Blackpool Illuminations 2025: All you need to know

This year the lights will shine from 29 August until 4 January 2026

Singer Olly Murs is to switch on this year's Blackpool Illuminations on the evening of Friday 29 August, and they will shine nightly until 4 January 2026.

The free switch-on event on Blackpool's Tower Festival Headland is ticketed, so if people have not got one of the 24,000 balloted tickets now, then they are too late.

However, live screens on the Promenade will allow anyone who missed out to still be a part of the show.

Here is some more useful information for the Illuminations, which have been lighting up the seaside resort for over 140 years.

What time does it start?

Singer Olly Murs is to switch on this year's Blackpool Illuminations

Gates open at 16:00 BST, with performances starting at about 17:30.

The switch-on concert will be on the promenade near Blackpool Tower.

Olly Murs will take to the stage and perform a set before he flicks the switch to trigger six miles of Illuminations.

He will be joined by X-Factor winner Louisa Johnson, English rock band Toploader, and "Blackpool Introduces", which will showcase local talent.

The Illuminations will go on at 21:15 and the lights will stay on until 01:00.

They will then be lit nightly from 20:00, with earlier switch-on times as the nights draw in.

On the last day, 4 January, they will shine from 16.30 to 22.30.

How do I get there?

The display starts at Starr Gate (Squires Gate) and ends at Red Bank Road in Bispham (or vice versa).

The council advises visitors to get there early as the town gets very busy.

A list of council-owned car parks, mapped by location, can be found here.

For people travelling by train to Blackpool North, the Tower Festival Headland is a 10-minute walk from the station.

It can be reached by travelling down Talbot Road to the Promenade, making a left towards Blackpool Tower.

If visitors are unable to walk for long periods or have limited time, they can view the tableaux at the north end of the display at Bispham.

The large pictures there feature some long-standing family favourites, including the Haunted Hotel, and the oldest illumination still on display, the Teddy Bears Picnic.

What's new this year?

Three 22ft (7m) high dragons will be positioned near Blackpool Tower

A trio of huge smoke-breathing dragons will form the centrepiece of this year's Blackpool Illuminations - part of a project by creative curator and flamboyant interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

Wrapped around turrets, the dragons will "come alive" with light and smoke on the Tower Festival Headland.

There will also be a new projection on the Blackpool Tower building by artist Ant Dickinson.

He is including an interactive element which will enable visitors to scan a QR code to "summon their chosen dragon and see it move across the building".

Illuminated artworks include a section featuring wildlife paintings from Robert E Fuller, pampered pets dressed in regal outfits with gilded collars, and a huge installation inspired by the bright trails of stars and satellites moving across the night sky.

The history of the Illuminations

The Illuminations started in 1879 with eight carbon arc lamps. They were described as "artificial sunshine", but grew into six miles (9.5km) of immersive light and art displays, "blending tradition and modern technology".

Switch-on ceremonies date back to 1934, when the 17th Earl of Derby did the honours.

The austere post-war climate meant the Blackpool Illuminations did not shine from 1939 until 1949.

Among those who have switched them on are gothic horror director Tim Burton, "Coronavirus heroes" from the NHS in 2020, the Grand National-winning racehorse Red Rum and muppet Kermit The Frog.

The Blackpool Illuminations shone for 66 nights a year, but in 2020 the display was extended by two months - which has continued ever since.

Over one million LED lamps are used, slashing the electricity that is now used by two thirds.

Blackpool Illuminations cost over £2m a year to stage, and attract over 12 million visitors a year.