Festive market 4pm to 8pm on Friday 27 November, then four Saturdays of bands and crafts, 10am to 3pm, from 28 November. The Sunday market has been scrapped.
Leighton Buzzard’s Christmas market is on the High Street from 4pm to 8pm on Friday 27 November 2026, the same evening the Christmas lights are switched on. After that the festival moves to four Saturdays, 10am to 3pm, which run alongside the town’s ordinary Charter Market.
Updated 3 October: the council has published the programme for all five dates, with named bands, choirs and craft activities for each Saturday.
The trading hours come from Leighton-Linslade Town Council’s own 2026 stallholder terms and conditions, which is the most precise document published so far. (Stallholder terms and conditions 2026, PDF)
The dates
| Date | Market |
|---|---|
| Friday 27 November | Christmas-themed festive market, 4pm to 8pm, plus the lights switch-on at 7pm and fireworks |
| Saturday 28 November, 10am to 3pm | Charter Market, with Heath Band, Somewhere 2 Sing, LSJ Duo, Tinsel & Cracker street theatre and a Happydashery craft activity |
| Saturday 5 December, 10am to 3pm | Charter Market, with Leighton-Linslade Concert Band, The Rock Project, Jazz the Two of Us, Angie’s Festival Funky Hooping and a Woodland Warriors nature craft |
| Saturday 12 December, 10am to 3pm | Charter Market, with Top Brass, Rising Voices, Open Voices, Lou and Mack, a Christmas Party by Swank and PopFizz bath bomb or tote bag decorating |
| Saturday 19 December, 10am to 3pm | Charter Market, with the Bedfordshire Band of the Royal British Legion, Glee Club UK Leighton Buzzard, UkieTooNes, the Celeb Reindeer and LB Art Society crafts |
The council says the craft activities on the Saturdays are free. (Leighton-Linslade Town Council)
The Saturday market is the regular Charter Market, run by the town council’s markets team, not a separate Christmas market with its own stallholder list.
The Sunday market has gone
If you are looking for the Sunday festive craft and gift market, it is not happening. The council’s 2026 terms say it directly: “there will no longer be a festive craft and gift market on Sunday this year”, and trading opportunities are “for the Friday evening Christmas-themed market and lights switch-on event only”.
This follows a bigger change of shape. In 2025 the whole thing was a three-day weekend, Friday 28 to Sunday 30 November, with programmes on all three days. For 2026 it is one Friday evening plus four Saturdays. (Christmas Festival press release, 2025, PDF)
What is on the Friday
The council’s event page lists a stage programme from Infinite All Stars Cheerleading, Razzamataz, Leighton Buzzard Children’s Theatre and The V.I.Peas, a funfair, a food court and Santa on the Rotary Santa Sleigh, before the lights go on at 7pm and the fireworks follow. More on the evening is on our Christmas lights switch-on page.
The 2026 list of market traders has not been published.
Practical points on the Friday
- Toilets: the Waterborne Walk multi-storey car park and the Swan Hotel on the High Street
- The High Street clears of vehicles at 3.30pm and none returns before 8.30pm, so plan to walk in
- Parking: the West Street multi-storey shuts at 7pm and charges £8.50 to anyone locked in. Hockliffe Street and Duncombe Drive are open 24 hours and stop charging at 6pm. Full tariffs on our parking page
- Any temporary road closure order will show on our roadworks and travel page once the council publishes it
Trading at the market
Registration for the Friday runs through the council’s own forms, and the terms set out what is required:
- £5 million public liability insurance, with proof before the event
- A completed risk assessment
- Pitches are 3m by 3m. A hired pre-erected stall comes with a 3m by 3m gazebo, a light and two 6ft by 2.5ft tables; extra power is not provided
- Petrol and non-silent generators are banned. A trader who turns up with a petrol generator is refused permission to trade, with no refund
- Free trader parking in the gated car park behind the Swan Hotel at the end of Duncombe Drive
- No single-use plastics, polystyrene or non-recyclable serveware, under the council’s environmental ambition for its events
- Payment is due within 14 days of registration and is non-refundable
Priority booking runs for two weeks for traders who have attended before, then it is first come, first served. To trade on a Saturday you deal with the markets team instead, not the events team.
Applications go through the stallholder registration form or the food vendor form.
If the weather turns
The council reserves the right to cancel. If it does so within 24 hours of the start time because of an official Met Office warning, traders get a 50% refund. If it cancels on the day on health and safety grounds, there is no refund.
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