Shepperton Big Tree Night is Wednesday 9 December 2026, 5pm to 8.30pm. Santa and real reindeer at 6.30pm, and the High Street closes to traffic at 4pm.

Big Tree Night 2026 is on Wednesday 9 December, from 5pm to 8.30pm on Shepperton High Street. Admission is free. Santa arrives on stage at 6.30pm and moves to his grotto with real reindeer by Shepperton Library at 6.35pm. The High Street closes to traffic from 4pm. The organisers have published the full running order already, which is unusual this far out.

Every detail below is from the event’s own site, bigtreenight.uk, read on 5 September 2026.

The running order

The committee publishes this as the programme, with all timings subject to change.

  • 4pm: Shepperton High Street closes, from the traffic lights in the north to Mere Road in the south
  • 5pm: stalls open
  • 6.15pm: speeches from committee chair Chantal Mitchell, Maureen Attewell (borough and county councillor) and Lincoln Jopp MC MP, introducing the Mayor of Spelthorne
  • 6.25pm: the Mayor opens Big Tree Night
  • 6.30pm: Santa arrives on stage and presents the poster competition winners with their prizes
  • 6.35pm: Santa walks to his grotto and his reindeer by Shepperton Library
  • 6.40pm: carols with St Nicholas School Choir
  • 7.10pm: Saxon School Choir
  • 7.25pm: Thamesmead School Band
  • 7.45pm: The Stewart Academy Choir
  • 8.30pm: Santa and the reindeer leave, stalls close
  • 10pm: the High Street and slip roads reopen

The gap worth planning around is 6.30pm. Santa is on stage for five minutes and then in the grotto, so if you are bringing small children for the reindeer, aim to be on the High Street by about 6.15pm rather than 7pm.

Road closures and buses

The High Street shuts from 4pm and stays shut until 10pm at the latest. The closure runs from the traffic lights at the north end down to Mere Road. The entrance to Manor Farm Avenue has to stay clear for emergency vehicles at all times.

Two bus routes are affected. The 555 and 557 both divert up or down Green Lane or Russell Road to Marshall’s Roundabout. The organisers say the 555 will miss its stops on Russell Road but will still call at Shepperton Station Approach, and they point passengers at Hallmark Buses for times.

Parking, and why not to bother

The event’s own advice is to walk if you live in Shepperton, because the roads will be busy and parking will be scarce. The nearest public car park is Manor Park, which charges, at the Memorial end of the High Street.

The organisers’ own answer is the train: Shepperton station is within a few steps of the event, which is as close as public transport gets to a closed High Street. Note that Shepperton is not on the Staines line, so from Staines it means a change rather than a through service. Check National Rail for the connection before you commit to it. Our Staines train times page covers the Staines end, and Staines roadworks and travel covers anything else happening on the roads that week.

Practical details on the night

  • Toilets and first aid: community toilets are in the Guardian Angels Carers shop, with St John Ambulance in the same shop by the Big Tree
  • Lost children: the meeting point is the Guardian Angels shop by the Big Tree. Ask a Big Tree Night organiser at the committee gazebo to put out an announcement
  • Lost property: hand it in at the gazebo. Anything unclaimed at the end goes to a charity shop on the High Street
  • Questions and programmes: the committee gazebo
  • Weather: it is an outdoor December event and the organisers say plainly to dress for it

The site says an accessibility section and an event map are still to come. If you need to know about step-free routes, seating or disabled parking, the committee’s contact form is the only route to an answer at the moment.

What it is, and who pays for it

Big Tree Night is free, run by volunteers, and held every year on the second Wednesday in December. That rule is worth remembering: it is how you can work out next year’s date before the committee publishes it. Businesses fund it through stalls, programme adverts, tree sponsorship and donations, and High Street shops can order a Christmas tree for the front of their premises.

Sources