Good Housekeeping has listed free Guy Fawkes Day fireworks across the UK for 5 November. The roundup points readers to no-cost displays in London, Cambridge, Plymouth, Aberdeen and Inverness, with start times spread across the evening.
One of the clearest options is Coram’s Fields in Bloomsbury, London, where gates open at 3.30pm on Thursday 5 November. Stage performances begin at 4.15pm and fireworks start at 6pm, with adults allowed in only when accompanied by kids under 19 on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Coram’s Fields in Bloomsbury
The London display also stands out because Coram’s Fields works with Great Ormond Street Hospital to record the fireworks and broadcast them to children in the wards. That gives the event a wider reach than the people inside the gates, even though entry is limited by the venue’s first-come-first-serve system.
The same roundup shows how much Bonfire Night can cost elsewhere. Seasonhopper said tickets to a UK fireworks display for a family of four cost almost £30, while some of the biggest events now add drone shows, fairground rides, music and food stalls.
Midsummer Common in Cambridge
Midsummer Common in Cambridge is described as one of the largest free fireworks displays in the East of England. At Midsummer Common, music starts from 6pm and fireworks start from 7pm on Thursday 5 November.
Radio Cambridgeshire DJ Josh Lovatt starts the proceedings at Midsummer Common, and Pains Fireworks puts on the display. Pains Fireworks is described as award-winning and 100% carbon-neutral.
That mix of free entry and scale runs against the harder-to-access end of Bonfire Night. The torchlight procession in Lewes, East Sussex attracts tens of thousands of people, which has made some of the biggest events almost impossible to attend.
Plymouth Hoe in Devon
At Plymouth Hoe in Devon, the fairground opens at 4pm on Thursday 5 November. The bonfire is lit at 7pm and the fireworks start at 7.30pm, with around 20,000 spectators expected.
The display lasts 15 minutes above the city’s historic Royal Citadel. In Aberdeen, a free display starts at 7.30pm on Thursday 5 November, while in Inverness a free display starts at 7pm on the same night.
For readers deciding where to go, the practical detail is the start time: Coram’s Fields begins earliest, Cambridge follows at 7pm, and Plymouth and Aberdeen open later in the evening. The open question is which of the remaining free displays in the full roundup will draw the biggest crowd.
