Chichester's lights go on at 5pm on Saturday 21 November at the Market Cross, switched on by two local heroes. Nominations close 30 October. Free.

Chichester’s Christmas lights will be switched on at 5pm on Saturday 21 November 2026, by the Market Cross. Chichester BID confirmed the date on 1 October, and it is free.

Updated 3 October: the BID has confirmed Saturday 21 November at 5pm, the date this page predicted, and opened nominations for the two local heroes who will switch the lights on.

The event is called Light Up Chichester and it is run by Chichester BID, the city centre business improvement district. This year it is delivered in partnership with Chichester City Council. Chichester District Council builds its Priory Park festive programme around it.

Confirmed: Saturday 21 November, 5pm

From the BID’s announcement of 1 October:

  • When: Saturday 21 November 2026. The lights go on at 5pm.
  • Where: a stage near the Market Cross. Festivities build through the afternoon in the city centre.
  • Who presses the switch: two “local heroes” chosen by public nomination, one aged under 18 and one 18 or over.
  • Afterwards: the Light Up Chichester After Party at participating venues across the city centre.

The BID has not yet published the afternoon’s running order, the performers or the list of after-party venues. In 2025 the countdown was outside the Assembly Rooms on North Street; this year’s announcement puts the stage near the Market Cross.

Nominate a local hero by 30 October

Anyone can nominate someone who volunteers, supports others or goes beyond their job, through the BID’s Light Up Chichester page. There are separate forms for the under-18 and 18-and-over categories.

  • Nominations close at midnight on Friday 30 October 2026.
  • Nominees must be free between 4.30pm and 5.30pm on Saturday 21 November.
  • Winners are told at least two weeks before the event.
  • The judges are Natasha McLeod, chief executive of Chichester BID; the Mayor of Chichester, Councillor Sean McHale; Nicola Brown of the law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, which supports the scheme; and Mark Waldron, editor in chief of Sussex World.

The day after the BID ballot count

Chichester BID is running its renewal ballot this autumn. Ballot papers go out on 20 October, completed papers must reach the ballot holder by 5pm on 19 November, and the count is on 20 November, with the result declared by Chichester District Council. So the BID will run the switch-on the day after finding out whether it has a fourth term.

That ballot decides the BID’s fourth term, 2027 to 2032. It does not affect the 2026 event either way, because the current term runs into 2027.

What the event looked like in 2025

Chichester BID’s own listing for Light Up Chichester sets out the 2025 shape, which is the best guide to the afternoon until the BID publishes this year’s programme.

Element 2025 detail
Date Saturday 22 November 2025
Whole event 10am to 6pm
Where East Street, North Street and The Cross
Food and drink market East Street, 10am to 6pm, more than a dozen local traders
Live music and dance North Street, 12pm to 5.30pm
Countdown 4.59pm, outside the Assembly Rooms on North Street
Lights on 5pm
After party From 6pm, bars and restaurants across the city

The countdown was fronted by elves from Chichester Festival Theatre alongside “local heroes” chosen by nomination. There were snow flutter effects and projections on the Assembly Rooms, and performances from Big Noise, Arabesque Dance School, the RG Steel Pan Band, Dance and Beyond, Rock Choir, Stagecoach and The Prebendal School Choir.

It is free to attend.

The weather has form here

This is the practical warning worth carrying into November. Chichester’s outdoor festive events have been called off in each of the last two years, and both times the reason was wind.

  • In 2024, the pop-up food event that was meant to run alongside the switch-on on East Street was cancelled on 20 November, three days before the event, because of forecast high winds and heavy rain.
  • In 2025, the Chichester Festive Market was cancelled for Saturday 6 December because gusts were expected to make the gazebos unstable. The council announced it the day before and let the Sunday market go ahead.

The lights themselves are on a building and go on regardless. The market stalls and the staging are the part that goes.

What follows the switch-on

Chichester District Council runs a separate festive programme once the lights are up, based at The Guildhall in Priory Park. In 2025 that ran from 28 November and included storytelling for pre-schoolers, silent discos, concerts, a DJ set for teenagers, a children’s magic show and a commissioned pantomime. The council said the nine-day programme drew about 1,400 people and largely sold out.

For 2026 the council has confirmed one part so far: The Priory Park Pantomime Experience returns to The Guildhall on six dates from 12 to 22 December, £11 an adult and £8 a child, with booking open now. It says the full programme will be announced in early November. Our Christmas shows page has the show times.

The Chichester Festive Markets ran on North Street and East Street over two December weekends: 6, 7, 13 and 14 December 2025, Saturdays 9am to 5pm and Sundays 10am to 4pm.

There was also an interactive lights installation at Chichester Cathedral’s Bell Tower, delivered jointly by the district council, the BID and Chichester City Council.

The markets and the Bell Tower lights are not confirmed for 2026 yet. Our Christmas markets page tracks the market dates.

Parking on the day

The council has run festive parking offers for the last two Decembers. In 2025, booking two hours at a weekend through the MiPermit app got a third hour free across most council car parks, with the Avenue de Chartres multi-storey excluded, and Sundays were free at Avenue de Chartres through December.

Whether that repeats in 2026 has not been announced. Our parking page has the standard tariffs, and the roadworks and travel page covers city centre closures. For the pantomime and Christmas shows, see our Chichester Christmas shows page.

Still to be confirmed

  • The afternoon programme, performers and after-party venues. Expected from Chichester BID in November.
  • The rest of the Priory Park festive programme. The council says early November.
  • The Chichester Festive Market dates. Announced in November in 2025.
  • Festive parking offers. Announced late November in 2025.

This page will be updated as each is published.

Sources