Weymouth Beach on Thursday 5 November: drones 7.15pm, fireworks 8pm. Dorchester Rugby Club fires at 7.30pm the same night, £7 on the gate. Lyme on the 7th.

Weymouth’s bonfire night display is on Thursday 5 November 2026 on Weymouth Beach, and it is the one fixture in the county with every detail already published. Weymouth Town Council’s listing has the drone show at 7.15pm, the bonfire lit at 7.40pm and the fireworks from 8pm: this year’s display adds “a pilot drone display over the bay”. Dorchester Rugby Club’s display is the same night, gates 5.30pm and fireworks 7.30pm, and Sherborne’s schools’ display follows on Saturday 7 November.

The rest of the county’s displays are run by rugby clubs, Rotary branches and school associations, and several had not published 2026 dates by 1 November. This page carries what the organisers themselves have confirmed, what they did last year, and where the gaps are.

The quick answer

  • Weymouth: Thursday 5 November, Weymouth Beach. Traders on the Promenade from 5pm, drone show over the bay 7.15pm, bonfire lit 7.40pm, fireworks 8pm, fired from a vessel in Weymouth Bay. Organised by Weymouth Town Council; no ticket is mentioned.
  • Dorchester: Thursday 5 November, Dorchester Rugby Club, Coburg Road. Gates 5.30pm, fireworks 7.30pm. Pay on the gate, cash or card: £7 for 16 and over, £5 for children 5 to 16, £20 for a family of four.
  • Melbury House: Friday 6 November, DT2 0LW. Gates 6pm, fireworks 7pm, bonfire, BBQ and refreshments. Booked tickets.
  • Lyme Regis: Saturday 7 November, 6.30pm, Marine Parade, fireworks over the harbour. Free, with cash donations collected on the night.
  • Sherborne: Saturday 7 November, 7pm to 9pm, at Sherborne Girls on Bradford Road, the Joint Schools’ annual display. Booking on TryBooking has been open since 12 October.
  • Bridport Rugby Club’s display was on Saturday 1 November 2025, free, at Brewery Fields, gates 6pm and fireworks 8pm. Bridport had not published 2026 details when we checked on 1 November.

Updated 18 October: Weymouth Town Council has timed the pilot drone show for 7.15pm, before the bonfire. The Sherborne schools’ display now runs to 9pm.

Updated 25 October: Dorchester Rugby Club has announced its display for Thursday 5 November, gates 5.30pm, fireworks 7.30pm, with gate prices.

Updated 28 October: Weymouth Town Council has published the full plan for 5 November: funfair rides at the Jubilee Clock from 5pm to 9.30pm, extra First buses on routes 1, 2 and 10, a Facebook livestream, and a warning that part of Dorchester Road will be closed that night for SGN’s gas main work.

Weymouth: the town council’s display

Weymouth Town Council’s event listing reads: “Join us for our annual bonfire and firework display on Weymouth Beach on Thursday 5th November.” It lists three timings: “Drone show at 7.15pm”, “The bonfire will be lit at 7.40pm” and “Fireworks begin at 8pm”, with the event itself billed as 7.30pm to 8.30pm. The address given is Weymouth Beach, The Esplanade, DT4 7AN, and the contact is the council office on 01305 239839.

The council’s fireworks page sets the display in a longer programme. The council has committed to five summer displays on Monday nights each year up to 2030, and that page now gives the running order for 5 November: “This year’s bonfire night display will also feature a pilot drone display over the bay at 7.15pm.” So arrive before 7.15pm if you want to see the drones as well as the fireworks. The council asks people to walk, cycle, take the bus or share lifts, because “the town centre and car parks will be busy”.

On 30 September the council invited traders to book stalls on the Promenade and set out the format for the night:

  • 5pm: traders on the Promenade
  • 7.40pm: the beach bonfire is lit
  • 8pm: “Fireworks are ignited from a vessel in Weymouth Bay”
  • 7.15pm: the pilot drone display over the bay, a time the council published after the traders’ notice

So the Promenade will be busy well before the bonfire, and the best views of the fireworks are along the seafront facing the bay. Pitches are 4m by 3m: £110 plus VAT for hot food, £80 plus VAT for other food and drink, and £60 plus VAT for other traders, with applications closing at 12pm on Monday 12 October.

On 27 October the council published its full guide to the night. What it adds:

  • 5pm to 9.30pm: funfair rides at the Jubilee Clock
  • charity stalls on the Promenade, including Margaret Green Charity, Weldmar Hospicecare, the RNLI, Weymouth and Portland Lions Club, the Pineapple Project and Weymouth Sea Life
  • orange sparkler buckets at the beach access points between the Pavilion and Bond Street; used sparklers go in them
  • extra First Bus services on routes 1, 2 and 10
  • a livestream of the display on the town council’s Facebook page, if you cannot get there

The council also warns that part of Dorchester Road will be closed on bonfire night while SGN replaces a gas main, so plan your route. That is the long-running closure on our roadworks and travel page, with its signed diversion. After the display, the council asks people to cross the Esplanade only at the marked crossings and the underpass. Bonfires are not allowed on council land, including its parks and gardens.

Last year’s display, on Wednesday 5 November 2025, used the same times: bonfire 7.40pm, fireworks 8pm, on the beach below the Esplanade. Our parking in Dorset page has the Weymouth car parks; the roadworks and travel page has the Dorchester Road closure and its diversion.

Lyme Regis: fireworks over the harbour

Lyme Regis’s display is on Saturday 7 November 2026 at 6.30pm, on Marine Parade, according to the Love Lyme Regis listing. The fireworks go up over the harbour with the Cobb behind them, and the listing names Lister and Langmoor Gardens as “a wonderful vantage point”. It is organised by the Lyme Regis Regatta and Carnival team and is free to attend, with “cash donations encouraged via official collectors on the night”; profits go to local good causes.

Melbury House: Friday 6 November

A bonfire and fireworks evening in the grounds of Melbury House, DT2 0LW, is on Friday 6 November 2026, listed on the Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens events page. Gates open at 6pm and the fireworks start at 7pm, with a BBQ and refreshments. Tickets are sold through the gardens’ online booking system; the listing does not print a price, so check it when you book.

With fireworks at 7pm, it finishes well before Weymouth’s display would have started, which suits families with younger children.

Sherborne: the Joint Schools’ display

The annual Joint Schools’ Fireworks Display is on Saturday 7 November 2026, 7pm to 9pm, at Sherborne Girls, Bradford Road, Sherborne DT9 3QN, according to its TryBooking page. The page says “staff and their families are warmly invited”, that wood-fired pizza wristbands can be pre-ordered through the booking link, and that sweet treats and drinks will be on sale, with no sparklers allowed on site and children supervised at all times. Because the invitation is worded for the schools’ staff and families, check with the organiser before travelling if you are not connected to the schools.

Bridport: the rugby club at Brewery Fields

Bridport Rugby Club’s Grand Fireworks Display was on Saturday 1 November 2025 at Bridport Leisure Centre, Brewery Fields, Skilling Hill Road, DT6 5LN, with gates from 6pm, fireworks at 8pm, hot food and drinks, and free entry, according to the listing then on the town’s Bridport and West Bay events site. That listing had been taken down by 3 October and no 2026 listing had replaced it when we checked again on 1 November.

Dorchester: the rugby club

Dorchester Rugby Club announced on 20 October that “Dorchester’s biggest firework event is back” on Thursday 5 November, at the club on Coburg Road, Dorchester DT1 2HX. Gates open at 5.30pm and the fireworks start at 7.30pm, half an hour before Weymouth’s.

Tickets are sold on the gate only, by cash or card:

  • 16 and over: £7
  • Children 5 to 16: £5
  • Family of four (two adults and two children under 16): £20

The club lists rides (hook-a-duck, trampolines, slides and roundabouts), burgers, hot dogs, kebabs and doughnuts, and stalls selling light-up toys and sparklers. The club’s directions are to follow the signs from the bypass to Dorchester Sports Centre; the club is the last premises on the left at the end of Coburg Road.

Everywhere else

We found no organiser listing for a November 2026 display in Swanage, Blandford, Wimborne, Shaftesbury, Gillingham or Sturminster Newton when we checked on 1 November. That does not mean there is none; it means the round tables and Rotary clubs that run them had not posted. This page will be updated as they publish.

The weekend after

Remembrance Sunday is 8 November, three days after Weymouth’s display. Dorchester’s service at the war memorial starts at 10.55am; the details town by town are on our Remembrance Sunday page. The Christmas lights go on in Lyme Regis on 21 November and in Dorchester, Weymouth and Swanage on 28 November: see Christmas lights switch-ons.

Sources