Forty years of the Lincoln Christmas Market ended when the city council scrapped one of the UK’s largest street markets on crowd safety grounds. A bid to bring it back was rejected. What arrives this December is a small ticketed event run by the cathedral, and it won’t replace what came before.
Lincoln Christmas Market 2026
Dates
Status: Confirmed
Dates: 3rd to 5th December 2026
Last checked: August 2026
Update: Dates were announced in March. Sign up for our newsletter for future updates.
Source: Verified by Ultimate Christmas Markets via Lincoln Cathedral.
Plan Your Visit
Location and Times
Opening times: Not yet announced
Location: Lincoln Cathedral, in the Bailgate area of the Cathedral Quarter. Indoor stalls run through the nave, Chapter House and cloisters, with outdoor traders and a food court on Dean’s Green.
Travel and Accommodation
Public transport: Widely available and accessible.
Parking: Bailgate parking is limited and the uphill car parks fill fast in December. Use the Park and Ride.
Where to stay: The Castle Hotel is only 2 minutes from the Cathedral Quarter.
Amenities and Attractions
Admission: Ticketed
Tickets: Prices to be announced.
Lights switch on: 26th November 2026 at 7pm (unconfirmed). Plan your visit.
Santa: No
Ice skating: No
Reason to Visit: Browsing gift stalls down the nave of a cathedral begun in 1072.
Dietary Options
Vegetarian: Some options.
Vegan: Limited options.
Gluten-free: Limited. Ask individual vendors, but beware of cross-contamination.
Food specialties: Lincolnshire producers. Look for Lincolnshire Poacher cheese, plum bread, haslet, Lincolnshire sausage and county-distilled gin.
Accessibility
Accessible: Yes. The nave and cloisters have level access. The outdoor stalls sit on grass, which can be soft underfoot in December.
Pet-friendly: Assistance dogs only inside the cathedral.
Convenient Hotels
Many of Lincoln’s sights and attractions are found in the Cathedral Quarter, so it’s nice to stay in this area. The Castle Hotel is a good option here as it’s within walking distance of many things to do, but quiet enough to be relaxing.
Looking for a more traditional market? Read our complete guide to the UK Christmas Markets.
What Visitors Said About the Old Market
What Visitors Loved
- The setting did most of the work. Cobbled streets climbing between the castle and the cathedral gave it a backdrop no other UK market can match.
- Visitors who knew German markets rated the food and craft stalls as genuinely comparable, which is rare praise for a UK market.
- The medieval market area and the castle grounds were consistently picked out as the best parts of the site.
Common Complaints
- Crowding was the recurring theme, worst by late morning on the Saturday at the bottom of the hill. This is what eventually killed the event.
- The one-way pedestrian system frustrated a lot of people. Miss a stall and you faced a thirty minute loop to get back to it.
- Stall repetition wore thin, particularly the sheer number of mulled wine pitches, and later years drew complaints about mass-produced stock creeping in.
- Prices were widely called steep for what was on offer.
The Bottom Line
The complaints were about volume and management, not quality, and the cathedral has answered the crowding problem by ticketing the event and shrinking it dramatically. Judge it as a three-day indoor gift market with an extraordinary setting rather than as a replacement, and it has a fair chance of being worth the ticket.
What to Expect
The Lincoln Christmas Market was a four-day, 250-stall event running up the cobbled hill to the cathedral and castle, and one of the largest in the UK until the council scrapped it. Lincoln Cathedral is now running its own ticketed market over three days in December 2026, on a much smaller scale.
The market takes place inside a building begun in 1072 that was once the tallest in the world. Lincoln Cathedral is Gothic architecture at its most confident, known for its carvings, its stained glass and the Lincoln Imp perched in the Angel Choir. It also holds one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta.
Beyond the cathedral, walk Steep Hill, which is exactly as advertised and lined with independent shops and cafes. Newport Arch is a Roman gateway still carrying traffic. The Stonebow is a medieval gate housing the Guildhall, and Lincoln Castle sits opposite the cathedral with the wall walk and Victorian prison to explore.
The council scrapped the market in 2023 and voted against bringing it back. Do you think it should return, or is a smaller cathedral event the sensible answer? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Recommendations are independently chosen based on personal travel experiences and extensive research. While we make every effort to provide accurate information, the dates and details listed here should not be relied upon as definitive. Please consult the official website before booking your trip or planning a visit.
Lincoln Council should offer the event to entreprenuers to organise the event on a contractual basis. I would not expect councillors to be able to organise a commercially viable mass event any more than I would expect them to organise self funding monthly events to help cover the costs of the market.
I have gone to the Lincoln Xmas market every year for the last 10 years. I am sooooo disappointed it is not happening I always brought my friends from London and we came on the train from my house in Retford we all loved it so much. It was far better than all the others. This is a huge disappointment
Many people were disappointed. Have you heard if it’s returning in 2024 or is it really permanently cancelled?