The Mop opens 3pm Sunday 11 October; nine streets shut from just after midnight until early Tuesday 13th. Opening times, Runaway Mop dates and buses.

This year’s Mop Fair opens at 3pm on Sunday 11 October and runs through Monday 12 October, and the Runaway Mop follows on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October. Nine town centre streets close from just after midnight on the Sunday until early on Tuesday 13 October. Stratford-on-Avon District Council confirmed all of it in its Mop Fair 2026 announcement, published on 28 September, and the dates match the fair diary of Bob Wilson’s Funfairs, the showman who runs it.

Updated 29 September: the council has published the 2026 opening times, the Golden Carousel and pig roast, and the road closure times, which were TBC when this page went up.

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 and 2026 announcements both say 28 June 1544. Edward VI did not come to the throne until 1547, so the announcement 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

All from the council’s 28 September announcement:

  • The fair opens at 3pm on Sunday 11 October, with many of the attractions on Bridge Street.
  • District and Town Council dignitaries formally open it at 11am on Monday 12 October.
  • The fair runs until an 11pm close each night. (The town council’s own event listing gives Sunday as 11am to 9pm; we go with the district council, which runs the fair with the operator.)
  • The 127 year old Golden Carousel is back in Rother Street.
  • On the Monday, local Scouts run the traditional pig roast at the end of Waterside, at the bottom of Bridge Street, with the first slice auctioned for charity. (The council’s 2024 release credited the local Round Table; this year’s names the Scouts again.)

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: 00:01 Sunday to early Tuesday

For the Mop Fair, from the council’s announcement and the town council’s notice of closure:

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

The council’s announcement gives the closure as 00:01 on Sunday 11 October until 07:30 on Tuesday 13 October. The signed legal order behind it, Road Closure No. 38 Order 2026, sealed on 9 September, words it slightly differently: from 01:00 on the 11th, and ending at 06:00 on the 13th. Either way, the streets are shut for all of Sunday and Monday and into Tuesday morning, so the Tuesday school and work run is affected too. Plan on the later time.

For the Runaway Mop the streets are Greenhill Street, Rother Street from the entrance to the NCP car park, Wood Street, Windsor Street from Mansell Street to Rother Street, and Meer Street, closed from 00:01 on Friday 23 October until 06:30 on Sunday 25 October. The town council’s Runaway Mop notice adds Henley Street to that list, which the district council’s announcement leaves out, so expect Henley Street to shut too.

Buses move while the fair is up. The town council’s notice says temporary bus stops operate, with buses arriving and departing from Guild Street, behind Marks and Spencer.

The council’s live list of road closures, also lists the Waterside Upmarket for Sunday 11 October, 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, the county says Park and Ride buses move from their usual NatWest stop on Wood Street to Windsor Street Coach Park. The town council’s Mop notice says buses use Guild Street instead, so check the stop signs on the day.

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. The council announced it on 28 September, the closure order is signed, and the operator’s 2026 diary lists it in a run of autumn fairs alongside Nottingham Goose Fair, Hull Fair, Abingdon and Banbury.

Ride prices are not published anywhere. The council directs people to facebook.com/StratfordMop for updates in the run-up.