Southbank Centre's Winter Market opens on 2 November, 11am to 10pm daily until 4 January. Clapham's own is one evening on The Polygon at the switch-on.

Clapham does not have a Christmas market that runs for weeks. What it has is one evening: the winter market on The Polygon at the Clapham Old Town lights switch-on, which has fallen on the last Friday of November three years running and is not yet announced for 2026. For a proper run of stalls, the nearest is the Southbank Centre Winter Market on the Queen’s Walk, which is also in Lambeth and opens on Monday 2 November for a daily run to 4 January. Brixton Village fills the gap in between with a month of weekend events from late November.

The quick answer

  • Clapham Old Town: one evening, likely Friday 27 November 2026, at the lights switch-on on The Polygon. Not yet confirmed.
  • Southbank Centre Winter Market: Monday 2 November 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027, 11am to 10pm daily, craft traders until 9pm, closed 25 and 31 December.
  • Brixton Village: weekends from late November. Last year the programme ran from 29 November to 23 December.

Updated 5 October: the Southbank Centre has published its 2026 dates. The market opens on Monday 2 November.

Clapham Old Town: the switch-on market

The This is Clapham business improvement district runs a winter market on The Polygon on the evening the Old Town tree is switched on, with food and craft stalls, mulled wine and funfair rides. In 2025 that was Friday 28 November, from 4pm to 9pm. The 2026 date has not been announced; the BID published last year’s on 21 October. Our Clapham Christmas lights page has every past date and what the evening involves, and will carry the 2026 date when it is published.

Clapham Makers Market at the Omnibus

The Clapham Makers Market says it “will be back at the Omnibus Theatre this autumn with 4 fabulous dates”, selling jewellery, ceramics, prints, candles and cards, and that all four are fully booked with makers. It has not put the dates on its site. The market is held at the Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common Northside, SW4, in the old library building a short walk from Clapham Common station. Its last listed market was Sunday 17 May 2026 (This is Clapham).

Southbank Centre Winter Market

The biggest Christmas market in the borough is on the river at Waterloo. The Southbank Centre’s Winter Market page now gives the 2026 run, and the area’s business district, South Bank London, lists the hours:

  • Dates: Monday 2 November 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027
  • Hours: open daily 11am to 10pm, craft traders until 9pm
  • Closed: 25 and 31 December
  • Where: Alpine-style chalets along the Queen’s Walk, under Hungerford Bridge between the Royal Festival Hall and Jubilee Gardens
  • Entry: free; the Queen’s Walk is a public space, open all day

Expect street food, pop-up bars selling mulled wine, hot cider and hot chocolate, and gift stalls. From Clapham, Northern line trains on the Charing Cross branch run from Clapham Common and Clapham North to Waterloo, a short walk from the Queen’s Walk.

Brixton Village and Market Row

Brixton Village does not run a separate Christmas market; its independent traders in Granville Arcade and Market Row are the market, and it puts on a Christmas programme around them. In 2025 the programme launched on 29 November and ran to 23 December. It included:

  • Black Santa roaming the arcades on the opening Saturday, 29 November, 1pm to 5pm, for family photos.
  • Wrap Up Brixton, free gift wrapping at 74 Granville Arcade for anything bought from the village’s traders: Saturdays 2pm to 6pm and Sundays 1pm to 5pm, from 29 November to 21 December.
  • A Christmas brass band roaming the arcades on 6 and 13 December.

Brixton Village has not yet published its 2026 plans.

Santa

Two grottos have published 2026 dates: Battersea Arts Centre, 4 to 24 December at £15 a child, and Brixton Windmill’s Festive Fair on Sunday 6 December at £5 a child. Our Santa’s grotto page has the details.

Still to be confirmed

  • Late October: the Clapham Old Town switch-on date and the winter market with it.
  • November: Brixton Village’s Christmas programme, and the Makers Market’s autumn dates.

More for Christmas in Clapham