Christmas in Whitley Bay 2026

Christmas in Whitley Bay is built around one building. Most of the town's festive calendar happens under the dome at Spanish City, with the Playhouse on Marine Avenue supplying the pantomime and the seafront doing the rest for free.

This guide covers what runs every year and what is confirmed for 2026. Where a date has not been published, we say so rather than guess.

The lights

We have found no civic switch-on announced for Whitley Bay. The tree that most people think of as the town's lights is inside Spanish City, and its switch-on is a ticketed event at a private venue.

For 2026 that is the Christmas Tree Light Switch On on Sunday 15 November, 4pm to 6pm, with the 30ft tree lit at 5pm. Local host Steve Walls leads it, and there are carol singers, mulled wine, stilt walkers, bauble decorating and balloon modelling for children. Tickets are £5 per person, bought online only, and under-2s go free.

Entry is also free if you book a table at Trenchers between 3pm and 6pm (a set menu applies) or at 1910 between 3pm and 5pm. Children must be with an adult.

North Tyneside Council puts festive lighting up in its town centres, but it had not published dates for Whitley Bay's 2026 lights when we checked in early November.

Christmas markets

The Spanish City Christmas Market runs from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November 2026, opening at noon on the Friday. It is held indoors under the dome, and tickets are £3 in advance or £5 on the door.

A week later, on Sunday 29 November, the volunteer-run Whitley Bay Fiesta holds its Winter Fiesta from 11am to 3pm. It has more than 30 stalls of food, crafts and textiles across St Paul's Church and Whitley Bay Shopping Centre on Whitley Road, with free activities and performances. Entry is free.

Our Christmas markets in Whitley Bay guide covers both, plus Tynemouth Station's weekend market, North Shields and the bigger markets further afield.

Meeting Santa

Spanish City runs three ticketed Santa experiences in December 2026, each with a visit to the grotto:

• Breakfast with Santa: a cooked breakfast, the grotto and a family disco, 8.30am to 11am on 13, 19, 20, 23 and 24 December.
• Festive Lunch with Santa: a three-course lunch in the St Mary's Lighthouse Suite, 12pm to 4pm on 5, 13, 19, 20, 23 and 24 December.
• Afternoon Tea with Santa: a 12pm sitting on 5, 6, 13, 19, 20, 23 and 24 December, plus a 3.30pm sitting on 5 and 19 December.

All three require a party of at least three, payment upfront and no refunds. Breakfast on 20 December was already almost full in early November, so book soon if you are set on one.

Best for:

These are meals with a grotto visit attached, not a drop-in grotto. Prices start at £26 per adult and £19.50 per child for the breakfast, so check the event pages before you commit a family of five.

Shows and pantomime

Playhouse Whitley Bay has the town's pantomime. This year it is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from Friday 4 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, produced by Blue Genie Entertainment with Michelle Heaton of Liberty X as Snow White. It runs about two and a half hours with an interval.

Before that, the Playhouse has The Overtones: Jivin' Home For Christmas on Saturday 7 November and A Christmas Carol on Monday 16 November. Whitley Bay Panto Society then takes the stage with its own Aladdin from 13 to 17 January 2027.

Spanish City also has Christmas tribute nights through December, and a Christmas Eve dinner at 1910.

Carols and church services

The switch-on at Spanish City includes carol singing. For services, Whitley Bay's churches, including St Paul's on Whitley Road, publish their Christmas schedules through December. We had not found confirmed 2026 carol service times when we checked, so look at the churches' own pages nearer the time.

Festive walks

The seafront is the town's best free Christmas outing. The promenade runs flat from Spanish City south to Cullercoats and Tynemouth, or north across the Links to St Mary's Lighthouse.

The causeway to St Mary's Island floods at high tide, so check North Tyneside Council's tide times before you set off. The visitor centre opens on a reduced pattern outside the summer, so confirm it is open if climbing the lighthouse is the point. Our best walks in Whitley Bay guide has routes and distances.

Boxing Day

The North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards have held a Boxing Day swim every year since the club formed in 1998, and their best-known dip is on Tynemouth's Longsands. No 2026 details had been published when we checked, and we know of no organised dip in Whitley Bay itself, so do not plan around one until it is announced.

Christmas trees

The nearest specialist tree yard is a few minutes north at Seaton Delaval, and Aldi on Foxhunters Road has sold real Nordmann firs from late November in recent years. In January, St Oswald's Hospice collects trees from Whitley Bay homes for a suggested donation. Our Christmas trees in Whitley Bay guide covers where to buy and how to recycle your tree.

Parking and the Metro

In December 2025, North Tyneside Council made on-street parking free on Saturdays as well as Sundays in Whitley Bay town centre. It also pointed shoppers to free spaces in council car parks including Back Park View, Park Road, Playhouse and Whitley Road. The 2026 arrangements had not been announced when we checked.

Whitley Bay and Monkseaton are both on the Metro's yellow line. In 2025, Nexus ran no Metro on Christmas Day and a Sunday service from about 8am to 8pm on Boxing Day. Check the Nexus website for this year's festive timetable before travelling.

Still to be confirmed

As of 2 November 2026, these had not been published:

• Dates for the council's Whitley Bay Christmas lights
• Carol service times at the town's churches
• Any Boxing Day dip arrangements
• Free festive parking for December 2026
• The Metro's 2026 Christmas timetable

We will update this guide as they are announced.

Know a Whitley Bay Christmas event we have missed? Get in touch.