Lighting Up Brentwood returns to the High Street on Saturday 21 November, noon to 6pm and free. Ingatestone follows on 29 November, Shenfield on 6 December.

Lighting Up Brentwood, the town’s Christmas lights switch-on, is on Saturday 21 November 2026 from noon to 6pm on the High Street. Entry is free. Ingatestone and Shenfield get their own festive days the following two Sundays.

Updated 28 September: Brentwood Connected has now published its own 2026 event listing, which confirms Razzamataz Theatre Schools and Stagecoach Performing Arts as sponsors again. The switch-on time and the road closure are still to come.

The dates are confirmed by Brentwood Connected, the Business Improvement District that runs the events with Brentwood Borough Council, on its own Christmas page. (Brentwood Connected, Christmas)

All three days are free to attend, and stallholder applications for all three were open when we checked on 5 September. The BID is also inviting professional musicians to apply to perform on its stages.

The three dates

Event Date Time Where
Lighting Up Brentwood Sat 21 November 12pm to 6pm High Street, Brentwood
Ingatestone Festive Fair Sun 29 November 12pm to 5pm High Street, Ingatestone
Festive Shenfield Sun 6 December 12pm to 5pm Hutton Road, Shenfield

Brentwood Connected describes the Brentwood day as “live performances across multiple stages, market stalls, food, drink, gifts, funfair rides, festive walkabout acts and entertainment, a Santa Parade and the Christmas light switch on”.

Ingatestone gets entertainment and walkabout acts, live music, traditional Christmas market stalls and a Christmas Toy Trail, with the market stalls “located in the large garden area of The Bell pub (Ingatestone High Street) and in areas of Market Place”. Shenfield gets the same mix plus funfair rides and its own Toy Trail.

What time do the lights actually come on

Not published yet for 2026. The BID has given the day and the hours but not the running order.

Last year it was 5pm, with the Santa Parade at 11.45am, ahead of a noon start. The 2025 event was on Saturday 22 November, the same slot in the calendar, and also ran noon to 6pm. (Brentwood Connected, Lighting Up Brentwood 2025)

The 2025 line-up also included a Santa’s Grotto, free face painting and what the BID called “the return of the Giant Christmas Bauble”, sponsored by Razzamataz Theatre Schools Brentwood and Stagecoach Performing Arts Brentwood. The sponsors are the same for 2026: the BID’s 2026 listing says the event is “Sponsored by Razzamataz Theatre Schools and Stagecoach Performing Arts”. (Brentwood Connected, Lighting Up Brentwood 2026) The grotto, face painting and bauble are not confirmed for 2026 yet. A detailed performance timings sheet was published for 2025, and the same is likely again in November.

Road closures: what happened in 2025

The 2026 traffic order has not been published. The 2025 arrangement is the best guide to what to expect, and it was substantial.

  • The High Street closed to vehicles from 8am until 8pm, for an event running noon to 6pm.
  • The closure ran from Wilson’s Corner to the Kings Road junction, with Hart Street switched to two-way traffic for the duration.
  • Diversions were Weald Road, William Hunter Way and Ongar Road, or Kings Road, Queens Road and Ingrave Road.
  • Crown Street was partly pedestrianised.
  • Residents were asked to move parked cars off the High Street before 8am, including cars in disabled bays.
  • Businesses needing a taxi rank moved were told to contact the council’s licensing department.

(Brentwood Connected, road closure information for Lighting Up Brentwood 2025)

If the same pattern holds, the closure is roughly four hours longer than the event itself, so a Saturday morning trip into the town centre on 21 November needs planning. Our page on parking in Brentwood covers which car parks are free and when, and Brentwood roadworks and travel will carry the closure once the order is published.

Is it definitely happening this year

Yes. Brentwood Connected’s Christmas page is written for 2026, not carried over from last year. It says “Join us in 2026 for more free festive fun in Brentwood, Shenfield and Ingatestone from Brentwood Connected”, above the 2025 highlights video, and every date on it falls on the correct weekday for 2026.

Brentwood Borough Council’s news feed had not mentioned this year’s event as of 5 September, which is normal. The council’s publicity for it has tended to come in November.

Before the lights: Halloween

The same organiser runs three free Halloween events across the borough, and those dates are confirmed too.

  • Thursday 29 October, 10am to 4pm: Trick or Treat Trail, High Street, Ingatestone
  • Friday 30 October, 2pm to 5pm: Festival of Frights, High Street and surrounding area, Brentwood
  • Saturday 31 October, 2pm to 5pm: Shenfield Spooktacular, Hutton Road, Shenfield

(Brentwood Connected, Halloween)

Still to be confirmed

  • The switch-on time and the Santa Parade time. Expected with the performance timings, in November.
  • The road closure order for 21 November. Expected in November.
  • The stage line-ups for all three days.

This page was last checked on 28 September 2026 and will be updated as the details are published.