Rugby & district · Local news you can trust
Rugby's first confirmed Christmas fair is at the Benn Hall on Sunday 22 November, 11am to 2pm, free entry. Town centre evening markets have no 2026 dates yet.
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Half term
Rugby October Half Term 2026: 26 to 30 October, What's On
Rugby's October half term is 26 to 30 October. A free Halloween trail in Caldecott Park, a circus at the Benn Hall, and free literary festival workshops.
Christmas
Coombe Abbey Christmas 2026: Luminate 28 Nov to 2 Jan
Luminate at Coombe Abbey runs every night from 28 November to 2 January except Christmas Day, 4.30pm to 8pm entries. Parking, dog nights and park hours.
Health
Houlton GP Surgery: 293 Signatures, 3,100-Home Trigger
Rugby councillors vote on 23 September on a Houlton GP petition. Council minutes tie the permanent surgery to 3,100 homes occupied; about 1,500 are built.
Planning
Rugby Planning: Councillor Call-In Ends on 31 October
From 31 October, Rugby councillors and objectors lose the automatic route to a planning committee hearing. What replaces it is a 21-day window and two people.
House prices
Rugby House Prices Fall £10,026, Back to January 2023
The average Rugby home lost £10,026 in a year and is back to its January 2023 value. Rugby is the only Warwickshire district falling, and flats fell hardest.
Royal Mail
Rugby Royal Mail Delays: Talking Newspaper Not Arriving
Sixty Rugby residents complained to their MP about Royal Mail, and the town's talking newspaper for blind listeners says its weekly post is not arriving.
Heritage
Rare BTH Photos On Show in Rugby From 7 October
Restored photos from the BTH works, taken in the 1920s to 1940s, go on show at Rugby Art Gallery on 7 October for a year. Plus a Paula Rego date clash.
Jobs
Rugby Claimant Count 2,245: Highest Since 2021
Rugby's claimant count reached 2,245 in August, the highest since October 2021. Women account for 125 of the 180 extra claimants over the year.
Community
Rugby Youth Hub: 500 Visits, Police Weigh Permanent Site
More than 500 visits to the free hub in an empty Rugby Central unit, and officers want it made permanent. The crime figures that will test it are not out yet.
Council
Rugby Foodbank: 5,858 Parcels, 35% to Feed Children
Council figures show 5,858 emergency parcels in 2025/26, up 3%, and 733 vouchers in Benn ward alone. Two of the council's advice contracts end in March 2027.
Council
Rugby Borough Council Abolition Paused by Government
The plan to abolish Rugby Borough Council in April 2028 is on hold. Ministers paused all 14 July decisions and told councils to stop implementation work.
Traffic
Rugby Traffic Cameras: Clifton Road and Lansdowne Place
Warwickshire wants ANPR cameras to fine drivers at the Clifton Road yellow box and the Eastlands Primary school street in Rugby. Have your say by 25 October.
Rugby Town News covers Rugby in Warwickshire, the town and the borough around it, not the sport it gave its name to. Rugby is a railway town with a school the game is named after, sitting where the West Coast Main Line, the M6 and the M1 all come close together. That location is most of its modern story: a lot of people here work in Birmingham, Coventry or London, and a lot of warehousing has gone up around the edges. Bilton, Hillmorton, Brownsover, Dunchurch, Wolston and Long Lawford make up the rest of the borough.
Rugby Town News reports what the record shows. Rugby Borough Council publishes its planning register, licensing notices, committee papers and spending, and in a borough taking this much development that paperwork is where next year’s arguments are already written down. We read it and report what is in it, with a link to the document on every fact.
Every fact links to the document it came from.