The Clapham Old Town tree lights go on at 6pm on Friday 27 November on The Polygon. The free evening runs 4pm to 9pm, with choirs, bands and stalls.

Clapham Old Town’s Christmas lights switch on on Friday 27 November 2026, on The Polygon, from 4pm to 9pm, and entry is free. The Omnibus Theatre, which presents the evening with sponsorship from the This is Clapham business improvement district, published the date on its Clapham Lights 2026 page. The countdown to the tree lights is at 6pm, and every part of the evening is free. Clapham Junction switches on the same evening, at 5pm on Northcote Road.

Updated 10 November: the Omnibus Theatre has sent us the full running order for the night, with the 6pm countdown, the stilt walker procession and the line-up of choirs and bands until 9pm.

Updated 2 November: the Omnibus Theatre has confirmed the Old Town date, Friday 27 November, 4pm to 9pm, free entry. It matches the last-Friday pattern this page predicted.

Updated 5 October: Clapham Junction’s BID confirmed its switch-on for Friday 27 November, lights on at 5pm.

The running order for Friday 27 November

The Omnibus Theatre sent us this programme for the night. “All events are free,” the theatre says.

Time What is happening Where
3.30pm to 5.15pm Arts and crafts: Christmas tree decoration making Omnibus Theatre
4pm Arts and crafts stalls and food stalls start trading The Polygon
5.10pm to 5.30pm Illuminated stilt walker procession from the theatre to The Polygon Omnibus Theatre to The Polygon
5.30pm Clapham Lights 2026 begins The Polygon
5.35pm to 5.45pm Heathbrook’s Rolling Brook Band The Polygon
5.45pm to 5.50pm St Mary’s Choir The Polygon
5.50pm to 5.55pm Mother Christmas Countdown The Polygon
6pm Countdown to the Christmas lights turn-on The Polygon
6.05pm to 6.20pm Jigsaw Arts The Polygon
6.20pm to 7pm East West Quintet The Polygon
7pm to 7.40pm Clapham Community Choir The Polygon
7.40pm to 8.20pm School of Desire band The Polygon
8.20pm to 9pm Fresh Arms and a 50-person choir The Polygon

If you have young children and only want the big moment, arrive for the procession at about 5.10pm and you will see the lights go on at 6pm. If you want the decoration making first, the theatre’s session runs from 3.30pm, and the decorations travel with the procession to the tree.

Marie McCarthy, the Omnibus Theatre’s artistic director, told us what to expect:

“Clapham Lights is one of my favourite productions of the year: quirky and unconventional, it reflects the creativity, diversity and character of our neighbourhood. A gathering where people of all ages come together to enjoy the unexpected and celebrate our community.”

Who puts it on

The Omnibus Theatre has run Clapham Lights in partnership with Clapham BID since 2014; the business improvement district commissions the theatre to deliver it each year. In 2025 Best of Clapham joined as media partner, which the theatre says has helped extend the event’s reach “and growing popularity”.

“Now a much-loved annual local event, Clapham Lights continues to bring together residents, families, and businesses in a celebration with live music, arts & crafts, and a special flight to turn on the Christmas Tree lights,” the theatre told us.

Clapham Old Town, Friday 27 November: what is confirmed

From the Omnibus Theatre’s listing, read on 2 November:

Clapham Lights 2026
Date Friday 27 November 2026
Times 4pm to 9pm
Where The Polygon, Clapham Old Town
Price Free entry
Children’s workshop 3.30pm to 5pm at the Omnibus Theatre, free
Ages All ages

The theatre describes a winter market of seasonal food and drink from local businesses, mulled wine, live jazz, rides and carol singing, with “our magical flying nosy little troll” doing the switching this year. Between 3.30pm and 5pm children can make their own decorations with a local artist at the theatre, 1 Clapham Common Northside; the workshop is free and is followed by a glowing procession over to the tree “to begin the event”.

The countdown to the lights is at 6pm, after the procession, the opening music and the Mother Christmas Countdown; the full running order is above.

The listing carries a “Book now” button, but the event itself is free entry; the page does not say whether the workshop needs booking.

How the date compares with past years

The event is run by This is Clapham, the business improvement district for Clapham High Street and Old Town, in partnership with the Omnibus Theatre across the road. The BID’s own events page calls it “the highlight of the festive season” and describes local choirs, festive food and drink stalls and the moment the tree lights up.

Here is every date the BID has published, from its own listings:

Year Date Times Venue
2019 Friday 29 November 5.30pm to 6.30pm Clapham Old Town
2023 Friday 1 December 2.30pm to 7.00pm The Polygon
2024 Friday 29 November 3.00pm to 8.00pm Clapham Old Town
2025 Friday 28 November 4.00pm to 9.00pm The Polygon
2026 Friday 27 November 4.00pm to 9.00pm The Polygon

Four of the five years listed fell on the last Friday of November, and the 2026 hours match 2025’s.

Clapham Junction: Friday 27 November, confirmed

Over the border in Wandsworth, the Clapham Junction business improvement district has published its date: Friday 27 November, an evening of festive entertainment around the Christmas tree on the corner of Northcote Road and Abyssinia Road, with the lights switched on at 5pm. That is the same Friday as the Old Town, so the two clash and you will have to pick one, or catch the Junction at 5pm and the Old Town later. The same BID page lists the Santa’s grotto at Battersea Arts Centre from 4 to 24 December; see our Santa’s grotto page.

What the evening actually involves

The 2026 listing matches the shape of the BID’s own 2025 and 2023 listings:

  • A winter market on The Polygon with food and craft stalls, mulled wine and mince pies.
  • Funfair rides, live jazz, carol singing and local school choirs.
  • A free decoration-making workshop for children at the Omnibus Theatre, 3.30pm to 5.15pm in 2025, 3pm to 5.30pm in 2023, run by a local artist.
  • A glowing procession from the theatre over to the tree with the handmade decorations, then the countdown.
  • A flying creature doing the switching. It is a flying troll in 2026, after a flying bear in 2025, a flying cow in 2023 and Clapham Streetwise Fox in 2019.

In 2023 the running order was published in full: stalls and rides from 2.30pm, workshop at 3pm, procession at 5pm, live music from 5.30pm, countdown at 6pm. The 2026 running order keeps the 6pm countdown; it is in full above.

Brixton: lamppost lights, and a switch-on that has stopped being reliable

Brixton’s arrangement is different and worth knowing before you take children up to Windrush Square expecting a ceremony.

Brixton BID launched Winter Wonder Lights in December 2024: bespoke lamppost lights across the town centre carrying designs by local schoolchildren, drawn from eight years of Squire & Partners’ Winter Windows project and manufactured by Blachere from recycled plastic bottles. The BID said on its own announcement that the number of lights would grow each year and spread across the district. It is a street-dressing scheme, not an event.

There is recent history of the ceremony simply not happening. On 30 December 2023 Brixton Buzz reported that central Brixton had no tree, no lights and no funfair at all that year, Windrush Square included, despite the BID’s stated commitment to install a tree and host a switch-on with live music.

Brixton BID’s what’s on listing, checked on 5 September, runs to 28 October and carries nothing festive. We will update this page if a tree and a switch-on are confirmed.

Streatham: nothing published at all

InStreatham, the Streatham BID, has run a “Lights On” switch-on and festive market at Streatham Green in past years. Its events calendar currently returns “There are no upcoming events”, and the most recent entry on it is the BID’s own AGM in February 2026. Nothing has been published for Christmas 2026.

One free thing that does tour the whole borough

The Brixton Chamber Orchestra takes a Christmas Estates Tour across Lambeth each December, playing free on estates and in venues around the borough, with a programme that runs from classical and grime to disco and carols. Brixton BID promoted the tour’s Streatham Hill Theatre date last year. Watch the orchestra’s own listings from late November for the 2026 route.

Parking and getting there

The Old Town switch-on closes nothing formally, but the crowd fills The Polygon and the pavements around it for several hours on a Friday evening. Clapham Common and Clapham North are both a walk away and that is the sane option.

If you do drive, our parking page sets out the controlled parking zones around Old Town, their hours and the bay charges, and the roadworks and travel page has the closures and diversions in force locally. For the rest of the season, our things to do page covers what is open year round.

What we will update, and when

  • Photographs from the Omnibus Theatre, which the theatre is sending us.
  • Whether Brixton gets a tree and a switch-on ceremony, or only the Winter Wonder Lights street dressing.
  • Any Streatham Lights On date from InStreatham.
  • The Brixton Chamber Orchestra Christmas Estates Tour route, usually out in late November.

Frequently asked questions

When are the Clapham Christmas lights switched on in 2026?

Friday 27 November 2026, from 4pm to 9pm on The Polygon in Clapham Old Town, confirmed by the Omnibus Theatre. Clapham Junction’s tree on Northcote Road lights up at 5pm the same evening.

Where is the Clapham Christmas lights switch-on held?

The Polygon, in Clapham Old Town, with a free decoration-making workshop beforehand at the Omnibus Theatre across the road, and a procession from the theatre to the tree.

What time does it start?

Stalls open on The Polygon at 4pm and the evening runs to 9pm, with decoration making at the Omnibus Theatre from 3.30pm. The stilt walker procession leaves the theatre at 5.10pm and the countdown to the lights is at 6pm.

Is the Clapham switch-on free?

Yes. The Omnibus Theatre lists it as free entry, and says the decoration workshop is free too. The listing does not price the rides or stalls.

Does Brixton have a Christmas lights switch-on?

Brixton BID installs Winter Wonder Lights on the town centre lampposts, carrying designs by local schoolchildren, but that is street dressing rather than an event. No 2026 switch-on has been listed. In December 2023 central Brixton ended up with no tree, no lights and no funfair at all.

What about Streatham?

Nothing published. InStreatham’s events calendar currently returns “There are no upcoming events” and its most recent entry is the BID’s own AGM in February 2026.

Sources