Charter Market

The Charter Market is back on St Peter's Street on Wednesday 9 December, and it's running through to Wednesday 23 December, so you've got a few weeks to work your way through it. It's the Wednesday sitting of St Albans' market, which brings fresh produce, gifts, homeware and international street food to the city centre.

If you've lived here a while, you'll know the market is a proper local institution. It goes back to around 860, when it was established by Wulsin, the sixth abbot of the city. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the right to hold a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays was sold to the town in 1553 by letters patent from Edward VI, which also incorporated St Albans as a borough. That charter is where the Saturday sitting gets its name, and Saturday is the larger of the city's two regular market days, with well over 100 stalls trading along St Peter's Street. The mix shifts from week to week between food and produce, clothing, gifts and household goods, and services like watch and phone repairs.

It's home to family businesses that have been here for generations, like the Griffiths Brothers distillery and Chiltern Brewery, and it's even been painted in oil by the artist Rydal Hanbury. In recent years, there's been a bit of debate over its future, including a 2022 pilot of gazebos in the city's colours and residents' concerns about the rise of al fresco dining on St Peter's Street. All that just goes to show how much people here still care about it.

This run goes from Wednesday 9 December to Wednesday 23 December, so it's on for a good chunk of the lead-up to Christmas. There's no entry fee, and you'll find the stalls along St Peter's Street in the heart of town.