West End Lights 2026 will take place on
Friday 4/12/2026, 6 pm – 9 pm

If you’re living in the Lincoln West End, be part of West End Lights 2026! The map is now open: put your illumination or charitable contribution on the map. New to West End Lights? Find out more and join our mailing list on the Illuminators page.

Here is who is glowing so far in 2026. The map grows as more illuminators sign up, so check back regularly. Last year more than 40 illuminations lit up the West End despite the wind and rain, and you can still see the 2025 map.

Also check our instagram or facebook and gallery.

All the details for the night are on our West End Lights 2026 page.

  • The map is open! Put yourself on the West End Lights 2026 map

    Five weeks to go until West End Lights 2026. Add your illumination or charitable contribution to our map so visitors can find you on the night. Continue reading “The map is open! Put yourself on the West End Lights 2026 map”…

  • Meet the young artists behind West End Lights 2026

    Meet Arlo Garner and Beatrice Hul, whose designs won this year’s poster competition, and download the West End Lights 2026 postcards. Continue reading “Meet the young artists behind West End Lights 2026”…

  • The countdown to West End Lights 2026 has started

    The evenings are drawing in, which can only mean one thing: West End Lights is on its way. Mark your calendars, because West End Lights 2026 will take place on Friday 4 December, from 6 pm to 9 pm. For those new to the area, West End Lights is our home-grown festival of light. For…

What is West End Lights?

Lincoln West End Lights is one night in the year when we turn the front of our houses into film screens and light up the streets with images, moving shadows and short films to delight and enchant residents and surprised passersby.

It started on a cold winter’s night in December 2010. The West End of Lincoln was unusually quiet. Its streets closed to traffic because of a deep covering of snow but from nine houses lights shone out into the winter’s night. Those who braved the ice and cold saw an angel flying in York Avenue and a Lincolnshire Boggart hiding his treasures in Moor Street.

In 2011 films, shadow plays, lanterns and words glowed from 26 houses. Families collected on corners to watch shoals of fish dancing, stories unfolding before them and fleeting images from Lincoln’s past appear and melt away.

A brief introduction of Lincoln West End Lights, recorded in 2017 by the University of Lincoln’s Student Life Team.

Social Media

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Instagram @lincoln_west_end_lights
Facebook /lincolnwestendlights