Fleet Christmas Lights: 6.30pm Switch-On 25 Nov, Stage Times

Fleet’s Christmas tree lights are switched on at 6.30pm on Wednesday 25 November 2026, from the tree at the front of Gurkha Square. The switch-on sits inside the Fleet Christmas Festival, which runs from 2pm to 9pm along Fleet Road between the Oatsheaf and Church Road.

Updated 2 October: the organisers have published the full Gurkha Square stage running order, the community stallholders and Santa’s Post Office opening hours. The switch-on time is unchanged.

That 6.30pm time is the single fact most people want and it is easy to miss: it is published on the festival’s Gurkha Square page rather than on its homepage. The organisers write that the tree “will be the focus of the Light Switch On at 6.30 pm on Christmas Festival day”. (Fleet Christmas Festival, Gurkha Square)

Check the date, not the travel page

There is one trap on the organisers’ own website. The festival homepage, the what’s on page and Fleet Town Council’s events listing all give Wednesday 25 November 2026. The festival’s own Getting There page, which carries the road closure and parking detail, still says the closure runs “on Wednesday, 26th November”. That was last year’s date: 26 November 2025 was a Wednesday, 26 November 2026 is a Thursday.

On 2 October that page still said 26 November. Treat the day as Wednesday 25 November, and read the closure times rather than the date on that page. (Fleet Town Council, festival homepage)

Road closures and buses

The organisers publish the closure themselves. Fleet Road closes to traffic from 10am to 10.30pm, between Church Road and the Oatsheaf traffic lights. During that window there is no access to or from the private car parks off Fleet Road inside the closed section, and only event and emergency vehicles get through. Marshals in high visibility jackets staff the barriers.

Buses are diverted from Fleet Road along Albert Street, stopping at intervals to pick up and drop off. Taxis run as normal, though the ranks may be pushed further back. The festival is a 10 to 15 minute walk from Fleet station. (Getting There)

No Hampshire County Council traffic order for the closure had been advertised on the Public Notice Portal when this page was written, so the organisers’ own times are the best source available. See our Fleet roadworks and travel page for what else is dug up in the town that week.

Parking

Hart District Council’s car parks stay open through the festival, with one exception: Gurkha Square car park closes, because the stage, the tree and the community stalls go there. Normal charges apply everywhere else, which catches people out on an evening event.

Our parking in Fleet page has the tariffs, including the Sunday, bank holiday and overnight charges that apply across the district.

What is on, and what it costs

Along Fleet Road, more than 100 market stalls sell food, drink, gifts and decorations, with fairground rides including a big wheel, a helter skelter and a fun house, plus rides in the car park of the Emporium. Street entertainers work the length of the road, stilt walkers as usual and, new for 2026, a polar bear and penguins. There is an information tent on the corner of Upper Street and Fleet Road.

In Gurkha Square: the stage with local school choirs and a set from the Harlington pantomime cast, community stalls, a live nativity and a mobile farm. In the Harlington: the Kids Zone and Santa’s Grotto, with the bar open. In the Hart Shopping Centre: the Hart of Craft market, Santa’s Post Office, and the Hart Lions Light up a Life tree, where residents dedicate a light in memory of someone.

Santa’s Grotto is ticketed at £9 per child plus a £1 booking fee, with all proceeds going to Stepping Stones DS. Grotto times are marked TBC on the festival’s own page. Santa’s Post Office in the shopping centre, run by the Fleet Business Improvement District, is free and opens on festival day from 4pm to 8pm. After that it opens 10am to 4pm on the weekends of 28 and 29 November, 5 and 6 December, 12 and 13 December, and 19 and 20 December. Children must have an adult with them. (Santa’s Grotto, Hart Shopping Centre)

The Gurkha Square stage, in order

The organisers have published the running order. Local schools fill the first two hours, the Aladdin cast comes on just before the switch-on, and the evening belongs to dance schools and the Rock Choir.

If your child is singing with their school, the slot is about ten minutes, so arrive early: Gurkha Square fills well before the switch-on.

The community stalls in Gurkha Square are Millers Ark Animals, the walk through nativity by Churches Together, Citizens Advice Hart, Fleet Phoenix, Church Crookham and Fleet Men’s Shed, Hart Lions, Stepping Stones, the All Saints School Association and Step by Step. The Kids Zone in The Harlington has an inflatable snow globe, a Frozen themed play area and ball pond, carrot whistle making and crafts. (Gurkha Square and The Harlington)

The Hart of Craft stallholder list for the shopping centre is still marked “details to follow”.

The rest of Christmas in Fleet and Church Crookham

• Church Crookham Parish Council Christmas Fayre, Saturday 28 November, noon to 4pm, Church Crookham Community Centre, Boyce Road, GU52 8AQ.
• Fleet Lions carol concert, Tuesday 8 December, 7pm to 9pm, Church on the Heath.
• The Fleet Lions Christmas float tours Fleet, Church Crookham and Hartland during December, usually starting about 5.30pm and finishing around 7.30pm, with a live GPS tracker so you can see where Santa is. The Lions have not yet published the 2026 routes. (Fleet Lions Christmas float)

The Harlington pantomime, Aladdin, opens on 11 December. Our Fleet pantomime page has every performance date and the price bands.

What is still to be confirmed