Maidstone Museum's free Christmas Craft Market is on Saturday 5 December, 10am to 3pm. No Jubilee Square Christmas market has been announced for 2026.

The quick answer

As of 1 October, Maidstone has one confirmed Christmas market in the town centre: the Christmas Craft Market at Maidstone Museum, Saturday 5 December 2026, 10am to 3pm, free entry. Nobody has announced a dedicated Christmas market in Jubilee Square for 2026. The biggest Christmas shopping event near the town is the Kent Festive Gift & Food Show at the Kent Showground, Detling, from 20 to 22 November.

Maidstone Museum Christmas Craft Market: Saturday 5 December

The museum has listed its Christmas Craft Market 2026 for Saturday 5 December, 10am to 3pm, at the museum on St Faith’s Street, ME14 1LH. Entry is free and everyone is welcome.

The museum describes it as its “annual Christmas Craft Market”, with small businesses selling “candles, jewellery, home decor, and knitted goods”. Stalls are spread over the building: the ground floor is fully accessible, lifts go up to the top-floor stalls, and there are accessible toilets on site. Traders can still apply for a pitch by emailing the application form on that page to museumevents@maidstone.gov.uk.

In 2024 the same market had 40 stalls upstairs and downstairs, according to Maidstone Borough Council’s round-up that year. The museum has not given a stall count for 2026.

Is there a Christmas market in Jubilee Square?

Not one that has been announced. We checked the organisers who would run one:

  • One Maidstone, the business improvement district, lists only three town-centre events on its events page: a weekly knitting group, the Monster Mash at half term and the Christmas lights switch-on on Thursday 19 November. No Christmas market.
  • Visit Maidstone’s old listing for a “Maidstone Christmas Market” now returns a “page not found” error. Some search results still show its dates of 6 and 13 December, but those came from an earlier year and are not on any live page. Do not plan around them.
  • Pitch Markets and Events, which runs the regular Jubilee Square Market, says it trades every Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm, in Jubilee Square, ME14 1SA, with food, produce, crafts and gifts. It has not published a separate Christmas market.

So the weekly Friday and Saturday market will be in the square through December, but there is no confirmed festive market there. If one is announced, we will add it here.

What about Lockmeadow?

In 2024 the council’s own Christmas round-up was built around the Market Hall at Lockmeadow. It listed an art market on Saturday 30 November, a Local Producers’ and Craft Market on Saturday 14 December, and a Christmas Eve River Market from 9.30am to 1.30pm, alongside the museum fair.

This year is less certain. The council’s Cabinet has approved plans to give the Tuesday and Saturday Lockmeadow market notice and let the Market Hall to a community organisation, as our Lockmeadow market story explains. No Lockmeadow Christmas fairs have been announced for 2026, and we could not reach the Lockmeadow site’s own pages on 1 October.

The bigger option: Kent Festive Gift & Food Show

If you want a full day of Christmas shopping, the Kent Festive Gift & Food Show is at the Kent Showground, Detling, on 20, 21 and 22 November, 10am to 4pm, with “over 250 exhibitors”. Online tickets are £10 for adults and £5.50 for children aged 5 to 15, and parking is free. You need a car: the organiser says the showground is not reachable by public transport.

Parking for the town centre

The museum is a few minutes’ walk from Fremlin Walk and the High Street. Our Maidstone parking page lists the nearest car parks and the Saturday tariffs, and the roadworks and travel page carries the week’s closures.

For the rest of the season, see the Hazlitt pantomime, where to meet Father Christmas and Christmas at Leeds Castle.

Sources

Checked on 1 October 2026. We will update this page as soon as any other Maidstone Christmas market is confirmed.