Bonfire night 2026 is Thursday 5 November. Petworth's free display is confirmed for Saturday 7 November; West Dean's has gone from its own box office.

Bonfire night 2026 falls on Thursday 5 November. The organised displays sit either side of it, on the weekend of Saturday 7 November.

There is no fireworks display in Chichester city itself, and there has not been one for years. What the district does have is a handful of village and small-town displays, and this year only one of them is confirmed. Two that ran in 2025 have quietly gone.

Confirmed: Petworth, Saturday 7 November, free

Hampers Green Bonfire and Fireworks is on. The Petworth Community Association has the date up as Saturday 7 November 2026 at Hampers Green, Petworth, and it has published a full running order.

Time What happens
5pm Event opens, torches on sale
5.30pm Congregate for the procession
6pm Torchlit procession
6.15pm Bonfire lit
6.30pm Fire act
7pm Firework display
8pm Finish

The association says times are approximate and weather dependent.

Entry is free. So are the marshmallow toasting, sparklers, mulled wine, glow sticks, the fire act and the bonfire and fireworks themselves, although donations are asked for. You pay for the funfair rides, soft drinks, food and the procession torches.

Parking is the part people get wrong. The association says parking is in the public car park at Petworth House only, with disabled parking at the Hampers Green Industrial Estate. It states in capitals that there is strictly no parking at the Hampers Green Community Centre.

One wrinkle worth knowing before you plan around it: the page’s heading says “Saturday 7th November 2026”, but the sentence directly underneath it says “Tuesday 7th November”. 7 November 2026 is a Saturday. The weekday in the body text is left over from an earlier year and has not been corrected.

The event runs on volunteers, and the association is asking for help with setting up, stewarding and clearing away.

West Dean’s bonfire has disappeared

West Dean Gardens ran a bonfire and fireworks night in 2025, £5 a head, and tourism listings still name West Dean Bonfire as a West Sussex highlight. It is not in West Dean’s own system for 2026.

Three checks, all made on 4 September 2026:

  • West Dean’s own Bonfire Night event page now returns “Sorry, the event you are trying to view cannot be found”.
  • Its events calendar has exactly one November 2026 entry, an online open day on Wednesday 11 November. Nothing else between late October and the Christmas dining in December.
  • Its Ticket Tailor box office lists seven live events, including the autumn plant fair, garden tours, a recital and festive dining. There is no bonfire night among them.

That is not a page that has been left un-updated. It is an event that has been taken out of the calendar. West Dean has not published a reason.

Fishbourne is running a Halloween party instead

The Fishbourne Centre held a bonfire and fireworks night on Friday 7 November 2025, with a display at 8pm and a funfair. For 2026 its what’s on listing has two special events in the whole autumn and winter: a children’s Halloween party on Saturday 31 October and a children’s Christmas disco on Friday 18 December, both £2.50 to £7.50.

No fireworks are listed. Its full events feed for the rest of the year returns the same two.

Heyshott and Midhurst: nothing published yet

Heyshott Bonfire, near Midhurst, was cancelled at short notice in 2025. Its website still carries the notice dated 28 October 2025 saying that year’s event was off, with the torch making and bonfire building dates marked “TBC”. The footer has rolled over to 2026, so somebody is maintaining the site, but no 2026 date has been posted.

Midhurst Rother College ran a fireworks night on Friday 7 November 2025, doors 6.30pm, display 7pm, with food trucks and a licensed bar. The TicketSource listing that still comes up in search is that 2025 event. The college’s venue page on TicketSource currently lists no events at all, so nothing is on sale for 2026.

Both of these are the kind of event that goes on sale in early or mid October. It is worth checking again then rather than assuming they are gone.

Outside the district: Fontwell

Fontwell Park Racecourse, near Arundel, runs the nearest big ticketed display. It is in Arun district, not Chichester, but it draws heavily from here.

Its fireworks page says “2026 promises another traditional bonfire night at Fontwell” with a funfair and a fire display artist, and tells you to save the date. It does not give the date. Hospitality packages are marked “coming soon”, and the racecourse’s own events calendar runs to a jump racing fixture on Wednesday 21 October with nothing in November yet.

What this adds up to

If you want a bonfire in the Chichester district on the weekend of 7 November, Petworth is currently the only confirmed answer, and it costs nothing.

If you want a ticketed display with a funfair, wait for Fontwell or Midhurst Rother College to put a date up in October. If you are set on West Dean, do not plan around it.

Chichester city centre has no display of its own. The city’s big autumn set piece is the Christmas lights switch-on later in the month, and we track that on our Christmas lights page. For getting to and from a display, the roadworks and travel page covers what is closed, and the parking page covers the city car parks.

Still to be confirmed

  • Midhurst Rother College fireworks night. Expected on sale October 2026.
  • Heyshott Bonfire. No 2026 date published; the site still shows the 2025 cancellation.
  • Fontwell Park bonfire night. Promised for 2026, date expected in October.
  • West Dean Bonfire. Removed from West Dean’s calendar and box office, no replacement announced.

This page will be updated as each of those lands.

Sources