Chiswick's switch-on is run by residents, not the council, and moves each year: Tue 19 Nov in 2024, Thu 27 Nov in 2025. No 2026 date published yet.

Chiswick’s Christmas lights switch-on has no 2026 date yet. It is not a council event and it is not on a fixed weekday, which is why searching for it turns up a different answer every year.

It is organised by a small group of Chiswick residents under the name Christmas in Chiswick, funded by local sponsors, and announced about a fortnight ahead on local news sites rather than by the borough. Everything below was checked against the original reports on 5 September 2026.

Where it happens, and what actually gets switched on

The tree stands on the corner of Annandale Road and Chiswick High Road, opposite the top of Turnham Green Terrace. That is the spot in both years we have records for, and the tree there is provided by Hounslow Council.

The switch does more than the one tree. In 2025 it lit:

  • the main tree at the Annandale Road corner
  • a second tree at the top of Turnham Green Terrace, donated by Wheeler’s of Chiswick
  • the festive streetlights along Chiswick High Road, Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road

The display is put up by the Chiswick Lighting Company at 30 Devonshire Road, with support from Hounslow Highways, and the ceremonial switch itself is theirs. That detail comes from ChiswickW4’s report on the 2025 event.

The last two years, so you can see the pattern

Year Date Times Who performed
2024 Tuesday 19 November Gathering from 4.30pm, lights on at 5pm Chiswick School Performing Arts choir
2025 Thursday 27 November Dancing and carols 5.15pm, lights on 5.25pm CTA Performing Arts, ages 7 to 14

2024 is documented twice by the Hounslow Herald, once in advance on 14 November and once afterwards. Father Christmas, a reindeer and an elf attended, children in the crowd pressed the switch at 5pm, and the choir was led by their teacher Tommy Robinson. The organisers were named as local residents Lynda Fisher and Marlene Johnson, and the sponsors as Snappy Snaps, Hounslow Council, Wheelers, Chiswick Lighting, M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

2025 moved to a Thursday and eight days later in the month. ChiswickW4 reported a dance performance and carols by CTA Performing Arts, the Chiswick theatre and dance school, from 5.15pm, with Father Christmas and an elf switching on at 5.25pm.

A word of caution if you go looking at ChiswickW4 yourself: its byline date is unreliable. Both the 2024 and the 2025 stories carry the same “November 17, 2024” stamp. The 2025 one is identifiable because 27 November falls on a Thursday in 2025 and on a Wednesday in 2024.

Two years running there has been a scavenger hunt

Alongside the switch-on in 2024, the organisers ran a Children’s Christmas Scavenger Hunt for ages 5 to 11: spot the odd items placed in participating shop windows, with more than 50 prizes donated by local businesses. Entry forms came from Chiswick Lighting at 30 Devonshire Road and had to be back by 5pm on 13 December, with winners texted the next day.

If it runs again, that is where the forms will be.

When the 2026 date will appear

On the two years we can document, the announcement landed less than a week before the event, on local news sites rather than any official channel: the Hounslow Herald previewed the 2024 switch-on five days ahead, and ChiswickW4 previewed the 2025 one in the same week it happened. The council does not list it: Hounslow’s events page currently returns “Sorry, no content available”, and its news feed had nothing festive on it when we checked on 5 September.

So the realistic window for a 2026 announcement is the middle two weeks of November, with the event itself most likely in the second half of the month. We will update this page as soon as a date is published.

Getting there and parking

The tree stands on the High Road opposite Turnham Green Terrace, a short walk from Turnham Green station on the District line and served by the High Road bus stops. Our trains and travel page has the station detail.

If you are driving, the switch-on is a weekday early evening in a controlled parking zone: our parking page sets out which zones cover the High Road, when they operate and what the bays cost. Check the roadworks and travel page for anything currently closed on your route.

Sources