Whitley Bay Fireworks 2026 on The Links: No Metro That Night

The North Tyneside fireworks display is on The Links at Whitley Bay on Sunday 1 November 2026, and it is free. There are no tickets. North Tyneside Council’s own listing for the event gives the timings: fairground rides and refreshments from 6pm, fireworks at 7pm, and the display lasts about 15 minutes.

There are no Metro trains to Whitley Bay that night. Sunday 1 November is the last day of the nine-day line closure between St James and Monkseaton, so plan on bus 900 or the walk from Monkseaton (details below).

Updated 1 November: the council’s listing is unchanged this morning (fairground from 6pm, fireworks 7pm, bad weather moves it to Monday). Nexus has also shut the Metro between Tynemouth and Wallsend, through North Shields, until Thursday 5 November for urgent bridge repairs, so the travel notes for tonight and for Segedunum have changed.

Updated 24 October: we rechecked the council’s listing and the Segedunum and Blue Flames pages today; all three are unchanged. The Metro closure through Whitley Bay started today and runs to the end of fireworks night, so the travel section below has been rewritten.

Updated 18 October: Segedunum has published its 2026 Fireworks at the Fort details (Thursday 5 November, site open from 5pm, fireworks from 6.30pm, free, viewing tower sold out), and the council has given notice of the Harbottle footpath closure for the Tynemouth Cricket Club display, 6pm to 8pm on 7 November.

Updated 4 October: Tynemouth Cricket Club has confirmed its display for Saturday 7 November, gates 5pm, fireworks from 7pm, early bird tickets on sale.

Updated 3 October: the council has made its 2026 road closure order for Segedunum’s display, which confirms it for Thursday 5 November, and the 2026 Remembrance order now adds The Links to the parade closures a week after the fireworks.

Note the date. 1 November is a Sunday, four days before bonfire night itself on Thursday 5 November. If you are working back from the fifth you will miss it.

Last checked 1 November 2026.

Timetable for the night

From the council’s listing, for Sunday 1 November on The Links:

The council has not published a running order beyond that, and no stage programme, compere or bonfire is listed.

Segedunum fireworks 2026: Thursday 5 November

Wallsend’s display at Segedunum Roman Fort is on bonfire night itself, Thursday 5 November. The site opens at 5pm and the fireworks start from 6.30pm. It is free with no ticket (suggested donation £2 per adult); the £10 viewing tower is sold out. Wallsend station has trains from Newcastle every 20 minutes, but the line from the coast through North Shields is suspended until Thursday 5 November, so check Travel North East before setting off from Whitley Bay. Dogs are not allowed. Full details, and the Buddle Street road closure, are further down this page.

The details, from the council’s listing

North Tyneside Council runs the display and publishes it on its Visit North Tyneside site. What that page confirms:

• Where: The Links, Whitley Bay, NE26 1TQ
• When: Sunday 1 November 2026, listed as 6pm to 7.30pm
• Display: starts 7pm, roughly 15 minutes
• Cost: free, £0.00, no ticket
• From 6pm: fairground rides and refreshments
• If the weather is bad: the council says the event “will take place the following night”, which would be Monday 2 November

The display is fired over the open ground of The Links looking out at the North Sea, which is why it draws a crowd from well beyond Whitley Bay.

Two published sources, two different dates

Go North East, the bus operator, still has a page for the display that carries the same description word for word but dates it “5th November”. That is a leftover from a previous year. The council’s own listing, which is the organiser, says 1 November. Trust the council’s date.

Parking: the charges stop before the fireworks start

This is the useful part. Most of the charged council car parks on The Links have a restriction period of 9am to 6pm, so by the time the display starts at 7pm they are free to use. Arrive before 6pm and you pay £1.20 an hour.

There is one exception, and it is easy to miss. The Mini Golf Car Park record carries the same tariff but its restriction period reads simply “all days”, with no hours attached, so do not assume the evening is free there.

The car parks on The Links itself, all confirmed on the council’s own find-parking pages:

Two traps in the free ones. Brierdene has a four-hour maximum stay at all times, with no return within two hours, so it applies on the night as much as it does at noon. Waves only enforces its two-hour limit between 9am and 6pm, so an evening stay there is unrestricted. Blue Badge holders and motorcycles park free in the charged car parks.

Full tariffs, the free car parks away from the seafront and the on-street rules are on our Whitley Bay parking page.

Getting there without the car: no Metro to Whitley Bay

The council says only that “traffic in the area will be busy” and asks people to use public transport where they can. This year that is harder than usual. Nexus has closed the Metro between St James and Monkseaton in both directions from 24 October until the end of Sunday 1 November (Travel North East), so Whitley Bay, Cullercoats and Tynemouth stations have no trains on fireworks night. Trains come back between St James and Monkseaton on Monday 2 November, which matters only if the weather pushes the display to that night.

There is a second closure on top. On 30 October Nexus said inspections had found a bridge in North Shields needing urgent repairs, so no trains run between Tynemouth and Wallsend until Thursday 5 November, with replacement buses every 20 minutes between the affected stations from 5.30am to 12.30am. Nexus also warned on the night of 31 October that a staffing problem at its Gosforth depot meant some trains would not run as planned into the early hours of Sunday, so check Travel North East before you set off tonight.

Your options:

• Replacement bus 900 runs between St James and Monkseaton, calling at or near every closed station. In Whitley Bay it stops on Station Road by Station Square, and on Sundays it runs every 15 minutes into the evening.
• Monkseaton station still has trains, on the other side of the loop from South Shields via Newcastle and Shiremoor, then it is a walk or a bus to the seafront.
• Buses along the A193 serve the seafront itself.

Expect the buses to be full straight after the display. Our Metro closure page has the bus stops and the timetable links, and the Metro times page has the normal service.

Road closures

No road closures have been published for the display. Neither the council’s event listing nor any traffic order on its statutory notices page names a closure on the seafront for 1 November. That fits the site: the fireworks are fired over open parkland, not off a road. If an order is advertised closer to the date it will appear on our roadworks and travel page, and we will add it here.

The closures that do come to The Links each autumn belong to the Remembrance Sunday parade, a separate event a week later. The council’s 2026 order puts the Whitley Bay parade at The Links at 3pm on Sunday 8 November, behind a rolling closure from 2.15pm along Station Road, Victoria Terrace, Whitley Road, Park Avenue, Marine Avenue, The Links and Watts Slope. Our Remembrance Sunday page has the rest.

The other displays in the borough

Beyond The Links there are three more organised displays in the borough this year, all with a confirmed 2026 date.

• Tynemouth Cricket Club, Preston Avenue, North Shields, NE30 2BG: Saturday 7 November 2026. The club announced it on 21 September: gates open from 5pm, display starts from 7pm, with fairground rides, food stalls and the club bar open. It is ticketed, with early bird prices on sale now through TicketSource; the club’s post does not state the prices and the ticket page blocks automated reading, so check them there. The club warns that parking is very limited and asks people to come by public transport, and to wear suitable footwear. The council gave notice on 15 October that it will close the Harbottle footpath from 6pm to 8pm on 7 November, for “possible fall out of the fireworks” rather than traffic; pedestrians are asked to use other routes.
• Segedunum Roman Fort, Buddle Street, Wallsend, NE28 6HR: Thursday 5 November 2026, bonfire night itself. The museum’s Fireworks at the Fort page is back up with this year’s details: the outdoor site opens at 5pm and the fireworks start from 6.30pm. Entry is free with no ticket, with a suggested donation of £2 per adult. The £10 viewing tower tickets are sold out, and the museum and shop are closed for the night except to tower ticket holders. There are coffee vans on site and toilets in the car park, but no on-site parking and only limited local parking, so the museum recommends public transport; Wallsend Metro is the nearest station, served from Newcastle every 20 minutes. From the coast, the line through North Shields is suspended until Thursday 5 November for bridge repairs, with replacement buses until it reopens. Dogs are not allowed and anyone arriving with one will be turned away. The council’s road closure order shuts Buddle Street where it meets Station Road and Carville Road, in both directions, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, plus the back lane off Station Road and Buddle Street.
• Blue Flames Sporting Club, Whitley Road, Benton, NE12 9SF: Thursday 5 November 2026, gates 5.30pm, display 7.30pm, according to the council’s Visit North Tyneside listing, with fairground rides, food stalls and three indoor bars. It is ticketed in advance only, with no sales on the gate, and there is no on-site parking; Benton Metro is about five minutes’ walk. The listing gives no prices.

For everything else on over the next few weeks, see our what’s on in Whitley Bay this month listing.

What is not confirmed yet

The council’s listing is the full extent of what has been published for The Links display as of 24 October, unchanged since September, and the council has issued no news release about it. It does not name the fairground operator, list the refreshment traders, or say anything about sparklers, dogs or bag checks. Those details, if they come, usually appear in a council news release in the last two weeks of October. This page will be updated when they do.

Is it on this year

Yes. The council has it listed as a live event with a date, a venue and a price. The only stated way it moves is bad weather, which pushes it to the following night.