Things to Do in Stockport: 18 Days Out, Prices Checked

Stockport has quietly become one of the better days out in Greater Manchester: a hat museum in a Victorian mill, a mile of wartime tunnels under the town centre, a Tudor manor in a free park, and a market quarter whose last-Friday street food night pulls thousands. This page lists what is genuinely worth your time in and around the borough, with the opening times and prices that apply in 2026, every one checked against the venue’s own website or Stockport Council’s official pages this month, so you can plan without surprises at the door.

Two honest corrections you will not find on older lists: Robinsons Brewery no longer brews in the town centre, so there are no brewery tours (the free visitors centre remains), and Roman Lakes at Marple now opens to the public on monthly open days only. Both are covered below with what you actually can do.

Stockport days out at a glance

One ticket worth knowing before anything else: the Stockport Explorer ticket, £15.50 adult (£11 concession), covers one visit each to the Air Raid Shelters, Bramall Hall and Staircase House, against £19 bought separately (Stockport Council).

The town centre museums

Hat Works, Wellington Mill

The UK’s only museum dedicated to hats and the hatting industry, in a Grade II listed Victorian mill on Wellington Road South. General admission is free, open Thursday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:00 (last admission 15:15). The working factory floor is seen on guided tours, usually twice a day it is open: adults £8.50, concessions £7, under-16s free, booked online with a small fee (Stockport Council). On fine days the volunteers serve cream teas out in Viaduct Park under the famous railway arches.

Stockport Air Raid Shelters, Chestergate

The borough’s most distinctive attraction: almost a mile of tunnels cut into the sandstone cliffs under the town centre, which sheltered up to 6,500 people in the Blitz and were nicknamed “the Chestergate Hotel” for their comparative comfort. Self-guided entry is £6 adult, £4.50 concession, accompanied under-16s free, no booking needed, Tuesday to Friday 13:00 to 17:00, Saturday 10:00 to 17:00, Sunday 11:00 to 16:00, closed Mondays and bank holidays (Stockport Council). Ticketed evening “Explorer Tours” go deeper into the unlit sections; the next is 1 September 2026.

Staircase House and Stockport Museum, Market Place

Two museums share 30/31 Market Place. Staircase House is Stockport’s oldest townhouse, a 15th-century building famous for its Jacobean cage-newel staircase, one of only three surviving in the country: £6 adult, £4.50 concession, under-16s free, open Wednesday to Sunday with a midday start on Fridays (Stockport Council). Stockport Museum, the town’s own story plus the collection moved here from Vernon Park, is free; its published hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 17:00 and Sunday 11:00 to 16:00, though that page is older, so confirm on 0161 474 4444 if you are making a special trip (Stockport Council).

Bramall Hall and park

The borough’s flagship: a black-and-white timber-framed Tudor manor with 600 years of resident history, sitting in 70 acres of free parkland in Bramhall. The hall opens Thursday to Sunday, 11:00 to 16:30, at £7 adult, £5.50 concession, under-16s free, tickets on the day from the visitor centre; guided tours run Fridays and Sundays at 14:00 for £10 with twelve places (Stockport Council). One caveat from the council’s own page: the hall occasionally closes for weddings, so ring 0161 474 2020 before a long journey. Council-run venues here also close on bank holidays.

The Market, the Underbanks and Foodie Friday

Stockport’s old town is the bit visitors talk about. The covered Market Hall, with 30-plus independent businesses, trades Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday on a market place that sits on a red sandstone cliff above what was once a ford over the Mersey (Stockport Council). Around it, the sloping streets of the Underbanks have filled with independent bars, record shops and cafes. The calendar is the draw (regular events, all free entry):

• Foodie Friday: the last Friday of every month, 18:00 to 21:00, street food and music across the Market Place (next: 28 August 2026).
• Vintage Village: second Sunday, 10:00 to 16:00.
• Makers Market: second Saturday, and the Artisan Market the last Saturday, both 10:00 to 16:00.
• Book and Record Fair: first Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00.

A two-minute walk away on Lower Hillgate, the Robinsons Visitors Centre is a free museum of the family firm’s 185-plus years of brewing, with a bottle shop, open Monday to Friday 10:00 to 16:00. Be clear what it is now: Robinsons no longer brews on the site and there are no brewery tours, though the shire horses are sometimes in the stables if you ask at reception (Robinsons Brewery).

Shows, films and a climbing wall

• The Plaza, Mersey Square: a working 1932 Art Deco super cinema and variety theatre, run as a charity, with a 2026 programme of touring shows, tribute nights and films, and the pantomime running to 3 January 2027. Tickets per show from the box office on 0161 477 7779 (Stockport Plaza).
• Stockport Garrick, “putting on plays in Stockport since 1901” and one of the country’s oldest little theatres, opens its 2026-27 season with The Sunshine Boys on 5 September (Stockport Garrick).
• The Light at Redrock is the modern multiplex answer: current releases plus karaoke rooms, American pool, darts and shuffleboard under one roof (The Light Stockport).
• Awesome Walls, in Pear Mill at Bredbury, claims the chain’s tallest wall: pay-as-you-go climbing at £15 adult, with newcomers needing a booked induction or instructor-led taster first (Awesome Walls).
• Stockport County kick off 2026-27 in League One at Edgeley Park, fifteen minutes’ walk from the station; the first home league game is Blackpool on Saturday 22 August, with Leicester City visiting on 12 September (Stockport County).

Parks, valleys and the canal

The free half of the list is where the borough’s geography shows off, and most of it is a short train ride out; our train guide covers the local lines too.

• Vernon Park, a mile east of the centre, is Stockport’s oldest park (1858), restored with a £1.6 million Heritage Lottery grant, with riverside woodland and crown green bowls (Stockport Council). One correction to old listings: the museum that once stood here closed in 2013 and its collection is now in Stockport Museum at Market Place.
• Etherow Country Park at Compstall, one of Britain’s first country parks, is 240 acres of lakes and woodland with over 100 recorded bird species, a café and pay-and-display parking; entry is free (Stockport Council).
• Reddish Vale Country Park runs 161 hectares along the River Tame, where sand martins and kingfishers nest in the riverbanks, linked to the Trans Pennine Trail (Stockport Council).
• Chadkirk Country Estate near Romiley pairs a walled garden and one of the country’s first Coronation Meadows with a 16th-century chapel whose interior opens on occasional open days (Stockport Council).
• Marple Locks and the Peak Forest Canal: a flight of sixteen locks and what the Canal and River Trust calls a “truly magnificent aqueduct”, on the first canal in the country to win a Green Flag award. The towpath is free and always open (Canal & River Trust).
• Roman Lakes, the 1792 millponds of Samuel Oldknow’s Mellor Mill (once Europe’s largest water mill), is now mainly a wedding venue, but opens free to the public on the last Sunday of every month, 10:00 to 15:00, with tea rooms, lakeside walks and the mill ruins next door (Roman Lakes).
• Lyme Park at Disley, just over the borough edge, is the National Trust big day out: house £19 adult (11:00 to 16:00), or the cheaper park and garden ticket at £9 for the deer park and views, park open 8:30 to 20:00, no pre-booking needed (National Trust).

Getting here and around

Almost everything in the town centre section is within ten minutes’ walk of Stockport station, which has trains from Manchester Piccadilly every few minutes; see our guide to Stockport train times for the local and London services. Marple, Romiley, Reddish South and Disley stations serve the outer venues. If you are driving, current closures worth knowing before a weekend visit are in our Stockport roadworks and travel page, and the town centre’s ongoing rebuilding, including what is happening around Merseyway, is tracked in our planning news.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best free things to do in Stockport?

Hat Works and Stockport Museum are free museums; the Market and Underbanks with Foodie Friday on the last Friday of the month cost nothing to wander; and Vernon Park, Etherow, Reddish Vale, Chadkirk and the Marple canal towpath are free all year. That is eight genuinely free days out before you spend a pound.

What is there to do in Stockport when it rains?

The Air Raid Shelters, Staircase House, Hat Works and the Robinsons Visitors Centre are all indoors and within a short walk of each other, and The Plaza and The Light cover films and shows. The £15.50 Explorer ticket bundles the three paid museums.

Is Bramall Hall free?

The 70-acre park is free every day. The hall itself is £7 for adults (£5.50 concession, under-16s free), open Thursday to Sunday, and occasionally closes for weddings, so check before travelling (Stockport Council).

Can you tour Robinsons Brewery?

No. Robinsons no longer brews at the Stockport site, so there are no brewery tours. The free Visitors Centre museum and shop on Lower Hillgate opens Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 16:00 (Robinsons Brewery).

When is Foodie Friday in Stockport?

The last Friday of every month, 18:00 to 21:00, around the Market Place; the next is 28 August 2026. Entry is free (Stockport Council).

Are Roman Lakes open to visit?

On open days only: the last Sunday of each month, 10:00 to 15:00, free with no booking needed, dogs on leads welcome (Roman Lakes). Outside those days it operates as a private events venue.

Sources

• Hat Works, Air Raid Shelters, Staircase House, Stockport Museum, Bramall Hall, Explorer ticket, market and regular events, Vernon Park, Etherow, Reddish Vale and Chadkirk: Stockport Council venue pages, each linked in its section above (prices pages updated between January and July 2026).
• Stockport Plaza, Stockport Garrick, The Light Stockport, Awesome Walls Stockport, Stockport County, Robinsons Brewery Visitors Centre, Roman Lakes open days.
• National Trust, Lyme and Canal & River Trust, Peak Forest Canal.

Opening times and prices were checked against each venue’s own website on 8 August 2026. Council-run venues close on bank holidays, and seasonal hours change; always confirm with the venue before a special trip.