Feast of Festive Cheer Comes to Clitheroe in December

Published: 17th November 2022

Mama shar s caribbean cooking
FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT - Mama Shar’s celebrated Caribbean cookhouse will be dishing up a feast of festive fare at the Clitheroe Christmas Markets.

A feast of festive cheer comes to Clitheroe in December, when the town hosts a trio of Saturday Christmas markets.

The markets start on 3 December, when the popular Clitheroe Pop Choir takes to the market bullring at 1pm, following a Christmas lights switch-on by Ribble Valley Mayor Stuart Hirst.

Further markets featuring a feast of festive food and drink and gifts that won’t break the bank will be held on Saturday, 10 and 17 December.

Stalls will include Mama Shar’s celebrated Caribbean cookhouse, famous for its jerk chicken, rice and peas, curried goat, fried chicken dumplings and other specialities devised by founder Sharmen Frith-Hemmings using family recipes handed down through the generations.

Clitheroe Food Festival favourite Fairham Gin will also be rocking up with its 100-per cent vapour-infused gins handcrafted in 60-litre copper pots at its small distillery in Preston.

They will join over 30 festive stalls packing the market’s bullring, among them some of the region’s best artisan producers, including Dipz Doughnuts, Oh My Cheesecake, Doe Bakehouse, the Spice Cartel and Clitheroe’s Bowland Brewery, alongside the market’s 80 regular stallholders with their weekly offering of fruit and vegetables, bread and cakes, fish and meat, clothing and lingerie, curtains and fabrics, flowers and electrical goods.

Louise Edge, chairman of Ribble Valley Borough Council’s economic development committee, said: “We have created a strong narrative around markets over the years and are delighted to be hosting these festive markets that will support the local economy, as we move into the post-pandemic period.

“Markets offer many economic and social benefits, such as encouraging entrepreneurship and civic pride, and fostering a sense of community.

“Visitors to the Clitheroe Christmas Markets can expect top-quality local produce and a warm Ribble Valley welcome.”

Clitheroe has hosted a regular market since the Norman Conquest in the 12th Century.

It hosts markets on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and last year was the subject of a £110,000 makeover featuring heritage-style signage, new canopies and revamped loos.

  • Don’t forget free festive parking is on offer at four council car parks in Clitheroe and Longridge, including the Clitheroe Market car park, on 3, 10, 17 and 24 December. The free parking is intended for shoppers only, not traders or town centre workers, and further details and locations are available at ribblevalley.gov.uk.