After a year off, EcoLocal has confirmed the Carshalton Frost Fair for Saturday 5 December 2026 at Carshalton Ponds. Free entry, and here is what the last one cost.
The Carshalton Frost Fair is back, on Saturday 5 December 2026. EcoLocal, the Carshalton charity that runs it with volunteers, carries the date on its own homepage and on the event’s page, after taking 2025 off entirely (EcoLocal, Carshalton Frost Fair 2026).
That is the answer to the question most people are asking about this event, because the 2025 gap made a lot of people assume it had gone the way of the Carshalton fireworks. It has not. What is not yet published is the detail: as of 3 September 2026 the event page still carries the running order, times and prices from the 2024 fair, with an introduction that begins “Previously in 2024 (we had a year off in 2025)”.
Confirmed for 2026
- Date: Saturday 5 December 2026
- Venue: Carshalton Ponds, with activity spreading into Honeywood Walk, Festival Walk and the Memorial Gardens
- Entry to the main event is free. EcoLocal asks for donations towards the cost of running it, and towards its eco-wellbeing projects
- Volunteers are wanted. EcoLocal takes offers of help on the day at fair@ecolocal.org.uk
Saturday 5 December is not an arbitrary pick, either. EcoLocal’s own brief for stallholders sets the fair as the first Saturday in December, 1pm to 6pm, at Honeywood Walk, Carshalton, run in partnership with the Friends of Honeywood Museum, and puts attendance at around 3,000. It has run since 2012 (EcoLocal, information for potential stallholders). That rule gives 5 December in 2026, which is what the organiser has published.
Everything below is from the 2024 fair. It is the best guide there is to what 5 December will look like, and it is what the organiser’s own page is still showing, but the times and prices are not yet confirmed for 2026.
What the 2024 fair ran, hour by hour
The 2024 fair ran on Saturday 7 December from 1pm to 6pm. As it got dark the area around the ponds was lit with fairy lights, and there were two live entertainment areas with carol singing, dance, choirs and folk and pop bands. Stalls came from the Wallington Farmers’ Market and the EcoFair, set up outside Honeywood Museum and in the Memorial Gardens and Festival Walk, with a hog roast, vegetarian catering, seasonal food and a bar serving mulled wine and hot cider. Carshalton Lavender and Fairtrade Sutton had charity stalls.
| Activity | Where | Times | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Wonderland Trail | Friends of the Ecology Centre, entrance via Old Rectory off Festival Walk | 1pm to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm | £5 per child over 3, £1 aged 2 to 3, includes a gift |
| Father Christmas' Grotto | Inside Honeywood Museum | Ticket booth outside the museum opened at noon | £3 per child, accompanying adult free |
| Christmas Magic Shows | Inside Honeywood Museum | Through the afternoon | £3 per child, accompanying adult free |
| Storytelling | Inside Honeywood Museum | All afternoon | Free, booked at the ticket kiosk on the day |
| Children's craft activities | Garden Hall, via the Ecology Centre grounds | 1pm to 5pm | £2 on entry |
| Honeywood Museum entry | Honeywood, Carshalton Ponds | Museum hours on the day | Free |
Two practical notes from the same page, both worth knowing in advance: the Winter Wonderland Trail allowed no dogs, and prams, buggies and scooters had to be left in the buggy parks outside Honeywood and outside the Garden Hall rather than taken in.
The 2024 fair also went ahead in Storm Darragh, with what EcoLocal called “adaptions for the weather” and more than 80 volunteers on site, from police cadets to retired residents.
Why there was no fair in 2025
EcoLocal chose to skip a year. Its explanation, given to Secret Carshalton in October 2025, was that “we have decided to have a year off. The event takes a huge amount of time and effort to put on in our spare time and we feel we need time to focus on other community projects this year” (Secret Carshalton, 27 October 2025).
It was a pause, not a closure, and the organiser has now dated the next one. That is a different situation from the borough’s bonfire night display, which was cancelled permanently by its organisers and is not coming back. We set out the evidence for that on our Sutton fireworks page.
Getting there, and parking
Carshalton Ponds sit at the junction of the High Street and Pound Street, a few minutes’ walk from Carshalton station, which is the sensible way in for an event that finishes after dark.
If you drive, the council’s two Carshalton car parks are the closest options: High Street, SM5 3AP and The Square, SM5 3BN. Both are surface car parks, and the council’s surface car parks charge less for a full day than the town centre multi-storeys. Tariffs, the permit parking areas around the ponds and the penalty rules are all on our Sutton parking page. Carshalton Park Road, just south of the fair, sits in a permit zone that operates 9am to 11am rather than all day, which is unusual for the borough.
EcoLocal’s own page says nothing about road closures, and in 2024 the fair used the pedestrian areas around the ponds, Honeywood Walk, Festival Walk and the Memorial Gardens, rather than the carriageway. If a closure is ordered for 5 December it will show up on our Sutton roadworks and travel page, which tracks live permits in the borough.
EcoLocal’s other dates
The same charity runs two other things people search for:
- Wallington Farmers’ Market, the second Saturday of every month, 9am to 1pm, around the Old Town Hall and Library Gardens
- EcoFair, held on the August bank holiday Monday. In 2026 it ran on Monday 31 August, 10.30am to 8pm
Both are listed on the EcoLocal homepage. For the rest of the year in the borough, see our things to do in Sutton page.
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