What Surbiton's farmers' market does for the shops around it

Surbiton's farmers' market has been part of the town's calendar since 2009, and the shops around it can trade on that. Surbiton Farmers' Market has run on Maple Road on the third Saturday of the month, 9am to 1pm, since October 2009, with up to forty stalls of farmers, producers and local makers. Volunteers run the whole thing, and by its own count it has raised more than £125,000 for local projects and good causes along the way.

A new market has to talk people into trying it. This one is part of the calendar, like a bus route, so people build their Saturday around it without a second thought. Every stallholder and every shop nearby trades on that certainty.

The charity total matters too. A market that keeps putting money back into local causes shows that it belongs to the place, rather than simply trading in it, and that kind of reputation takes years to build.

If you run a shop around Maple Road, the lesson is simple: market Saturday brings more people onto the street, on a date you've known about for years, so be open and look ready for them. The same goes for Epsom's first-Sunday farmers' market and Castle Cary's Tuesday market.

If it's your first visit, there are no bad stalls here. I'd start with the French cheese at The French Comté, and a sausage sandwich. Look out for the Maple Road shops too, several of which put out stalls of their own on market day, serving food and coffee.

Through September 2026, the Surbiton Town Centre Partnership also ran a Thursday street market outside the station, 4.30pm to 8pm, catching commuters as they came off the trains. That run has finished, and whether it comes back is up to the partnership, whose plans we follow in Surbiton's town centre plan.

On the other days of the month, trade here is shaped by being a mile from Kingston. If you'd like help being found by people nearby, Surbiton is one of the towns on our page for businesses in Surrey and South West London.