The St Albans Fireworks Spectacular is confirmed for Saturday 7 November in Verulamium Park. Gates 6pm, display 7.30pm, early bird adults £10 to 16 October.

Bonfire night 2026 falls on Thursday 5 November. St Albans does not mark it on the night itself. The city’s display is the St Albans Fireworks Spectacular in Verulamium Park on Saturday 7 November, and it is confirmed twice over: on the organiser’s own event page and on the council’s list of events booked into the park.

Everything below was checked against organisers’ and the council’s own published material on 5 September 2026.

St Albans Fireworks Spectacular, Verulamium Park, Saturday 7 November

The display is run by St Albans Cathedral, not by the council, and it is a fundraiser. The cathedral’s event page gives the timings as:

  • Gates and the Food Village open at 6pm
  • Fireworks at 7.30pm
  • Event ends at 8.15pm, per the start and end times on the same page

Tickets are sold in three tiers, and the cut-off between the first two is a hard date rather than a “while stocks last” line.

Early bird, until midnight on Friday 16 October

  • Adult £10
  • Child aged 4 to 16 £6
  • Family, two adults and two children £28.50
  • Children 3 and under free

Online from Saturday 17 October

  • Adult £12.50
  • Child aged 4 to 16 £7.50
  • Family £35
  • Children 3 and under free

On the gate, from 6pm on the night

  • Adult £15
  • Child aged 4 to 16 £10
  • Family £40
  • Children 3 and under free

The family price covers two adults and two children, and the cathedral says the early bird rate and the family discount apply automatically in the basket. Ticket income goes to two named charities: Isabel Hospice and the Herts Domestic Abuse Helpline.

One access detail is easy to miss. The cathedral’s page says the accessible area can be reached through Gate 1 only. If you need it, that decides which side of the park you approach from.

A warning about the tab title. The cathedral’s fireworks page still opens with “St Albans Fireworks Spectacular 2025” in the browser tab while the page itself is headed 2026, carries 2026 prices and was last updated on 13 August 2026. The stale bit is the tab, not the content. The council’s own events in Verulamium Park page independently lists “St Albans Fireworks Spectacular, Saturday 7th November 2026”, which is the second source we wanted before publishing a date.

Parking, and why arriving early costs more

Two council car parks sit on the park. Their tariffs are not the same shape, and the cheap evening rate does not start until after most people have arrived.

Verulamium Surface Car Park, St Michaels Street, AL3 4SW. 150 spaces, 7 disabled bays, open 24 hours. It has no one or two hour tariff: the shortest stay is three hours at £2.80, charged Monday to Sunday up to 6.30pm. From 6.30pm to 10pm it is £2.00. PayByPhone codes are 802745 for cars and 802746 for coaches.

Westminster Lodge Car Park, Holywell Hill, AL1 2DJ. 325 spaces, 29 disabled bays, the largest option here. Up to two hours £1.50, three hours £3.20, four hours £5.90. It needs your registration number at the machine. Evening rate from 6.30pm to 10pm is £2.00.

If gates open at 6pm and the display starts at 7.30pm, arriving at 5.45pm means you buy a day tariff, not the £2 evening rate. At Verulamium that is £2.80 whatever you do. At Westminster Lodge £1.50 buys two hours, which does not cover a 5.45pm arrival and an 8.15pm finish, so £3.20 is the realistic ticket.

Check the park entrance you plan to use. The council’s Verulamium Park FAQ page says the St Michaels Street entrance and the path through Bell Meadow (Public Right of Way 30) are closed on health and safety grounds after flooding, with no reopening date set because repairs may need Scheduled Monument Consent from Historic England. That FAQ carries no date, so treat it as a reason to check rather than a statement about November.

Our St Albans parking page has the full tariff tables for every council car park in the district, and the roadworks and travel page tracks the closures running across the city this autumn, including the A414 weekend closures at Park Street that push traffic through the centre.

Redbourn: the parish council’s page is still selling last year

Redbourn Common has run a free, volunteer-organised display for years, and it is the nearest alternative to the city one.

As of 5 September 2026, Redbourn Parish Council’s own fireworks page still says “This year’s firework display is being held on Saturday 8th November 2025”. There is no 2026 date anywhere on it. The page is otherwise current, so this is a page that has not been updated rather than an event that has been cancelled.

The 2025 shape is the best guide to what to expect: the funfair, run by Philip Green, opened at 5pm on the Common with food and drink along The Avenue, and the display started at 7pm. Entry was free. The event is funded entirely by sponsorship, bucket collections on the night and raffle tickets, which is why there is no ticket page to watch. Watch the parish council site instead.

Harpenden: one TBC entry, and nothing else

Harpenden Town Council runs no fireworks display. Its published autumn and winter 2026 programme goes straight from the Statty Funfair in September to the Remembrance Parade on 8 November, and its calendar has nothing at all on 1 or 5 November.

The town’s display is the one at Harpenden Rugby Club, Redbourn Lane, AL5 2BA, and the only 2026 evidence for it is inside the club’s own fixture calendar. November 2026 there carries repeated entries reading “TBC - Fireworks (no home games)”, blocking out Sunday 1 November. October and December carry none. So the club has protected a date and told its teams why, but has published no event page, no start time and no tickets.

The club’s past displays give the pattern: Sunday 2 November 2025, Sunday 3 November 2024, and Sunday 6 November 2022, that last one with gates at 4pm, the display at 6pm, and tickets at £10 an adult, £5 a child up to 16 and £30 a family of two adults and four children, with a free shuttle bus from outside Chef Peking. Those are history, not this year’s prices.

Also on Saturday 7 November

The cathedral is busy twice that day. Pop Up Creative Events runs a Christmas Artisan Market and Art Fair in the nave, listed on its own Eventbrite page as 70-plus artisan stalls with an art exhibition of 22 artists. Saturday entry is £2.50 for adults and free for under-16s; the art fair then stays open free on Sunday 8 November, 12.30pm to 4pm, and Monday 9 November, 9.30am to 5pm. The listing contradicts itself on the Saturday closing time, giving both 5pm and 3pm, so check before making a late trip.

What is still to come

  • Redbourn: a 2026 date. In past years the parish council has confirmed it during October, on the same page that currently shows 2025.
  • Harpenden Rugby Club: confirmation of Sunday 1 November, a start time and ticket sales. The club has historically announced through its own news page and through school PTAs in October.
  • St Albans Fireworks Spectacular: nothing outstanding. Date, times and all three price tiers are published.

Everything here was verified against organisers’ own published material on 5 September 2026. Dates and prices change; check the organiser before you travel.

Sources