The Great British Market Awards 2026, proudly sponsored by Market Place, officially launched at 12 noon on Friday 10 October 2025.
Organised by NABMA – The Voice of Markets, these nationally recognised and prestigious awards are the highlight of the UK market calendar — celebrating excellence, innovation, and community achievement across markets of all sizes and types.
The awards shine a spotlight on the very best of British markets, recognising the people and places that make them thrive. From indoor and outdoor markets to food, speciality, community, and wholesale, every market has the opportunity to be recognised.
At the heart of the campaign is the hugely popular “Britain’s Favourite Market” public vote, giving traders, market operators, and customers the opportunity to celebrate the markets they love most.
Key details
- Voting for “Britain’s Favourite Market” opens Friday 10 October at 12 noon and runs until midnight on Friday 12 December 2025.
- Award nominations for all other categories also open at nabma.com/gbma2026.
- The link to vote for Britain’s Favourite Market 2026 is: nabma.com/MyFavouriteMarket2026.
- See the official leaflet below for full details, categories, and last year’s winners.
Important information
Let’s play fair! Individuals are allowed to vote once per day. NABMA reserves the right to remove votes received in rapid succession from the same IP address or other non-genuine / block votes at our own discretion, so please respect the “one a day rule.” NABMA may contact a market if unusual voting patterns are identified. Online voting will be the major contributor in deciding the winner, but other checks may take place to ensure credibility.
A large market is considered to have 50+ stalls, and a small market has fewer than 50 stalls.
Category winners from 2025 are not eligible to enter the same category for 2026.
Nominations must be for the correct category, and incomplete or miscategorised entries will not be considered.
The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence or discussions will be entered into.
Acknowledgements
NABMA extends its sincere thanks to Market Place for their generous sponsorship of the Great British Market Awards 2026. Their support plays a vital role in promoting and recognising the excellence of UK markets and traders on a national stage.
NABMA Chief Executive David Preston said:
“The Great British Market Awards represent the very best in our markets. They celebrate excellence, recognise success, and tell the story of how markets continue to play a vital role in our towns and cities. We’re proud to lead this national celebration and look forward to discovering our 2026 winners.”
Update to the Great British Market Awards
NABMA has introduced a small but important change to the Great British Market Awards to ensure the competition continues to celebrate the widest possible range of market achievements across the UK.
From 2026, previous overall winners will take a one-year break from entering the same category. This change brings the Awards in line with other national recognition schemes — for example, Britain in Bloom and the Great British High Street Awards — where overall winners step back for a year to encourage fresh participation and ensure a broader spread of recognition across the country.
This new approach is designed to encourage opportunity, diversity, and new success stories. By giving other markets the chance to take centre stage, we can showcase more of the incredible work being done across the sector and continue to raise the profile of markets nationwide.
We’re immensely proud of past winners such as Shrewsbury Market Hall, whose success has been highlighted to government and high street partners as an example of what thriving markets can deliver for their communities. Shrewsbury remains a fantastic ambassador for the markets industry, and we hope to see them — and many others — entering other award categories this year.
The Awards continue to celebrate the creativity, resilience, and community spirit that make UK markets so special.