Santa's Grotto Rugby 2026: Free Rotary Grotto From 21 Nov

Rugby’s Santa’s grotto is free, and it opens on Saturday 21 November 2026 in the Rugby Central shopping centre. The three Rotary clubs in the town run it, as they did in 2025, and they publish the full run of dates on their fundraising page. If you want a breakfast or afternoon tea with Santa instead, Rugby Garden Centre on the Straight Mile has four ticketed versions in December, from £6.99.

Checked 23 October 2026 against the Rotary clubs’ page; the other organisers’ pages were checked on 16 October 2026.

Updated 25 October: Rugby Borough Council’s council release of 23 October confirms the lights switch-on on Saturday 21 November, the Christmas market on 28 November and the lantern parade on 19 December, the grotto’s three busiest days. Council car parks are free all day on every weekend the grotto opens, and on 21 December.

Updated 23 October: the Rotary clubs have changed their published times. Saturday 28 November is now 10.30am to 5pm, Saturday 19 December runs 10.30am to 6pm alongside a lantern parade in the town centre, and the last two days, 20 and 21 December, run to 3.30pm. All six charities are now named.

The quick answer

• Free grotto: Rugby Central, run by the Rotary Clubs of Rugby. Saturday 21 November, 2pm to 6pm; Saturday 28 November, 10.30am to 5pm; then 5, 6, 12 and 13 December, 10.30am to 3pm, Saturday 19 December, 10.30am to 6pm, and Sunday 20 and Monday 21 December, 10.30am to 3.30pm. No charge, no booking published; donations go to local charities
• Breakfast with Santa: Rugby Garden Centre, 5 to 24 December, £11.99 to £17.99, booked online
• Afternoon Tea with Santa: Rugby Garden Centre, 12 to 23 December, £16.99 to £17.99
• Not in Rugby any more: the Dobbies grotto. The Dobbies near Rugby closed and the site is now Rugby Garden Centre, so Dobbies’ 2026 grotto list has no Rugby store

The free grotto in Rugby Central

The grotto is organised by the Rotary Club of Rugby Dunsmore, the Rotary Club of Rugby and the Rugby Saturday Breakfast Rotary Club. Their 2026 page sets out the dates:

How it works. There is no charge. Only children with a responsible adult are taken into the grotto, where Santa talks to each child for a few minutes and gives them a small chocolate gift or a book. An elf asks the adult about allergies first, and that decides which gift the child gets. Small donations are welcome: this year they go to the Friends of St Cross, Shine a Light, Rugby Dementia Support, Warwickshire Young Carers, Our Jay Foundation and Warwickshire Search and Rescue (Rotary Clubs of Rugby).

What has changed from 2025. Last year the grotto opened on Sunday 30 November, the day of the town’s Fire and Ice event, and then ran weekends from 6 to 21 December plus 22 and 23 December, 10.30am to 3.30pm (Rotary Clubs of Rugby, 2025 page). This year it opens nine days earlier, and its last day is Monday 21 December rather than the 23rd, so leave it no later than that.

The lights and market dates. The Rotary page is, so far, the only published source for a switch-on on 21 November, a town centre market on 28 November and a lantern parade on 19 December. Rugby Borough Council, which took over the town’s events when Rugby First closed in March, has not yet published its programme. Our Christmas lights page and Christmas markets page will carry the council’s times when they appear.

Breakfast and tea with Santa at Rugby Garden Centre

Rugby Garden Centre is on the Straight Mile, Frankton, Rugby CV23 9QQ, on the site that was Dobbies until early 2025. It is run by British Garden Centres, whose events pages list four Santa experiences for 2026. All are booked online, with limited places per session, and photographs are taken by the parent, not by staff.

Dates are from each event page; prices are the ranges on the centre’s booking site, which lists the Paws and Claus event as “Rugby Santa Paws”. The pages do not say which tickets sit at the bottom and top of each range.

• Breakfast with Santa: a cooked breakfast with your child, meeting Santa, photographs and a personal gift (British Garden Centres)
• Afternoon Tea with Santa: a tower of treats, a visit from Santa, a photo, a gift and the chance to hand over letters (British Garden Centres)
• Baby and Toddler Breakfast: for babies and toddlers up to two, with a cooked breakfast for the adult, a breakfast pouch or children’s breakfast, stories from Santa, a gift and a photo (British Garden Centres)
• Paws and Claus: a cooked breakfast for you, a festive goody bag for your dog and a one-to-one photo with Father Christmas (British Garden Centres)

Other places to see Santa

• Christmas Fair at the Benn Hall, Sunday 22 November, 11am to 2pm, Newbold Road, CV21 2LN. Free entry and free parking. The organiser lists Father Christmas walking the hall, a Christmas hunt for children and over 60 stands (TT Country Events). It is not a grotto, but it is the first chance to see him in Rugby this year.
• The Santa Express: Lost in Lapland, Sunday 29 November, Benn Hall. £15 to £17, rated U (Benn Hall box office).
• Santa’s Best Ever Christmas, Sunday 13 December, Benn Hall. £10.50 to £11.50, rated U (Benn Hall box office).

Both Benn Hall shows are stage shows, not grottos. The box office lists no start time for either yet.

Dobbies

Dobbies’ 2026 Santa’s Grotto runs from 22 November to 24 December at £15 to £17 a ticket, but its list of venues has no Rugby store (Dobbies). The Dobbies on the Straight Mile closed at the end of January 2025 and reopened as Rugby Garden Centre under British Garden Centres in March 2025, as the Rugby Observer reported at the time. The nearest store on Dobbies’ 2026 grotto list is Atherstone.

Getting there

Rugby Central is in the town centre, so the town car parks on our parking in Rugby page all serve it. The council ran free festive parking from 15 November in 2025 and has not yet said whether it will repeat it. Rugby Garden Centre is out of town on the Straight Mile, Frankton, and has its own car park. Check roadworks and travel before a weekend trip.

More for Christmas: the pantomimes, Luminate at Coombe Abbey and our monthly What’s On in Rugby.

Sources

• Rotary Clubs of Rugby, “Talk to Santa in Rugby Central 2026” and the 2025 page, on peoplesfundraising.com, read 23 October 2026
• British Garden Centres: Rugby Garden Centre events pages and the Rugby Santa restaurant experiences booking page on digitickets.co.uk (dates, prices, address), read 16 October 2026
• Benn Hall box office on PatronBase (Santa shows, dates and prices), read 23 October 2026
• TT Country Events on Eventbrite: Christmas Fair at the BENN Hall, read 16 October 2026
• Dobbies events: Santa’s Grotto 2026 venue list, read 16 October 2026
• The Rugby Observer, Rugby Garden Centre reopening at the former Dobbies site, 18 March 2025