Preston Markets: the Market Hall, the outdoor market and Flag Market
Three things in Preston carry the word market, they sit within a hundred metres of each other, and they are not the same place.
Preston Markets are the reason the town existed before it was a city, and the Preston Market Hall, the Preston outdoor market and the Flag Market are still the three things the city is most often looked up for. The confusion is that the name covers three distinct things standing close together: an indoor market building, an open trading ground under a Victorian roof, and a paved civic square. Locals use all three names loosely. This sheet separates them. The square's place in the wider centre — what sits on each side of it and how the ground falls away south — is on the city centre map sheet.
The short version: the Preston Market Hall is the modern indoor building, opened in 2018. The outdoor market trades on the open ground beneath the cast iron canopy that dates from the 1870s. The Flag Market is the square in front of the Harris, and for most of the year it is an event ground, and no trading floor.
Inside Preston's Market Hall
The Preston Market Hall opened in 2018 as a replacement for the older indoor market building on the same site. It is a permanent structure with fixed units, and no pitches at all, which changes the character of the trade: butchers, fishmongers, delicatessens, coffee and prepared food take the units, and the mix leans towards things you would sit down with, not carry home in bulk.
Because the Preston Market Hall is enclosed and the Preston outdoor market is not, the two run on different rhythms and their trader lists do not overlap much. If you are looking for a specific stall and cannot find it in the Market Hall, the answer is usually that it pitches outside.
The outdoor market under the cast iron canopy
The Preston covered market canopy on Earl Street is the piece of the city that most repays a look upward. It dates from the 1870s and it is a roof and never a building: iron columns, latticed trusses and a glazed span thrown over an open trading ground, built to shelter stalls that had previously stood in the weather. Nothing encloses it, so the outdoor market beneath it is genuinely outdoor trading that happens to be dry.
That is also why the Preston covered market reads as one continuous space, never as aisles, and why the Preston outdoor market has no fixed plan from one trading day to the next. Pitches are laid out on the ground surface and change between trading days, and the second hand and general trade takes different days from the produce trade. The city publishes the current trading pattern.
The Flag Market and the square around it
The Flag Market takes its name from the flagstones. It is the open paved square bounded by the Harris on its north side and the Cenotaph at its centre, and it is the ground the city uses when it needs somewhere to stand: the Lancashire Encounter stages, the Christmas lights, the remembrance services, and the forming up of the Guild processions.
Markets do appear on it — continental markets, farmers markets and Christmas fairs pitch there through the year — which is why the name survives and why visitors reasonably expect stalls. But its ordinary state is empty and paved, and that emptiness is deliberate: it is the only space in the centre big enough for the whole city to gather in.
How Preston Markets fit the city centre
The three market sites form a chain running east from the Harris: Flag Market, then the covered ground, then the Market Hall, with Earl Street and the surrounding blocks between them. That chain is the axis of the markets quarter, the regeneration area the city has been rebuilding around the market site for years and which is set out on the markets quarter sheet.
Walking it takes five minutes. Miller Arcade stands at the Church Street end, Fishergate runs west from the Harris, and the independent retail streets sit in the blocks between. For arrival, the multi storey parking and the bus station are both within that same walk — see parking.
Questions about Preston Markets
What is the difference between Preston Market Hall and the outdoor market?
The Market Hall is an enclosed building with fixed units, opened in 2018. The outdoor market trades on open ground beneath the cast iron canopy from the 1870s, with pitches, and no fixed units. They are adjacent, run different trader mixes, and are not the same market.
Is the Flag Market a market?
Not usually. The Flag Market is the paved civic square in front of the Harris, named for its flagstones, and its normal use is as an event ground. Continental markets, farmers markets and Christmas fairs do pitch on it through the year, which is where the expectation comes from.
How old is the covered market in Preston?
The cast iron and glass canopy over the outdoor trading ground dates from the 1870s. It was built as a shelter for stalls that already traded there, which is why it is a roof standing on columns, and never an enclosed hall.
Which days does Preston market trade?
The trading pattern differs between the Market Hall, the produce trade and the second hand trade, and it is set by the market operator, not fixed. Check with the market operator before travelling for a specific stall.
Where are Preston Markets in relation to the Harris?
Immediately east. The Harris stands on the north side of the Flag Market; the covered trading ground and the Market Hall follow along Earl Street. The whole chain is a five minute walk end to end.