Barnet lights its high streets together in late November; in 2024 the Mayor switched on Whetstone on 21 November. The 16 streets, the menorahs and 2026 dates.
Barnet does not hold one big borough-wide switch-on. Barnet Council puts up Christmas lights and trees on about sixteen high streets and turns them all on together, and a local group usually hosts a small ceremony in one town centre. In 2024 that was Whetstone High Road, on Thursday 21 November, with the Mayor of Barnet pressing the button. The council has not announced its 2026 dates yet. This page will be updated when it does.
The quick answer
- 2026 date: not announced yet. In 2024 the lights came on across the borough on Thursday 21 November; in 2022 they were turned on from 1 December.
- The ceremony is small and local. In 2024 Love Whetstone arranged the switch-on in Whetstone, and more than a hundred people came.
- Chanukah 2026 starts on the evening of Friday 4 December, so the council’s menorah lightings fall in the week of 4 to 12 December.
How the switch-on worked in 2024
The council’s own account, published the next day, said the Mayor of Barnet switched on the Christmas lights on Whetstone High Street at an event arranged by Love Whetstone, with “over a hundred people” there to see the tree and the high street lit. Lights and trees were switched on at the same time around the borough. A second switch-on followed at Claremont Park in Brent Cross on Monday 25 November, 4pm to 6pm (Barnet Council, Mayor leads Barnet’s Christmas lights switch on, 22 November 2024).
In 2022 the timing was later. The council said sixteen sites would be lit from 1 December, and it hosted the Christmas Fayre in Chipping Barnet that weekend (Barnet Council, 2 December 2022).
What it means for you: expect the lights to come on in the last ten days of November or on 1 December. If you want to see a ceremony, Whetstone is the place with a recent one; the others simply come on.
Where the lights are
These are the town centres the council named, in 2024 and in 2022. The two lists match closely.
| Town centre | Street named by the council |
|---|---|
| Whetstone | Whetstone High Road |
| High Barnet | High Street and St Albans Road |
| East Barnet | East Barnet Road and Church Hill Road (2022 list also names Cat Hill) |
| East Finchley | High Road |
| North Finchley | Tally Ho (2022 list) |
| Finchley Central | Ballards Lane |
| Golders Green | Golders Green Road, Cross Street and Finchley Road |
| Temple Fortune | Finchley Road (2022 list) |
| Mill Hill | Mill Hill Broadway |
| Edgware | Station Road |
| Burnt Oak | Burnt Oak Broadway, at the top of Watling Avenue |
| West Hendon | West Hendon Broadway |
| Cricklewood | Cricklewood Lane |
| Colindale | Colindale Avenue (2022 list) |
| Hampden Square | Hampden Square |
| Brent Cross | Claremont Park (2024, its own switch-on) |
Sources: Barnet Council, 2024 and Barnet Council, 2022.
Menorah lightings for Chanukah
Barnet also puts up menorahs. The council has a 12-foot menorah outside Hendon Town Hall every year, and has helped fund the menorahs at Golders Green, Mill Hill and Finchley through its community events fund. The 2023 lighting at the town hall was led by Rabbi Gershon Overlander of Chabad House of Hendon, with live music and refreshments (Barnet Council, 13 December 2023).
In 2024 the town hall ceremony was free and open to all, on Monday 30 December at 5.30pm, at Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, NW4 4AX, organised with Hendon House Chabad (Barnet Council, 23 December 2024). That late date was because Chanukah ran late that year.
This year Chanukah is earlier: the first candle is lit on the evening of Friday 4 December 2026 and the festival ends on Saturday 12 December (Hebcal, Jewish holidays 2026). The public menorah lightings will fall in that week. No 2026 times have been announced.
What else is on
- Barnet Christmas Fayre, Sunday 6 December, noon to 5pm, on High Barnet’s High Street, with Santa’s grotto. See Barnet Christmas Fayre.
- Pantomimes and Christmas shows at The Bull and artsdepot: Barnet pantomime.
- A free museum day at Colindale: RAF Museum London in winter.
Driving in to see the lights? Check parking in Barnet and roadworks in Barnet, especially around Brent Cross, where the A41 flyover works run all winter.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026 switch-on date and whether there is a ceremony, and where. Expected in November.
- Whether Claremont Park in Brent Cross has its own switch-on again.
- The 2026 menorah lighting times at Hendon Town Hall and elsewhere. Expected late November.
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