When is Bonfire Night?

5 November, 2026 to 2035

The fireworks curfew

Regulation 7 of the Fireworks Regulations 2004 bans the use of adult fireworks between 11pm and 7am, with four exceptions: Bonfire Night, when the limit is midnight, and the nights of the Chinese New Year, Diwali and New Year's Eve, when it is 1am. The ban does not apply to local authorities running a display, or to a national public celebration. Breaking the curfew is a criminal offence under the Fireworks Act 2003, and police can issue a fixed penalty notice. The simulator under the summary gives the limit for any night you choose.

Councils can also set rules for their own parks and land, and many ask residents to warn neighbours with pets or young children. Scotland passed its own Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act in 2022, which limits the days on which fireworks may be used by the public; Northern Ireland requires a licence for most fireworks.

Remember, remember

The plot was led by Robert Catesby; Fawkes, the explosives expert, was caught in the early hours of 5 November 1605. Londoners lit bonfires that night to celebrate the King's survival, and Parliament made the day an annual thanksgiving. The effigies burned on bonfires, called guys, gave the English language the word for a man. The best known celebrations today are in Lewes in East Sussex, with torchlit processions through the town, and in Ottery St Mary in Devon, with burning tar barrels.

Safety and the dark evenings

Bonfire Night comes a week or two after the clocks go back, so it is dark by about 4.30pm. Fire services advise organised displays over home fireworks, and keeping pets indoors from dusk. Remembrance Sunday follows soon after, on the second Sunday in November.

Bonfires and the law

A bonfire in your own garden is not banned, but it must not cause a nuisance to neighbours, and smoke drifting across a road can be an offence if it endangers traffic. Councils can act against repeated nuisance under environmental law. Fire services advise building a bonfire well away from buildings, fences and trees, checking it for hedgehogs and other animals before lighting, never using petrol or paraffin, and keeping water or a hose nearby. Organised displays remain the safest way to enjoy the night.

Pets are often frightened by fireworks. Animal charities suggest walking dogs before dark, closing curtains, keeping a radio or television on and giving the animal a quiet place to hide, and keeping small pets in hutches indoors or covered over during the evening.