Dartford fireworks are on Saturday 7 November in Central Park: gates 5pm, fireworks 8pm, advance tickets £8 adults and £5 children. Checked November 2026.
Dartford’s bonfire and fireworks night is on Saturday 7 November 2026 in Central Park. Gates and the funfair open at 5pm, the bonfire is lit at 7.15pm and the fireworks start at 8pm. Advance tickets are £8 for adults and £5 for children aged 5 to 15; on the gate it is £9 and £6. Under 5s go free.
It is not a council event. It is run by Dartford Lions Club, a registered charity, and every detail on this page comes from the club’s own ticket shop, which reopened for 2026 with the date, times, prices and rules. (Dartford Lions Club ticket shop)
Last checked 28 October 2026. The Lions’ online ticket shop no longer lists any tickets: its product list is empty and the home page shows only placeholder items. The club has posted no notice explaining why, and nothing about the event itself has been withdrawn. Until the shop is back, plan to buy at the gate (£9 adult, £6 child) or try the Ellenor shop on Spital Street. The club has not yet named this year’s guests.
The quick answer
- When: Saturday 7 November 2026. Gates and funfair 5pm, bonfire 7.15pm, fireworks 8pm.
- Where: Central Park, Dartford DA1.
- Tickets in advance: adults £8, children 5 to 15 £5, from the Lions’ online shop or in person in Dartford (outlets below).
- On the gate: adults £9, children £6. Card or cash.
- Under 5s: free.
- No pets, no alcohol, no sparklers or fireworks of your own.
- Do not park in Cranford Road or Ingram Road: the club says enforcement officers will be there.
- Online tickets: still not on sale when we checked on 2 November (see below). Gate sales are the sure option.
- Free alternative: Longfield’s community fireworks, Saturday 14 November, 7pm.
- Nearby the same week: Swanley on Friday 6 November, Danson Park in Bexleyheath on Saturday 7 November.
Updated 2 November: the council has suspended the parking bays in Cranford Road from 6am on Thursday 5 November until 6pm on Monday 9 November for the fireworks. It says no roads will close (council notice). The Lions’ online shop still lists no tickets.
Updated 3 October: the Lions have confirmed Saturday 7 November and opened ticket sales. Prices are up £2 on the advance rates the club last quoted. Longfield’s free display is confirmed for 14 November.
Prices: up £2 a ticket
The club’s 2026 prices, from its shop:
| Bought | Adult | Child, 5 to 15 | Under 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| In advance | £8 | £5 | Free |
| At the gate | £9 | £6 | Free |
The advance price is still £1 cheaper than the gate, as it has been for years. What has changed is the level. The last full price list the Lions published themselves, for 2022, was £6 and £3 in advance and £7 and £4 on the gate, and their 2024 preview quoted the same £6 and £3. (Dartford Lions Club, 3 November 2022, CommunityAd, 9 October 2024) So an advance adult ticket is £2 more than in those years, and a child’s ticket £2 more too. A family of two adults and two children pays £26 in advance or £30 on the gate.
Where to buy
Online at the Lions’ ticket shop, fireworks.dartfordlionsclub.org, which sold separate adult and child tickets for 7 November through October. On 28 October and again on 2 November the shop showed no tickets at all. If it is still empty when you look, buy at the gate.
In person in Dartford. The shop’s two product listings do not name the same outlets, so check before you walk over:
- The adult ticket listing names the Ellenor charity shop, 2 Spital Street and Craft Frames, West Hill.
- The child ticket listing says the Priory Centre and the Ellenor charity shops are the “ONLY retailers selling in person”.
Ellenor appears on both, so it is the safe bet. In past years the club also ran its own stall in the Priory Shopping Centre in the last few days before the event.
At the gate on the night, card or cash.
Older notices from the club said advance tickets were physical and that it was “no hard ticket, no entry to the park”. The 2026 shop does not repeat that rule. If you buy online, read your confirmation for how the ticket reaches you. (Dartford Lions Club, 2022)
Central Park: where it is held
The display is in Central Park, Dartford DA1, the same park that hosts the spring St George’s Day festival around the bandstand. The club asks visitors to come in by the Cranford Road side and the Millennium bridge by Acacia Hall (details under Parking below).
The running order
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 5pm | Gates and funfair open |
| 7.15pm | Bonfire lit |
| 8pm | Fireworks |
These are the club’s published times for 2026, and they are the same as it published for 2024. One thing worth knowing: the club’s own write-up of 2025 said the fireworks went off at 8.15pm, a quarter of an hour after the advertised time. If you are timing a small child’s evening, allow for it. (2024 details, 2025 write-up)
The two hours before the bonfire are the funfair, rides and food stalls. In 2024 and 2022 the bonfire was lit by the Mayor of Dartford, and in 2025 local entertainer Traviss ran the music and PA. The club has not named this year’s guests.
Parking
The club’s 2026 notice repeats its parking rules word for word:
- No parking in Cranford Road or Ingram Road on the night. “Enforcement officers will be in attendance.”
- Acacia Hall car park, entered from Darenth Road, is the car park the club points you to, with a walk into the park over the Millennium bridge. For this one night it stays open until 10.30pm.
- On foot, the club asks people to use the Cranford Road entrance or the Millennium bridge near Acacia Hall.
One detail in that notice does not match the council’s own rules. The Lions describe Acacia Hall as “pay and display”. The council runs it on a ticketless system: you pay by coin, contactless card or phone, and there is nothing to display. Follow the machine. Charges for Acacia Hall and every other Dartford car park are on our parking page.
Cranford Road is normally the town’s handiest free car park, two hours free Monday to Saturday. This year the council has suspended the Cranford Road parking bays from 6am on Thursday 5 November until 6pm on Monday 9 November, so it is out of use for the whole of fireworks week, not just the night. The council says there are no road closures for the event (Dartford Borough Council, 2 November). Any roadworks that week will be on our Dartford roadworks page, and the club itself asks people to walk or use public transport where they can.
The rules on the gate
From the club’s 2026 terms:
- No pets. The club links to Battersea and RSPCA advice for pet owners on fireworks night.
- Alcohol free. None brought in, none sold. “Random bag checks will be carried out”, and anyone found with alcohol is asked to leave.
- No fireworks, sparklers or flares. “Any items found will be taken and destroyed.”
- Also banned: portable barbecues, air horns, spray cans, sky lanterns, laser pens and drones.
- Bikes, e-scooters and skateboards cannot be ridden on site between 5pm and 11pm.
- Entry is conditional on agreeing to a reasonable search.
The club’s environmental statement says the bonfire timber is locally sourced and untreated, the firework canisters are cardboard, the display’s carbon output is “the equivalent to a single car travelling around 88 miles”, and its lighting generators are being replaced with battery power packs.
Where the money goes
This is the Lions’ biggest fundraiser and it is run by volunteers. The club says more than 90% of what it raises is spent locally. In the year to autumn 2024 it put about £30,000 into a children’s Kitten Scanner and a stroke-unit tilt table at Darent Valley Hospital. (CommunityAd, 2024)
The display has been called off only once in its history, in 2020, because of Covid. (My Kent Family, 2020)
Ignore this wrong date
The listing on ukfireworksdisplays.co.uk gave last year’s event as “Sunday 02 November 2025”. The Lions’ own write-up says it was Saturday 1 November. (UK Fireworks Displays) For 2026, go by the club’s shop: Saturday 7 November. It is the same pattern the club has kept for years, the first Saturday of November.
| Year | Event date |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Saturday 6 November |
| 2022 | Saturday 5 November |
| 2024 | Saturday 2 November |
| 2025 | Saturday 1 November |
| 2026 | Saturday 7 November (confirmed) |
The other display in the borough: Longfield, Saturday 14 November
Longfield runs its own, and it is a different kind of evening: free, shorter and a week later. Longfield and New Barn Parish Council has published its 2026 flyer:
- Saturday 14 November 2026
- 6.30pm refreshments, 7pm fireworks
- Longfield Community Park, Long Valley Hall
- Free entry, “everyone welcome”
(Longfield and New Barn Parish Council flyer, posted 1 October 2026)
The flyer does not mention parking. Last year’s said there was no parking on site, so plan to walk in. Note the clash: 14 November is also the day of Dartford’s Christmas switch-on in Brewery Square, which runs until 6.30pm, half an hour before Longfield’s fireworks.
Other fireworks near Dartford in 2026
Two other displays are within a short drive, one the night before Dartford’s and one at the same time.
| Display | Date | Times | Price | Organiser’s page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swanley Firework Night, recreation ground | Friday 6 November | 5pm to 9pm | Not yet published | Swanley Town Council |
| Danson Fireworks, Danson Park, Bexleyheath | Saturday 7 November | Gates 4pm, fireworks 8pm | Adults from £15, children from £9, family from £22, under 5s free | dansonfireworks.com |
| Longfield Community Fireworks | Saturday 14 November | Refreshments 6.30pm, fireworks 7pm | Free | Longfield and New Barn Parish Council |
Swanley is the one to pick if Saturday does not work. The town council lists it as Firework Night on Friday 6 November, 5pm to 9pm, in the recreation ground, and has not put a price or running order on its events page.
Danson is the bigger, dearer show. Its organisers bill a 20-minute display over Danson Lake with live music, a funfair and street food, and say prices rise on the day. It clashes with Dartford: both fireworks go up at 8pm on Saturday 7 November, so it is one or the other.
Is there a council display?
No. Dartford Borough Council’s events list for the autumn has Black History Month, the Remembrance Sunday service on 8 November and the Big Christmas Switch On on 14 November. There is no council-run fireworks display. (Dartford Borough Council)
Frequently asked questions
When are the Dartford fireworks in 2026?
Saturday 7 November 2026 in Central Park, Dartford. Gates and funfair open at 5pm, the bonfire is lit at 7.15pm and the fireworks start at 8pm.
How much are Dartford fireworks tickets?
In advance, £8 for adults and £5 for children aged 5 to 15. On the gate, £9 and £6. Under 5s go free. The gate takes card or cash.
Can I still buy Dartford fireworks tickets online?
Not when we checked on 28 October: the Lions’ shop listed no tickets. Gate tickets are £9 for adults and £6 for children, and the Ellenor charity shop on Spital Street has been named as an in-person outlet.
Where do I park for the Dartford fireworks?
The Lions point people to Acacia Hall car park off Darenth Road, open until 10.30pm that night, with a walk over the Millennium bridge. Do not park in Cranford Road or Ingram Road; the club says enforcement officers will be there.
Are there free fireworks near Dartford?
Yes. Longfield and New Barn Parish Council runs a free display at Longfield Community Park on Saturday 14 November, with fireworks at 7pm.
Can I bring my dog to the Dartford fireworks?
No. The Lions’ terms say no pets, and the event is alcohol free with bag checks on the way in.
What we will update
- The online ticket shop, when tickets reappear or the club explains the gap.
- Guests and any change to the running order, if the Lions post them.
- Longfield’s parking arrangements, if the parish council adds them.
- Event-week parking and road notices around Central Park.
Check dartfordlionsclub.org before you set out. For the rest of the season, see our Remembrance Sunday page, Christmas switch-on page and Dartford pantomime page.
Have your say