Hereford Christmas Market 2026: Six Dates From 4 December

The Hereford Christmas market 2026 dates are set by Herefordshire Council, which runs it: six market days, all in High Town and Commercial Street, from Friday 4 December to Sunday 20 December 2026. It is on Fridays and Sundays only, never on a Saturday.

Updated 8 October: the council’s Christmas markets page, re-read today, still gives the same six dates and hours. We have added the 2026 Christmas markets in Ross-on-Wye and Leominster, which do fall on Saturdays.

Updated 17 October: the council page, re-read today, is unchanged. Lyde Court, two miles outside the city, has published eight free Christmas market days for 2026, every Saturday and Sunday from 28 November to 20 December, which fills the Saturday gap in Hereford’s own dates.

Updated 3 November: St Michael’s Hospice has published its 2026 Christmas Market at Bartestree, about four miles east of the city, from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November, with advance tickets. Hereford Cathedral’s Christmas Fair is on Saturday 19 December. Both are added below.

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.

Lyde Court Christmas Market 2026: the weekend market near Hereford

The other Christmas market on Hereford’s doorstep is at Lyde Court, a 17th-century barn venue at Lower Lyde, HR1 3AE, two miles from the city centre on the Duchy of Cornwall estate. Its events calendar, read on 17 October 2026, lists eight market days, all free to enter:

• It runs on Saturdays, which Hereford’s council market never does, and it starts a week before the city’s first date on 4 December. Sundays 6, 13 and 20 December clash with High Town, so a Sunday can take in both.
• Stalls are local independent makers in the candlelit barns, with mulled wine and the café open from 10am. Dogs are welcome. The café takes cards only, but Lyde Court warns that many stalls are cash-only, so bring both.
• The 12 and 13 December weekend is different: Annam Events runs it in the Festival Barn with artisan and charity stalls, a free Santa’s grotto, a fairground ride, roasted chestnuts, letters to Santa, a raffle, a tombola and carols. Entry and parking are free.

You need a car or a taxi: High Town’s pedestrianised streets and Lyde Court’s barns are two miles apart.

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.

Other Christmas markets in Herefordshire in 2026

If you want a Christmas market on a Saturday, or one before December, it has to be outside Hereford. These have 2026 dates from their organisers’ own listings, read on 8 October:

• The Ross Christmas Fayre is the biggest of them. Ross-on-Wye Town Council promises more than 80 traders, street entertainment and live music, and says Station Street will be given over to street food for the first time. Entry is free.
• Leominster’s Victorian Street Market is held on the second Saturday of December every year. Leominster Town Council is still taking stall applications, which is why the hours and line-up are not out yet. Entry is free.

• Ross’s Christmas Carnival is Santa’s torchlit parade to the Market House. In 2025 it ran 4pm to 5.30pm, with carols at 4pm and the town band at 4.30pm.

• St Michael’s Hospice Christmas Market is ticketed, unlike the others. The hospice says it has more than 30 local traders, indoors and in a covered outdoor area, with free parking on site. Its event page lists three days:

Advance tickets are required for every slot. Standard entry includes a hot drink or mulled wine.

• Hereford Cathedral’s Christmas Fair has over 40 stalls inside the cathedral. Entry is free, with donations taken on the door; the cathedral advises bringing cash. More in our Hereford Cathedral at Christmas page.

Apart from the cathedral fair, all three Ross dates and Leominster’s sit on Saturdays or before 4 December, so none clashes with a Hereford market day.

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.

Hereford Christmas market: questions

When is the Hereford Christmas market 2026? Friday 4, Sunday 6, Friday 11, Sunday 13, Friday 18 and Sunday 20 December 2026, in High Town and Commercial Street.

What time does the Hereford Christmas market open? 9am to 4pm on the Fridays and 10am to 4pm on the Sundays.

Is there a Hereford Christmas market on Saturdays? No. Saturdays in December have Hereford’s ordinary street market, which also runs on Wednesdays. For a Saturday Christmas market, Ross-on-Wye has one on 5 December and Leominster’s Victorian market is on 12 December. Closest to the city, Lyde Court, two miles out, holds a free Christmas market every Saturday and Sunday from 28 November to 20 December.

Is there a Christmas market near Hereford in November? Yes, at Lyde Court on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November, 10am to 4pm, free. Hereford’s own market does not start until Friday 4 December, and Ross-on-Wye’s Christmas Fayre is on Sunday 29 November.

How many stalls are there? Herefordshire Council says around 30 to 40 each day.

Sources

• Herefordshire Council, Christmas markets 2026, read 5 September 2026
• Herefordshire Council, Herefordshire markets information, read 5 September 2026; both council pages re-read 8 October 2026
• Ross-on-Wye Town Council events calendar, read 8 October 2026: Christmas Fayre, Christmas Market and Christmas Carnival; Visit Herefordshire, Ross-on-Wye Christmas Fayre
• Lyde Court, Christmas at Lyde Court and its events calendar, including Christmas Market 28 November and Christmas Market and Santa’s Grotto, 12 December, read 17 October 2026
• St Michael’s Hospice, Christmas Market, read 3 November 2026; Hereford Cathedral, Christmas Fair, read 24 October 2026
• Visit Herefordshire, Leominster’s Victorian Street Market, Leominster Town Council’s listing, read 8 October 2026