We havn’t been to Lewes for a few years – but if your local, it will draw you back but the roads into Lewes shut very early and dont open again until middle of the night. Trains sometimes dont stop at Lewes on Bonfire Night – to discourage big crowds of people coming here from outside. If you do get on a train that stops, be prepared to be jammed worse than on the underground in a big city on New Years Eve.
The atmosphere is incredible, but scary if you’re near the front – oily burning torches almost touch the crowds and bangers are thrown and lit burning tar barrels are dragged through the streets. The different firework societys and bands walk miles through the streets and some – like Cliffe society walk against the rest – so the narrow streets of Lewes are ablaze with torches and music. Small shops open up selling fish and chips and people spill out from the pubs onto the crowded streets.
Sometime after 10pm the different societys walk off to their own firework displays around Lewes and burn effigys of the most unloved people at the moment……
When late at night you get home, your clothes smell of the torches and cold air
sunnypolarbear 