Dartford's bonfire and fireworks fill Central Park each November. The 2026 date is not announced, the ticket shop is offline, and one listing has it wrong.
Dartford’s bonfire night is not a council event. It is run by Dartford Lions Club, a registered charity, in Central Park, and it has been for more than fifty years. As of 3 September 2026 the club has not announced a date for this year, has not opened ticket sales, and its dedicated ticket shop is offline.
That matters, because at least one national listings site has already published a 2026-shaped answer that does not match the organiser’s own record. This page sets out what the Lions have actually published, when they have published it in past years, and what to ignore in the meantime.
What is confirmed for 2026: nothing yet
The Lions Club’s website carries no 2026 fireworks post. The newest item on its news page is dated 4 November 2025 and is a write-up of last year’s event. (Dartford Lions Club)
The club’s separate ticket store at fireworks.dartfordlionsclub.org, which handled advance
sales in previous years, returns “This store is unavailable”, checked on 3 September. So
there is nothing to buy yet even if you wanted to book early.
None of that is a reason to worry. The display has only ever been called off once, in 2020, when Covid stopped it for the first time since it began. The club’s then president said the council had worked through the options with them and every one risked spreading the virus. (My Kent Family, 2020)
The club’s own count of how old the event is does not quite hold together, so treat any anniversary claim with care: it called 2021 “our 50th Bonfire Night in Dartford”, wrote in 2022 that it had run “for the past 50 years”, and its 2024 preview was headlined the 55th display.
Watch out for this wrong date
The listing on ukfireworksdisplays.co.uk gives the event as “Sunday 02 November 2025”. (UK Fireworks Displays)
The organiser’s own report says otherwise. The Lions wrote that “Central Park came alive on 1st November” and describe the 2025 display in the past tense. (Dartford Lions Club) Saturday 1 November is also the pattern the club has followed for years, a Saturday rather than a Sunday. The “2nd November” in that listing matches the 2024 date, so it looks like last year’s number carried over with the year changed.
Treat any aggregator date for this event as unconfirmed until the Lions post it themselves.
When the date is usually announced
The club’s own publishing history gives a useful window. These are the publication dates of its fireworks posts, taken from the site’s sitemap and the date stamp on each post.
| Year | Event date | Club post published |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Saturday 6 November | 29 October (ticket outlets) |
| 2022 | Saturday 5 November | 27 September (full details) |
| 2023 | Not stated in the surviving posts | 30 October (last chance for tickets) |
| 2024 | Saturday 2 November | 29 October (full details) |
| 2025 | Saturday 1 November | 4 November (after the event) |
So the announcement window runs from late September to late October. The 2022 post landed on 27 September; the 2021 and 2024 posts landed in the last week of October.
There is also a clean pattern in the dates themselves. Every event above landed on the first Saturday of November: 6 November in 2021, 5 November in 2022, 2 November in 2024 and 1 November in 2025. The first Saturday of November 2026 is 7 November.
That is our arithmetic, not the organiser’s announcement. Do not book travel, a babysitter or anything else around it until the club posts the date.
The running order, from the last time it was published in full
The Lions published a complete set of timings and rules for 2024, and repeated most of them in their 2025 write-up. Assume this is the shape of the evening rather than this year’s confirmed detail.
| Stage | 2024 (published) | 2025 (reported afterwards) |
|---|---|---|
| Gates and funfair open | 5pm | 5pm |
| Bonfire lit | 7.15pm | 7.15pm |
| Fireworks | 8pm | 8.15pm |
The quarter-hour difference in the firing time is worth noting: the club’s advance notice said 8pm in 2024, and its own account of 2025 says 8.15pm. If you are timing a small child’s evening, plan for the later one. (2024 details, 2025 write-up)
In 2022 the club added that gates opened “5pm sharp” and that the bonfire was lit by the Mayor, with the funfair, stalls and amusements running from 5pm. (Dartford Lions Club) The 2025 write-up names local entertainer Traviss on music and PA, alongside the funfair, rides and food stalls.
Two additions from 2024 that are worth expecting again: the club brought in a large LED screen showing its community projects, and the bonfire was lit by the Mayor of Dartford, then Cllr Andy Lloyd. The club’s advice that year was blunt and still applies: arrive early, because the stalls and fairground are the point of the two hours before the bonfire.
Tickets and prices
No 2026 prices exist, but the club’s own figures have been stable for years and it always sells advance tickets £1 cheaper than on the gate. The last full price list the Lions published themselves was for 2022:
| Bought | Adult | Child, 5 to 15 |
|---|---|---|
| In advance | £6 | £3 |
| At the gate | £7 | £4 |
(Dartford Lions Club, 3 November 2022)
The same advance rates, £6 and £3, were quoted in the club’s 2024 preview, and a third-party listing gives £7 and £4 for 2025 with £1 off in advance, so nothing appears to have moved. (CommunityAd, 9 October 2024)
Two practical points from the club’s own 2022 notice. Online sales close before the event, after which tickets are sold in person, in that year from a stall in the Priory Shopping Centre next to Poundland on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. And advance tickets are physical: the club’s rule was “no hard ticket, no entry to the park”, with pre-orders collected in person on production of an order number. If you buy online, allow time for the ticket to arrive or plan to collect it.
In 2021 the club added card payment in person alongside online sales for the first time, with a staffed stall at the Thursday and Saturday markets and tickets stocked by Asda Living, the Ellenor charity shops, Gurkha Foods and Craft Frames. (Dartford Lions Club, 29 October 2021)
Where the money goes is not incidental. This is the club’s biggest fundraiser, it is run entirely by volunteers, and in the year to autumn 2024 it put about £30,000 into two pieces of equipment for Darent Valley Hospital: a children’s Kitten Scanner and a tilt table for the stroke unit.
Parking, and a contradiction worth knowing
The Lions’ 2024 notice is specific about parking, and residential streets around the park are enforced on the night:
- No parking in Cranford Road or Ingram Road. The club says “enforcement officers will be in attendance”.
- Acacia Hall car park is the recommended option, reached via the Millennium bridge entrance. For one night only it stays open until 10.30pm.
One detail in that notice does not match the council’s own rules. The Lions describe Acacia Hall as “a public car park which is ‘pay and display’”. The council operates Acacia Hall on a ticketless system: you pay by coin, contactless card or phone and there is no ticket to put on the dashboard. Follow the machine, not the leaflet. Charges and every other Dartford car park are on our parking page.
Note also that Cranford Road is normally the town’s handiest free car park, two hours free Monday to Saturday. On fireworks night it is off limits.
If roadworks are running that week, they will be listed on our Dartford roadworks page.
The rules on the gate
These come from the club’s published event conditions and have been consistent across years:
- No pets on site.
- Alcohol free. The club says it neither allows alcohol to be brought in nor sells it, and that “random bag checks will be carried out”. People found with alcohol are asked to leave.
- No personal fireworks or sparklers. The club says they “will be removed and destroyed”.
The club also publishes an environmental statement: the bonfire timber is locally sourced and not chemically treated, the firework canisters are cardboard, and it puts the display’s carbon output at “the equivalent to a single car travelling around 88 miles”.
The other display in the borough
Longfield runs its own, and it is a different kind of evening: shorter, earlier and built around a beacon rather than a bonfire. In 2025 Longfield and New Barn Parish Council held a beacon lighting and firework display at Longfield Community Park on Saturday 8 November, from 6pm to 7.15pm, with refreshments beforehand at Long Valley Hall and no parking on site. (Fireworks flyer, 8 November 2025)
The parish council has not announced a 2026 date. Its news page was updated on 3 September 2026 and says nothing about fireworks. The 2025 flyer went up in October, so that is the month to check. (Longfield and New Barn Parish Council)
Is there a council fireworks display instead?
No. Dartford Borough Council’s events programme for autumn 2026 lists Battle of Britain Day, Black History Month, the Remembrance Sunday service on 8 November and the Big Christmas Switch On on 14 November. There is no council-run 5 November display. (Dartford Borough Council)
The council’s role here is regulatory: it publishes fireworks guidance and approves larger external events in its parks.
What we will update
- The 2026 date, as soon as the Lions publish it. The window is late September to late October.
- Ticket prices and where to buy, once the club’s shop comes back online.
- Parking and enforcement notices for the streets around Central Park.
- Longfield’s beacon and fireworks date, which the parish council published in October last year.
Nothing on this page is a booking instruction. Check dartfordlionsclub.org before you set out. For the rest of the season, see our Christmas switch-on page and Dartford pantomime page.
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