Buses
Colchester Bus Station Plan: Painters Yard, £20m to £25m
A new bus station on the old Queen Street site would cost £20m to £25m, with no funding yet. Comments close 8 November; drop-ins are on 14 and 21 October.
Read the full storyComing up
All The eventsLatest news
Colchester
Colchester Leisure Pool Closes 28 September for £1.4m Work
The Leisure Pool closes Monday 28 September, reopening early 2027. The rapids have already gone. What shuts, what stays open, and what is still unpublished.
Bins
Colchester Christmas Bin Collections: Days Move Forward
Colchester brings Christmas bin collections forward a day, not back. Last year's full table, the garden waste pause, and when the 2026 dates are due.
Schools
Colchester School Term Dates 2026/27: Half Terms and INSET
Essex half term is 26 to 30 October and Christmas starts 21 December. CRGS, County High and Philip Morant add their own INSET days. Every date, school by school.
Bins
Colchester Recycling Centre: Winter Hours 9am to 4pm
Shrub End tip moves to winter hours, 9am to 4pm daily, from 16 October. Book a free slot first; it shuts 1pm Christmas Eve and is closed on 25, 26 Dec and 1 Jan.
Travel
Colchester Christmas Trains and Buses: Last Year's Plan
Last Christmas, Greater Anglia trains stopped by 10pm on Christmas Eve, ran none on the 25th and 26th, and ended at Stratford. What to expect for 2026.
Half term
Colchester October Half Term 2026: 12 Things On Locally
Colchester's October half term is 26 to 30 October. Zoo Shriek Week, a Castle sleepover, the last week of the Moon, free museum stories: dates and prices.
Remembrance
Colchester Remembrance Sunday: 8 November, War Memorial
Colchester's Remembrance Sunday falls on 8 November 2026. Last year the service began at 10.45am at the High Street War Memorial, with the road shut 8am to 1pm.
Christmas
Colchester Zoo in Winter: 4pm Close, Trail of Light £15.50
Colchester Zoo is open daily from 9.30am except Christmas Day, closing at 4pm on winter weekdays. Christmas-day tickets from £21.15, Trail of Light from £15.50.
Colchester
Colchester Park and Ride: Stephensons Takes Over 26 Sept
Essex County Council has awarded the Colchester Park and Ride bus contract to Stephensons of Essex for £2,561,085, running from 26 September 2026 to 2030.
Colchester
Colchester Castle Concerts: Fenwick Footfall Up 5% in 2026
A five per cent footfall rise at Fenwick is the only 2026 figure the council has published for the Castle Summer Series. The £24m and £6.5m both come from a 2024/25 report.
Colchester
Colchester Castle Summer Series 2027: Ronan Keating
Ronan Keating and Blue play Lower Castle Park on 21 August 2027 and Simply Red on 18 August. Presale tickets open at 10am on 23 and 24 September.
Colchester
Colchester house prices July 2026: flats below 2021
The average Colchester flat sold for £162,307 in July, below its July 2021 level. The city average fell 0.5% over the year to £297,824, 8th of 14 in Essex.
Colchester was a Roman town before it was anything else, it has been a garrison town for most of the time since, and it became a city in 2022. It sits on the Colne with the university on one side and a great deal of new housing on the others.
The Colchester Post covers the city and the country around it: Braintree and Halstead to the west, Manningtree and the Stour valley to the north east, and the villages between. Those places do not all share a council, so we name the right authority in every story rather than assuming. What they do share is a pile of published paperwork that decides what happens to them, and reading it is what this site is for.
Quick links
- House prices: the average Colchester home sold for £298,257 in May 2026, down 0.5% on the year.
- Trains to London: 47 minutes at best, £6,700 for an annual season.
- Roadworks and travel: the A12 overnight closures, St Botolph’s Circus, park and ride and parking prices.
- Things to do: what each attraction costs and which days it is shut.
- Planning: 20,800 homes by 2041, and the consultation that decides where they go.
- News: what the record shows, including planning applications across the area.
- Local Info: bin collection days, parking and council tax bands.
- What’s On: what is happening in Colchester and the Stour valley.
Nothing goes up without a link to its source.