The town council's switch-on has fallen on Advent Sunday two years running, which points at 29 November. Free grotto, free ice rink, market at 96 Shenley Road.

Hertsmere has two council-run Christmas switch-ons, one in Borehamwood and one in Radlett. Neither has published a 2026 date. What both councils have published is enough to plan around, and one thing in Borehamwood is already fixed.

Borehamwood: All Saints Church, Shenley Road

Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council runs the event and it is free. The venue has been the same two years running: All Saints Church, Shenley Road, Borehamwood WD6 1EB, with the indoor Christmas market a short walk away at 96 Shenley Road.

The 2025 shape, from the council’s own poster reprinted in the Town Crier, issue 51:

  • Sunday 30 November 2025, 2pm to 6pm. Lights on at 4:30pm.
  • Indoor Christmas market at 96 Shenley Road, 12pm to 6pm.
  • Free Santa’s grotto, free kids ride and free ice skating.
  • Borehamwood Brass and the Air Cadets Band.
  • Free tea and coffee.
  • The lights were switched on by the Lord Lieutenant’s Cadet for Hertfordshire, Flight Sergeant Lucy Waller, with the then Town Mayor Dan Ozarow.

The council’s own 2024 listing gives Sunday 1 December 2024, again 2pm to 6pm with the switch-on at 4:30pm, and again at All Saints.

Both dates were Advent Sunday. Advent Sunday in 2026 is Sunday 29 November. That is the pattern, not an announcement, and we are not printing it as a fact. The council has published no 2026 poster and its Christmas Lights page is currently blank.

Who decides: the council’s Entertainments Committee meets on Tuesday 8 September and Tuesday 3 November 2026, both at 7pm in the meeting room at Fairway Hall. Its papers are not readable in practice, because the Minutes and Agendas links resolve to a Microsoft SharePoint folder that asks for a sign-in.

What is already fixed for Christmas 2026 in Borehamwood

The town council’s market programme for 2026 is published, and two of the dates are festive:

  • Sunday 22 November 2026, Fairway Hall (indoors, not the car park).
  • Sunday 13 December 2026, Fairway Hall.

Both fall on Sundays, so the list is internally consistent. Worth knowing: the council’s home page prints the 2026 market list only as far as Sunday 25 October at the Civic Centre car park, while the Markets page carries the two extra Fairway Hall dates. The Markets page is the fuller one.

The December market is the Christmas one. In 2025 it ran inside Fairway Hall on Sunday 7 December from 11am to 5pm with Santa’s grotto, live music, hot food and festive stalls. No 2026 times have been published.

The council also runs a Christmas concert with the BBC Elstree Concert Band at 96 Shenley Road. The 2025 concert was on Tuesday 16 December and the council says it sold out completely. There is no 2026 date.

Radlett: the parish Winter Fair, with the panto cast on the switch

Aldenham Parish Council switches Radlett’s lights on inside its Winter Fair at The Radlett Centre, 1 Aldenham Avenue, Radlett WD7 8HL. Entry is free.

The 2025 fair ran Sunday 23 November, 2pm to 5pm, with the lights on at 4:45pm. Note that the council contradicts itself here: the diary page of its own magazine, Around Radlett issue 132, lists the fair on Sunday 24 November, which was a Monday. The 23rd is the date the same magazine gives in its main write-up.

How it works, from the parish council’s own event page:

  • Free entry. Rides and games are £2 each and Santa’s grotto £3 per child including a gift, both cash only and bought at the box office on the day.
  • Ride and grotto tickets sold 2pm to 4:30pm; ride tickets usable until 5pm.
  • Grotto places are limited and no refunds are given on unused tickets.
  • Stalls, a Greek gyros van and Sweet Caroline’s are outside and in the auditorium; Teatro serves hot drinks 2pm to 5pm.
  • Fast-track entry for anyone who finds queuing hard, a quiet space on request at the box office, and step-free access throughout.

In 2025 the switch was thrown by Dame Dotty and the cast of the Radlett Centre pantomime, who circulate for photographs from 3pm.

Parking is the catch. The Radlett Centre car park is closed for the fair. Blue badge holders get first-come spaces in the Red House Surgery car park opposite, and everyone else is pointed at Newberries Car Park across the road, which is free on Sundays. Newberries has been down for resurfacing since early September with no published end date, so check before you rely on it. Our parking page has the borough tariff.

No 2026 Winter Fair date has been published. In 2025 it was the Sunday a week before Advent Sunday.

Potters Bar and Bushey

Neither town has a parish or town council to run a switch-on, which is why neither appears above. Potters Bar’s lights are raised by a volunteer group that publishes only through social media, and no 2026 date is available from any first-party source we can read. Hertsmere Borough Council’s own site returns nothing for Christmas lights beyond a page explaining that parish and town councils do this, not the borough.

If you want Santa before the switch-on

Aldenham Country Park at Elstree has already opened bookings for Winter-Fest. The Winter Farm Pass is on sale every day from 28 November to 3 January from £6.95, and Santa’s Magical Grotto runs every weekend from 28 November to 20 December and then daily from 21 to 24 December, from £31.85, which includes two adults and the farm pass. See our Spook-Fest page for how the park’s booking and parking work.

What we will update

The Borehamwood date and poster, the Radlett Winter Fair date, the 2026 market times, and any road closure. Herts publishes traffic notices midweek and none had appeared for either event when we checked.

Sources checked 5 September 2026: the town council’s Markets page, Christmas Lights page and meetings schedule; Elstree and Borehamwood Town Crier issues 51 and 52; the parish council’s Winter Fair page and Around Radlett issues 132 and 133; aldenhamcountrypark.co.uk and its Checkfront booking system; hertsmere.gov.uk site search.