If you spent the first weekend of September somewhere near the Eastbourne seafront, you might have caught the tail end of something rather unusual. The Steampunk Festival returned to the Wish Tower Slopes on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, running from 10:00 to 17:00 each day, and it was a busy one. The Eastbourne Bonfire Society, which puts the whole thing on, was celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and every penny raised went towards the annual Eastbourne Bonfire Event.
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The festival is free and open to everyone, which is a good thing because there was plenty to take in. Alongside the live music, there was a Steampunk Parade, tea duelling, a crockery smash, a tombola, games and artisan stalls. A new addition for 2026 was the 'Most Magnificent Facial Hair Parade', complete with a 'homemade' category, and the usual Best Dressed competition. Dressing up is optional, by the way, though Bonfire dress, cosplay and costumes from across the genres are warmly welcomed.
The parades were the real centrepiece. On the Saturday, things kicked off at 11:00, with people meeting at 10:45 at Victoria Place, where Terminus Road meets the seafront, before heading down to the Wish Tower led by the Stix Drummers. On the Sunday, the parade left Eastbourne Pier at 11:30, with a 11:15 meeting time, led by the Eastbourne Scottish Pipe Band, which is reputed to be the oldest non-military pipe band in the country, active since 1898. Both ended at the Wish Tower, a Martello Tower built in the early 1800s to defend against Napoleon and now a Scheduled Monument with over two centuries of history.
The music kept going all day. Saturday opened with the Eastbourne Rock Choir and Rhapsody Artist Development, followed by Highway 24, Doctor Gray, Livia Pye, The Shamolies and The Spooky Wagons. Sunday was a bit more front-loaded, with the Best Dressed competition at noon, the Eastbourne Scottish Pipe Band playing twice, and sets from The Sea Gypsies, The Jackettes, Midnight Resolution, Ben Westwood and Zachary Dogwood.
If you're wondering what steampunk actually is, it's a subculture and a science-fiction sub-genre that blends Victorian-era aesthetics with futuristic, imaginative elements, mostly steam-powered machines. It grew in the 1980s and 90s, taking cues from 19th-century writers like Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Mary Shelley, and branched off from the cyberpunk of the 1980s. Think steam-powered airships, ray-gun explorers running on aether, clockwork horseless carriages and mechanical time machines.
For a Brighton-based day trip, it's an easy one to drop into. The Wish Tower sits on the seafront, and the Eastbourne Pier nearby is a Victorian pier designed by Eugenius Birch, stretching about 1,000 feet from the Grand Parade and standing as one of the best examples of its kind in England. If you missed it this year, it's worth keeping an eye out for the next one, because it's a free day out that rewards a bit of effort on the costume front.
Published Date
12 September 2026
