Regional Guide
Bonfire Night in the North East
Bonfire Night 2026 falls on Thursday 5 November, and that midweek date changes the picture. Most organised displays across the region shift to the nearest weekend instead, spreading themselves across three separate dates, so the single most useful thing you can do is check the day before you plan anything. Below is where the confirmed displays are, what they cost and which ones are genuinely free.
A word of caution. Fireworks listings are unusually unreliable — a number of national aggregator sites republish last year’s dates and prices under this year’s heading. Everything here was checked against the organiser’s own page, but arrangements still change, so confirm with the organiser before travelling.
Free displays
No tickets, no booking. Turn up, though be prepared for crowds and difficult parking.
North Tyneside Fireworks Display
The Links, Whitley Bay
Sunday 1 November · Free, no tickets
The borough display on the seafront at Whitley Bay. The site opens at 6pm, the fireworks go up at 7pm and run for around fifteen minutes. There is no ticketing at all — you simply turn up. The Metro runs direct and the seafront car parks fill early, so the train is usually the better bet.
Bonfire Night in Whitley Bay→South Tyneside Fireworks Displays
South Shields seafront
Sunday 1 November · Free, no tickets
Two separate displays, at 6pm and again at 8pm, fired from behind the skate park on Sea Road next to Ocean Beach Pleasure Park. The pleasure park itself opens earlier in the day with free admission, so it is easy to make an afternoon of it before the first show.
Bonfire Night in South Shields→Blyth Halloween Fireworks
Mermaid Car Park, Blyth Beach
Saturday 31 October · Free, no booking
Blyth Town Council's seafront event runs from 4pm with a funfair and food traders. There are two displays: a low-noise show at 6pm run specifically for young children and anyone with sensory difficulties, then the main display at 7.30pm. The beach car park closes from 4pm.
Bonfire Night in Blyth→Hexham Fireworks Night
The Sele, Hexham
Saturday 7 November · Free, bucket collection
Hexham Town Council's display on The Sele, the park below the abbey, with a samba band warming the crowd up beforehand. There is no bonfire — it was dropped in 2023 and the event has been fireworks-only since, choreographed to music and noticeably quieter as a result.
Bonfire Night in Hexham→Ticketed community displays
Mostly run by clubs, round tables and school associations, with the money going back into local causes.
Newcastle Round Table Fireworks Extravaganza
Gosforth Sports Association, Broadway West
Saturday 7 November · Adult £8.50, child £6.50, family from £25
The biggest organised display in the north of the city, run by the Newcastle Round Table for local causes. Gates at 5pm, fireworks around 7pm. Tickets are sold online only with no sales on the gate, and there is no parking at the ground, so travel by Metro.
Bonfire Night in Gosforth→Blue Flames Fireworks Display
Whitley Park, Benton
Thursday 5 November · Adult £8.50, child £5.50, family £25
One of the very few displays actually held on Bonfire Night itself. Gates at 5.30pm, fireworks at 7.30pm, about five minutes from Benton Metro. That makes it the most practical option for anyone in Heaton, Jesmond or Longbenton. Online booking only.
Bonfire Night in Heaton→Friends of PCPS Fireworks Display
Ponteland Community Primary School
Thursday 5 November · £5.50 plus booking fee, under 2s free
Ponteland's community display, also on the night itself. Gates at 4.30pm and fireworks at 6pm, with fairground rides, music and hot food beforehand. It is a school PTA fundraiser, which keeps both the tone friendly and the timing early enough for younger children.
Bonfire Night in Ponteland→Morpeth RFC Bonfire Night & Fireworks
Grange House Field, Mitford Road
Sunday 1 November · Around £7 adult, £5 under-12s, cash only
Morpeth's bonfire night has run at the rugby club for more than forty years and is one of the few events in this list with an actual bonfire, lit at 6pm. Gates at 5pm. There is no online booking — you pay at the gate, and the club has historically been cash only.
Bonfire Night in Morpeth→Alnwick Community Fireworks
Alnwick Town Juniors FC, Taylor Drive
Saturday 7 November · Adult £6, child £4, under 4s free
Alnwick Round Table's town display, with gates at 6pm and the first launch at 7.30pm. Note the venue moved in 2025 to the Town Juniors ground on Taylor Drive, NE66 2DH — plenty of listings still carry the old rugby club postcode.
Bonfire Night in Alnwick→Tynemouth Cricket Club Fireworks
Preston Avenue, North Shields
Saturday 7 November · £4 to £7, group ticket £20
The coast's community display, at the cricket ground between Tynemouth and North Shields and walkable from either Metro station. Gates at 5pm, fireworks from 7pm. Tickets in advance — the club's booking link changes every year, so check you are on the current listing.
Bonfire Night in Tynemouth→County Durham
One display in the city itself, and several bigger ones a short drive out.
Durham City’s own display is Durham Amateur Rowing Club’s Fireworks by the River, fired over the Wear from the City Boathouse on Green Lane on Sunday 1 November, with gates at 5pm and the display around 7pm. Tickets are cheap and booked online. It is a club event rather than a council one, so it is smaller than the county ground’s — but it is the only one you can walk to from the centre. Further out, Durham Cricket at Chester-le-Street puts on the biggest display in the county on Saturday 7 November, and there are others at Spennymoor and Hardwick Hall near Sedgefield on Bonfire Night itself, and on the coast at Seaham. Coxhoe’s long-running display will not return in 2026 — a housing development beside the park means the required safety perimeter can no longer be met.
Bonfire Night in Durham →Towns without a display
Some once had one, and it is worth knowing why they no longer do.
A few places in the region genuinely have nowhere local to go. Jesmond’s display at Newcastle Cricket Club last ran in 2014 and lapsed when the organiser stepped down. The Ouseburn display at the City Stadium, once billed as Newcastle’s largest free show, last ran on 5 November 2019 and did not survive the pandemic. Hebburn’s Carr-Ellison Park bonfire last ran in 2019, and while two clubs in the town have held displays more recently, neither had announced anything for 2026. In each case the nearest realistic option is a short Metro ride away, and our town guides set out exactly where.
North Shields is the opposite case — it has no display branded as its own, but the Tynemouth Cricket Club fireworks are fired from Preston Avenue, inside North Shields, and are walkable from the town.
Plan & book your visit
- Book attraction tickets & tours→— castles, tours & days out across the region
- Find places to stay→
More autumn ideas
Make a season of it with our guides to Halloween in the North East, pumpkin picking near Newcastle and Christmas across the region, or see what is on across the region this weekend.