The Uxbridge BID has announced its switch-on in the first half of October two years running, and every one since 2019 fell between 16 and 23 November. Here is the record.
On 3 September 2026 there is no announced date for the Uxbridge Christmas lights switch-on. That is normal. On the Uxbridge BID’s own record the announcement lands in the first half of October.
Worse, the BID’s website actively misleads you if you go looking. Its homepage lists “Festive Fun in Uxbridge town centre” under Upcoming Events, and the event page it opens gives an event start date of 30 November 2022 and an end date of 24 December 2022. (Love Uxbridge) The site has no 2023, 2024 or 2025 Christmas page left on it at all: the newest one in its own sitemap is 2022’s.
The record, and what it points to
The switch-on is run by Love Uxbridge, the Uxbridge Business Improvement District, jointly with the Tinsel Town market operator. These are the dates we could verify from first-party pages.
| Year | Date | Announced | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Saturday 16 November | not published | BID report of 18 Nov 2019 |
| 2021 | Saturday 20 November | 10 November 2021 | BID news page |
| 2022 | Saturday 19 November | not published | BID event page |
| 2024 | Saturday 23 November | 11 October 2024 | BID news page |
| 2025 | Saturday 22 November | 7 October 2025 | BID news page, and The Chimes |
Sources: Christmas Lights Switch On, Saturday 20th November, Christmas Lights Switch On 2022, Celebrating Christmas in Uxbridge, A Very Uxbridge Christmas: Switch On 2024, Love Uxbridge Christmas Lights Switch On, 2025, The Chimes. The 2024 and 2025 pages were taken down in the BID’s website relaunch and are quoted from the Internet Archive. We could not find a 2023 date on any first-party page.
Every one of those five switch-ons fell on the Saturday between 16 and 23 November. In 2026 there is exactly one Saturday in that window: Saturday 21 November 2026. That is our arithmetic from the BID’s record, not an announcement, and the BID has not confirmed anything. Treat it as the date to keep free, then check for the real one in the first fortnight of October.
What the day usually looks like
The shape has been almost identical since 2021, so it is a fair guide to what to expect.
- Christmas market, run by Tinsel Town, 10am to 7pm on the day. In 2022 the market itself ran from 17 November through to 24 December.
- Roaming performers, 3pm to 7pm. Past line-ups have included LED drummers, stilt walkers, the Grinch and Cindy-Lou Who, Buddy the Elf, Ember the Christmas Dragon, and West Drayton Brass Band in 2019.
- Live music on the Christmas stage, 3pm to 7pm, with a DJ from 2pm in 2025.
- Lights on at 5pm, with a fireworks display. This has been the fixed point of the day in every year we could check, and it is the only public fireworks display in Uxbridge town centre: see our bonfire night page for why the “Uxbridge fireworks” in November are actually in Harrow.
- The 2021 and 2022 events opened at 2pm. The 2024 and 2025 events published start times of 3pm for performers with a 10am market.
The BID names The Chimes and The Pavilions as the parking for the day. Both are private, not council car parks, so the council’s HillingdonFirst discounts do not apply there. Our parking in Uxbridge page has the prices for the council car parks a short walk away.
The council’s programme is a separate thing
Hillingdon Council does not run the town centre switch-on. It runs a borough-wide lights scheme and its own events, and its most recent published festive round-up is from 5 November 2024. (Christmas events in Hillingdon, Hillingdon Council) In that year it said it was:
- supporting 28 council-led and four community-led Christmas lights schemes across the borough’s 21 wards
- switching on the Civic Centre forecourt display on Friday 15 November 2024, by the then Mayor Cllr Colleen Sullivan, with free mulled wine, mince pies, a brass band and school choirs from 5.45pm
- giving free parking to HillingdonFirst cardholders on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 December and Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 December, in council car parks and on-street bays, with PayByPhone users needing to register their card in the app
- selling Nordmann Christmas trees at £40 to £60 at the Rural Activities Garden Centre from 2 December
None of that is confirmed for 2026. The free parking weekends in particular are worth watching for, because they are the council’s own December giveaway and they have to be booked into your diary before the shopping weekends arrive.
Uxbridge is not the only switch-on in the borough
Three separate Hillingdon switch-ons ran in 2025, on three different days, and only one of them was the BID’s town centre event. ianVisits’ round-up of London’s 2025 switch-ons listed Ruislip on Friday 21 November, in the town centre, Uxbridge on Friday 28 November, at the Civic Centre, and Ickenham on Monday 1 December, in the village, with no time published for any of the three. (ianVisits)
Note what that list does not contain: the BID’s own town centre switch-on on Saturday 22 November. The “Uxbridge” entry there is the council’s Civic Centre event, a different thing on a different day, six days later. Both get searched for as “Uxbridge Christmas lights”.
The Civic Centre event has a settled shape. On the council’s own event record, the Mayor of Hillingdon switches on the lights on the Christmas tree on the forecourt, with the Hillingdon Music Service brass band, solos from two borough school choirs and the Music Service Young Singers, and free mulled wine, mince pies, tea and coffee. It is free and there is no booking: “just join us on the night.” In 2022 it ran 5.45pm to 6.30pm on Thursday 24 November and added a shoe box raffle for the Mayor’s chosen charities. (Discover Hillingdon, archived 24 November 2022)
Two warnings about that page. Its date moves a lot, from Thursday 24 November in 2022 to
Friday 15 November in 2024 to Friday 28 November in 2025, so there is no rule to
extrapolate from. And the page itself has not survived the council’s move onto its new
website: discover.hillingdon.gov.uk/christmas-lights now redirects to a 404, and the
last archived copy, from January 2026, reads “Currently there are no instances scheduled
for this event”.
Two 2026 dates that are already fixed
The switch-on may be unannounced, but two of the borough’s bigger festive days already have 2026 dates and prices on the council’s events system.
Manor Farm Christmas Festival, Sunday 22 November 2026, 10am to 4pm. Great Barn, Manor Farm Site, Bury Street and Eastcote Road, Ruislip HA4 7SU. £14 per child, with free entry for up to two adults. The ticket covers Christmas crafts all day, drop-in storytelling all day, Santa’s grotto on timed entry, and a sing-along with Elsa from Frozen between 1pm and 2pm. Free for two children on a family Hillingdon Heritage membership. (Manor Farm Christmas Festival)
Keep Calm It’s Christmas, Saturday 5 December 2026, 10am to 4.30pm. Battle of Britain Bunker, Wren Avenue, Uxbridge UB10 0GG, priced “£14 to free” depending on the activity. A wartime Christmas day with crafts, storytelling, festive family tours and a Christmas sing-a-thon. (Keep Calm It’s Christmas)
The rest of the council’s confirmed 2026 festive programme
Everything below is already on Hillingdon Council’s events system with a 2026 date and a price, read on 3 September. None of it depends on the switch-on announcement.
| Event | Date | Time | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manor Farm Christmas Festival | Sun 22 Nov | 10am to 4pm | Great Barn, Manor Farm, Ruislip HA4 7SU | £14 per child, up to 2 adults free |
| Eastcote House Gardens tree dressing | Sat 28 Nov | 1pm to 3pm | Eastcote House Gardens, High Road, Pinner HA5 2FE | Free |
| Wreath making workshop and Christmas talk | Sat 28 Nov | 3pm to 5pm | Eastcote House Gardens, Pinner HA5 2FE | £25 |
| Victorian Christmas: bobbin lace making | Wed 2 Dec and Sat 12 Dec | 11am to 1pm, then 3pm to 5pm | Hillingdon Museum, Civic Centre, Uxbridge UB8 1UW | £10 |
| Keep Calm It’s Christmas | Sat 5 Dec | 10am to 4.30pm | Battle of Britain Bunker, Uxbridge UB10 0GG | “£14 to free” |
| Victorian Christmas: ghost stories | Sat 12 Dec | 6pm to 7pm | Hillingdon Museum, Uxbridge UB8 1UW | £10, welcome drink included |
| Rudolph’s Runny Nose: The Santa Show | Sun 13 Dec | 10am to 10.45am | Compass Theatre, Ickenham UB10 8PD | £15 adult, £13 under-16 |
| Festive Secrets Uncovered tour | Sat 19 Dec | 2.30pm to 4.30pm | Battle of Britain Bunker, Uxbridge UB10 0GG | £15 adult, £12 over-65, under-16s free |
Three things in that table are easy to miss. The Manor Farm ticket is priced per child, with up to two adults free, and it is free for two children on a family Hillingdon Heritage membership, which also makes the two Eastcote House workshops free. The ghost stories and the lace workshop are 16-plus, so they are not family events despite sitting in the same programme. And the Festive Secrets tour goes 76 steps down into the bunker with no lift, is 12-plus, and runs about 90 minutes, so wear proper shoes.
Sources, all Hillingdon Council: Manor Farm, tree dressing, wreath making, bobbin lace, Keep Calm It’s Christmas, ghost stories, The Santa Show, Festive Secrets Uncovered.
Remembrance Sunday is the other fixed date in the same weeks. The council lists one event, a wreath laying ceremony at the Battle of Britain Bunker on Sunday 8 November, 11am to 11.30am, free, in the Memorial Garden. No town centre parade or service has been published. (Hillingdon Council)
For the pantomimes, and the two rival Jack and the Beanstalks running in the borough this December, see our Uxbridge pantomime page.
What to watch for, and when
- Early October 2026: the BID’s switch-on announcement. It came on 11 October in 2024 and 7 October in 2025, both on loveuxbridge.co.uk and repeated by The Chimes.
- Early November 2026: the council’s festive round-up, which is where the free parking weekends and the Civic Centre switch-on date appear.
- Road closures for the day have never been published in advance by either organisation. Our roadworks and travel page tracks what is actually notified.
Verified on 3 September 2026 against the organisers’ own pages and archived copies of the pages they have since removed. This page will be updated when the 2026 date is announced.
Have your say
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