Markets in Ballymena

Saturday mornings in the Ballymoney Road car park

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council runs the market every Saturday from 8am to 2pm in the Ballymoney Road car park, a short walk from the town centre.

It is a general market, not a craft market. Expect fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, household goods, clothes and second-hand finds, from traders who have worked these markets for years. A small number of spaces are kept for car boot sellers.

Booking a stall with the Ballymena markets team

Phone the council's markets team on 028 9335 8273 and book your pitch before the Saturday. You bring your own gazebo and tables. Car boot spaces are limited and go first come, first served.

The council does not put the Saturday pitch fee online, so ask when you book.

• Trading alone on a Ballymena street needs a council street trading licence.
• Licensing Section: 028 2826 2498, [email protected].
• A temporary licence costs £110 (2026 fee); apply 30 days ahead.
• Ballymena Show stands: book through ballymenashow.co.uk, usually from late February.

Wellington Court huts and the November fairs

In early December the council's Ballymena Christmas Artisan Market fills decorated huts in Wellington Court, usually from a Wednesday to the next Monday, closed on Sunday, 11am to 4pm. Look for bakes, handmade decorations, local food and gifts.

Before that, the Ballymena NI Hospice Support Group holds its Christmas fair at the Tullyglass House Hotel on a Wednesday in mid-November, with a small charge at the door. It has run for more than 30 years.

Ballymena Chamber of Commerce has also held an Artisan Christmas Fair at Galgorm Resort on an early-December Saturday.

Broughshane's mills and the Ballymena Show

In Broughshane, ten minutes north-east, the Christmas Family Fair fills Houston's Mill on a late-November Saturday, 3pm to 7pm, with a food and craft market, the Ballyduff Silver Band and the village lights at 6pm.

Raceview Mill on Mill Road has run an indoor food and craft market on the last Saturday of the month. Email [email protected] to check it is on.

The Ballymena Show, on a Saturday in late May or June at Ballymena Livestock Market on Woodside Road, has a large trade area beside the cattle, sheep and horses.

Glenarm's barn market on the coast road

Glenarm, about half an hour east, holds its Community Market in the Eglinton Yard Barn on New Road (BT44 0AA) on the first Saturday of the month, April to December, 10.30am to 3.30pm. Entry is free, dogs are welcome and the barn suits wheelchairs.

December adds Friday evening twilight markets, 4pm to 8pm. To ask about a stall, phone 07482 224759. Glenarm Castle hosts the ticketed Tedberry Market in late June, which has its own guide here.

Four hundred years of Saturday trading

In 1626 King Charles I granted William Adair the right to hold a market in Ballymena every Saturday. In the 1830s about 4,000 pieces of linen changed hands on an average market day.

The market moved to the Ballymoney Road car park in August 2021, the council choosing it for being close to the shops and the bus and train stations.