Reading Fireworks: No Town Display; Woodley 6 Nov, 7.30pm

Bonfire night 2026 falls on Thursday 5 November, and the honest answer for Reading is that the town no longer has a display of its own. The Lions club event that was Reading’s fireworks night last ran in 2022. Reading Borough Council does not put one on. What the borough gets instead is a funfair operator’s free display in October, and that has not been confirmed for this year.

Updated 26 October: Windsor Racecourse has moved to its next price band: adult admission is now £16 and child £10, and the family bundle is no longer listed. Beach’s still shows no Palmer Park date with October half term under way, so an October display there this year looks unlikely.

Updated 19 October: Sparks in the Park at Swallowfield has now been and gone (17 October), so the nearest display is 1st Woodley Scouts on Friday 6 November. Windsor Racecourse says its second-release adult tickets are 95% sold. Beach’s has still not announced a Palmer Park date.

Updated 12 October: 1st Woodley Scouts have confirmed their display for Friday 6 November 2026, gates 6pm, fireworks 7.30pm, with advance tickets up 50p on last year. Beach’s has still not announced Palmer Park.

Updated 5 October: Sparks in the Park now publishes its timings: car park from 6pm, last entry 7.15pm, fireworks 7.30pm, tickets online only. Beach’s still has not announced Palmer Park.

Updated 3 October: Sparks in the Park at Swallowfield has confirmed Saturday 17 October 2026, and Windsor Racecourse has published its 7 November times and prices.

This page sets out what is verified, what has lapsed and where the nearest confirmed 2026 displays are. Everything was first checked on 4 September 2026 and rechecked on 19 October.

Reading’s own display: gone

The Reading Lions Fireworks Spectacular was held at Reading City FC’s ground on Scours Lane, off the Oxford Road. The archived event site shows the last one clearly: Friday 4 November 2022, gates 5.30pm, display 7.30pm, family ticket £18 for two adults and three children, adults £7, children £3, under 5s free. It sold out in advance the year before.

Three checks say it has not come back.

1. In its October 2023 fireworks round-up, Reading Today reported under the heading “Reading Fireworks”: “Sadly, Reading Lions are unable to hold a fireworks event this year.”
2. The event domain has lapsed. readinglionsfireworks.org.uk no longer belongs to the club. Loaded today it serves an unrelated train timetable site. The last useful web archive capture, from January 2025, shows the page had already been reduced to a redirect to the Lions’ main site.
3. Reading Lions Club’s own website no longer mentions fireworks anywhere. readinglions.org.uk lists the club’s current work as food donations, prostate cancer screening, spectacle recycling and Message in a Bottle. Its upcoming events entry is a booking that opened on 1 September 2026, and it is not a fireworks night.

The council does not run one

Reading Borough Council has no bonfire night event. Its only fireworks page is safety and noise advice, last updated on 14 June 2022, and it covers the law on selling and setting off fireworks rather than any council display. Nothing appears in What’s On Reading, the listings service the council itself runs through Reading Arts and Venues.

That is not a criticism of the council. It is the position, and it is worth knowing before you drive into town on 5 November expecting something to be on.

The free display Reading does get, in October

Beach’s funfair brings a free fireworks display to Palmer Park, off the Wokingham Road, RG6 1LE. It is not a bonfire night event: it lands in October, tied to half term rather than to 5 November.

Its recent form, from the operator’s listings:

Entry is free, there is parking on site, and the funfair opens at 1pm at the weekend, 5pm on a Friday. Rides are paid for on a token system. The 2023 run was reported by Reading Today and the 2025 dates come from the Reading Rocks listing.

2026 has not been announced. On 26 October, in half term week, that same listing still read “Sorry, there are no future dates available”. Given the pattern, a mid to late October weekend is the thing to watch for, but no date has been published and this page will not invent one.

The nearest displays with a confirmed 2026 date

Sparks in the Park, Saturday 17 October 2026 (now past), Swallowfield Showground on the Farley Estate, RG7 1TH, about six miles south of Reading. The organisers have confirmed the date on their own site: a professional display with music, food and family entertainment, raising money for Farley Hill Primary School. Tickets are sold online only and the site says “no access will be granted without a ticket”; there are no tickets at the gate. The organisers’ FAQ gives the night’s timings: the car park opens at 6pm, last entry to the car park is 7pm, last entry to the event is 7.15pm, and the gates are shut before the 7.30pm display, with no entry or exit after 7.15pm. Premium parking is £3 a car booked online or £5 on the night, through the main gate of Swallowfield Park off Church Road; there is limited free parking in the village further away. Last year’s was on Saturday 25 October. The details stay here for anyone planning next year.

1st Woodley Scouts, Friday 6 November 2026, Rivermead Primary School, Loddon Bridge Road, Woodley, about four miles east of Reading town centre. The scout group’s own page now has this year’s details: gates open at 6pm and the fireworks start at 7.30pm. Advance tickets, on sale until 5 November, are £10.50 adults, £6.50 children aged 3 to 16 and £23 for a family (two adults and up to three children, or one adult and up to four); under 3s are free. Prices are higher on the gate, under 18s must come with an adult, and smoking and alcohol are not allowed on site. Last year’s prices were £10, £6 and £22.

Wokingham Fireworks, Saturday 7 November 2026 at Cantley Field, about seven miles from Reading town centre. This one is confirmed on the organiser’s own site.

The event programme is worth reading before you go, because it has three rules that catch people out. Tickets have been advance only in past years and not sold at the gate, which is how Reading Today reported it in 2023. Dogs are not allowed on the field at all. Alcohol is not allowed on the field. Parking around Cantley Field is very limited and the organisers ask you to use a Wokingham town centre car park and walk down with the procession. It is run by volunteers for the Wokingham Fireworks Charitable Trust, and the 2025 target was £25,000 for local causes.

Royal Windsor Racecourse Fireworks Night, Saturday 7 November 2026, Maidenhead Road, Windsor SL4 5JJ, about 20 miles east. Gates open 4.30pm, fireworks 7.30pm and gates close 9.30pm, with a fun fair before the display. On 26 October the racecourse’s event page priced advance admission at £16 for adults (13 and over) and £10 for children aged 4 to 12, flagged “Tickets selling fast”. That is up from £14 and £8.50 a week earlier, when the second release was marked “95% SOLD”, and the £40 family bundle has gone. The 1866 Restaurant package is £44 an adult and £24 a child; private suites start at £39 a head.

If you are going somewhere with fireworks

Two practical points. First, none of the displays above is in Reading town centre, so you are driving or getting a train, and the nearest ones sell out in advance rather than on the night. Second, if you are parking in Reading and travelling on from there, our parking page has the council tariffs and the roadworks and travel page covers what is closed.

This page will be updated when Beach’s confirms Palmer Park for 2026. On past timing it should have done so by late September, and it had not by 26 October.