Leicester Guildhall Holds Its First Alternative Market On Sunday 25 October, £1 In And Free For Under 13s

Goths, witches and collectors of odd things in Leicester have a new Sunday out. Leicester Guildhall, the 600 year old timber hall behind the cathedral, is holding its first ever Alternative Market this weekend, and it runs from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 25 October, with entry at £1 for adults and free for under 13s.

• Date: Sunday 25 October 2026.
• Time: 11am to 4pm.
• Venue: Leicester Guildhall, Guildhall Lane, Leicester LE1 5FQ.
• Entry: £1 for adults, free for under 13s.
• Organiser: Leicester Museums & Galleries, with details at leicestermuseums.org.

The clocks go back at 2am that Sunday morning, so the market opens on the first day of winter time. Set the phone to update itself and the 11am start is still 11am.

The Guildhall Calls Itself Haunted, And Sunday Leans Into That

The Facebook listing calls the building “supposedly haunted”, and the Guildhall has more ghost stories than most buildings in the Midlands. Most Haunted filmed an episode there in 2004, and 5 ghosts are regularly reported in the building:

• A White Lady seen in the first floor library.
• A monk standing over the King James Bible in that library, and the Bible’s pages are said to turn on their own.
• A black cat on the stairs of the Great Hall.
• A police officer in the Great Hall, from the years it was Leicester’s first police station.
• An old man in rags, seen swaying from side to side.

Cries and moans are reported from the old cells, so a market of skulls, dragon pendants and curiosities has found the right room. Sunday is the last weekend before Halloween, and the Guildhall has picked its date well.

Skulls, Dragon Pendants And Moon Lamps Are On The Poster

No stallholder list has been published yet, so the poster is the best guide to what is on the tables. It shows a decorated skull with a green stone on its forehead, a silver dragon pendant with spread wings, and a set of glowing moon and planet lamps. The listing promises “alternative creators, makers and curators of curiosities”. In plain English that means:

• Handmade jewellery with a gothic or fantasy edge.
• Taxidermy, bones and oddities, usually ethically sourced and labelled.
• Candles, art prints, crystals and homewares for people who like the darker end of things.

Craft fairs in the Guildhall are nothing new. The Red Cross runs its Christmas market there, and the museum ran a Christmas Craft Fair in the hall before that. This is the first time the building has been given over to the alternative crowd, and if it goes well it is likely to come back.

A Hall From 1390 With A Library From 1632

The Great Hall went up around 1390 as the meeting place of the Guild of Corpus Christi, a club of Leicester merchants founded in 1350. The town library moved into the east wing in 1632 and is still there, with a Greek New Testament from the 1400s among its books. The building became the town’s first police station in 1836 and opened as a museum in 1926, so the old cells are still inside.

A long-running story has Shakespeare performing in the hall in the late 1500s. No evidence for it has ever turned up, but the story gets told on the tours, and the hall is still used for plays and gigs today.

A Family Gets In For £2, And Cash Helps At The Stalls

For a family it works out like this:

• 2 adults: £2
• 2 adults and 2 children under 13: £2
• 1 adult and a teenager of 13 or over: £2

Small makers at markets like this often take cards, but some only take cash, so bring a few notes for the stall you fall for. The Guildhall is on Guildhall Lane, next to Leicester Cathedral and the King Richard III Visitor Centre, about 10 minutes’ walk from the railway station and 5 from the Clock Tower. The Highcross and St Nicholas Circle car parks are the closest for drivers.