The Exeter Farmers Market and Other Exeter Market Days
The single most useful hour in the Exeter market calendar is between 10am and 11am on a Thursday, when the Farmers Market on Fore Street is at full tilt and you can buy half a week’s food from people who grew, baked, or caught it. The wider market scene is bigger than that, though, and worth planning a visit around. Here is what the year actually looks like.
The Exeter Farmers Market: every Thursday
The weekly Farmers Market runs every Thursday from 9am to 1pm on the corner of Fore Street and South Street, in central Exeter. On a good week you will find over thirty producers selling Devon venison, Brixham fish, Sharpham and Quicke’s cheese, raw apple juice, sourdough, preserves, pies, cakes, and the seasonal vegetables that came in from East Devon that morning.
What makes the market worth a special trip is the directness: the person behind the table is almost always the person who made what you are buying, and they are happy to explain how to use the more unfamiliar items (gurnard, mostly). Prices are mid-market, not budget; expect £4 to £6 for a wedge of cheese, £8 to £14 for a piece of fresh fish, and £3 to £4 for a sourdough loaf. Bring cash for a couple of the older stalls, though most now take cards.
How to use it
Arrive by 9.30am if you want the best of the fish, by 11am if you want the bread (the sourdough sells out fast in summer), and after 12.30pm if you are looking for end-of-day bargains on vegetables. The market sits on a slope, so wear flat shoes, and bring a sturdy bag.
Cathedral Green: independent and seasonal markets
From April to September, the Exeter Independent Market sets up on Cathedral Green roughly once a month, with over sixty stalls on the steps and West Front of the Cathedral. The mix is broader than the Farmers Market: independent food producers alongside vintage clothing, handmade crafts, jewellery, and live music. Stalls run from 10am to 4pm.
The Cathedral Green Market is a related but smaller programme, running on selected Saturdays and Sundays through summer (2026 dates include 24 August, 6 September, and 5 October at time of writing). Combined, they keep the Cathedral lawn busy with food, drink, and craft stalls most weekends from spring through autumn.
The Green works particularly well for a longer afternoon: grab street food from a stall, sit on the grass, and use the Cathedral itself as a backdrop. The Royal Clarence and the Well House Tavern are both immediately adjacent if you want a more formal lunch instead.
The Christmas market: mid-November to mid-December
The Exeter Cathedral Christmas Market is one of the largest in the South West, with around 130 wooden chalets running across Cathedral Green for a month from mid-November to mid-December. In 2026, the market opens at 10am on Friday 13 November and runs through to 5pm on Sunday 13 December. Entry is free, hot food and mulled wine fill the central area, and the cathedral itself opens for late services and concerts through the run.
Weekday afternoons (Tuesday and Wednesday especially) are far quieter than weekends. If you can travel by train, do; the multi-storey car parks fill by 11am on Saturdays, and Cathedral Green is a six-minute walk from Exeter Central station.
St George’s Market: the indoor classic
For something more everyday, St George’s Indoor Market on Market Street has been running on the same site since 1959. It is a covered market with around twenty traders selling produce, meat, bread, fabric, and dry goods; opening hours are roughly 8am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday. The fishmonger and the butcher are the obvious draws, and prices are good. It is the kind of market that residents still use weekly rather than a tourist destination, which is part of its appeal.
The Quay craft fairs and seasonal one-offs
The Quayside hosts pop-up markets through the warmer months, particularly during the Exeter Food Festival in late April and the Quayside Festival weekend each summer. These are worth checking the Visit Exeter events listings for: dates shift year to year, and Quayside markets tend to be food and craft heavy rather than produce-led.
Practical notes
Most central Exeter markets are within ten minutes’ walk of each other and from the High Street. The Farmers Market is fully outdoor, so it runs in light rain; severe weather sometimes shrinks the stall count. Bring a tote bag, expect to queue at the cheese and fish stalls, and remember that many producers run their own farm shops, so if you fall for something on Thursday, you can usually buy it again the rest of the week.
Dogs are welcome at all the outdoor markets, with water bowls reliably on at least three or four stalls. Cards are accepted at most pitches now, but a few small producers remain cash-preferred.
Across the year, the Exeter market calendar gives you a weekly anchor (the Farmers Market), a monthly highlight (the Independent Market), and a winter set-piece (the Cathedral Christmas Market), with St George’s filling in the regular weeks in between. Together, they are one of the strongest arguments for living in (or visiting often) this corner of Devon.
Browse our Central Exeter food and drink section for more on what to do once your shopping bags are full.