Beverley switches on Friday 13 November from 5pm, Pocklington Sunday 22 November with road closures, Driffield and Hornsea Friday 27th. Bridlington still TBC.

Four East Riding towns now have a 2026 Christmas lights date. Beverley’s, at Flemingate, is Friday 13 November from 5pm. Pocklington’s is Sunday 22 November, during an afternoon festival with town centre roads closed. Driffield and Hornsea both switch on on Friday 27 November. Only Bridlington has published nothing, and on last year’s pattern it will not announce until November.

Updated 1 October: Pocklington Town Council published its festival date, timings and road closures on 30 September, and Hornsea District Lions now list Hornsea’s switch-on for 27 November.

Below is what is confirmed, what each town did last year, and which pages are safe to trust.

Driffield: Friday 27 November, confirmed

Driffield Town Council’s own events listing has Driffield’s Festive Night and Christmas Market open from 2pm on Friday 27 November 2026, with the switch-on at the end of the afternoon:

“Just before 7 pm, gather with us at the Plaza of Lights as we countdown with Great Driffield Radio for the Mayor of Driffield to press the plunger and officially light up our town’s Christmas trees.”

The market runs in Market Place, with the funfair filling Middle Street. The council names a snow machine, free face painting, Santa’s grotto, stalls selling gifts, wreaths and hot food, and stilt walkers billed as the Snow-I-Deer. (Discover Driffield, Festive Night and Christmas Market)

Beverley: Friday 13 November, from 5pm

Beverley’s switch-on is run by Flemingate, not by the town council, and it comes with a firework finale rather than just a button press.

Updated 25 September 2026: Flemingate has confirmed that this year’s lights go on on the evening of Friday 13 November, with the event starting at 5pm. The centre is asking the public to nominate a local hero to press the switch. It lists its firework display, a snow globe prize game, the return of Tipi Christmas, a singer, a firebreather, roaming entertainment and funfair rides, and says the night starts its “12 days of Christmas”. (Flemingate, local hero to turn on our Christmas lights) Flemingate has not yet published the switch-on time, road closures or the headline act.

Last year it was Friday 14 November 2025, 5pm to 7.30pm, with the lights switched on and the fireworks fired at 6.45pm. Armstrong Way was closed to traffic from 11am to 10pm with diversions in place, the multi-storey car park was expected to fill quickly, and the bill included Matt Terry, The Trilogies and a visit from Father Christmas. Flemingate announced it on 6 November, eight days before the event. (Flemingate, Christmas light switch-on and firework spectacular)

Beverley Town Council funds the town’s lights but does not run the switch-on. Its most recent lighting statement, covering 2025, lists Christmas-tree-style lights in Saturday Market, snow globes hung from shop fronts along Toll Gavel, new zig-zag strings over Butcher Row, ten new features on lamp columns along New Walkergate, and real trees at Wednesday Market, Toll Gavel and the Market Cross. Installation and maintenance are done by East Riding of Yorkshire Council under a service level agreement. Apart from the sponsored trees, the town council has been the scheme’s sole funder. (Beverley Town Council, Christmas Lights 2025)

The separate Beverley Festival of Christmas is a different event on a different day, and it does have a confirmed date: Sunday 13 December.

Bridlington: no 2026 date yet

Last year it was Sunday 30 November 2025, lighting up at 5.30pm on King Street, organised by Bridlington Town Council, with buildings around King Street lit by projections of artworks made by local residents under a community project called Light Up Brid. (Bridlington Echo)

Bridlington Town Council’s own events page, checked on 4 September, lists four recurring community sessions and nothing festive, and its news page is empty. So there is nothing to read into the silence yet. (Bridlington Town Council, events)

Hornsea: Friday 27 November

Hornsea’s street lights are switched on by the Hornsea Chamber of Trade, which says the event “is held on the last Friday of November each year”. This year that is 27 November, and the Hornsea District Lions Club calendar now lists the Hornsea Christmas Light Switch On on 27 November 2026. It is free, and the Lions open Santa’s grotto at their shop, with a free gift for children and a free hot drink for the adults with them. (Hornsea District Lions, calendar · Hornsea Chamber of Trade)

Neither has published a switch-on time yet. Ignore the Visit Hornsea page on the event: its date is still “Friday 30th November”, which was 2018. (Visit Hornsea, Xmas lights switch on)

Pocklington: Sunday 22 November, 1pm to 5pm

Pocklington Town Council’s Christmas Festival is on Sunday 22 November from 1pm to 5pm, and the lights go on at the end of it: the council’s running order has Malton White Star Band from 4pm to 5pm, “will include the light switch on”. No exact switch-on time is given.

  • All day: funfair on Railway Street, a stilt-walking elf in the town centre, and Santa’s grotto at Little Beas.
  • On stage: Lucy’s Pop Choir 1.05pm to 1.50pm, Pocklington Singers 2pm to 2.25pm, Dangerous Steve 2.30pm to 3pm and 3.30pm to 4pm, an act still to be confirmed from 3pm to 3.30pm, then the band.
  • Road closures, 7am to 6pm: The Pavement, Railway Street, Regent Street, Deans Lane, Market Place, and Market Street from outside the Beach House to the Co-op, with access kept to The Feathers car park.

The same announcement dates the rest of Pocklington’s run-up: the Christmas Tree Festival at All Saints Church opens with a community evening on Friday 27 November from 7pm and runs to Thursday 10 December, and Carols with the Mayor is on Thursday 10 December at 6pm around the town’s Christmas tree. (Pocklington Town Council, Community Christmas Festivities)

When to expect the rest

On last year’s evidence, the first week of November is when the remaining details land: switch-on times for Beverley and Hornsea, and any date at all for Bridlington, whose 2025 event was being reported in the last week of November. Beverley, Pocklington, Driffield and Hornsea have dates you can plan around today.

If you are driving in for any of them, our parking in Beverley page covers the town’s car parks and which are gated at weekends, and roadworks and travel tracks closures on the routes in. More of what is on across the district is on our things to do page.

Sources