Chester Christmas Market opens on 18 November and four Thursday parades start on the 19th, with grottos, late buses and bollard times. Updated November 2026.
Chester’s Christmas Market opens on Wednesday 18 November, and the first of four Thursday night parades follows the next evening, Cheshire West and Chester Council announced on 9 November. The market is open seven days a week: 10.30am to 6.30pm Sunday to Wednesday and 10.30am to 8pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The market is also a finalist for Best Event and Festival in the Visit Cheshire Tourism Awards 2027, which are decided in February, the council said.
Councillor Lisa Denson, the council’s Cabinet Member for A Fairer Future (Poverty, Public Health and Mental Health), said:
“Chester Christmas Market opening starts the countdown to Christmas. The festive parades start on Thursday 19 November with the 12 Days of Christmas, followed on each Thursday by the Lantern Parade, Winter Watch and Saturnalia. There are magical Christmas grottos and the traditional festive show at Storyhouse is Rapunzel, running from Friday, 4 December to Sunday, 3 January.”
Opening hours, trader numbers and the full season are in our Chester Christmas Market guide.
The parades, Thursday by Thursday
- Thursday 19 November, 7pm: the 12 Days of Christmas parade, starting from Bridge Street.
- Thursday 26 November, 7pm: the Lantern Parade, starting from Town Hall Square.
- Thursday 3 December, 7pm: the Winter Watch Parade, starting from Town Hall Square.
- Thursday 10 December, 6.15pm: the Roman Saturnalia Parade, starting from the Grosvenor Museum.
- Thursday 10 December, 7pm: the Winter Watch Parade, meeting the Romans in Town Hall Square.
The 12 Days of Christmas is the first of the four parades returning this year. Community groups and local artists will walk from Bridge Street towards the Cross, along Eastgate Street and St Werburgh Street, past the Town Hall, and finish in Watergate Street. Father Christmas joins the parade and greets the crowd on the way. More on the two December nights is in our Winter Watch parade guide, and the opening night is covered in our Christmas lights guide.
Three ways to see Father Christmas
- Eastgate Square: after the parade he moves into his grotto at Eastgate Square, open from Friday 20 November to Thursday 24 December. Details are on the Chester BID website.
- Chester Town Hall: a traditional grotto on 12, 13, 19 and 20 December. Tickets are on the Town Hall’s grotto page, which lists craft workshops with two elves, Sparkle and Jingle, a climb up the staircase to meet Santa, a present, and an accessible lift. Adult tickets have to be bought with a child ticket.
- Storyhouse: an accessible Santa experience, designed by parents of children with special educational needs, in the Garret Theatre on Saturday 5 December.
Every grotto we have found across the area, with prices where they are published, is in our Chester Santa grotto guide.
The Indoor Market and Exchange Square
Chester’s Indoor Market will open every day, Mondays included, from 23 November to 24 December. It will have choir performances, the council said, and the Christmas bauble returns to Exchange Square. A makers market runs in Exchange Square every weekend from 21 November to 19 December.
Late buses and the bollards
Chester Park and Ride runs late services on Thursdays from 19 November to 17 December, with the last bus leaving Foregate Street at 9pm. The full timetable is on the council’s Park and Ride page.
From 18 November until Christmas Eve, the security bollards at Town Hall Square are raised, keeping vehicles out from 10.30am to 8pm (10.30am to 6.30pm Sunday to Wednesday), matching the market’s hours. From Saturday 21 November the bollards by Hunter Street, opposite Storyhouse, are also closed on Saturdays from 10.30am to 8pm and on Sundays from 12pm to 6pm, for the same period.
What it means for you
- If you are driving in for a parade, the Thursday late Park and Ride bus is the easy way home: the last one leaves Foregate Street at 9pm, which leaves time after a 7pm start.
- If you need vehicle access to Northgate Street around the Town Hall, or to Hunter Street at weekends, plan around the bollard hours above until 24 December.
- For a child who would find a busy grotto hard, the Storyhouse session on 5 December was designed with that in mind.
- The Rapunzel panto at Storyhouse runs from Friday 4 December to Sunday 3 January.
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