Tickets to the Mayor's Oyster Feast on 23 October are £94 this year, not £148, and are drawn by ballot. Applications close Thursday 10 September. How to enter.
Applications to attend Colchester’s Oyster Feast close on Thursday 10 September, and this year the ticket costs £94 rather than £148. Eight local sponsors have covered the difference. (Colchester City Council, 21 August 2026)
The Feast itself is on Friday 23 October, in the Moot Hall at Colchester Town Hall. The Mayor of Colchester, Cllr Andrew Ellis, has announced a five-course meal, with oysters optional, fine wines and an afternoon of entertainment.
Tickets are not sold. They are drawn by ballot, and unless an applicant says otherwise each application is entered for two tickets. Successful applicants are told by Friday 18 September.
How to enter the ballot
Residents can apply in any of these ways:
- email mayorsoffice@colchester.gov.uk
- write to The Civic Officer, c/o Mayor’s Parlour, Town Hall, Colchester
- post an application to Colchester City Council, 33 Sheepen Road, Colchester CO3 3WG
The closing date is Thursday 10 September 2026.
Why the price moved
The council gives the full ticket price as £148 a head. The eight sponsors named in the announcement are R. F. West Ltd, Tollgate Partnership Ltd, Anglian Flight Centres, Colne Valley Group, Ellisons, Fenwick, Lion Walk Shopping Centre and Surya Hotels Ltd. Their support brings the price paid by successful ballot applicants down to £94, a reduction of £54.
Cllr Ellis said he was “particularly keen this year to make the Feast more accessible to local people”, and added: “I appreciate that £94 is still a considerable amount of money, but I very much hope that this reduction will enable many more people to attend who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to experience this very special Colchester tradition.”
The council says guest speakers and entertainment will be announced in the coming weeks.
The other oyster date: 4 September
The Feast is not the start of the season. That is a separate ceremony, and it comes first.
The annual opening of the Colne Oyster Fisheries takes place on Friday 4 September at the Colchester Oyster Fishery in East Mersea, on the fishery’s terrace above Pyefleet Creek. (Colchester City Council, 26 August 2026)
The Mayor, the Town Serjeant and the council’s Chief Executive attend in full regalia to witness the first oysters of the season being lifted. Chief Executive Pam Donnelly reads the Proclamation to declare the fisheries open, the Mayor raises the loyal toast to the King, and gin and gingerbread are served. The council dates the tradition to 1540.
Attendance at the 4 September ceremony is by ticket and the council has not published a public sale route for it, so the Feast ballot is the only one of the two occasions residents can currently apply for.
What it means for you
If you want to go to the Oyster Feast, the deadline is the thing to act on. An email to the Mayor’s Office before Thursday 10 September puts you in the draw for two tickets at £94 each. There is no advantage to applying early, because it is a ballot rather than first come first served, but there is no way back in after the closing date.
If you are drawn, expect to hear by Friday 18 September, which leaves five weeks before the Feast on 23 October.
The Moot Hall is inside Colchester Town Hall on the High Street, so anyone attending will be arriving in the city centre on a Friday afternoon. Our guide to parking in Colchester covers the city centre car parks and their charges, and things to do in Colchester has the rest of what is on.
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