Andover's Christmas Festival and lights switch-on is Friday 20 November 2026, 4pm to 8pm on the High Street. The switch-on time is not confirmed yet.
The Andover Christmas Festival, the evening the town centre lights come on, is booked for Friday 20 November 2026, from 4pm to 8pm on the High Street.
That date comes from Test Valley Borough Council’s own Andover town centre events calendar, which lists it as a confirmed entry with the note “More details to follow”. It is a week later in the month than 2025’s festival and an hour longer, running to 8pm rather than 7pm.
What has not been published yet is the time of the switch-on itself, the line-up, or the road closure order. Everything below separates what is confirmed from what is last year’s pattern, and it was checked on 5 September 2026.
What is confirmed for 2026
- Date: Friday 20 November 2026
- Time: 4pm to 8pm
- Where: Andover High Street
- Cost: free
- Listed by Test Valley Borough Council on its Andover town centre events calendar, with the description “Kick start your festive season at the Andover Christmas Festival. More details to follow.”
The festival is normally delivered jointly by Test Valley Borough Council, Andover BID and Andover Town Council, which is how the council described it when it announced the 2025 event. The town council provides the Christmas tree and the lights themselves.
What last year looked like, and why it matters
The 2026 programme is not out, so the useful guide is the 2025 festival, which the council documented in detail. On Friday 21 November 2025, from 4pm to 7pm, Andover ran:
- Live performances on two stages, one on the High Street and one in the Pocket Park
- Festive market stalls along Bridge Street
- The switch-on at 6pm in the High Street
- A snow party disco on the Town Mills stage, aimed at families who wanted to avoid the crowd at the moment of the switch-on
Two practical details from the council’s 2025 notes are worth carrying forward. The first is timing: the council warned that the evening “can get especially busy between 5.30pm and 6.30pm”. The second is that Koala Community Hub opened as a calm space for anyone who finds a packed High Street overwhelming.
If 2026 follows the same shape, the switch-on itself will land two hours into a four hour event, so somewhere around 6pm. We are not printing that as a fact until the council publishes it.
Roads and parking: last year’s closures
No 2026 traffic order has been advertised yet. In 2025 the council closed:
- High Street and Bridge Street to vehicles from 10am to 9pm
- Waterloo Court from 4pm to 7pm
- Town Mills car park all day, to make room for the fairground and the food stalls
Every other town centre car park stayed open, with accessible parking in George Yard and the Chantry Centre. Because the 2026 festival runs an hour later, to 8pm, the closure windows may well be longer this year.
The council’s advice in 2025 was to walk, cycle or use public transport, which is sensible for an evening event that shuts the two main streets. Our Andover parking page has the tariffs and closing times for each town centre car park, and the Andover roadworks and travel page tracks the county’s own closures and resurfacing, several of which are live on Andover roads this autumn.
The rest of the festive calendar
Three more town centre dates are already fixed on the council’s calendar:
- Saturday 5 December, 9.30am to 4pm. Chantry Centre indoor market, in the central area of the shopping centre near Holland and Barrett and Waterstones.
- Sunday 6 December, 10.30am to 3pm. The Young Traders Market at the Chantry Centre, one of two a year. Traders are aged 11 to 25 and there is no charge to apply or to trade.
- Sunday 13 December, 10am to 3pm. Second Sundays, Andover’s monthly market for independent makers, street food and vintage sellers, on the High Street.
Andover Town Council’s Carols Around the Christmas Tree has no 2026 date yet. Last year it ran on Friday 12 December from 4pm to 6pm on the High Street outside the Guildhall, with the Andover Chamber Choir. The town council announced it in early November, so expect the same timing this year.
What is still to come
- The switch-on time and the line-up. The council published its 2025 programme in mid November, about a week before the event, so expect the 2026 detail in the first half of November.
- The road closure order for 20 November, which normally appears with the programme.
- A 2026 carols date from Andover Town Council, likely in early November.
We will update this page as each of those lands. Everything here was verified against the councils’ own published material on 5 September 2026.
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