Beverley Christmas market 2026 is Sunday 13 December, 10am to 4pm, free entry, 120+ stalls. Parade at 10am, St Mary's carol times, free 500-space park and ride.

Beverley Festival of Christmas returns on Sunday 13 December 2026, from 10am to 4pm, and entry is free. It is one day only. The organisers, Visit East Yorkshire Events working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, describe it as “the UK’s biggest single day Christmas market” and say it will carry more than 120 stalls across three market areas. (Beverley Festival of Christmas)

If you are searching for the Beverley Christmas market, this is it: the town does not run a separate multi-week market, so the festival is the one day the stalls fill the town centre. 2026 is the festival’s 30th year, and the organisers point out that Time Out ranked it the third best Christmas market in the UK for 2025.

Updated 3 October 2026: we reread all four of the organisers’ pages today. The date, hours and park and ride are unchanged, the full programme is now out (below), and the road closures are still to be published.

The date and the opening hours are confirmed on the festival’s own site. The road closures are not, and that is the one thing worth checking again before you travel.

The times that matter

  • 10am. The festival opens and the parade sets off from Wednesday Market, moving down Toll Gavel to Saturday Market. The organisers list Santa Claus and his reindeer, live music, comedy acts, steampunks, Bernese mountain dogs and majorettes in it.
  • After the parade until mid afternoon. Santa and the reindeer are based in Saturday Market. The organisers do not give a firm finish time for that, only “mid afternoon”.
  • 4pm. The festival closes.

The advice on the organisers’ own page is to arrive early, both to see the parade and to find a spot for it.

Beverley Christmas market 2026: what is on where

The organisers’ what’s on page now breaks the day down by area. Read on 3 October 2026, it lists:

Area What the organisers list
Wednesday Market The official start: the parade with Santa and his reindeer leaves at 10am. Victorian Christmas market stalls.
Toll Gavel, Butcher Row and Angel Square Pedestrianised streets between the two squares, with live entertainment through the day. Angel Square is off Butcher Row near Wednesday Market.
Saturday Market The largest Victorian Christmas market, Santa photographs, the reindeer pen until mid afternoon, takeaway food and drink stalls, traditional Victorian fairground rides, brass bands, pipe bands and dancers, and an ice sculpture to mark the 30th anniversary.
North Bar and the Georgian Quarter A Christmas market of East Yorkshire businesses only, a birds of prey experience in Coronation Gardens, live entertainment and activities in St Mary’s Church.
Flemingate The shopping centre’s own Christmas market stalls.

The reindeer are the North Yorkshire Reindeers, who pull Father Christmas in his sleigh in the opening parade and then stay in their pen in Saturday Market until mid afternoon.

St Mary’s Church runs mini carol services through the day, each lasting half an hour:

  • 10am to 10.30am
  • 11am to 11.30am
  • 12.30pm to 1pm
  • 2pm to 2.30pm
  • 3pm to 3.30pm

It also serves tea, coffee, hot chocolate, mulled wine and mince pies, and has children’s craft activities making stained glass windows, angels and stars. Entry is free, with donations welcome.

The stalls themselves. The organisers say most traders are local, and their stallholder terms give priority to goods handmade in East Yorkshire, with North Bar kept for East Yorkshire businesses. Stallholders are encouraged to dress in Victorian or Dickensian costume. Applications for 2026 closed on 31 July, so if you were hoping for a pitch this year, it is too late. (Stallholders)

Where the stalls are

There are three Victorian market areas: Saturday Market, Wednesday Market and North Bar. Flemingate Shopping Centre runs its own separate set of Christmas market stalls on the same day, so it is a fourth cluster in practice.

If the two market names are confusing, they are places rather than days. Saturday Market and Wednesday Market are both squares in Beverley town centre, named for the days markets were historically held there, and both are part of the festival on the Sunday. The organisers publish a site map as a PDF. (FAQs)

Getting there

The organisers are blunt about this: “We recommend that visitors avoid coming by car where possible.” Beverley Railway Station is a five minute walk from the town centre and Flemingate, and the bus station is a minute from the festival.

Free park and ride, 500 spaces. It runs from Beverley Racecourse, York Road, HU17 8QZ, following the brown signs to the Racecourse and the AA signs on local main roads.

  • Two buses in service, roughly every 10 to 15 minutes.
  • First bus 9am. Last bus from Beverley 5pm.
  • Pick up at the Racecourse, opposite the car park.
  • Drop off on Wylies Road, outside North Bar, about a four minute walk to Saturday Market through North Bar Within and past St Mary’s Church. Volunteers are on hand.
  • what3words for the park and ride: ///rivers.punters.unravel

Blue Badge holders: Princes Gardens car park off Champney Road, HU17 8HS, is designated for Blue Badge parking on the day.

Coaches: free but must be booked in advance, at School Lane Car and Coach Park, HU17 9AW, off Walkergate behind the fire station, about three minutes from the town centre. The car park is coaches only on that date. Bookings go to transport.support@eastriding.gov.uk. (Plan your visit)

What is not published yet

The organisers confirm there will be road closures and parking suspensions in Beverley on Sunday 13 December, then say: “Full details of road closures and parking suspensions to come.” As of 4 September nothing further had been published, and when we reread the plan your visit page on 3 October it still said exactly the same. The organisers’ safety section does say the closures cover the weekend, not just the Sunday, and that the town centre will have hostile vehicle barriers. Their stallholder terms add that no vehicle will move on the event site until 4.30pm at the earliest, when the barriers come down, so expect the centre to stay closed to traffic for a while after the market shuts at 4pm. We will add the closure list here when it is issued.

The rest of the town’s car parks are unaffected in principle, but the organisers warn that spaces are limited by the sheer number of visitors. One thing in your favour: several Beverley car parks that are gated shut on weekdays are open at weekends, and Lord Roberts Road (116 standard spaces and two disabled bays, HU17 9BE) charges on Saturdays only, so it is free on the Sunday of the festival. Our parking in Beverley page has the full list of car parks and what each charges, and roadworks and travel tracks anything already booked in on the approach roads.

Practical details

  • Toilets: Lord Roberts Road, Beverley Railway Station, Sow Hill Road and Dyer Lane.
  • First aid and lost children: Saturday Market, near the Market Cross.
  • Dogs: well behaved dogs on leads are welcome. The organisers ask you to keep them close around the live reindeer and the fairground rides.
  • Cash: worth carrying. Many of the independent stallholders prefer it or have limited card facilities.
  • Cobbles and December weather. The festival is entirely outdoors on historic streets.
  • Photography and filming happen throughout for future publicity. Drones are not permitted without prior agreement.

If you are making a day of it

The festival is a single day, but two other things run around it in Beverley: the Beverley Minster Christmas Tree Festival, which the organisers bill as the country’s largest display of individually decorated real fir trees, and the Reindeer Rampage, a free self-guided trail round the town’s shops and cultural sites that runs from Saturday 7 November to 31 December. Pick up the trail sheet from Beverley Tourist Information Centre inside the Treasure House on Champney Road; completed sheets go in the Christmas post box there for a prize draw. More of what is on locally is on our things to do page.

The festival dates back to 1995, when it was started by a local shop owner, John Bird, who persuaded the town’s traders to back a single day of Christmas trading. His name is still on the festival’s best-dressed stall award, and the organisers say his family walk in the parade each year.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Beverley Christmas market 2026?

Sunday 13 December 2026, from 10am to 4pm. It is the Beverley Festival of Christmas, a one-day event, and entry is free.

Is the Beverley Christmas market on for more than one day?

No. The organisers describe it as one day and one day only. The Reindeer Rampage trail and the Minster’s Christmas Tree Festival run for longer, but the market stalls are there on the Sunday only.

What time is the parade?

It leaves Wednesday Market at 10am, as the festival opens, and moves down Toll Gavel to Saturday Market, where Santa and his reindeer stay until mid afternoon.

Is there a park and ride for the Beverley Christmas market?

Yes, free, from Beverley Racecourse on York Road, HU17 8QZ, with 500 spaces. The first bus is at 9am and the last bus back from Beverley is at 5pm, roughly every 10 to 15 minutes.

Can I still get a stall?

Not for 2026. Stallholder applications closed on 31 July 2026 and applicants have been told the outcome. Queries go to bfoc@veyevents.co.uk.

Sources