Harlow Christmas lights switch-on: when and where in 2026

Harlow has more than one Christmas lights switch-on, and the main one is not called a switch-on. The town centre event is Harlow Council’s Light Up Broad Walk, the free opening night of its Christmas programme. Old Harlow’s traders run their own switch-on on the high street a fortnight or more earlier, and The Stow has had one too.

None of them has published a 2026 date yet. We checked the council’s Christmas pages, its official site christmasinharlow.com and Your Harlow’s reports on 12 October 2026. What follows is what each event did last year, from the organisers’ own posters and releases, and what is already confirmed for this Christmas.

The quick answer

• Town centre: Light Up Broad Walk. In 2025 it ran on Saturday 6 December from 1pm, with the lights switched on after the 5.30pm drummers. 2026 date not announced.
• Old Harlow: the Old Harlow Traders Association’s Memory Tree switch-on was Thursday 20 November 2025, lights on at 5pm. 2026 date not announced.
• Confirmed for 2026: the council’s Christmas market, 12 to 21 December, on Broad Walk, Market Square, East Gate and West Gate.
• Expected: the council announced its whole 2025 Christmas programme on 10 October 2025, so the 2026 equivalent is due any day.

Light Up Broad Walk: what happened in 2025

The council’s poster for the 2025 event, headed “Harlow’s back for Christmas”, gave 6th December 2025 from 1pm onwards and a full running order on Broad Walk. Your Harlow published it on 3 December 2025:

“The lights will be switched on after the SPARK LED drummers,” Your Harlow said. The poster gave no exact switch-on minute, so plan on shortly after 5.30pm if that is the part you are going for.

The council’s own account of the night, carried by Your Harlow on 7 December, says thousands came and that the event was free. The drummers performed “from the library to the tree near the Obelisk”, and the countdown ended with the lights coming on along the newly renewed Broad Walk. A week later the market opened.

When will the 2026 date be announced?

Probably within weeks. In 2025 the council set out the switch-on, the market dates and the rest of its Christmas programme in one release on 10 October 2025, a “Love Actually style video” from the council Leader, Dan Swords. That release named Saturday 6 December for Light Up Broad Walk and 13 to 21 December for the market.

For 2026 the council has so far announced only the market. Its release of 16 August says the market runs 12 to 21 December, will be four times the size of 2025’s and will stretch “across the whole of Broad Walk, into the transformed Market Square, and across East Gate and West Gate”. It said more announcements would follow “nearer the time”.

If the council repeats last year’s order, Light Up Broad Walk would fall on the Saturday before the market opens: Saturday 5 December 2026. That is our reading of the 2025 pattern, not an announcement. Do not book anything around it until the council confirms.

The official site, christmasinharlow.com, currently says only that “Harlow’s festive season is back, bigger and better than ever”. It carries no programme yet.

Old Harlow’s switch-on: the Memory Tree

Old Harlow does its own thing, organised by the Old Harlow Traders Association rather than the council. The association’s 2025 poster, published by Your Harlow on 14 November 2025, billed it as “Memory Tree 2025”:

• Thursday 20 November 2025
• songs by Ritchie at 4.30pm
• lights switch on at 5pm
• the cast of the Victoria Hall Theatre, finishing with songs by Harlow Chorus
• visitors could write a message dedicated to a loved one, and children could decorate the tags before placing them on the tree

The Memory Tree was sponsored by Daniel Robinson & Sons, with Flower Box also on the poster. Note that this is a weekday, early evening event, unlike the town centre’s Saturday.

The council also supplies the tree. In 2025 it put up Christmas trees in The Stow, Bush Fair, Old Harlow high street, Prentice Place and Churchgate Street, installing Old Harlow’s on 17 November and the rest on 27 November, according to its announcement of 15 November 2025.

The Stow, and the switch-ons the weather cancelled

The Stow has had a switch-on of its own. The council’s notice for 2024 set it for Saturday 7 December 2024: children’s arts and crafts and LiveWire from 4pm at the Safe To Go Stow hub, the lights on at 5.15pm, mince pies and non-alcoholic mulled wine. Storm Darragh stopped it. The council cancelled the event the day before because of weather warnings, though the tree’s lights still went on. We found no Stow switch-on event reported for 2025.

Weather has form here. The Water Gardens used to host what it called “Harlow’s annual Light Switch On”, with a full afternoon of acts from 11am. Its 2024 event on Saturday 23 November was cancelled the day before for a severe weather warning. We found no Water Gardens switch-on reported for 2025, the year the council’s Light Up Broad Walk became the town centre’s event. All of these are outdoor events, so check for a cancellation on the day if the forecast is bad.

Getting there and parking

Broad Walk is pedestrianised, and we found no road closure published for Light Up Broad Walk in 2025. The nearest car parks are the Water Gardens and the Harvey Centre, both privately run. Both give 15 minutes free, according to Harlow Playhouse’s directions, and both fill up on busy Saturdays in December. The NCP on Terminus Street is a little further out.

Last year’s switch-on day also clashed with roadworks. Essex County Council’s contractor closed junctions on the Burnt Mill roundabout from 7am to 8pm on Saturday 6 December 2025, as Your Harlow reported the evening before. Check Harlow roadworks and travel before you set off, and see parking in Harlow for council car park charges and free hours.

For the market itself, its new layout and the stale council page that still shows 2025’s dates, see our Harlow Christmas market page. Santa visits are on Harlow Santa’s grottos.

What to check back for

The 2025 running order, the Memory Tree details and the 2024 cancellations come from the organisers’ own posters, notices and statements, as published by Harlow Council and Your Harlow. All were read on 12 October 2026. The 5 December date is labelled as our inference from last year’s pattern. We will update this page when the council publishes its 2026 programme.