Leeds Steampunk Market

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

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15th november 2025 (festive LSM, no. 51 LI)

WHERE: The Ridings Shopping Centre, Almshouse Lane, Wakefield, WF1 1DS.

WHEN: Saturday 15th November 2025, trading times 9-4.

ATTRACTIONS:

LSM's latest adventure into a modern shopping centre.

This is going to be full of traders of all sorts, just like the ones you find at my events in the museums.

Because this is in a modern shopping centre, there's obviously no admission charge. I won't be running a tearoom of my own, there are plenty of places in there for you to have a great choice of what to eat and drink. I'll get in touch with places to see if they'd be up for doing some sort of offer for the day.

I don't have space to do coffee jousting and also not able to have an owl flight on this occasion.

The centre has a footfall of 21,000 on a normal Saturday. (I'm not bothering with doing the Sunday as the footfall is only 6,000!)

There's lots of shops, plenty of parking - check it all out on their website here

www.ridingscentre.com

TRADER INFO:

I am always delighted to find new people doing something that we haven't had before. Although the label says "steampunk" (I still want the range to cover steampunk), but also encompasses Victorian, military, gothic, dark and spooky, alternative, handmade, curios, oddities, faery, pagan, LARP, roleplaying, historical, heritage crafts, Sci-Fi, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, geeky, nerdy, comics, gaming, modelling (railway and dolls house), a bit of Boardwalk Empire/Game of Thrones thrown in, alternative (but NOT in a fetish/burlesque way), vintage and antique, (please ensure you follow my weapons policy) and just plain weird and odd.

Traders are encouraged to dress up accordingly and do the same with their stall :)

All my usual traders are welcomed, if anyone can sell alcohol it needs to be as an offlicence (take out as sealed bottles etc) and they will need to apply for a TENS licence from the council.

All traders must have their own PLI.

There are 20 pitches laid out near the lifts, these have a 6ft x 2ft table with cover and 2 chairs, all supplied and are £35 each. I'll be doing a floor plan for this area.

All other traders will be going in a line, back to back, along the main walkway. After every few tables, there will be a gap for customers to be able to cross through to access the shops on each side. These pitches need you to supply your own table or rail and chairs and are only £30 each. I can fit only 26 more tables along this section as the Christmas installations will be along here and the Calendar Club stall will be set up along the 2nd half of this area.

If you need room for 3 tables or rails, arranged in a U shape you pay for 2 spaces back to back. If you want to bring one table and "a little table" you will also need to pay for 2 spaces.

All traders must keep within the space booked and allocated. There can be no adding of a small table / rail / display stand at the end, there is no room. You will have a 3ft space behind the table for yourself, a chair and your stock. Please do NOT attempt to squeeze something else in behind your table, you will have no room to move which will impact on the other traders behind you.

I won't be doing a floor plan for this part - the way it works is just the order in which traders turn up with their tables. You get fitted in, starting with the end nearest the main area and the mall gradually fills up.

Loading in can be done from 3 different points. There are 2 doors which lead directly onto side streets on opposite sides of the centre. These each have a yellow line so advise having someone with you. 3rd option is from the very top floor of the multi storey carpark and using the 2 lifts (marked as Level 3). With all of these options, you're best using a trolley of some sort which you will need to supply.

Car park maximum height is 1.9 metres. Anything over this height, we'll get you in via the loading bay.

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7th march 2026

WHERE: The Ridings Shopping Centre, Almshouse Lane, Wakefield, WF1 1DS.

WHEN: Saturday 7th March 2026, trading times 9-4.

ATTRACTIONS:

LSM's latest adventure into a modern shopping centre.

This is going to be full of traders of all sorts, just like the ones you find at my events in the museums.

I don't have space to do coffee jousting and also not able to have an owl flight on this occasion.

The centre has a footfall of 21,000 on a normal Saturday. (I'm not bothering with doing the Sunday as the footfall is only 6,000!)

There's lots of shops, plenty of parking - check it all out on their website here

www.ridingscentre.com

TRADER INFO:

Traders are encouraged to dress up accordingly and do the same with their stall :)

All my usual traders are welcomed, if anyone can sell alcohol it needs to be as an offlicence (take out as sealed bottles etc) and they will need to apply for a TENS licence from the council.

All traders must have their own PLi.

There are 20 pitches laid out near the lifts, these have tables with covers, 2 chairs, all supplied and are £30 each. I'll be doing a floor plan for this area. There's a total of 100 chairs available.

All other traders will be going in a line, back to back, along the main walkway. After every 2nd table, there will be a gap for customers to be able to cross through to access the shops on each side. These pitches need you to supply your own table or rail and chairs and are only £25 each. I can fit only 24 - 26 more tables along this section as the Christmas installations will be along here and the Calendar Club stall will be set up along the 2nd half of this area.

Car park maximum height is 1.9 metres. Anything over this height, we'll get you in via the loading bay.

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18TH & 19th JULY 2026

WHERE: Middleton Railway, Moor Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS10 2JQ

WHEN: Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July 2026. Our hours of trading are 10-4 on both days.

ATTRACTIONS:

Leeds Steampunk Market's regular summer event will be held at the always popular Middleton Railway. This is 18th and 19th July 2026, trading times 10-4 on both days.

Address is Moor Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS10 2JQ

The Middleton Railway is the world’s oldest working railway running steam and diesel trains from Moor Road to Middleton Park.

An extensive museum collection is on display in the Engine House - some of these will be moved out onto the tracks for this event to make room for the traders. There will be some entertainment, static exhibits and quieter places to sit on the newly built mezzanine 1st floor, accessible by stairs and lifts.

The museum is run entirely by volunteers and entry to the museum where the market is held.

There is a shop that sells souvenirs, sweets and hot and cold drinks. This is going to be expanded into the seating area having a lot more cakes thus becoming a tearoom.

I hope to have a hot food trader outside and someone selling alcohol. (Please get in touch).

There will be coffee jousting on the Sunday, recruiting for an hour before the tournament with medals for gold, silver and the Coffee Bean (host) made by Captain Cumberpatch's Curious Creations. Free to take part!

The Flying Squadron with one of their owls demonstrating their charm and style will be in attendance there again on the Saturday.

.https://www.facebook.com/TheFlyingSquadron

Steam and diesel trains will be running all weekend.

Please note that there is easy disabled access to all of the building including the upstairs conference room and mezzanine 1st floor and public areas of the railway.

TRADER INFO:

EVENT LAYOUT:

Traders will be on the ground floor where the locos are.

Due to the layout of the building, there are exposed train tracks where the locos will have been moved out. There are only enough slats to cover these gaps for the deep pitches to safely allow public access so with the single pitches, the table covers the front gap and your stock goes over the gap closer to the back wall.

For this event, we are running the single pitches along the length of one side of the walkway with your chair/s to the side of it. This is because we are minimising the amount of locos being moved out into the other loco shed.

If you need to have space for two 6ft rails or a rail and a table, you will need a deep pitch to accommodate this. If you have your own tables, you do need to bring them as there are only a small amount supplied at the venue.

The deep pitches measure 6' wide x 11' deep and your two tables/rails must be placed in an inward facing L shape towards the front of your area allowing you to have a 3' gap between the rear table and the wall.

There are only two outward facing L shapes (going on corners) which are chargeable as a deep pitch.

I cannot guarantee any locations as everything will be dependent on the floor plan and ensuring that I don't have two similar traders too close to each other (such as jewellers or hats).

Everyone will be on the ground floor.

There is outdoor space at this venue to have outdoor traders (pub / bar /hot food) or to have our own alcohol trader inside.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Previous events at this location have had a lower attendance over the weekend compared to the bigger markets. However trader spots fill up quickly for both days because this place attracts a different audience with the trains. You also have a smaller amount of competition with there being less traders so are more likely to take relatively good sales. (A number of our traders actually find this is the event they do the best sales at...)

http://www.middletonrailway.org.uk/

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3rd & 4th OCTOBER 2026

WHERE: Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mill, Canal Road, Leeds, LS12 2QF.

WHEN: Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October. Our hours of trading are 11-5 each day but the museum actually opens at 10 on the Saturday.

ATTRACTIONS:

The engines and machinery will be running again on both of the days along with various demonstrations throughout the building.

Coffee jousting with prize winning medals for gold and silver on Sunday.

The Flying Squadron will be there with one of their the owls demonstrating their charm and style on Saturday https://www.facebook.com/TheFlyingSquadron (tbc)

A cafe selling afternoon tea with cakes and sandwiches.

Traders will be spread out over the floors of the museum, mixed with its existing exhibits as always.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Trader spots fill up quickly for both days because of this being a popular location and always a great success.

There is outdoor space at this venue to have outdoor traders (pub / bar /hot food) and able to have our own alcohol trader inside.

There is parking on site, just at the end of the drive.

Any enquiries or if you are interested in trading at any of these please email leedssteampunkmarket@gmail.com

Traders are not expected to do both days, just do one day if you like. However, if you book in for both days but then leave after just one day for whatever reason, there are no refunds. You’re likely to not be invited back again in a hurry though!

If you get booked in and paid up, then need to cancel, please give me as much notice as possible. If I can refill that pitch, I’ll refund your money back to you.

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