Christmas in Shoreham-by-Sea

About Christmas in Shoreham-by-Sea

By the ULTIMATE Brighton Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Shoreham keeps Christmas on a village scale. The town lights up in December with its own festive evening, the great Norman church of St Mary de Haura holds its Christmas services, and the Ropetackle Arts Centre puts on films, music and children’s shows. Brighton’s and Worthing’s bigger events are each a few minutes away by train.

Shoreham-by-Sea sits where the River Adur meets the sea, between Brighton and Worthing. At Christmas it feels like a small town that knows everyone: independent shops on the High Street and East Street, pubs by the river, and a church that has watched over the harbour for more than eight centuries.

Light Up Shoreham

The town’s festive evening, Light Up Shoreham, brings the community into the centre in December; in 2025 hundreds of residents used it to vote on a new public artwork for the town. Adur & Worthing Councils publish the date and programme in the run-up to Christmas.

Walk the river and the beach in the morning, then shop the High Street before the lights come on.

Church and carols

St Mary de Haura, the great Norman church at the heart of the old town, holds carol services and Christmas worship each year, and in recent Decembers a Christmas tree festival, with trees decorated by local groups, has filled the nave. Its programme is published by the parish in the autumn.

The Ropetackle

The Ropetackle Arts Centre, by the river, is the town’s stage: film, dance, live music and children’s theatre, with a festive programme each December. Check its own site for the season’s shows.

A winter walk on the Adur

For a bracing Christmas walk, cross the footbridge over the Adur from the town to the beach, where the shingle stretches east towards Shoreham Fort and the harbour mouth. The Downs rise behind the town, and the light on the water on a clear winter afternoon is reason enough to come.

Our advice: Shoreham is a short train ride from Brighton; combine a morning walk here with the Worthing pantomime or Brighton’s lights in the evening.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Christmas in Shoreham-by-Sea before you go.