Tonbridge's half marathon is Sunday 4 October, Hever and Penshurst run Halloween trails from 17 October and the fireworks are 1 November. 36 listings.

Two Sundays frame the next six weeks in Tonbridge. On Sunday 4 October the half marathon closes Brook Street from early morning and a loop of lanes through Haysden, Leigh and Hildenborough with it. On Sunday 1 November the Round Table’s fireworks fill the Racecourse Sportsground, this year with a Halloween theme.

Between them come the Halloween trails at Hever Castle and Penshurst Place, three productions at the Oast Theatre, a four-day run of Come From Away at the EM Forster Theatre, four home games for Tonbridge Angels, Oktoberfest and a free artisan market at the castle. Every entry below was read from the organiser’s own page on 28 September or 3 October 2026 and links back to it. Prices are given only where the organiser publishes them. Dates can change, so use the link before you set off.

This week

  • Run Kent Tonbridge Half Marathon, 10k and 5k. Sunday 4 October, The Judd School, Brook Street, TN9 2PN. The half marathon starts at 9am, the 10k at 9.30am and the 5k at 9.45am. Entry is £30 for the 5k, £34 for the 10k and £38 for the half, plus a 5% booking fee. Race packs are collected from 7.30am and there is no parking at the school (RunThrough). The roads that shut, and when, are on our half marathon page.
  • National Theatre Live: The Misanthrope. Thursday 8 October, 7pm, EM Forster Theatre. Tickets £16, students £14. A screening of Martin Crimp’s version of Molière, with Sandra Oh in the lead (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • The Bayeux Tapestry. Thursday 8 October, 7.45pm, Medway Hall, Angel Centre, TN9 1SE. Free to members, £3 for non-members. James Dickinson gives the Tonbridge Historical Society’s October lecture, with tea and coffee served beforehand (Tonbridge Historical Society).

Next week

  • Dracula. Saturday 10 to Saturday 17 October, Oast Theatre, London Road, TN10 3AN. Performances are at 7.30pm every night, with a 3pm show on Sunday 11 October in place of an evening one. Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Bram Stoker runs about two hours 15 minutes with an interval. The theatre’s pages do not print a ticket price, so check the booking page (Oast Theatre).
  • Revenge of The Scarecrow. Saturday 10 October, 7.30pm to 10pm, Penshurst Place, TN11 8DG. £72 a person, including a three-course dinner in the upstairs dining room. A comedy murder mystery with a Halloween harvest theme; fancy dress is encouraged (Penshurst Place).
  • Attention All Shipping. Tuesday 13 October, 7.30pm, EM Forster Theatre. All tickets £19. Charlie Connelly on the history of the shipping forecast, two hours with an interval (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Frontier Sapiens Adventure Film Festival. Thursday 15 October, 7.30pm, EM Forster Theatre. Tickets £19, students £16. A programme of short adventure films introduced by the festival team (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Tonbridge Comedy Night. Friday 16 October, 7.30pm, EM Forster Theatre. £15, age 16 and over. Lonestar Comedy brings Nathan Caton, Pierre Hollins and Dan Evans. Sold out when we checked on 3 October (EM Forster Theatre box office).

The farmers’ market is also next week, on Sunday 11 October. It is under regular events below.

Later in October

  • Apple Weekend. Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, 10am to 5pm, Penshurst Place. Included in admission. The first apple weekend among the garden’s 130-plus apple trees, with children’s crafts and games, apple pressing and tastings (Penshurst Place).
  • Hever Castle Halloween Half Term Fun. Daily from Saturday 17 October to Sunday 1 November, 10.30am to 4.30pm, Hever Castle, TN8 7NG. Included with admission; face painting £6 on selected dates. A Mad Scientists trail, a goggles craft and a Dr Frankenstein science show at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2pm and 3pm (Hever Castle). Prices and the rest are on our Halloween page.
  • Tonbridge Angels v Chesham United. Saturday 17 October, 3pm, Longmead Stadium. National League South. Matchday admission is £18 for adults, £15 for concessions and £8 for ages 12 to 17 (fixtures, admission).
  • Tonbridge Angels v Charlton Athletic. Tuesday 20 October, 7.45pm, Longmead Stadium. Kent Senior Cup. Cup prices are not on the club’s admission page (Tonbridge Angels).
  • Come From Away. Wednesday 21 to Saturday 24 October, EM Forster Theatre. Evenings at 7.30pm each night, plus 4pm on the Friday and 3pm on the Saturday. Premium seats £26, standard £22, with £2 off for under 16s and over 65s. LAMPS stages the musical about the air passengers grounded in Newfoundland after 9/11. It runs one hour 40 minutes with no interval (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Oktoberfest. Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October, Tonbridge Racecourse Sportsground. From £20, adults only. German beer, food and oompah bands. The council’s listing gives no opening times (Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council).
  • Beware the Bad Apple! Halloween Trail. Daily from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 5pm, Penshurst Place. Included in admission. A poison-apple ingredients hunt round the grounds, with crafts in The Old Coach House and panto-style storytelling from 26 to 31 October (Penshurst Place).
  • Spooky Halloween Trail. Saturday 24 October, 5pm to 7pm in five time slots, Leybourne Lakes Country Park. £6 a child, spaces limited. tmactive’s after-dark pumpkin trail round the lakes; meet outside the cafe and bring a torch (tmactive).
  • Tonbridge Castle artisan market. Sunday 25 October, 10am to 4pm, Tonbridge Castle, Castle Street, TN9 1BG. Free. Indoor and outdoor stalls with crafts, sweet treats and beauty products (Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council).
  • Great Comp Garden open day. Sunday 25 October, 10am to 5pm, last admission 4pm, Comp Lane, Platt, TN15 8QS. Adults £12, children aged 6 to 17 £4. The garden gives 80% of the day’s entry income to the National Garden Scheme (Great Comp Garden).
  • Sarah Pointon: The past falls open anywhere. Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November, 12pm to 4pm daily, The Tunnel Gallery, Tonbridge School. Open to the public with no booking needed. Drawings, prints, paintings and animations, in the gallery behind the chapel (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Tonbridge Angels v Folkestone Invicta. Tuesday 27 October, 7.45pm, Longmead Stadium. National League South, at the league matchday prices above (Tonbridge Angels).
  • SEN Halloween Bounce. Friday 30 October, 10.30am to noon, Angel Centre. £7.10, or £5.20 with a leisure pass, booked on 01732 359966. A Halloween bouncy castle session for children with special educational needs and disabilities (tmactive).
  • Lady Bracknell’s Confinement. Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November, Oast Theatre. Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm, Sunday at 2pm. Paul Doust’s play starts where The Importance of Being Earnest ends. No ticket price is printed on the theatre’s pages (Oast Theatre).
  • Don’t Dilly Dally. Saturday 31 October, 2.30pm, EM Forster Theatre. Tickets £26. A music hall afternoon with Tom Carradine, Rosemary Ashe and Richard Gauntlett (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Tonbridge Angels v Salisbury. Saturday 31 October, 3pm, Longmead Stadium. National League South, at the league matchday prices above (Tonbridge Angels).

The theatre’s notes on several of these shows say its lift is out of order, so circle seats are reached by stairs only. Half term has its own page, with the school-by-school dates: October half term in Tonbridge, and the Halloween events are gathered on our Halloween page.

November

  • A Showcase of TMC Music Award Winners. Sunday 1 November, 11am, Music Suite, Somerhill, TN11 0NJ. Standard £10, students and under 18s free. Six young musicians backed by the music club’s 2025 awards play for about 70 minutes, with tea and coffee afterwards (Tonbridge Music Club).
  • Tonbridge Fireworks Display. Sunday 1 November, gates 5pm, display 6.30pm, Racecourse Sportsground, TN9 1DS. Advance tickets are advertised at £11 for adults and £7 for children aged 5 to 15, and the booking page charges £12.10 and £7.70. Under fives are free. The advance rate ends at midnight on 23 October (Tonbridge Round Table, booking page).
  • The Cowdreys in Conversation. Tuesday 3 November, 7.30pm, EM Forster Theatre. Tickets £12. Chris Cowdrey, the former England and Kent captain, in the Tennant Lecture series. The foyer bar opens at 6.45pm (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Snodland Fireworks Night. Wednesday 4 November, display at 7.30pm, Potyns Sportsground, Snodland. Free, with donations welcome. The town council brings in a funfair and says road closures will be in place (Snodland Town Council).
  • National Theatre Live: Golden Boy. Thursday 5 November, 7pm, EM Forster Theatre. Tickets £16, students £14. Josh O’Connor leads the Almeida Theatre’s revival of Clifford Odets (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Sarah Pointon: artist talk. Wednesday 11 November, 7pm to 8pm, Barton Science Centre Atrium, Tonbridge School. Free, book ahead. The artist on her drawings, prints, paintings and animations; the Tunnel Gallery opposite opens from 6.30pm (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • The Sound of the Screen 2. Friday 13 November, 7.30pm, Big School, Tonbridge School. Free, book ahead. Tonbridge School’s chamber groups play film music, including Samuel Barber and Bernard Herrmann (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Tonbridge SUPER-Comedy Night. Friday 13 November, 8pm, EM Forster Theatre. £15, age 16 and over, 150 minutes. Alistair Barrie, Dave Chawner and Rich Wilson (EM Forster Theatre box office).
  • Health provision in Tonbridge. Saturday 14 November, 2.30pm, Medway Hall, Angel Centre. Free to members, £3 for non-members. The Historical Society’s November meeting moves to a Saturday afternoon, with talks by Pat Mortlock, Maureen McLeod and David Phillips, starting with health provision in Tonbridge from 1870 to 1948 (Tonbridge Historical Society).
  • Educating Rita. Saturday 14 to Saturday 21 November, Oast Theatre. Willy Russell’s play, directed by Marc Evans. Check the theatre’s page for times and booking (Oast Theatre).

One thing to know about the fireworks gates. The Round Table’s booking page now names the entrances as New Wharf Road, the swimming pool bridge and Avebury Avenue. Its own website still lists the Lower Castle Field car park bridge, which the council removed in July. Go by the booking page. Our fireworks page has the parking and the rain date.

The borough council had not published this year’s Remembrance Sunday arrangements when we checked on 3 October. Our Remembrance Sunday page has last year’s pattern and will carry the 2026 times.

Regular events

  • Tonbridge parkrun. Every Saturday, 9am, Castle Road, behind Tonbridge Swimming Pool, TN9 1HR. Free. A timed 5k to walk, jog or run. Register once and bring your barcode. The next one is Saturday 10 October (Tonbridge parkrun).
  • Tonbridge Farmers’ Market. Second Sunday of every month, 9.30am to 1.30pm, Sovereign Way car park, TN9 1RG. Free to walk round. It regularly has more than 50 stalls, and the next market is Sunday 11 October (Kent Farmers’ Market Association).

Getting there

The half marathon organiser puts Tonbridge station about ten minutes’ walk from The Judd School, and Tonbridge Angels lists buses 208, 218, 219 and 222 to The Pinnacles stop for Longmead. Council car parks charge every day of the week, and the tariffs are on our parking page. Check the roadworks and travel page and the autumn rail closures page before a half term trip. For places that are open whatever the month, see things to do in Tonbridge.

Further ahead, we have pages on the Christmas market, the Christmas lights switch-on, the pantomime and where to meet Father Christmas. More in our What’s On section.

Send us your event

Running something in Tonbridge, Hildenborough, Hadlow, West Malling, Kings Hill or Snodland? Email hello@tonbridgetoday.co.uk with the date, time, venue, price and a photo. Listings are free of charge. Yours will go on this page and in the diary on our front page.

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