Chichester's Sloe Fair was on Tuesday 20 October 2026 on Northgate car park, which the council closed from 6pm on Sunday 18 October to noon on 21 October.

Chichester’s Sloe Fair is on Tuesday 20 October 2026, on Northgate car park. The car park itself is closed around it, from 6pm on Sunday 18 October until 12 noon on Wednesday 21 October, and anyone who normally parks there needs another plan.

The quick answer

  • Fair day: Tuesday 20 October 2026, Northgate car park, Chichester.
  • Car park closed: 6pm Sunday 18 October to 12 noon Wednesday 21 October. No vehicles at all.
  • Season ticket holders: X roving season tickets work at Basin Road and the Cattle Market car park instead.
  • Times and ride prices: not published by the council or the organiser.

Updated 17 October: the council has moved the closure forward. Its notice now says Northgate shuts at 6pm on Sunday 18 October, not 6am on Monday 19 October.

Checked on 17 October 2026.

Confirmed: Tuesday 20 October

Chichester District Council, which owns the car park, published the dates on 2 October 2026. It says the fair takes place on Tuesday 20 October and is organised by the Showmen’s Guild, not by the council.

The council’s release is the only first-party notice of the 2026 fair. It gives the date and the car park closure, and nothing about opening times, rides or prices. We have not found an organiser’s page for the fair that carries them. If the Showmen’s Guild or the council publishes times, they will go here.

Northgate car park: shut from Sunday evening

What When
Car park closes 6pm, Sunday 18 October
Fair Tuesday 20 October
Car park reopens 12 noon, Wednesday 21 October

“During this time no vehicles will be able to use the car park,” the council says.

If you hold an X roving season ticket, you can park at the council’s other two long-stay car parks, Basin Road and the Cattle Market (in the area beyond the mini roundabout). The council says it has written to all season ticket holders about the closure.

Everyone else should pick another city car park from Sunday evening to Wednesday lunchtime. Our parking in Chichester page has the council car parks and their tariffs, and the council’s own car parks page has the live list.

Football at Oaklands Park the same evening

Chichester City v Berkhamsted kicks off at 7.45pm on Tuesday 20 October at Oaklands Park, just north of Northgate, according to the club’s own fixture list. Expect the streets round Northgate to be busier than a normal Tuesday evening.

For road closures elsewhere in the city that week, including Stockbridge Road, which is shut from 10 October to 27 November, see our roadworks and travel page.

How the dates have moved

The council publishes the same car park notice every October. Its last three give the pattern:

Year Car park closed Reopened
2024 6am, Saturday 19 October 12 noon, Tuesday 22 October
2025 6am, Saturday 18 October 12 noon, Tuesday 21 October
2026 6pm, Sunday 18 October 12 noon, Wednesday 21 October

This year the fair falls on a Tuesday, so the closure starts on Sunday evening rather than a Saturday morning. The car park is open as normal on Saturday 17 October and for most of Sunday 18 October. The council’s first version of this year’s notice gave 6am on Monday 19 October; it now says 6pm on Sunday.

A fair from Henry I’s charter

The Sloe Fair “is one of the earliest recorded fairs in Chichester, dating back hundreds of years,” Councillor Adrian Moss, leader of Chichester District Council, said in this year’s release. “It was granted by King Henry I to Ralph de Luffa, Bishop of Chichester and is believed to be named after the Sloe tree which grew in fields by Northgate on the original site.”

Still to be confirmed

  • Opening and closing times on 20 October. Not published.
  • Rides and prices. Not published.

For everything else on in the city this month, see our what’s on in Chichester page.

Sources