Blackheath's Christmas Fair is set for Sunday 15 November 2026. Deptford, Lewisham and Forest Hill have published nothing yet: what recurs and when to check.

One festive market around Lewisham has a 2026 date: the Blackheath Christmas Fair, Sunday 15 November. Everything else is either unannounced or a market that trades all year and simply gets busier in December.

That is normal for this borough rather than a warning sign. Lewisham’s council-run winter markets have historically been announced in the second half of November, weeks rather than months ahead. This page separates what is confirmed from what is precedent, and we update it as dates land.

Confirmed: Blackheath Christmas Fair, Sunday 15 November

The Friends of Age Exchange have posted “Sunday 15th November 2026 - Save the Date” for the fair at Blackheath Halls, 23 Lee Road. It is in its 13th year and raises money for Age Exchange, the dementia care charity and community cafe in Blackheath Village.

What is published so far:

  • 42 hand-picked makers and traders, handcrafted gifts, homemade treats and seasonal music
  • Over 1,500 visitors attended the 2025 fair
  • Stallholder applications are closed for 2026, though there is a waiting list at ChristmasFair@age-exchange.org.uk
  • Raffle tickets are sold from the cafe and online

Opening times and the entry price for 2026 have not been posted yet. For scale, the fair charged £2.50 on the door in 2021, free for Friends of Age Exchange members and under-16s, and ran 10.30am to 4.45pm. Do not treat that as this year’s price.

One boundary point, because it explains why you will not find this in Lewisham’s own listings. Lewisham has its own Blackheath ward, but the Village, Blackheath Halls and Blackheath station all sit just inside Greenwich. A postcode check on SE3 9RQ and SE3 9LA returns Greenwich for both.

Not announced: the council’s winter markets

Lewisham has run winter markets with a free Santa’s grotto in the past, and they are the closest thing the borough has to a proper Christmas market. Nothing has been announced for 2026.

The most recent council announcement we can find is for December 2023:

Market Dates Times Extras
Deptford Winter Market Friday 1 and Saturday 2 December 11am to 7pm Free Santa’s grotto opposite Giffin Square, carol singing, crafts, street food
Lewisham Winter Market Friday 15 and Saturday 16 December 11am to 5.30pm Grotto through all market hours, giant snow globe on the Saturday

Before that, Lewisham Market ran a Winter Festival across four Saturdays, 26 November to 17 December, with live music each week, a free Santa’s grotto on 3 December, a children’s bauble decorating workshop on 10 December and pop-up food stalls. That was 2022.

The pattern in both years was the same: an announcement in mid-November for markets starting within a fortnight. If it repeats, expect the 2026 dates in the second or third week of November, at roughly the same time as the Christmas tree switch-ons.

Deptford Christmas Market: booking is open, dates are not

There is an independent Deptford Christmas Market at Giffin Square, Giffin Street SE8 4RJ, and its stall booking page is live now. The format is published even though the public dates are not:

  • A two-day event, Saturday 11am to 8pm indoors and outdoors, Sunday 11am to 8pm outdoors only
  • Non-food stalls cost £100 indoors, £80 outdoors, or £170 for both days; food vendors £100 a day
  • Traders supply their own gazebo, table and chairs, and need public liability insurance and a food hygiene certificate

The listing says only “multiple dates and times”, so there is nothing yet for shoppers to put in a diary. The stall prices are the useful signal: someone is running it, and traders are being recruited.

Markets that are already running

These need no announcement, and December is when people actually use them.

  • Horniman Market, Sundays 10am to 3pm on the Bandstand Terrace in Forest Hill. Free and drop-in, with bakery, cheese, produce, wine and craft stalls. The Gardens close on 25 December.
  • Blackheath Farmers’ Market, every Sunday 10am to 2pm in Blackheath station car park. The organisers say they “only close between Christmas and New Year”.
  • Catford Market on Catford Broadway, Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm.
  • Lewisham Market on Lewisham High Street, the council-run market in the town centre.

Sydenham night market is not a Christmas fixture, despite what its listings suggest at this time of year. It runs every Friday 5pm to 10pm from 17 July to 18 September, so the 2026 season is already over.

Two more to watch

The Winter Market Place at the Brockley Rise Adult Education Centre, 2 Brockley Rise SE23 1PR, is a small indoor makers’ market run through Adult Learning Lewisham. In 2025 it ran Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 December, 10.30am to 4pm, with jewellery, pottery, prints, glass, textiles, cards, artisan bread and floral designs, plus a Lewisham Libraries pop-up with storytelling on the Saturday. Nothing posted for 2026.

Beckenham Place Park had a Christmas market of more than 15 stalls inside the Winter Gardens festival last winter, alongside the ice rink. That festival has not been confirmed for 2026 either, and our Winter Gardens page tracks it.

Getting there and parking

Deptford High Street’s pedestrian zone has been extended for the winter market in past years, and Catford Broadway is pedestrianised, so neither is a place to plan on parking close by. Blackheath Halls is a short walk uphill from Blackheath station, and the fair has no event parking of its own.

Our parking in Lewisham page has the borough’s zones and charges, and the roadworks and travel page covers anything dug up on the approach. Once dates land, the rest of the borough’s December is on our Christmas lights and Catford pantomime pages.

Sources