Chester Racecourse fireworks: Saturday 31 October 2026, gates 4.30pm, junior display 6.45pm, main display 7.30pm. Early bird £10, under 5s free, no parking.
Chester’s big fireworks night is Saturday 31 October 2026, not bonfire weekend. This year it has a new name, The Lord Mayor’s Spooktacular Fireworks, a Halloween-themed night at Chester Racecourse, and tickets are now on sale.
Updated 3 October: the racecourse has published the 2026 times and early bird prices. Gates open at 4.30pm, half an hour earlier than last year.
The quick answer
- Date: Saturday 31 October 2026, Chester Racecourse (the Roodee), CH1 2LY
- Times: gates 4.30pm, junior display 6.45pm, main display 7.30pm, fairground closes 9pm, gates close 9.30pm
- Tickets: early bird general admission £10 per person, under 5s free with an adult
- Parking: none at the racecourse; use the council car park opposite or come in on foot
- Bonfire night itself is Thursday 5 November 2026. Chester’s display is five days earlier.
All of this is from the racecourse’s own Spooktacular Fireworks page, published on 10 September and last updated on 24 September 2026.
Running order
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 4.30pm | Gates open, fairground and food |
| 6.45pm | Junior firework display |
| 7.30pm | Main firework display |
| 9pm | Fairground closes |
| 9.30pm | Gates close |
The junior display is the shorter, gentler show for younger children and anyone who finds a full display too much. Both displays are included in every ticket.
Ticket prices for 2026
The racecourse says the early bird prices “won’t be around for long”, so expect them to rise closer to the night. These were the prices on 3 October 2026:
| Ticket | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| General admission | £10 per person | The whole course from the Dee to the County, fairground access (rides cost extra), both displays, LED performers |
| VIP Fireworks Package | £35 per person | Private bar, toilets and unreserved seating, a private viewing area, unlimited rides until 7pm, the “haunted trick or treat” activities, hot and soft drinks |
| The White Horse package | £49 per person | Welcome drink, two-course meal, a view from the centre of the track |
| 1539 Bar and Restaurant package | from £59 per person | Two-course fine dining behind the panoramic windows, goodie bag for children |
Children aged 4 and under go free with an adult; there are separate tickets for 5 to 17 year olds. For under 5s on the restaurant packages, the racecourse asks you to ring Guest Services on 01244 304 600. The 1539 Roof Terrace also has a package (BBQ main and dessert, terrace seating); the price shown on the listing on 3 October looked wrong, so check it at checkout.
For comparison, 2025 general admission started at £9 early bird and rose to £13, with VIP from £32. So the 2026 early bird is £1 up.
Rules for the night
- No sparklers, fireworks or other pyrotechnics. Leave them at home.
- The site is cashless. Cards and Apple or Android Pay only for food and drink.
- Road closures will be in place, the racecourse says, with timings “to be announced closer to the event”. We will add them here when they are published.
- Wrap up: it is an open racecourse in late October.
Where the money goes
This is a fundraiser, not a commercial event. The racecourse gives the venue free of charge and its staff volunteer on the night, which is why the ticket price is low for a display of that size. Louise Stewart, chief executive of Chester Race Company, put it plainly in the 2025 announcement: because the venue costs nothing and the team gives its time, “we are able to maximise the amount raised and ensure it goes directly to good causes”.
- 2024: over £30,000 raised, shared between SHARE, Chester Lions, Bren Bikes and KidsBank
- 2025: a record total, with proceeds going to the Lord Mayor’s Charity Fund and other local organisations
- March 2026: £10,000 of that went to Storyhouse’s Young Leaders project, a programme the theatre says reaches more than 3,000 local young people a year
Ellesmere Port has not had a display since 2019
If you are searching from Ellesmere Port, the honest answer is that the town’s fireworks night is gone.
The Whitby Park Firework Spectacular was run by Ellesmere Port Lions Club and drew around 4,000 people a year. It was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic, and the club itself closed at the end of December 2022 after 48 years, unable to attract new members (Chester Standard). 2019 was the last year it ran. A funfair operator expressed interest in reviving it for 2023; nothing has been advertised since.
The Lions club’s own website is still live and still carries the 2020 cancellation notice in capitals as though it were current news. It is not. Listings sites that recycle it, or that reprint “gates 4.30pm, fireworks 7.30pm” from the old Whitby Park event, are quoting a display that has not happened for seven years.
Getting there and parking
There is no parking at the racecourse for the fireworks. The racecourse’s own answer to “Can I park at the racecourse?” is no: accessible parking is in the council car park across the road from the main entrance, and a fee applies. That is Little Roodee, 452 spaces, £6.50 for 12 hours and £2 after 6pm, a five minute walk along the river. With a 4.30pm gate on a Saturday night it will fill, so arrive early or use another city centre car park. Full tariffs are on our parking in Chester page.
On foot, the racecourse is about ten minutes from the city centre and twenty from Chester station. Check roadworks and travel before you set off: on racedays New Crane Street, Watergate Street and Nuns Road close, and the racecourse has confirmed closures for the fireworks too, with times still to come.
What we will do with this page
We will add the road closure times when the racecourse or the council publishes them, and note any price rise when the early bird allocation ends.
Have your say