The regatta is free and opens at 11am on Saturday 12 September. High Street and Belton Bridge shut 7am to 9pm from Friday, and two car parks lose every bay.
Old Leigh closes to traffic for three days this week for the regatta, and the council’s order shuts the roads a day before anything opens.
The event itself runs on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September. It opens at 11am, the stalls finish around 5pm, and on the Saturday the live music carries on until around 9pm. Entry is free. It is run by 3rd Chalkwell Bay Sea Scouts, and it is one of the group’s biggest fundraisers of the year (3rd Chalkwell Bay Sea Scouts).
The road closure is wider than the event. The council’s order covers 11, 12 and 13 September, so the High Street is shut on the Friday as well, when nothing is on (council order).
What is closed, and when
The order was made on 4 September. It comes into force at 1am on 11 September and runs until 11.59pm on 13 September, or until the event finishes, whichever comes first. Every restriction in it applies from 7am to 9pm (council order):
| Where | What happens |
|---|---|
| Belton Bridge, eastbound, New Road to High Street | Closed to traffic, including parking, stopping, waiting, loading and unloading |
| High Street, from Belton Bridge eastbound for its entirety to Bell Wharf | Closed to traffic on the same terms |
| Belton Bridge parking bays | Suspended, blue badge holders excepted |
| Victoria Wharf Car Park | All 14 bays suspended |
| Leigh Foundry Car Park | All 11 bays suspended |
Two lines in the order are worth reading before you set off.
There is no formal diversion route. The council states that plainly: traffic management will be laid out on street, and there is nothing signed to follow.
Resident permit holders may park in the Belton Gardens car parks while the event is active. That is the only alternative parking the order names.
Access is kept for event organisers, blue badge holders, emergency vehicles and pedestrians. Any vehicle left in a suspended bay can be given a penalty charge notice and lifted.
Getting there
The obvious answer is the train. Leigh-on-Sea station sits at the west end of Old Leigh, a short walk from Belton Bridge, and it is inside the closure’s walking distance rather than its driving distance. c2c is running normally on both days of the regatta. Its engineering work between Leigh-on-Sea and Shoeburyness falls the following weekend, on 19 and 20 September (c2c service alterations).
If you drive, the 25 suspended bays at Victoria Wharf and Leigh Foundry are the two car parks closest to the event, so plan for the Broadway and the streets above the railway instead. Our parking in Southend guide sets out the zones and charges car park by car park, and our roadworks and travel page carries everything else shut across the city this week.
What is on
The organisers describe a weekend of boats, races, games, live music, stalls and activities on the water. The detail 3rd Chalkwell Bay publishes for its own volunteers gives a good idea of the shape of it:
- game stalls in the Foundry Car Park, including Bat the Rat, Hook a Duck and Darts in Envelopes
- Punch and Judy at The Den
- a tea tent
- a merchandise stall
- competitions on and off the water
Volunteers walk the Old Town with collection buckets, and the group says that is what keeps the regatta free (3rd Chalkwell Bay Sea Scouts).
If you want to bake rather than watch, the group is asking for cakes for the tea tent, nut free and with all ingredients listed, dropped at The Den from 5.30pm on Friday 11 September.
Where the money goes
Two beneficiaries, both local, and the second is small enough that a good weekend genuinely moves the needle.
Tea tent proceeds are split between 3rd Chalkwell Bay Sea Scouts and Alfie’s A-Team, a Southend charity that supports families with a disabled child through peer support, advice, an equipment library and microgrants. It is a charitable incorporated organisation, number 1209481, registered on 7 August 2024 (Charity Commission).
Its first full set of accounts, for the year to 31 March 2025, records total income of £17,842 and total expenditure of £12,695. It has four trustees and one volunteer on the register, makes grants to individuals, and its registered area of operation is Essex and Southend-on-Sea (Charity Commission).
Set that against the regatta. A charity turning over under £18,000 a year does not need a large share of a two-day event to change what it can fund.
What it means for you
- The regatta is free and opens at 11am on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September. Stalls finish about 5pm; Saturday’s music runs to about 9pm.
- Roads shut from Friday. High Street and Belton Bridge eastbound are closed 7am to 9pm on 11, 12 and 13 September, including the Friday when nothing is on.
- Do not plan on parking at Victoria Wharf or Leigh Foundry. All 25 bays are suspended across the same hours, and there is no signed diversion.
- Resident permit holders can use the Belton Gardens car parks while the event is running.
- The train is the easy option. Leigh-on-Sea station is a walk from the event, and the Leigh to Shoeburyness engineering work is the weekend after, not this one.
- If you are baking for the tea tent, cakes go to The Den from 5.30pm on Friday 11 September, nut free, ingredients listed.
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