Spanish City switches on its 30ft tree at 5pm on Sunday 15 November. Entry £5, tickets online only, and free if you book a table in Trenchers or 1910 first.

Whitley Bay’s Christmas lights switch-on is at Spanish City on Sunday 15 November 2026. The event runs from 4pm to 6pm and the 30ft tree is lit at 5pm. Entry is £5 per person, and this is the part people miss: tickets are sold online only, so turning up on the door is not an option.

All of that is on Spanish City’s own Christmas Tree Light Switch On page. Infants aged two and under go free.

How to get in without paying the £5

Spanish City says entry is free if you book a table in one of its restaurants before the switch-on:

  • Trenchers, booked between 3pm and 6pm. A set menu applies, and a £10 deposit per person is required.
  • 1910 Restaurant, booked between 3pm and 5pm.

Tables are on 0191 691 7090. All payments are non-transferable and non-refundable, and children must be with an adult.

What is on before the lights go on

The hour before the switch-on is programmed, not just standing about in the cold. Spanish City lists mulled wine, carol singers under the dome, stilt walkers, bauble decorating, balloon modelling and a resident DJ. The night is hosted by the comedian Steve Walls, who the venue bills as a local legend and who is also a regular in the Playhouse pantomime.

Is this the town’s official switch-on?

It is the only ticketed switch-on event in Whitley Bay, and it is run by Spanish City rather than by the council.

North Tyneside Council has not published a 2026 Christmas lights programme. Its main website has no what’s-on section at all, and its tourism service, Visit North Tyneside, lists no lights switch-on for any town in the borough. What the council has done in past years is put festive motifs up across the town centres, including Whitley Bay, Monkseaton, Whitley Lodge, Tynemouth, North Shields, Wallsend and Forest Hall, without a single borough-wide ceremony.

So if you are searching for a council switch-on with a countdown and a celebrity, that is not how it works here. The Spanish City event is the one.

Getting there and parking

Spanish City is on Spanish City Plaza, NE26 1BG, a few minutes from Whitley Bay Metro station. The council’s own Spanish City Car Park record gives 97 standard bays and 8 disabled bays, charges of £1.20 for an hour up to £4.80 all day, and a restriction period of 10am to 6pm. Blue Badge holders and motorcycles are free. It takes card and mobile payments only, with no coin slot.

The council adds a warning on that same record that is worth reading twice: the car park immediately next to it is privately run and charges everyone, Blue Badge holders included. Look at the signs before you leave the car.

Two free car parks are a short walk north along the seafront. Waves is free with a 2 hour maximum stay and no return the same day, which the council records as running 9am to 6pm, so it covers all but the last few minutes of a 4pm to 6pm event. Brierdene is free with a 4 hour limit that applies at all times. Full detail is on our parking in Whitley Bay page, and anything dug up that week will be on our roadworks and travel page.

What comes next

The switch-on is the first of a run of Christmas events at the same venue. The Spanish City Christmas Market follows five days later, from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November, and the Playhouse pantomime opens on 4 December.

We will check this page again in the week of 15 November in case times or ticket terms change.