Grotto on the Square opens 20 November 2026 at Eastgate Square, with four SEN sessions and daily slots from 4 December. The Town Hall grotto has no dates yet.

Chester’s main Santa grotto is Grotto on the Square, and it opens on Friday 20 November 2026 and runs to Christmas Eve. It is at Eastgate Square, the shopping centre beside the Eastgate Clock, run by Chester BID with the centre and operated by Great Grottos (Chester BID).

If you are searching for the Grosvenor Shopping Centre grotto, this is it. The centre was renamed Eastgate Square on 7 November 2025 and the grotto moved name with it.

Booking is required and we would book early: the SEN sessions in particular are four dates for the whole season.

Grotto on the Square: what is confirmed
Dates Friday 20 November to Thursday 24 December 2026
Where Eastgate Square shopping centre, Chester
Open Weekends only in November, then daily from 4 December
Booking Required in advance, online
Price Not published anywhere we can read it

The booking calendar, checked on 6 September 2026, offers 20, 21 and 22 November, then 27, 28 and 29 November, then every day from 4 to 24 December. It is not open on the weekdays in between, so a visit on, say, 1 December is not possible.

The experience itself: you follow the smell of gingerbread to an “enchanted elevator” that takes families on a journey through the North Pole, ending with a personal visit to Santa and a gift to take home.

SEN sessions are quieter, calmer and less crowded, and there are four:

  • Saturday 28 November, 10am to 11am
  • Saturday 5 December, 10am to 11am
  • Sunday 13 December, 11am to noon
  • Monday 21 December, 10am to 11am

Great Grottos asks that you only book those slots if you need them, and that you add a note in the special requirements section of the booking.

The practical rules, from the booking site:

  • Maximum six people per booking, but four if your group includes a wheelchair or a pram.
  • Tickets are non-refundable. You can move your date before the day, subject to availability. If the event itself is cancelled you get a refund less the booking fee.
  • A ticket for a baby under 12 months is optional, but without one they do not get a present. Presents suitable for under ones are available.
  • One carer goes free with a paying adult or child ticket, with documentary proof on the day. Put the carer’s name and the ID you will bring in the booking notes.
  • Wheelchair accessible, with a buggy park. Nearest toilets are on the first floor of the centre.
  • School groups get 10 per cent off, Monday to Friday, excluding the week before Christmas. School bookings are paid at the grotto on the day by card, cash or cheque.

On price, be careful. Neither Chester BID nor the booking site publishes a ticket price on any page that can be read without running their booking software. The cost only appears once you have picked a date and a time. When we checked on 6 September, a mid-December date offered slots at 10am, 10.30am, 11am, 11.10am, 11.30am and 2pm, while the November dates returned no bookable times at all, which suggests the calendar is not fully open yet. Anyone quoting you a 2026 price for this grotto is guessing.

Chester Town Hall: running, but no dates published

The Town Hall’s grotto is the other big one, and it is the more traditional experience. Its 2026 page went up on 19 August and was last updated on 25 August 2026, so the event is happening. What it does not give is dates, times or prices.

What the ticket includes, in the Town Hall’s own words:

  • Craft workshops with Santa’s elves, Sparkle and Jingle, materials included: a glowing Christmas lantern with an LED candle, a festive photo frame, and a gift bag to colour and gem.
  • The climb up the grand staircase to meet Santa, with time for photographs.
  • A gender-neutral present from Santa.
  • A voucher for £1 off a mulled wine or hot chocolate, or mini pancakes or churros, at participating Chester Christmas Market stalls. A market souvenir mug may be required and costs £3 on top.

There is an accessible lift for wheelchairs, mobility scooters and prams, and adult tickets have to be bought with a child ticket. Booking goes through a JavaScript booking widget that publishes nothing readable in advance, so the dates will only become visible when the widget is loaded or the council announces them.

For scale, in 2025 the Town Hall grotto ran on 13, 14, 19, 20 and 21 December, five dates in the run-up to Christmas (council, 11 November 2025). Expect something similar and expect it to sell out.

Ignore the listings sites on this one. At least one still advertises the Town Hall grotto at “Adult £8 / Child £15” with a completely different craft list, a snow-filled bauble and a bag of reindeer food, and gives the address as 33 Upper Northgate Street. The Town Hall is on Northgate Street, and the crafts changed. It is an older year’s copy still sitting online.

Elsewhere in the district

  • Breakfast with Santa, Grosvenor Pulford Hotel and Spa. Sunday 22 November, Sunday 13 December and Sunday 20 December 2026, from 10am (chester.com). As of early September it is the only dated Santa event on Marketing Cheshire’s 2026 list besides the two grottos above, so most venues have simply not announced yet.
  • Northwich. Santa parks his sleigh at the top of Witton Street for free meet-and-greets during the town’s Christmas Extravaganza, which ran on the last Saturday of November in 2025 (Visit Northwich). The 2026 date is not out.
  • Ellesmere Port. Father Christmas appears at the town’s lights switch-on at Civic Square, and the market has run weekend grottos in December in past years. Neither is confirmed for 2026. Our Christmas lights page tracks the switch-on date.

Getting there and parking

Eastgate Square is in the middle of the walled city, a few steps from the Eastgate Clock, and there is no parking at the door. The Frodsham Street multi-storey is the closest, and Little Roodee is the cheapest for a long visit. Tariffs are on our parking in Chester page. On the market’s late-night Thursdays the centre is busiest after 5pm, so a morning slot is an easier drive in. Check roadworks and travel before you set off, and note that the 12 Days of Christmas Parade closes Eastgate Street on the evening of 19 November.

What we will add

We will add the Grotto on the Square ticket prices as soon as the booking calendar publishes them, and the Chester Town Hall grotto dates and prices when the council announces them, which last year was 11 November. If either sells out early we will say so here.