Castlegate Festival is back from Saturday 12 to Sunday 20 September 2026, and it is the best week of the year to poke about in the oldest corner of Sheffield. Nine days, thirty-odd things to do, and every single one of them is free. Below is the whole programme laid out day by day, with a listing for each event so you can add it to your plans, and the booking links for the handful that need a ticket. If you only read one section, make it Saturday 19 September: the Street Party on Exchange Street, the castle digs, the Craft Fair and a three-venue music party that runs until 2am.
The basics
Castlegate is the quarter between Lady’s Bridge, the Wicker, Haymarket and Victoria Quays: the bit of town where the castle stood, where the markets used to be, and where the River Sheaf was buried under concrete for a century. It has spent the last few years being dug up and put back together, with the Grey to Green park along West Bar and Castlegate, the new Castle Hill Park on the castle site and the Sheaf daylighted alongside it. The festival is Sheffield City Council and Sheffield BID’s way of getting people down there to have a look. Everything is free, and the official programme is a one-page PDF if you want it on your phone.
A few of the walks and tours are ticketed through Eventbrite because there is a limit on numbers. They are still free, but book them now, because the history walks in particular go quickly. Anything marked as a drop-in you can just turn up to.
Friday 11 September (the warm-up)
Canada House guided tours
Canada House is the big old Gas Company building on Commercial Street, and it is about to close for the refurbishment that turns it into Harmony Works, a home for young musicians in the city. Before the builders go in there are short guided tours at 2pm and 4pm on the Friday, then more through the week (see Sunday 13, Wednesday 16 and Friday 18 below). Forty-five minutes each, free, book via Eventbrite.
Saturday 12 September
Quayside Market: Castlegate Festival Special
The canal basin market is the opening weekend’s centrepiece. Street food, makers, live music, a pop-up bar and family games from midday until 9pm on Saturday, then 11am to 4pm on Sunday. The Sheffield Community Bike Project are doing free bike services from 1pm to 4pm on the Saturday, which is reason enough to cycle down.
Together We Play! at the National Videogame Museum
The Videogame Museum on Angel Street hands the gallery over to the public for both days of the opening weekend, with drop-in activities and an exhibition built out of people’s own gaming memories. Sessions run 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday. Book through the museum’s website.
Harmony Works at Canada House: the plans, the photos, the Memory Cafe
The drop-in version of the Canada House visit: the ground floor and the glass dome are open from midday to 4.30pm with the architects’ plans, a photography exhibition and a Memory Cafe where you can add your own stories of the building. No booking, just walk in. In the same building and at the same time, S1 Artspace are showing what they want to do with the old Yorkshire Bank at Reinventing no.2 Haymarket, galleries and studios and a basement bar, and want your memories of the building’s earlier lives as a bank, the stock exchange and the original post office.
Seeds that Travel: foraging and image-making with Al-Wah’at
Arts Catalyst have brought the Al-Wah’at collective to Exchange Place Studios for a workshop that maps Castlegate’s ecology through foraging, sensing and image-making. Midday to 3pm, all ages, free, but it is a workshop so book a place on Eventbrite.
Get Crafty with Arts in the Right Place
Raccoon Studios on Haymarket, 1pm to 5pm. Make a Bauhaus-inspired place mat or tote bag if you have kids in tow, or have a go at lithography if you are an adult or over 14. This is the one paid-for bit of the whole festival, and even then it is £3 to £12 depending on what you make. The exhibition alongside is free.
Castlegate Festival Launch Party
Saturday night at Raccoon Studios, from 7pm. Open mic first (contact the venue if you want a slot), then cabaret from 8pm to 9.30pm with singers, circus and whatever else turns up, a live band at 10pm and DJs after that. Pizzas out of the oven all night. Free, 18+.
Tales of the Music Halls and Nightlife of Castlegate and West Bar (adjacent)
Not part of the official festival programme, but it is on the same streets on the same day so it belongs here. A guided walk through the lost theatres, music halls and pubs of Castlegate and West Bar, run as part of the Sheffield Walking Festival and Heritage Open Days, midday on the Saturday. Book direct through Eventbrite; the meeting point comes with the ticket.
Sunday 13 September
Quayside Market, day two
Same market, gentler hours: 11am to 4pm at Victoria Quays, with the food, the stalls and the live music carrying over from Saturday.
Together We Play!, day two
The Videogame Museum runs the same two sessions, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm. If Saturday’s slots go, this is the fallback.
Canada House guided history tours
Two 45-minute guided tours of Canada House, at midday and 1.30pm, for anyone who prefers a proper walk-round with a guide to the Saturday drop-in. Free, Eventbrite.
Monday 14 September
They Lived in Castlegate: guided walk with Simon Ogden
My pick of the weekday events. Two hours from Lady’s Bridge with Simon Ogden, who has spent a long time on Castlegate’s regeneration and knows the stories: Mary Queen of Scots held in the castle, Charlie Peace the Victorian burglar and murderer, and Ella Hudson Gaskin, the industrial giantess. Midday to 2pm, free, and it will sell out, so book on Eventbrite today.
Tuesday 15 September
Castlegate Grey to Green Tour
Grey to Green is the scheme that turned a mile of redundant dual carriageway into a linear park with rain gardens and meadow planting, and it has won more awards than most of the city put together. This is a two-hour walk with the council officer who has worked on it since 2014: start outside the Crown Court on West Bar for phase one (2016), along Bridge Street and Snig Hill into Castlegate for phase two (2022), and finish with a look at the new Castle Hill Park. 2pm to 4pm, free, Eventbrite. Repeated on Thursday 17 September at the same time.
Harmony Works Memory Cafe and photo exhibition
A weekday repeat of the Canada House drop-in, midday to 4.30pm, for anyone who could not get down at the weekend. Same photo exhibition, same Memory Cafe, no booking.
Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 September
Canada House tours and the second Grey to Green walk
The midweek is quieter, which suits the tours. Canada House opens for guided visits on Wednesday 16 (midday and 1.30pm) and Friday 18 (midday), and the Grey to Green Tour runs again on Thursday 17 from 2pm. All free, all via Eventbrite.
Saturday 19 September: the big one
Castlegate Festival Street Party and Skate Jam
Exchange Street gets closed off from midday for the street party: live music and DJs, food and drink, family activities, and the Skate Jam at Marioland from 1.30pm to 4.30pm with a best-trick competition, extra ramps from The House Skatepark and prizes. No sign-up needed for the jam, just bring a board. The party carries on into the Exchange Street venues into the small hours (see Turn Up the Volume below). Free; there is a Fatsoma page if you want to register and see the full line-up.
Sheffield Castle Archaeology Tours
The one to book first. Wessex Archaeology and the Friends of Sheffield Castle walk you round the castle remains and the uncovered River Sheaf on the site of the new Castle Hill Park, nine hundred years of history in an hour. Four tours: 10.15am, 11.30am, 1.30pm and 2.45pm, run as part of Heritage Open Days. Free, book via Eventbrite.
SADACCA: Culture, Craft and Community
Up on the Wicker, SADACCA’s hall opens 11am to 7pm for a day led by young people: music, dance, talent showcases, arts and crafts and creative displays. Free entry and free refreshments, and a good place to escape the noise of Exchange Street for an hour.
Castlegate Festival Radio live at 42 Waingate
Sheffield Live! have moved into the old Tap and Barrel pub at 42 Waingate and are broadcasting Castlegate Festival Radio from it all weekend. Drop in between 11am and 4pm on Saturday or Sunday, have a look round the building and get your own Castlegate stories on air. If you would rather listen from the sofa, it is on DAB channel 9C.
Craft Fair and Art Sale at Raccoon Studios
Back at Raccoon Studios, 1pm to 6pm: crafts and art for sale, family games, a tombola and a lucky dip, with pizza and African and Caribbean food on the go. Free entry, and a five-minute walk from the street party.
Concerteenies for babies at Harmony Works
Two short live concerts for the under-sevens in Canada House, at midday and 1.30pm, while the Harmony Works drop-in runs alongside from midday to 4.30pm. Free, but the concerts are ticketed on Eventbrite because the room is not huge.
Turn Up the Volume: the Exchange Street music party, venue by venue
When the street party winds down the three Exchange Street venues take over, from 6pm until 2am, free entry, 18+. It is the closest thing Sheffield has to a free all-dayer this side of Tramlines, and you can wander between the rooms all night. Each venue has its own listing below; the venue-by-venue running order is on the festival’s Fatsoma page and the line-ups are still being confirmed, so check back nearer the day.
Turn Up the Volume at Panke Social
The busiest of the three, and the first to announce a line-up: music from 5pm with the Gumbo FM DJs, then The Hip Hop Lounge from 8pm to midnight (DJ Andy H, MCs J-Kas and Ruell Lothian, hosted by V3xation and Epicentre), Rcastra and Winston Hazel from midnight to 2am, and local DJs on until 4am, well after the other two have shut.
Turn Up the Volume at Delicious Clam
The Clam is the DIY heart of Exchange Street and one of the festival’s organisers, so expect the bands. Their own listing has it down as Castlegate Festy with the line-up to be confirmed; I will update the event page as soon as they announce it.
Turn Up the Volume at Plot 22
Plot 22 is the music and art space at the top of the street and the third room of the night. Line-up to be announced; same hours, same free entry.
Sunday 20 September
Pollen Market with a Difference
Pollen’s botanical market moves onto the Grey to Green for the closing day, 10am to 4pm: plants, flowers, homewares and crafts, live music, some of the best street food in town and free children’s activities all day, including a climbing wall. Free entry. Bring a bag with room for a plant or two.
Sheffield Castle and River Sheaf walks
The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust lead two 45-minute walks, at midday and 2pm, from their stall at Pollen Market around the castle site and the daylighted Sheaf. Fully accessible, all ages, free, part of Heritage Open Days, book via Eventbrite. Pair it with the Pollen Market and you have a Sunday sorted.
Printing Castlegate and Future Memories
Two exhibitions to walk between. Printing Castlegate at Exchange Place Studios (10am to 4pm) is print work by Sheffield College and primary school pupils responding to the new Castle Hill Park, made with Carousel Print Studio. Future Memories at 42 Waingate (11am to 4pm) is Sheffield Live!’s interactive show about the old Tap and Barrel and their plans for a community arts and media centre, with workshops on the past, present and future of the area. Both free; the workshops at Waingate are bookable on Eventbrite.
Getting there
Castlegate has its own tram stop on the Yellow and Blue routes, and Fitzalan Square is two minutes away. Buses along Arundel Gate and the Wicker are all within a short walk. If you are driving, the Victoria Quays car park is handy for the market weekend, but the whole festival sits inside about ten minutes on foot, so park once. Exchange Street will be closed to traffic on Saturday 19 September for the street party.
The cheat sheet
- Book now: They Lived in Castlegate (Mon 14), Sheffield Castle Archaeology Tours (Sat 19), the Grey to Green Tours (Tue 15 and Thu 17), Sheffield Castle and River Sheaf walks (Sun 20).
- Best family day: Saturday 12 (Quayside Market, Videogame Museum, Get Crafty) or Sunday 20 (Pollen Market, the Sheaf walks).
- Best night out: Saturday 19, street party from midday and Turn Up the Volume until 2am, all free.
- If you only have an hour: the castle archaeology tour, or a walk down the Grey to Green with a coffee.
- Full listing: every event above is on What’s On with a map, times and the booking links.
Image: Castlegate Festival 2026 artwork, via Sheffield City Council and Welcome to Sheffield.