Billericay Christmas Market is confirmed for Sunday 6 December, 11am to 5pm, with the High Street closed. Barleylands runs markets on four weekends from 28 November.

Two Christmas markets in the Basildon borough have confirmed 2026 dates, and the biggest of them takes over a High Street for the day.

Billericay Christmas Market: Sunday 6 December, 11am to 5pm

The Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower has confirmed Sunday 6 December 2026, 11.00am to 5.00pm, in Billericay High Street. Set your postcode to CM12 9AS. The date and times are on the club’s own event site, which also states the club has raised over £500,000 for charity through the market in the past 13 years.

This is the borough’s largest single day event. The organisers put it at 20,000 visitors and over 150 stalls, covering crafts, hot and cold food, clothing, gifts and a farm shop. Santa’s parade opens the market and Santa then spends the day in a free grotto giving presents to children. There is a stage, fairground rides, a circus troupe, street entertainers and flash mobs.

The Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower runs it with help from Billericay Round Table and the Billericay and Basildon Rotary clubs, according to the community site billericayessex.co.uk. The grotto’s exact location moves: in 2025 it was in the WI Hall, St Edith’s Lane, CM12 9BU. The 2026 location has not been published.

Road closure and parking

The High Street closes completely to traffic, and the organisers tell drivers to follow the diversion signs. This is the practical thing to plan around, because it takes the obvious kerbside parking out of play for the whole day.

The market site names the free parking it has arranged:

  • Billericay station car park, courtesy of NCP and Greater Anglia
  • Radford Way, courtesy of DCK
  • Radford Crescent, Lake Meadows and Sun Corner, courtesy of the council, and Sun Corner is listed as subject to weather

Basildon Council also made its Billericay car parks free at weekends from April 2026, which reinforces that arrangement rather than replacing it; see our parking in Basildon page. If you park in the residential streets near the High Street, the organisers ask you to keep off the double yellows and leave resident access clear.

By train, Billericay is on the Greater Anglia Liverpool Street to Southend line with a service every 30 minutes. By bus, the First 300 runs hourly between Chelmsford and Basildon. Check the roadworks and travel page before you set off.

One small thing the organisers flag themselves and nobody else does: cash is now limited in Billericay High Street, with three ATMs at Iceland, Santander and Waitrose, plus machines at the station and the BP garage. Draw cash before you arrive if you want it.

Barleylands: four weekends of outdoor markets

Barleylands, Barleylands Road, Billericay CM11 2UD, runs a series of outdoor Christmas markets across four blocks of dates, all confirmed on its own events page and run with Events by AJ:

  • 28 and 29 November, the Barleylands Annual Festive Fayre
  • 4 to 6 December
  • 11 to 13 December
  • 18 to 23 December

These are outdoor markets rather than a farm park event, and the page is written mainly for traders, so admission and opening times for visitors are not yet stated. Barleylands separately runs its ticketed Christmas Experience with Father Christmas from 28 November to 24 December on selected dates, which is a different thing and must be booked in advance.

Wickford: Sunday 29 November

Wickford at Christmas, the town’s annual Christmas market, is on Sunday 29 November 2026. Rachel Voller, manager of Wickford Together, the town’s Business Improvement District, gave Basildon Today the date. The market is run by its own group and has no lights switch-on; Light Up Wickford is on Thursday 19 November.

Last year’s market was on Sunday 30 November 2025, with Wickford Main and Ladygate car parks free for it, according to the council’s free parking notice.

Basildon town centre: not yet announced

Basildon town centre’s Christmas market is not a standalone event. It runs as part of the council’s town centre festive launch, which in 2025 was Magical Christmas on Saturday 15 November. The 2026 date has not been announced. Where the rest of the borough’s festive programme stands is on our Christmas lights switch-on page.

Sources