Paddington Markets
Sydney's oldest continuous weekly market, started in 1973 by a young minister fresh from helping organise Woodstock.
About this market
Paddington Markets opened in 1973, the brainchild of the late Rev. Peter Holden, a young minister who'd just returned to Sydney after helping organise the Woodstock festival. Paddington was in the middle of reinventing itself as artists and creatives moved into the suburb, and Holden saw a weekly market as a way to give that new bohemian identity somewhere to actually trade.
The market that launched Australian fashion labels
That original mission, backing local designers and craftspeople, has had a genuinely outsized effect on Australian fashion. Paddington Markets is where labels like Zimmermann and Sass & Bide got their start, using the market as a launchpad before growing into internationally recognised names. More than fifty years on, it's still Sydney's oldest continuous weekly community and artisan market.
Market at a glance
Reviewers consistently rank it above other Sydney weekend markets for sheer stall variety, from clothing and local art to fresh produce, with easy navigation and full facilities including wheelchair access, a level of polish that comes from five decades of running the same Saturday routine.
Rev. Peter Holden founded Paddington Markets straight off the back of helping organise Woodstock, bringing a festival organiser's instincts to a Saturday church-community market that's still running more than 50 years later.
Good to know before you go
It runs to a strict Saturday-only, 10am to 4pm schedule, so there's no Sunday fallback if a weekend gets busy. Given the market's long history with fashion and design stalls, it's worth budgeting extra time to browse rather than treating it as a quick produce stop.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What time does Paddington Markets open?
- Saturday, 10am to 4pm, at 395 Oxford Street, Paddington.
- Who founded Paddington Markets?
- The late Rev. Peter Holden started it in 1973. He'd recently returned to Sydney after helping organise the Woodstock festival, and saw the market as a way to support Paddington's growing community of designers, craftspeople and artists.
- Is it just clothing stalls?
- No. It's a genuinely mixed market of fashion, jewellery, art and craft, with fresh produce, food stalls and accessible facilities including wheelchair-accessible restrooms.