Hereford Christmas Market 2026: Six Dates From 4 December

Hereford’s Christmas market has its 2026 dates, and they are already published by Herefordshire Council, which runs it. Six market days, all in High Town and Commercial Street, running from Friday 4 December to Sunday 20 December 2026.

Fridays open an hour earlier than Sundays. Both finish at 4pm, which in December means the market packs down about half an hour after the light goes.

What is actually there

The council says around 30 to 40 stalls each day, in the city centre within sight of the giant Christmas tree. The mix is local and regional produce, crafts, clothing, accessories, jewellery, decorations and stocking fillers, alongside the regular independent traders who work the ordinary Hereford street market, plus hot street food and drinks.

That is the council’s own description and it is worth taking at face value. This is a working street market dressed for Christmas, not a Continental-style chalet market. If you are picturing Birmingham’s Frankfurt Market, adjust.

The dates that are not Christmas market days

Two points that catch people out, both straight off the council’s own pages.

Hereford’s regular retail street market runs Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Christmas markets are on Fridays and Sundays, which are days the ordinary market does not run. So a Saturday in December gets you the normal market, not the Christmas one, and a Friday or Sunday gets you the Christmas one instead of nothing.

There is no Christmas market before December. The first date is Friday 4 December. If the Christmas lights switch-on lands on its usual third Sunday of November, the tree and the lights will have been up for about three weeks before the first stall goes out.

Booking a stall

Stall prices for 2026 are published, and they fall the more days you book:

• 1 to 2 days: £58 per gazebo per day
• 3 to 5 days: £51 per gazebo per day
• 6 days: £46 per gazebo per day
• Electricity: £7 per day for lights, £12 per day if you are cooking

Booking runs through the council’s Christmas market stall booking form. Note that the terms and conditions document still on the council’s markets page is the 2025 version, so check the current terms before you commit.

Getting there and parking

High Town and Commercial Street are pedestrianised, so you are parking and walking in. The first 30 minutes are free in every council car park and on-street bay county-wide, but you still need a ticket, and 30 minutes will not cover a market trip. All-day parking splits sharply, from £5.50 at Merton Meadow and St Martins to £17 at the four dearest. The detail is on our parking in Hereford page.

December is also roadworks season on the approaches. Anything live on the day will be on our Hereford roadworks and travel page.

What else is on in the same weeks

• Cinderella at The Courtyard runs from 27 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, ten minutes’ walk from High Town on Edgar Street.
• The Christmas lights switch-on has no 2026 date yet, and Hereford City Council’s website is currently down, which is part of the reason.
• For the rest of the year, our things to do in Hereford page has the cathedral, the Mappa Mundi and what each of them costs.

Sources

• Herefordshire Council, Christmas markets 2026, read 5 September 2026
• Herefordshire Council, Herefordshire markets information, read 5 September 2026