The council and the fair's operator both list the Mop for Sunday 11 and Monday 12 October, and the Runaway Mop for 23 and 24 October. Closure times say TBC.

This year’s Mop Fair is on Sunday 11 and Monday 12 October, and the Runaway Mop follows on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October. Two independent sources agree: Stratford-on-Avon District Council’s own Mop Fair page, updated on 9 January 2026, and the fair diary of Bob Wilson’s Funfairs, the showman who runs it.

What has not been published is the road closure. The council’s page lists every street that shuts and then leaves the date blank: the roads close “from 00.01 on TBC”. Its full 2025 announcement went out on 10 September, and in 2023 and 2024 on 25 September, so the detail is due within weeks.

Why the dates are not the nearest weekend

The Mop does not move to suit the calendar. It is held on 11 and 12 October whatever days those fall on, and the council’s own press releases prove it three years running:

So 2026 gets a Sunday and a Monday, and the fair’s formal opening lands on a working Monday and a school day. Worth knowing before you plan a school run through the town centre.

The council explains the fixed date in its own history of the fair. Mops were tied to the harvest, not the calendar, so when Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 and dropped eleven days, the end of harvest shifted to 10 October. Stratford’s fair has sat on 12 October ever since.

One wrinkle if you go looking for the origin story. The council’s Mop page dates the original charter to Edward VI on 28 June 1553, while its 2025 press release says 28 June 1544. Edward VI did not come to the throne until 1547, so the press release cannot be right.

The dates

Fair 2026 dates
Mop Fair Sunday 11 and Monday 12 October
Runaway Mop Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October

What happens, and when

These timings are last year’s, from the council’s 2025 announcement, and they have not changed since 2023. Treat them as the expected shape of 2026 rather than confirmed times.

  • The fair opens at 3pm on the first day, with most attractions on Bridge Street.
  • Council dignitaries formally open it at 11am on the second day.
  • The streets stay busy until an 11pm close each night.
  • The 127 year old Golden Carousel is set up in Rother Street.
  • A pig roast runs at the end of Waterside, at the bottom of Bridge Street, with the first slice auctioned for charity. The council credited it to local Scouts in 2023 and 2025 and to the local Round Table in 2024, so treat the organiser as unconfirmed.

There is no admission charge for the fair itself. You pay per ride, and neither the council nor the operator publishes ride prices.

The Runaway Mop is a smaller pleasure fair clustered around Rother Street. Its name comes from the same hiring tradition, a second chance for employer and worker to change their minds before committing to the year.

Road closures: the streets are named, the dates are not

For the Mop Fair, from the council’s page:

  • Greenhill Street
  • Rother Street, from Ely Street
  • Wood Street
  • Union Street
  • Bridge Street
  • Windsor Street, from Mansell Street
  • Meer Street
  • Henley Street
  • High Street

For the Runaway Mop the list is shorter: Greenhill Street, Rother Street from the entrance to the NCP car park, Wood Street, Windsor Street from Mansell Street, and Meer Street.

Last year’s order ran from 00:01 on the Saturday until 07:30 on the Monday for the Mop, and from 00:01 on the Friday until 06:30 on the Sunday for the Runaway Mop. Note the length of that. It is more than two full days, not just the fair’s opening hours, because the rides have to be built and pulled down. On the same pattern this year’s closure would start just after midnight on the Sunday and lift early on the Tuesday, but that is an inference from 2025 and not a published 2026 time.

The council’s live list of road closures, last updated on 17 March 2026, carries no Mop entry at all. What it does list for Sunday 11 October is the Waterside Upmarket, 9am to 6pm, so Waterside is busy that day too. The council says the Mop closures “will be strictly enforced”.

Parking and getting there

On-street parking inside the closure disappears for the duration. The district council’s car parks are not named in the closure list, and current tariffs are on our Stratford parking page: £1.40 an hour and £13.90 for 24 hours in the town centre.

The Park and Ride at Bishopton is the alternative Warwickshire County Council pushes. Parking there is £3 before 8.59am and £1 from 9am, blue badge holders park free, and the bus is £2.50 adult return, £1.50 child, or £4 for a group of up to five.

Read the timetable before you commit to it, because the two Mop days are not alike. The county’s published hours are 10am to 6.30pm on a Sunday, which covers 11 October, but only 9am to 3pm on a weekday, which stops hours before the busiest part of Monday 12 October. Some early and late journeys on the X18 and X21 also serve the site. And when Wood Street or Bridge Street are closed, which is exactly what the Mop does, Park and Ride buses move from their usual NatWest stop on Wood Street to Windsor Street Coach Park.

Check the roadworks and travel page before you travel, because county roadworks orders run alongside the fair closures and are made separately.

Is it definitely on

Yes. Both the council and the operator have it in writing, and the operator’s 2026 diary lists it in a run of autumn fairs alongside Nottingham Goose Fair, Hull Fair, Abingdon and Banbury.

Still to confirm for 2026: the closure dates and times, the opening times, and whether the Golden Carousel and the pig roast return. The council directs people to facebook.com/StratfordMop for updates in the run-up, and we will update this page when its announcement lands.