Hexham Shambles to Close for a Week as £400,000 Restoration Nears Completion

If you shop at the market, expect a brief change of scene later this month. Hexham's historic Shambles — the covered market shelter in the Market Place — will close from Monday 20 July to Friday 25 July for the final phase of a restoration costing around £400,000. It is due to reopen to the public on Saturday 26 July.

For traders and shoppers alike, the good news is that the market will not stop. During the closure week, stallholders will relocate a short distance to trade on the Abbey Flags, outside Hexham Abbey, so the weekly rhythm of the market carries on uninterrupted.

The work itself is the last piece of a lengthy restoration of the Grade II listed structure. This phase involves applying a protective coating to the new floor — a job that has to wait for summer because it needs dry conditions that simply are not reliable through the winter months. Timing the closure for late July gives the coating the best chance to cure properly.

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The Shambles has stood in Hexham's Market Place for more than two centuries and remains the focal point of the town's regular markets, including the twice-monthly Farmers' Market.

There is a practical footnote for anyone who drives near the Market Place. As reported by the Hexham Courant, the Mayor of Hexham, Councillor Derek Kennedy, raised concerns about vehicles that "repeatedly and consistently crash into the Shambles" and pressed for parallel parking spaces to be introduced alongside the structure to reduce the risk of cars driving head-on towards it. He noted that those parking changes had been expected in 2025 but were still outstanding.

For now, the message for residents is a simple one: the Shambles shuts for a week from 20 July, the market decamps to the Abbey Flags, and normal service resumes on Saturday 26 July — with a freshly finished floor to show for it.

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