Fireworks display rules UK: a guide for organisers

In England and Wales you don’t need a special licence just to put on a fireworks display. The fireworks display rules UK organisers do need to follow are about timing, who fires what, how you store the fireworks and how you run the site safely. Fireworks must stop by 11pm (midnight on 5 November), the biggest professional fireworks can only be fired by a professional operator, and if you’re selling alcohol you’ll need a Temporary Event Notice or a premises licence.

That’s the short version. Below is the detail for a school, PTA, Round Table or village committee putting on a bonfire night display this year, with the dates worked out for 2026. This guide covers England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules, so check with your council if you’re running a display there.

Do you need a licence for a fireworks display?

Not for the display itself. There’s no general “fireworks display licence” in England and Wales. What you may need instead depends on what else is happening on the night:

Permission to use the land. If it’s a school field, a council park or a farmer’s paddock, you need the owner’s written agreement. Councils often have their own event application process and want to see your risk assessment and insurance.
A storage licence, but only if you’re keeping more fireworks, or more powerful ones, than the limits allow. More on that below.
A Temporary Event Notice (TEN) if you’re selling alcohol and the site doesn’t already have a premises licence that covers it.

Plenty of councils also ask organisers of public displays to let them know in advance, even when nothing needs licensing. It costs nothing and it means environmental health isn’t surprised by the phone calls on the night. Our guide to UK event licences and safety paperwork covers the wider picture if your bonfire night also has a funfair, live music or food stalls.

What time do fireworks have to stop?

The Fireworks Regulations 2004 ban the use of adult fireworks between 11pm and 7am. There are a few exceptions:

5 November: until midnight
New Year’s Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year: until 1am

The catch for organisers is that the midnight extension only applies on 5 November itself. In 2026, Bonfire Night falls on a Thursday, so most community displays will run on Saturday 31 October or Saturday 7 November instead. On both of those nights the curfew is 11pm.

In practice that’s rarely a problem, because most displays are finished by 8pm so families can get young children home. Where it does bite is the event that runs late with a band or bar after the fireworks. If anything goes bang after 11pm, you’re outside the rules.

Displays run by local authority staff for a council display, or for national celebrations and commemorations, are exempt from the curfew. A PTA or a Rotary club is not.

Which fireworks can a community group fire itself?

Fireworks are sold in categories. The ones that matter here:

Category F2 and F3: garden and display fireworks you can buy from a shop. Only sold to people aged 18 and over. Your volunteers can legally fire these.
Category F4: professional fireworks. These can only be supplied to people with specialist knowledge, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is clear that they may only be used by professional firework display operators.

So if you want the big shells that bring a crowd of 2,000 out on a cold night, you’re hiring a professional firing company. Most larger community displays do this anyway. A good operator will handle the firing zone, the safety distances and the fallout area, and will give you their own risk assessment and insurance details.

If you’re firing it yourselves with shop-bought F3 fireworks, the HSE points to a free guide called Giving your own firework display. Read it before you buy anything.

Storing fireworks before the display

This is the rule committees most often don’t know about. According to HSE guidance (checked October 2026):

Voluntary groups and individuals can keep up to 50kg net of Hazard Type 4 fireworks (the less powerful kind you buy in shops) for no longer than 21 days without a licence. “Net” means the weight of the explosive inside, not the boxes.
Up to 100kg of Hazard Type 3 fireworks can be kept for up to 5 consecutive days without a licence, as long as they’re stored at the place they’ll be used.
Anything more, or for longer, needs a licence from your local licensing authority.

Even under the limits, the fireworks still need to be stored safely: somewhere dry, locked, away from anything that could catch fire and nowhere near where people smoke. Your supplier or council can advise. If a professional operator is doing your display, they’ll usually bring the fireworks on the day, which takes this off your plate entirely.

Selling alcohol at a bonfire night event

If you’re running a bar and the site isn’t already licensed, you need a Temporary Event Notice from your council. At the time of writing (October 2026) a TEN costs £21 and covers events with fewer than 500 people on site at any one time, including staff and volunteers. If you expect more than that, you need a premises licence, which takes much longer to get.

A standard TEN must reach the council at least 10 clear working days before the event. “Clear” means the day the council receives it and the day of the event don’t count. For this year’s likely dates, that works out roughly as:

Saturday 31 October: council must receive it by Friday 16 October
Thursday 5 November: by Wednesday 21 October
Saturday 7 November: by Friday 23 October

Late TENs are possible up to 5 clear working days before, but there are fewer of them available and they can be refused outright if the police or environmental health object. Don’t leave it that late. The HSE also recommends keeping the bar well away from the display area, which also keeps the queue for mulled wine out of the fallout zone.

Bonfire safety rules

The bonfire is often the part with less planning behind it than the fireworks. The HSE’s advice for organisers:

Check the site in daylight for overhead power lines, trees and buildings, and think about where the wind will carry sparks and smoke.
Check the bonfire is sound before lighting it, and that no children or animals have got inside. Hedgehogs love a bonfire pile. Rebuild or check it on the day if you can.
Never use petrol or paraffin to light it.
Have one named person responsible for lighting it, wearing clothing that won’t catch easily (a heavy wool outer layer, not a nylon fleece).
Keep the fireworks a safe distance from the bonfire and make sure the people lighting it know what to do about burns.

Only burn untreated wood and garden material. Old furniture, tyres, paint tins and plastic produce toxic smoke and can get you into trouble with environmental health.

Health and safety, insurance and who to tell

If anyone involved is working on a professional basis (a hired operator, paid site staff), health and safety law applies, and the duties cover everyone arranging the display, the spectators and people living nearby. In practice, every display of any size needs a written risk assessment, and the landowner, council and insurer will all ask for it.

The HSE’s checklist for bigger displays includes:

Marking out the spectator area, the firing area and the fallout zone, and keeping spectators out of the latter two.
Separate routes for people and vehicles, lit exits and clear access for emergency vehicles.
Enough stewards, each of whom knows their job in an emergency.
Telling the emergency services and the council in advance (and any nearby airport).
One named person responsible for calling 999 on the night.
Clearly signposted first aid.

On insurance: public liability insurance isn’t a legal requirement under health and safety law for a volunteer group, but in reality you won’t find a landowner or council that lets you go ahead without it. Professional operators using F4 fireworks are required to hold it. Check what your group’s existing policy covers, because many club and PTA policies exclude fireworks unless you add them.

Bigger public events also need to think about Martyn’s Law, which brings in new security duties for larger venues and events. Our Martyn’s Law guide for event organisers explains who it applies to and when.

None of this is legal advice. Every site is different, so check with your council, your insurer and your display operator for your situation.

How advance tickets help you stay within the rules

Most of the rules above come down to one question: how many people are on your field, and can you get them in and out safely? Selling tickets in advance answers it before the night, rather than at the gate.

A hard capacity limit. Your risk assessment gives you a safe number for the spectator area. Set that as your ticket cap and sales stop automatically when you hit it. Our capacity management and timed entry tools let you split arrivals into slots too, which takes the pressure off the gate at 6.45pm.
A real headcount for the stewards. If something goes wrong, the first question from the fire service is how many people are on site. Live sales and scanning numbers give you that answer.
Staying under 500 for your TEN. If your bar runs on a TEN, the capacity cap helps you keep the whole site below the limit.
Faster entry in a field with no signal. Volunteers can scan QR tickets on their own phones, and if the site has poor mobile signal we can provide Starlink hire.

Godalming Town Fireworks sold out 2,800 tickets through Comus in 2025. You can read how the Godalming fireworks sold out.

For the ticketing side of running a display, from pricing to the gate, see our organiser’s guide to running a fireworks event and our ticketing for fireworks displays and bonfire nights.

Are the fireworks display rules changing?

Possibly, but not for this November. In July 2026 the government launched a consultation on restricting the loudest fireworks to professional displays only. It’s a proposal, not law, and the government says professional displays will carry on as normal. If it goes ahead, the people most affected will be community groups firing their own displays with shop-bought fireworks, so it’s worth keeping an eye on before you plan next year’s show.

Fireworks display FAQs

Do I need to tell the council about a fireworks display?

There’s no single legal duty to notify for a small display on private land, but the HSE recommends telling the council and emergency services about larger public displays, and many councils ask for it. If the display is on council land, you’ll need their permission anyway.

Can volunteers set off the fireworks?

Yes, if they’re aged 18 or over and using category F2 or F3 fireworks. Category F4 fireworks can only be used by professional display operators.

What time do fireworks have to finish on bonfire night?

Midnight on 5 November. On any other night, including the Saturday before or after, the cut-off is 11pm, unless it’s New Year’s Eve, Diwali or Chinese New Year (1am).

Do we need a licence to sell tickets for a fireworks display?

No. Selling tickets doesn’t need a licence. You may need a TEN for alcohol, and some councils want an event application for public displays on their land.

Is public liability insurance a legal requirement?

Not under health and safety law for a volunteer group. But landowners and councils almost always require it, and professional operators using F4 fireworks must have it.

If you’re still selling tickets on the gate with a cash tin, there’s time to change that before November. Registered charities pay no platform fee with Comus (buyers pay a 60p booking fee plus card processing), and everyone else pays 3% on paid tickets. Set up your bonfire night tickets for free. No subscription, no contract.