Music Festival Christmas Concert on 5 December are £25, and free for anyone under 26. Source: Lewes Chamber Music Festival
The feature6
Remember, remember
Bonfire Night in Lewes is on Thursday 5 November. Six bonfire societies march, and each lights its own fire. Here is how the night works.
Lewes Bonfire is held on 5 November unless that date falls on a Sunday. This year it is a Thursday, so the night goes ahead on the day itself.
Six bonfire societies take part: Cliffe, Commercial Square, Lewes Borough, South Street, Southover and Waterloo. Each society marches through its own streets with torches, banners and bands, and the processions meet in the town during the evening, including at the War Memorial on the High Street.
Each society marches through its own streets, then leads its members out to its own fire.
Later in the evening each society leads its members out of the town to its own fire site for the bonfire and fireworks. South Street's is usually the first, at about 8.30pm on the Railway Land. Waterloo's follows at about 9.30pm at Malling Recreation Ground, and Cliffe, Commercial Square, Lewes Borough and Southover all light at about 9.45pm.
The streets are very crowded and the processions carry fire, so children need to be held close and dogs are best left at home. If you want to see a fire, it is worth picking one society's site and heading there early.
The full fire-site list, the road closures and a map are on the LewesGo Bonfire page.
Road closures start at 4.45pm. The closure points include the A27 at the Ashcombe Roundabout, the A275 Offham Road at Offham, Kingston Road at Wellgreen Lane, the A26 at Malling Street and Church Lane at Mayhew Way.
Trains are not expected to stop at Lewes, Falmer, Cooksbridge, Glynde or Southease from 5pm until Friday morning. The last trains from London Victoria to these stations leave at 3.24pm (to Eastbourne) and 3.54pm (to Ore).
Last trains from Lewes include the 4.44pm to Brighton, 4.55pm to London Victoria, 4.59pm to Ore and 5.02pm to Seaford. Some stations, such as Berwick and Southease, have earlier last trains, so check Southern's journey planner before you set out.
Films by their makers, shown with YouTube's own player. The stills are YouTube's own, saved by LewesGo, so nothing loads from YouTube until you press play; the player uses YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode.
What's on10
The week ahead
A selection from the LewesGo calendar for the week of this issue. Times and prices are the organisers'; check their pages before you go.
Remembrance weekend brings a run of concerts to Lewes churches and halls.
On Saturday 7 November the Lewes Singers, conducted by Nicholas Houghton, perform Fauré's Requiem and Clive Osgood's Requiem with orchestra at St Michael's Church, as a concert of Remembrance.
Remembrance weekend brings a run of concerts to Lewes churches and halls.
The same evening, Musicians of All Saints give their Ian Copley Centenary Concert at the All Saints Centre at 7.30pm.
On Sunday 8 November the Corelli Ensemble plays baroque concertos by Vivaldi, Bach and Locatelli at St Pancras Church, with soloists Maeve Jenkinson, Benn Hess and Richart Van Zyl. Tickets are sold at the Lewes Tourist Information Centre.
On Wednesday 11 November, Depot shows Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom at 5.30pm as part of Britten 50 Years On, the year-long festival marking fifty years since Benjamin Britten's death. The film's soundtrack draws on Britten's music.
The Lewes Farmers Market is on the first and third Saturday of every month. This week it is on Saturday 7 November, from 9am to 1pm in Friars Walk car park.
The Farmers Market brings Sussex producers and independent makers to the Friars Walk car park on Court Road, a few minutes from the bottom of School Hill.
Stalls sell eggs, honey, cheeses, fruit and vegetables, bread and pastries, cakes, preserves, plants, savouries and drinks. It runs from 9am to 1pm, and the earlier you go, the more there is.
If you cannot wait until Saturday, the Friday Food Market, with local and regional producers, sets up at the Market Tower from 9am every Friday.
Pelham House has a free Autumn Showcase on Saturday 7 November, and an autumn Chef's Table on Sunday 8 November at £75 a head.
Lewes Farmers Market
Where?
Friars Walk car park, Court Road, BN7 2LE
When?
Saturday 7 November, 9am to 1pm (first and third Saturdays)
LewesGo's travel page shows the departure and arrival boards at Lewes station and the next buses from the High Street, refreshed every minute. These are sample boards, to show what you will find there.
Sample boards: the times below are illustrative, to show the layout. They are not a timetable. See the live boards.
Lewes DeparturesSample
Sample departures board, Lewes station
Time
Destination
Plat
Expected
10:06
Brighton
2
On time
10:10
London Victoria
1
On time
10:14
Seaford
4
10:17
10:21
Eastbourne
5
On time
10:28
Brighton
2
On time
10:36
Ore
5
On time
Lewes ArrivalsSample
Sample arrivals board, Lewes station
Time
From
Plat
Expected
10:04
Brighton
5
On time
10:09
Seaford
3
On time
10:13
London Victoria
2
10:15
10:19
Eastbourne
1
On time
10:31
Ore
2
On time
10:34
Brighton
4
On time
SouthboundHigh Street, towards Brighton
28BrightonLive: 3minTracked live · on time
29BrightonLive: 11minTracked live · on time
28Brighton10:42Timetable time, not tracked live
NorthboundHigh Street, towards Ringmer, Uckfield and Eastbourne
28RingmerLive: 6minTracked live · on time
29Tunbridge WellsLive: 14minTracked live · on time
The live boards use National Rail and Brighton & Hove Buses data, refreshed every minute.
Sport16
Isthmian League Premier Division
LewesvStanway Rovers
Saturday 14 November · 3pm
The Dripping Pan, Mountfield Road
Back at the Pan
Lewes FC Men are at home to Stanway Rovers on Saturday 14 November. Kick-off is at 3pm at the Dripping Pan.
Lewes FC, the Rooks, play in red and black at the Dripping Pan, one of the oldest grounds in English football, on Mountfield Road beside the ruins of Lewes Priory.
The club has been owned by its supporters since 2010. In 2017 it became the first professional or semi-professional football club in the world to pay its women's and men's teams equally, and both sides now play at the Pan.
Owned by its fans, and the first club of its kind to pay its women's and men's teams equally.
The men's team host Stanway Rovers in the Isthmian League Premier Division on Saturday 14 November, at 3pm. Tickets and the latest team news are on the club's website.
Before then, Friday morning after Bonfire is a good time for a walk: along the River Ouse from the town, or up to the castle for the view over the fire sites.
Insight is written by the people of Lewes as much as for them. Clubs, societies, schools, churches, shops, artists and anyone with something to say about the town can send an article.
Articles can be up to 800 words, with one photo you took yourself or have permission to use. Tell us your name and a line about you. We edit everything for length and clarity, and we will show you the edited version before it appears.
Every article appears in both editions: as you wrote it, tidied for the standard edition, and rewritten in news style for the journalist edition. You can ask us to keep your words as they are.
Deadline: Tuesday 6pm for that Thursday's issue.
Up to 800 words, one photo, your name and a line about you.
Your own work. Photos you took or have permission to use.
No adverts in disguise: businesses can book an advert instead.
Every November I tell my sister in Haywards Heath that this is the year I will stay with her for the Fifth. Every November I am back on my doorstep by six, with a flask, listening for the first drums coming up from Cliffe.
May I make a small plea to readers? The twittens are not shortcuts on Bonfire Night. They are where the rest of us are standing. And to whoever moved the recycling bins on our street last year to make room for the procession: thank you. They were back by Friday lunchtime, which is more than can be said for my hearing.
Welcome to the new magazine. I hope the letters page is as quarrelsome as the town.
M. Harding, Western Road
A fictional letter, written by LewesGo to show how this page will look. Real letters from readers start next week.
Write to us about anything in Insight or anything in Lewes. Letters should be 350 words or fewer and include your name and the area of Lewes you live in. We may shorten letters, and the views in them are the writers', not LewesGo's.
Each week we pick one corner of the LewesGo directory. This week: coffee. Twelve places to try, from the Cliffe, up School Hill and along the High Street to Southover.
Trading Post Coffee Roasters Coffee roasters and café on Cliffe High Street for espresso, brunch and beans.18 Cliffe High Street, BN7 2AH
Blend Coffee Co. Food and drink37 Cliffe High Street, Lewes, BN7 2AN
Riverside Cafe Lewes Riverside café for coffee, light lunches and a Cliffe stop-off.High Street, BN7 2RE
Bake Out Lewes Lewes bakery and café for breads, sweet bakes and takeaway treats.1 High Street, BN7 2AD
Cornish Bakery Lewes High Street bakery for pastries, sourdough, coffee and grab-and-go lunches.5 High Street, BN7 2AD
GAIL's Bakery Lewes Bakery café on Lewes High Street for pastries, bread, coffee and light lunches.11 High Street, BN7 2LH
Moka Speciality coffee café on School Hill, new in 2026.16 High Street (School Hill), BN7 2LN
Taith Coffee Owner-operated coffee roastery, coffee bar, ceramic studio and bookshop.84 High Street, BN7 1XN
Flint Owl Bakery Independent bakery on Lewes High Street known for bread, pastries and coffee.209 High Street, BN7 2NS
Patisserie Lewes Food and drink52 Southover High Street, Lewes, BN7 1JA
The Espresso Room Station coffee stop for espresso, pastries and quick breakfasts at Lewes railway station.Station Road, BN7 2UP
From the LewesGo directory, checked against current public sources each week. Listings are free and not paid for. Opening hours change: check with the business before you go.
On LewesGo20
Lewes, every day
Insight comes out once a week, and LewesGo is there every day. These are real screenshots of three parts of the site worth knowing about, and the ways you can get involved.
What's on Gigs, comedy, markets, films, exhibitions and talks at venues in and around Lewes, updated twice a day.The daily challenge A mini crossword and a 90-second quiz, new every day. Free to play, easy to share, no sign-up.The Lewes directory Over 250 shops, cafés, pubs, services and places, checked every week, each with a pin on the map of Lewes. Listing is free.
Please note. This list is taken from the LewesGo directory when the issue was made. We check it against public sources such as OpenStreetMap and the Food Standards Agency, but businesses open, close and move, and we cannot guarantee that every entry is current or complete. A listing is not a recommendation or an endorsement, and no business paid to appear. Spotted a mistake, or want to be added? Tell us, it is free.
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