Bonfire Night in London falls on a Thursday this year, so the big displays spread across the first weekend of November, from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8. Plenty of Greek and Cypriot families have adopted the tradition: wrap up, buy a toffee apple, stand in a muddy park and look up. This guide has the main displays with dates and prices, the free options, and the Greek bakeries and cafes near each park, so the evening starts with a pie and a freddo.
Guy Fawkes Night is 5 November, but almost every organised display is scheduled for Saturday 7 November, with a few on the Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Nearly all are ticketed now and the popular ones sell out early, so book this week. The Visit London round up of Bonfire Night fireworks is the most complete list; prices below are the advance rates and usually rise closer to the day.
One warning: several of the old free council displays are not running in 2026, including Crystal Palace Park, Victoria Park, Southwark Park and Clissold Park, so check before you set off on memory alone.
Alexandra Palace Fireworks and Drone Festival is the biggest Bonfire Night in London and the one Greeks from Palmers Green, Wood Green and Enfield grow up with. It runs on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November from 4pm, with the main display at 8pm on Saturday and a 6pm display on the family Sunday. Expect a bonfire, a funfair, street food, ice skating and, new this year, viewing from the Palace roof. Adults £19.50, ages 11 to 15 £15, children up to 10 £6.50.
Two smaller options: the Southgate fireworks and drones at the Walker Ground on Saturday 7 November (about £14 adults, £9.50 children, £30 family), and the Totteridge Fireworks Night at the Totteridge Millhillians cricket ground in N20 on Friday 6 November.
Getting there: Alexandra Palace station (Great Northern trains from Finsbury Park or Moorgate) or the W3 bus from Wood Green; Southgate is on the Piccadilly line; Totteridge and Whetstone is on the Northern line.
Greek stop nearby: Borneo Cafe Bakery on 29 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, is the Greek bakery between the North Circular and Ally Pally, open until 7pm on Saturday, so pick up spanakopita and koulouria on the way to the park. Source of Life Bakehouse on 258 East Barnet Road is the closest Greek bakehouse to Totteridge; it closes at 4pm, so collect pies and tsoureki in the afternoon before the Friday display.
Blackheath fireworks are on Saturday 7 November, gates at 5pm and display at 8pm, with a food village of more than 60 traders and a funfair. Adults £16, ages 11 to 15 £10, children up to 10 £5. The heath is fenced for the event, so watching free from the grass is no longer an option.
Closer to Crystal Palace and Croydon, the Beckenham Charity Fireworks at Croydon Road Recreation Ground run on Saturday 7 November from 4.30pm, with a quieter 6pm display for small children and the main show at 7.30pm (adults about £19, ages 5 to 13 about £6.40, under 4s free, some stalls cash only). The Dulwich Sports Club display the same evening is smaller and cheaper, fireworks at 7pm, adults about £14.50, under 12s £1.66.
Getting there: Blackheath station from London Bridge or Cannon Street; Clock House or Beckenham Junction for the Beckenham ground; North Dulwich or Herne Hill for Dulwich Sports Club.
Greek stop nearby: Kamari on Westow Street, Crystal Palace, is the Greek cafe and bakery on the Triangle, open until 6pm at the weekend, ten minutes by bus from Beckenham and Dulwich. Grand Cafe 241 on 241 Selhurst Road does freddo, pies and Greek sweets for the Croydon side of the family.
Battersea Park fireworks run on two nights: Saturday 7 November from 6pm with the display at 8pm, and a family Sunday on 8 November from 4.30pm with the display at 7pm. Adults £18, ages 5 to 15 £11.50, under 5s free. Merton’s Fireworks in the Park actually lands on Guy Fawkes Night: Wimbledon Park on Thursday 5 November and Morden Park on Saturday 7 November, both from 5.15pm with a quieter 6.45pm display and the main one later; adults £15.90, children £11.66.
Getting there: Battersea Park or Queenstown Road stations, or Battersea Power Station on the Northern line; Wimbledon Park on the District line; Morden South or Morden on the Northern line.
The only properly free display left in central London is Coram’s Fields in Bloomsbury on Thursday 5 November from 3.30pm; adults are only admitted with a child. Otherwise the free version of Bonfire Night in London is a hill. Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath has no gates to lock and looks across the whole city; bring a torch for the walk up. Alexandra Park outside the fenced arena gives you most of the Ally Pally show for nothing, and Primrose Hill stays open until 10pm. For a warm floor, the free viewing level at Tate Modern is open until 9pm on 6 and 7 November.
Many Greek families skip the queues and do Bonfire Night in London the Greek way: a garden, a small box of fireworks from a licensed shop, sparklers for the kids and a grill in the corner. Keep the safety basics (fireworks in sand, one person lighting, a bucket of water for the sparklers) and warn the neighbours with pets. The catering is the easy bit.
Greek stop nearby: The Greek Way, based in Orpington, brings a full souvlaki pop up to private parties and garden gatherings across London and the south east, with wraps, mezze and vegan and gluten free options.
Most displays run in rain but cancel in high wind, so check on the morning. Arrive an hour early for the food queues and leave before the finale if you have a pushchair. Dogs stay at home. Flying to Greece over the Halloween weekend? The Piccadilly line has planned closures, so check TfL before heading to Heathrow.
The Greek List events page has the most complete list of Greek events in the UK. The next ten days: Rebetiko Lounge jam session in Hackney and a Greek wine tasting at Franklin’s Wine in Notting Hill, both on Wednesday 28 October; Christos Dikeakos in conversation at the Hellenic Centre on Thursday 29 October; Ypogeia Revmata at GRis Festival at Bush Hall on Friday 30 October; the Greek List Halloween Party at the Elysée rooftop on Saturday 31 October; the Orpheus poetry evening at Ivy and the Wolf in Crystal Palace on Wednesday 4 November; Evangelia: The Parea Tour at XOYO and the Georgia Metaxas talk at the Hellenic Centre on Thursday 5 November; and Gidiki live at Brixton Jamm on Friday 6 November. Listing your own event is free.
The bakeries, cafes and caterers in this guide are Greek List members. More than 100,000 Greeks and Cypriots in the UK read Greek List every month on the site, the newsletter and the Ellines sto Londino Facebook group, and Greek List listings rank first on Google. Want your business in the next guide? Pick a plan or add your listing today.
Which display are you going to this year? Share your plans and your photos with the Facebook group Ellines sto Londino.
