We checked 13 Colchester shops and markets, from Red Lion Books to Guntons on Crouch Street, for opening hours and what they sell. Updated November 2026.
Colchester has 13 shops and markets worth a Christmas shopping trip in 2026, and this guide lists them with opening hours, addresses and what each one sells. Most people start with the Christmas market on Sunday 6 December, a stack of books from Red Lion Books, a hamper from Guntons on Crouch Street and the gift shops along Sir Isaac’s Walk. Every entry was checked on 5 November 2026.
Few have published Christmas hours yet, so the hours below are each shop’s standard week: check before a special trip.
Dates for the Christmas shopping diary
Saturday 14 November: the Christmas lights switch-on. InColchester’s parade sets off from the Mercury Theatre at 5pm and comes down the High Street. At Lion Walk, the entertainment starts at 5.30pm and the lights and fireworks follow at 7.30pm. The ice rink in Culver Square opens the same day.
Sunday 6 December: the Colchester Christmas Market, on the High Street and in the Moot Hall. More below.
20 November to 20 December: Christmas Cornucopia at Shipyard Studios in Wivenhoe, Wednesday to Sunday.
Still to come: we found no late-night shopping date for 2026. Last year the city centre stayed open to 8pm on Wednesdays before Christmas; we will add this year’s nights when InColchester or the council announces them.
Markets
1. Colchester Christmas Market and Moot Hall Gift Market
Colchester Market and InColchester run the outdoor market, with up to 80 stalls on the pedestrianised High Street. The BID’s Christmas page lists festive gifts, local traders, street food, live music and funfair rides.
Inside the Town Hall, the Moot Hall Christmas Gift Market has 40 stalls the organisers describe as handpicked, and young traders from Business Kids take St Nicholas Square. Our market page has the full day, including the Santa Fun Run in Castle Park.
Open Sunday 6 December 2026; High Street 10am to 5pm; Moot Hall 10am to 4pm
Price free entry
Address High Street and Colchester Town Hall, High Street, Colchester, CO1 1PJ
Website incolchester.co.uk/christmas-in-colchester
Good for gifts from local traders, street food, funfair rides, family day out
High Street and Trinity Street
2. Red Lion Books
Red Lion Books has been “proudly independent since 1978”, when the Donaldson family opened it, and sits at 125 High Street. Its website lists signed editions, pre-orders, book subscriptions, gift vouchers and a Christmas 2026 tote bag, alongside author events and book clubs.
It also sells a “Blind Date With a Book” and a “Bibliotherapy Prescription”, where a bookseller picks for the reader. Books can be ordered through its online catalogue and collected in the shop.
Open Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm; closed Sundays and bank holidays
Call 01206 578584
Address 125 High Street, Colchester, CO1 1SZ
Website redlionbooks.co.uk
Good for signed books, gift vouchers, book subscriptions, author events
3. GfB, the Colchester Bookshop
GfB is a secondhand and rare bookshop on Trinity Street. Its InColchester listing says it stocks around 20,000 books, specialising in literature, the arts, history, philosophy, science and local interest titles.
It opens four days a week.
Open Wed and Fri 10am to 5pm; Thu and Sat 12pm to 5pm (InColchester listing)
Address 7 Trinity Street, Colchester, CO1 1JN
Website incolchester.co.uk/directory/gfb-the-colchester-bookshop
Good for secondhand books, rare books, local history
Sir Isaac’s Walk and Red Lion Yard
4. Bill and Bert’s
Bill and Bert’s is a gift shop in Mercantile House on Sir Isaac’s Walk, and its website tells the story of “Bill and his faithful dog Bertie” travelling the world for gifts, with “Bill’s eye for a bargain and Bertie’s nose for sniffing out interesting new things”. It is one of the few shops in this guide that opens on Sundays.
Open Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm; Sun 10.30am to 4pm
Call 07973 328901
Address 2 Mercantile House, Sir Isaac's Walk, Colchester, CO1 1JJ
Website billandberts.com/bill-berts
Good for gifts, open Sundays
5. Baccus
Baccus is a menswear shop on Sir Isaac’s Walk, established in 1966 and, in its own words, “a third generation, family-run independent business”. Its InColchester listing says it is an authorised retailer for BOSS, HUGO, Fred Perry, Lacoste and Moose Knuckles, and the shop’s site adds Lyle and Scott, Tommy Hilfiger and Weekend Offender.
It sells gift vouchers online.
Open Mon to Fri 9.30am to 5.30pm; Sat 9am to 5.30pm; Sun 11am to 4pm (InColchester listing)
Call 01206 570386
Address 2 Sir Isaac's Walk, Colchester, CO1 1JJ
Website baccusstore.co.uk
Good for menswear, designer brands, gift vouchers, open Sundays
6. MP Gallery
MP Gallery opened in 2016 on Sir Isaac’s Walk and sells limited editions, originals and sculpture. Its about page names the publishers it works with, including Demontfort Fine Art, Buckingham Fine Art and Edge Sculpture, as well as independent artists such as Kerry Darlington and Mark Davies.
It also offers conservation framing and sells gift vouchers, and it says it is open seven days a week.
Open Mon to Sat 9.30am to 5pm; Sun 11am to 4pm (InColchester listing)
Call 01206 560395
Address 21 Sir Isaac's Walk, Colchester, CO1 1JJ
Website mpgallery.co.uk
Good for limited edition prints, original art, framing, gift vouchers
7. Boutique La Corina
La Corina is a fashion boutique for women and men in Red Lion Yard, the run of small independents tucked inside Lion Walk beside the Red Lion Hotel. Lion Walk’s page for the shop quotes the owners describing “refined, expressive fashion for both women and men”, and InColchester names it among the city’s independents to visit this Christmas.
Open Mon to Fri 9.30am to 5.30pm; Sat 10am to 4pm; Sun 10am to 2pm
Call 07450 963363
Address 15 Red Lion Yard, Colchester, CO1 1DX
Website lionwalkshopping.com/shopping/boutique-la-corina
Good for women's fashion, menswear, open Sundays
Culver Street East and Church Street
8. Ace Comics
Ace Comics has shops in Colchester and Southend, and its website describes it as “one of the oldest and most reliable suppliers of comic books and cult merchandise in the UK”. The Culver Street East shop sells American comics from Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse, graphic novels and action figures, and runs a comics subscription service.
It sells gift cards, which suits a reader whose pull list you do not know.
Open Mon to Thu 11am to 4pm; Fri 10am to 4pm; Sat 10am to 5pm; closed Sundays and bank holidays
Call 01206 561912
Address 42 Culver Street East, Colchester, CO1 1LE
Website acecomics.co.uk
Good for comics, graphic novels, action figures, gift cards
9. Two Brews
Two Brews calls itself “Colchester’s premier craft-beer bar and bottle shop”. Its website lists ten draught taps, bottled and canned beer from breweries near and far, bottled wine and artisanal coffee beans, all sold to drink in or take away, so it doubles as a place to buy a beer lover’s present.
It runs tastings and a monthly quiz in the cellar.
Open Tue to Thu 12pm to 10pm; Fri and Sat 12pm to 11pm; Sun 12pm to 9pm; closed Mondays
Address 11 Church Street, Colchester, CO1 1NF
Website twobrews.co.uk
Listing Our listing
Good for craft beer to take away, wine, coffee beans, tastings
Crouch Street and St Botolph’s
10. Guntons
H. Gunton is a family grocer on Crouch Street, established in 1936; its InColchester listing mentions more than 100 cheeses, coffee roasted on the premises, loose teas and its own home-cooked gammon ham, and calls the shop “Colchester’s premier venue for your Christmas fayre”.
The shop’s website has a Christmas 2026 range of gift baskets and gift packs, stollen and panettone, Christmas puddings, mince pies and lebkuchen, plus 90th anniversary tea blends. The listing says hampers are packed to order.
Open Mon to Sat 9am to 4pm
Call 01206 572200
Address 81-83 Crouch Street, Colchester, CO3 3EZ
Website guntons.co.uk
Good for Christmas hampers, cheese, fresh-roasted coffee, loose tea
11. Franklins
Franklins has sold sewing machines and fabric since 1956 and has shops in Colchester, Chelmsford, Dovercourt, Ipswich and Salisbury. Its Colchester page describes the St Botolph’s Street shop as “a fully stocked sewing shop”, a short walk from the railway station, with sewing machines, overlockers, dress and craft fabrics, haberdashery and knitting yarn.
It sells gift vouchers and runs sewing classes, and says customers can use its free car park behind the shop.
Open Mon to Sat 9.30am to 4.30pm; closed Sundays and bank holidays
Call 01206 563955
Address 13-15 St Botolph's Street, Colchester, CO2 7DU
Website franklinsgroup.com/pages/colchester
Good for sewing machines, fabric and yarn, classes, free parking
Out of town
12. Tiptree Jam Shop and Tea Room
Wilkin and Sons makes Tiptree jam at its factory in Tiptree, about nine miles south-west of Colchester, and runs a jam shop, tea room and museum on the site. Its online shop has a Christmas range of puddings, Christmas sauces and gift sets.
The company’s tea rooms page says the tea room takes a limited number of bookings on weekdays, by phone, and that the Secret Garden is closed for the winter from 1 November.
Open winter hours Mon to Sat 9.30am to 4.30pm; Sun 10am to 4.30pm
Booking tea room weekdays only, by phone
Call 01621 814524
Address Factory Hill, Tiptree, CO5 0RF
Website tiptree.com
Good for jam and preserves, Christmas puddings, gift sets, tea room
13. Christmas Cornucopia at Shipyard Studios, Wivenhoe
Shipyard Studios is a gallery in a family home at the former Cook’s Shipyard in Wivenhoe. Its Christmas Cornucopia exhibition brings together painting, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, jewellery, sculpture and craft by 22 artists and makers, as we reported in October.
The gallery gives no street address beyond Cook’s Shipyard and no entry price, so check its website before setting out.
Open 20 November to 20 December 2026; Wed to Sun 10am to 5pm
Address Cook's Shipyard, Wivenhoe
Website shipyardstudios.co.uk/christmas-cornucopia-2026
Good for handmade gifts, ceramics, jewellery, original prints
Getting there
Most of the city-centre shops are a short walk from Colchester Town station; Sir Isaac’s Walk, Eld Lane and Red Lion Yard sit between Culver Square and the High Street. Our parking page has the car park tariffs, and the Christmas trains and buses page covers services into the city. For a meal while you are in town, see our Christmas dinner guide, and for everything else on this month, what’s on in Colchester and things to do in Colchester.
How we chose
We started with InColchester’s Christmas page, which names the High Street, Eld Lane, Trinity Street and Sir Isaac’s Walk as the places to look, and its directory of city-centre shops. From that list we picked independents that sell gifts, food or something to give, then read each shop’s own website for what it sells, its address and its hours. We left out shops we could not confirm are still trading. Chains are not listed because they are easy to find. Run a shop that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@colchesterpost.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@colchesterpost.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.
Browse more local businesses in our Colchester directory.
Frequently asked questions
Is there late night Christmas shopping in Colchester in 2026?
We found no late-night shopping date for Colchester city centre when we checked on 5 November 2026. In 2025 the city centre had late-night shopping on Wednesdays to 8pm in the run-up to Christmas, but neither the council nor InColchester, the business improvement district, had announced the 2026 nights. On switch-on night, Saturday 14 November, the parade starts at 5pm and Lion Walk’s lights and fireworks are at 7.30pm.
When is the Colchester Christmas market in 2026?
Sunday 6 December 2026. Up to 80 stalls fill the pedestrianised High Street from 10am to 5pm, and the Moot Hall Christmas Gift Market runs inside Colchester Town Hall from 10am to 4pm with 40 stalls. Both are free to walk into.
Where are the independent shops in Colchester?
InColchester points shoppers to the High Street, Eld Lane, Trinity Street and Sir Isaac’s Walk, with Red Lion Yard inside Lion Walk. Red Lion Books is on the High Street, Bill and Bert’s, Baccus and MP Gallery are on Sir Isaac’s Walk, GfB the Colchester Bookshop is on Trinity Street, and Guntons, the family grocer since 1936, is on Crouch Street.
Have your say