Preston Manor's October ghost nights are sold out, with a new date on 6 November. Pumpkin picking, Shriek Week and Halloween film night, with prices.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, at the end of the city’s October half term (Monday 26 to Friday 30 October). Brighton has no council-run Halloween event, no parade and nothing on the Palace Pier’s calendar, so the season is carried by the museums, SEA LIFE and the farms within half an hour’s drive. Everything below was checked on the organisers’ own pages on 3 October 2026.

The quick answer

  • Ghost hunts at Preston Manor are sold out for every October Friday. Brighton & Hove Museums has added one more night, Friday 6 November, 8pm to 11pm, £36, ages 16 and over.
  • Nearest pick your own pumpkins: Sompting Pumpkins, open from today, 3 October, to 31 October, 10am to 4pm. Free entry and parking, no booking.
  • Halloween night in town: a pop-up cinema in Brighton Museum’s Central Gallery, Hocus Pocus at 7pm and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at 9.15pm, £20 a film or £35 for both.

Ghosts and Halloween nights in Brighton

Ghostly Gatherings, Preston Manor. The adult ghost hunt in what the museums call one of Brighton’s most famous buildings ran on Fridays 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 October, and the museums’ listing now marks all five “SOLD OUT”. A new date has been “added due to demand”: Friday 6 November, 8pm to 11pm. Tickets are £36, with 15% off for museum members, and it is for ages 16 and over (listing).

The Slayers, Preston Manor. A three-hour live game of alliances and suspicion, built by the team behind Pier Pressure Escape Rooms and inspired, in their words, by Werewolf, The Traitors and Blood on the Clocktower. Games run on 3, 10 and 24 October, 6.30pm to 9.30pm (Brilliant Brighton, 1 October). Prices are on the booking page.

Halloween pop-up cinema, Brighton Museum, Saturday 31 October. The museum says it is the first time in its history it has run a cinema in the Central Gallery. Hocus Pocus (PG) at 7pm, open to children of 8 and over with an adult, then The Rocky Horror Picture Show (12A) at 9.15pm. £20 per person per film, or £35 for both when bought in the same transaction. Dressing up is encouraged and there is a prize for the best-dressed guest at each screening (listing).

For teenagers: Haunted Happenings, a ghost tour of Preston Manor for 13 to 16 year olds, Friday 30 October, 11am to noon, £10; children of 13 and over can go unaccompanied (listing). Twisted Tales, a ghost story writing session for the same age group, is on the same day (what’s on).

For younger children

Ascarium: Tricks and Treats, SEA LIFE Brighton, 3 October to 1 November. A trail through the aquarium with challenges set by the Sea Witch and Warlock and a reward at the end, included with admission (SEA LIFE). When we checked in late September, admission was £16 an adult booked online or £22 on the door, under 2s free.

Alice in FUNderland, Preston Manor, Thursday 29 October, 10am to 4pm. Victorian parlour games and puzzles with Brighton Science Festival, free with admission to the manor. It is not a Halloween event as such, but it is the same house and the same week; details are on our half-term page.

Shriek Week, Drusillas Park, Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November. The zoo park at Alfriston, between Brighton and Eastbourne, runs its Halloween week across the whole of half term (Drusillas). Drusillas has published the dates but not yet what is in the programme or whether it costs extra, so check before you go. The park opens 10am to 5pm.

Pumpkin picking near Brighton

Sompting Pumpkins, Lychpole Farm, Halewick Lane, Sompting BN15 0NE. The nearest pick your own patch to the city, beside the A27 just west of Shoreham. It opens today, Saturday 3 October, and runs to 31 October, with gates open 10am to 4pm and last entry at 3.30pm. There is no booking, entry and parking are free, and pumpkins are priced by size and paid for by card or cash at the craft area. Tractor rides run at weekends only, dogs are not allowed, and there are toilets on site (Sompting Pumpkins). The farm’s own page does not say which days between 3 and 31 October it opens; listings put it at weekends until half term and daily from 24 October, so check its social channels before a weekday trip.

Tulleys Pumpkin Festival, Turners Hill, near Crawley (RH10 4PD). The big one, off the M23 near Crawley. Tulleys calls it Europe’s largest pumpkin festival, with 1.5 million pumpkins and gourds, a 33-metre observation wheel and, new for 2026, the Pumpkin Valley. Entry is booked in timed arrival slots. In October it is open on 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11 October, then every day from 16 to 31 October, 9.30am to 5.30pm (to 5pm from 25 October). Thursday 15 October is a dog day, Pooches and Pumpkins. Pumpkins are priced by size, from £1 to £25 (dates and times, FAQs).

Scare attractions (not for children)

Shocktober Fest, Tulleys Farm. The scream park on the same farm turns 30 this year and runs on 27 nights from 2 October to 1 November, with the park open from 4.30pm and the haunts from 5.30pm to 11.30pm. It is closed on 5, 6, 7, 12 and 19 October. Passes start at £42.95 and rise to £152.95 for the fast-track package (Shocktober Fest dates).

What is not happening

  • No Palace Pier Halloween event is on the pier’s what’s on calendar as of 3 October.
  • No pumpkin patch at Preston Manor this year. The museums ran one in earlier years; their 2026 listings do not include it.
  • No council event. The council’s outdoor events list has nothing on council land between the Rise run on 18 October and the Veteran Car Run on 1 November.

Getting there

Preston Manor is on Preston Drove by Preston Park, with Preston Park station a short walk away; Brighton Museum is in the Royal Pavilion Garden in the city centre. For city-centre parking costs see parking in Brighton, and check roadworks and travel before driving out to the farms. The Veteran Car Run closes Madeira Drive on Sunday 1 November, the morning after Halloween; see Veteran Car Run. Bonfire night follows a week later: Brighton fireworks.

Sources: Brighton & Hove Museums what’s on and the event pages linked above; Brilliant Brighton; SEA LIFE Brighton; Drusillas; Sompting Pumpkins; Tulleys Pumpkin Festival; Shocktober Fest; Brighton Palace Pier; Brighton & Hove City Council outdoor events.