Meads Magic is Friday 27 November, 2.30pm to 7.30pm; Christmas in Little Chelsea is Friday 4 December with fireworks. Both free. Times, places, Santa.

Eastbourne’s two Christmas street markets have their 2026 dates: Meads Magic on Friday 27 November, from 2.30pm to 7.30pm, and Christmas in Little Chelsea on Friday 4 December, from 3.45pm to 8.30pm, ending with fireworks. Both are free to get in. The town centre’s own market comes with the Christmas lights switch-on, whose date has not been announced.

The quick answer

  • Meads Magic: Friday 27 November 2026, 2.30pm to 7.30pm, Meads Street. Free, with a Christmas parade and Santa’s grotto.
  • Christmas in Little Chelsea: Friday 4 December 2026, 3.45pm to 8.30pm, Grove Road and South Street. Free, with Father Christmas, a light show and fireworks.
  • Town centre switch-on and market: date not announced. The last two were on the last Saturday of November.

Meads Magic, Friday 27 November

Visit Eastbourne’s listing dates Meads Magic to Friday 27 November 2026, 2.30pm to 7.30pm, on Meads Street (BN20 7ZZ). The street is lined with stalls: a Christmas market with local produce and arts and crafts, entertainers, a Christmas parade and Santa’s grotto. The listing says “entrance to Meads Magic is free”.

The listing does not mention a road closure, and none has been published.

Christmas in Little Chelsea, Friday 4 December

Visit Eastbourne’s listing dates it to Friday 4 December 2026, 3.45pm to 8.30pm, on Grove Road and South Street (BN21 4QA), in Little Chelsea. Guide price: free entry. The listing promises live music, handmade craft stalls, fairground stalls, a chance to meet Father Christmas, food and drink stalls and street performers, and says the evening ends with “a dazzling light show and spectacular fireworks display”.

No firework time has been published. If you are bringing small children for Father Christmas and want to miss the fireworks, or the other way round, check back nearer the day.

The town centre switch-on market

The biggest single day is the Christmas lights switch-on on Terminus Road, which last year brought a Christmas market of more than 40 stalls to the town centre from the morning. Its 2026 date has not been announced. It was on Saturday 30 November 2024 and Saturday 29 November 2025, which points to Saturday 28 November, the day after Meads Magic. Our Christmas lights switch-on page has the full 2025 running order and will carry the 2026 date as soon as it is out.

As that page notes, Eastbourne has no multi-week Christmas market of the kind some larger towns run. Its markets are one-day street events.

The panto and other Christmas outings

Still to be confirmed

  • The switch-on date and programme, expected in late October.
  • Firework time at Little Chelsea, and any road closures for either street event.
  • Santa’s grotto times at Meads Magic.

Visit Eastbourne’s listings are the organisers’ route to publishing these details; we check them and will update this page.