Bonfire Night on Plymouth Hoe: what to know

Bonfire Night is one of those autumn fixtures that Plymouth takes seriously, and the main event is free, which is half the battle. On Thursday 5 November, Plymouth Hoe puts on a full evening that runs from 4pm to 10pm, and it's expected to pull in around 20,000 people, so it's worth planning your arrival rather than turning up on a whim.

The evening builds in stages. The fair and catering stalls open at 4pm, so if you're bringing kids, that's the sensible time to arrive and let them run around before things get crowded. The bonfire is lit at 7pm, and the best place to watch it is from near Smeaton's Tower, which gives you a proper view of the fire. Then comes the main event: at 7.30pm, the fireworks are launched from the walls of the historic Royal Citadel, a fifteen-minute display of rockets, fountains and crackers that lights up the Hoe. The whole site wraps up at 10pm.

Because of the crowds, there's a fair bit of road closures to be aware of. Hoe Road, Madeira Road, Citadel Road, the Armada Way loop, Windsor Place, Osbourne Place, Notte Street, The Crescent and Princess Street are all shut at various points between 5pm and 9pm, with some closures starting as early as 7am. Blue badge holders get disabled parking on the Hoe itself, but for everyone else, the city centre car parks are the recommended bet. The event is sponsored by the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership and comes with a large bonfire, fairground rides and plenty of catering stalls, so it's built to keep families occupied for the full six hours.

If you want to make a night of it, the Hoe is surrounded by a lot of the city's best landmarks. Smeaton's Tower, the Grade I listed lighthouse completed in 1759 and rebuilt in 1884, stands 72 feet high and is open daily until 1 November, so you can climb its 93 steps to the lantern room before the bonfire night rush. The Royal Citadel, the 17th-century fortress that launches the fireworks, is still an active military site occupied by the 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, and it runs guided tours on Saturdays through the end of September if you'd rather see it from the inside than from the grass.

If the Hoe feels too busy, there are other displays across the English Riviera that week. Torquay, Paignton and Brixham all put on their own fireworks and community celebrations, and the wider Devon calendar keeps going well into November. It's a big tradition across the South West, so if you miss the Hoe, you're rarely far from another display. But for the biggest and most central one, the Hoe on the 5th is the one to plan around.