Birmingham is renowned for its annual Christmas market, which is expected to consume the city centre for about two months, but what do you know about its Halloween Market? This could be the start of a spooky season tradition to rival the Second City’s festivities.
The seasonal event, organised by Southside BID in partnership with the Birmingham Hippodrome, takes place from 10am on Saturday, October 12 on Hurst Street. The Halloween Market will feature various food and craft stalls – including a new range of chocolate from Marshall and Co. to mark the start of UK Chocolate Week – live music and free Halloween activities for children.
It’s the second in a series of Southside’s themed Saturday markets that are partly funded by the UK government. The first one, held on September 14 & 15, was the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, which saw an impressive 65,557 visitors flocking on Saturday alone. That’s a 45% increase on the 45,000 in the area on the same day last year.
We expect the Halloween Market to attract even more visitors – especially as the pumpkin carving contest is offering the winners four free tickets to the Peter Pan pantomime production, which runs at the Hippodrome from 21 December to 2 February 2025. Just remember, it’s meant to be a bit of fun!
Julia Robinson, manager of Southside BID, said: “The Halloween Market will be a lively event packed full of fun for everyone, including families with young children. We’re particularly looking forward to seeing everyone’s efforts at pumpkin carving, and seeing all the spooky goods and activities organised by the market traders.”
After the Halloween Market, the next two street markets on Southside will be Pride on November 16 and Christmas on December 14. Meanwhile, the Frankfurt Christmas Market will return on November 1 and stick around until December 24. It won’t be the only Christmas market in town either…