Clevedon switches on in Queen's Square at 6pm on Friday 20 November and Nailsea's tree lights up on 4 December. Weston and Portishead have not set dates yet.

Two North Somerset towns have now set their 2026 dates. Clevedon switches on its lights in Queen’s Square on Friday 20 November, 6pm to 7.30pm, and Nailsea’s Christmas Tree Light Up is on Friday 4 December, with carols from 5.15pm and the tree lit at 6pm. Weston-super-Mare Town Council has confirmed there will be a switch-on this year but not the date, and Portishead’s organisers still show the date as TBC. (Clevedon Town Council, Nailsea Town Council)

Updated 2 October: Clevedon and Nailsea dates added from the two town councils’ own calendars, and Weston-super-Mare Town Council’s 2026 notice added.

One Weston date is fixed: the eat:Weston Christmas market, in the Italian Gardens and the Winter Gardens on Saturday 21 November, 10am to 4pm, free to attend. In past years the town’s official switch-on has been held on the same day as that market, in the same gardens, so 21 November is the date to watch. (Visit Weston, eat:Festivals)

Below is what each town has actually published, and what it does not tell you.

Weston-super-Mare: confirmed, but no date

Weston-super-Mare Town Council says that it and the Weston-super-Mare Business Improvement District will “once again” bring the annual Christmas Tree and Official Lights Switch-On event to the town centre in 2026, “with the date to be announced in due course”. The entertainment programme and timings are also still to come. (Weston-super-Mare Town Council)

For the shape of the evening, the council’s fullest description is a page published on 27 November 2023, which describes that year’s event: the Italian Gardens from 4.30pm, the lights switched on between 5pm and 5.30pm by the mayor, the winner of the Christmas card competition and Santa, a lantern procession with local children, performances from local groups and mince pies, with over 100 producers at an eat:Weston Christmas market from 10am across the Italian Gardens and the Winter Gardens. (Weston-super-Mare Town Council)

That is a three-year-old page. Take the shape of the event from it, not the day. The council’s live events feed, checked on 2 October, runs into January 2027 and still carries committee meetings only, with no switch-on in it.

So the honest answer to “when are Weston’s Christmas lights switched on in 2026” is that the council has said it is happening but not when. The market on 21 November is the only anchor there is.

Portishead: running order published, date still TBC

Portishead’s lights are not a council event. They are run by Portishead Christmas Lights, a community interest company formed in 1974, funded by year-round fundraising, local business donations and a town council grant, and put up by more than 100 volunteers. The display now runs more than a mile, from the youth centre at the corner of Harbour Road to the end of the High Street near Gordano School, taking in the Waitrose Piazza and the tower at St Peter’s Church. (Portishead Christmas Lights, Visit Portishead)

The organisers’ own “what’s happening” page has the running order and the road closures already, but the date field on it still reads TBC:

  • Event starts 5.40pm with the host and entertainment.
  • Lights on and fireworks at 6.45pm.
  • Roads close from 5pm: the High Street from the Wyndham Way and Old Mill junctions to Stoke Road, including Avonway, and Albert Road to Wyndham Way. A diversion is signed.
  • Santa arrives by the V-Dubs, the Volkswagens covered in Christmas lights, with the fire service and the coastguard, subject to emergency call-outs.

(Portishead Christmas Lights)

Visit Portishead says the switch-on “takes place on the last Monday of November around 6pm in the High Street near The Precinct”, and that the calendar entry appears shortly after the date is announced. The last Monday of November 2026 is 30 November. That is the pattern rather than a confirmed date, and third-party listings quoting a different Monday in November, including one now giving Monday 23 November, are not backed by anything the organisers have published. Visit Portishead’s calendar had no switch-on entry when we checked on 2 October.

Nailsea: Friday 4 December, then eat:Nailsea

Nailsea Town Council’s Christmas Tree Light Up is on Friday 4 December, in the town centre. From 5.15pm the Barn Owls, Nailsea’s own dementia choir, sing carols, and the Nailsea Community Christmas Float appears. The tree is lit at 6pm, followed by the Christmas Vee Dubs parade along the High Street from 6.10pm. The council says the full programme and timings are still to be confirmed and points people to its Facebook page for updates. (Nailsea Town Council)

The next day, Saturday 5 December, the free eat:Nailsea Christmas festival fills the High Street and the Crown Glass shopping centre from 10am to 4pm. (The council’s own listing gives 6 December in one line and 5 December in two others; the organiser’s list says Saturday 5 December, which is the right day of the week.) (eat:Festivals, Nailsea Town Council)

Last year’s light-up, due on Friday 5 December 2025, was cancelled on the day because of heavy rain and moderate winds. (Nailsea Town Council)

Clevedon: Friday 20 November, Queen’s Square

Clevedon Town Council’s events calendar lists the Christmas Lights Switch On in Queen’s Square on Friday 20 November 2026, 6pm to 7.30pm. The listing gives no programme yet. (Clevedon Town Council)

The display itself is a volunteer project, Clevedon Christmas Lights, working alongside the town council. Its coverage has grown from Pier Copse, Alexandra Gardens and Hill Road to include Queen’s Square, The Village and the Pier itself, though the fullest description of it on Discover Clevedon dates from October 2022. (Discover Clevedon)

Planning a trip in

Weston’s switch-on and market are in the Italian Gardens beside the town hall, a few minutes from the Walliscote Grove Road and Carlton Street car parks; tariffs for those and every other council car park are on our parking in North Somerset page. Portishead’s High Street closes from 5pm on its switch-on night, so park off the High Street or walk in. Whatever else is dug up that week is on our roadworks and travel page.

Weston’s other big November nights are the carnival on Friday 13 November and Fireworks at Sea on Saturday 14 November.

This page

Written on 5 September 2026 and rechecked on 2 October from what the councils and the volunteer committees have themselves published. Clevedon’s and Nailsea’s dates are confirmed by their town councils; Weston’s and Portishead’s are not, and this page says so rather than repeating a date from an aggregator. It will be updated as each town announces, which in Weston and Portishead has usually been late October or early November.