We checked 14 shops around Crowborough, from Zest on the High Street to Pooh Corner in Hartfield, for hours and addresses. Updated November 2026.

The Crowborough area has 14 shops worth a Christmas shopping trip in 2026, and this guide puts them in one place with opening hours, addresses and what each one sells. Zest Contemporary Gifts, Guest’s Shoes and Alteus Wines are the Crowborough names, with Pooh Corner, Barnett’s Books and Trading Boundaries beyond. We checked each entry on 5 November 2026 against the shop’s own site, and say where we could not.

Only three of the 14 are in Crowborough itself. The rest are in Uckfield, Forest Row and the Wealden villages around the town, so they are grouped by place.

In Crowborough

1. Zest Contemporary Gifts

Zest describes itself as an “award winning gift shop founded in 2004 by two mums with an eye for something different”, and it is the shop in this guide that sells mainly gifts. Its online range runs from jewellery and greetings cards to gift sets, soft toys and Christmas lines, and you can order online and collect from the shop.

It also advertises a gift wrapping service. The shop says there is free parking at the nearby supermarkets.

Open Mon to Sat 9am to 5.30pm; closed Sunday and bank holidays, except Good Friday
Call 01892 669517
Address Fernbank Centre, Crowborough, TN6 2QY
Website zestgifts.co.uk
Good for gifts, cards, gift wrapping, click and collect

2. Guest’s Shoes

Guest’s has been a family business since 1953, when Tom Guest started repairing shoes as a second job, and his family still runs the Crowborough shop. It offers “a wide selection of Women’s, Men’s footwear, as well as leather goods & accessories”, and its labels include Skechers, Jana, Rieker, DB and Waldlaufer.

That makes it one for boots, shoes or a bag rather than small stocking fillers. It has a second branch in Tunbridge Wells, with shorter hours.

Open Mon to Sat 9.30am to 4pm; closed Sunday
Call 01892 654984
Address 5 High Street, Crowborough, TN6 2QA
Website guestsshoes.co.uk
Good for shoes and boots, leather goods, accessories

3. Alteus Wines

Alteus is an independent wine merchant on London Road. A Harveys stockist listing describes “a friendly approachable environment in which to explore our range of wines and local products” and says it holds tastings regularly.

If bottles are the present, the shop delivers locally on Fridays and Saturdays, with a £50 minimum order and a £7.50 charge, so you do not have to carry a case home.

Open Tue to Sat 10am to 5.30pm
Price local delivery £7.50, minimum order £50
Call 01892 654449
Address London House, London Road, Crowborough, TN6 2TR
Website alteuswines.co.uk
Good for wine, local products, local delivery

Uckfield

4. W.E. Clark and Son

This is a family jeweller trading since 1819, with its original showroom in Lewes and a second on Uckfield High Street. The site says the business is run by a fourth-generation jeweller and gemmologist, and calls it “independent, family-owned”.

It sells diamond jewellery, gem earrings and engagement and wedding rings, and offers gift vouchers and jewellery valuations. The site prices many pieces in the hundreds or thousands of pounds, so this is the place for a big present.

It also offers appointments.

Open Tue to Sat 9am to 4pm; closed Sunday and Monday
Booking appointments available
Call 01825 708777
Address 39 High Street, Uckfield, TN22 1AJ
Website weclarkandson.co.uk
Good for jewellery, gift vouchers, valuations

Forest Row and Wych Cross

5. Day’s Books and Records

Day’s opened in Lower Square in October 2025, according to the Booksellers Association’s announcement, and sells new and used books alongside vinyl. Its own site promises “a curated and eclectic mix of vinyl, fiction and non-fiction”, with new stock arriving all the time.

There is also a Tuesday evening get-together in the shop from 6pm. The site prints no daytime opening hours, so ring before making a special trip.

Open daytime hours not published on its site
Call 07384 051613
Address Lower Square, Lewes Road, Forest Row, RH18 5HD
Website daysbooksandrecords.com
Good for new and used books, vinyl records, Tuesday evenings

6. Second Life

Forest Row’s community shop opened in June 2023. According to the Forest Row Community site, it “sells, gifts, repurposes, repairs, recycles and collaborates with local artists who reimagine and upcycle donations”.

That makes it a place for secondhand finds and one-off upcycled pieces rather than a fixed range, so what is on the shelves will vary. Its hours and details below come from that community page, not from a site of the shop’s own.

Open Mon to Sat 10am to 4pm
Call 07943 959236
Address 14-15 Hartfield Road, Forest Row, RH18 5DN
Website forestrow.co/second-life-forest-rows-community-shop
Good for secondhand, upcycled pieces, local artists

7. Tablehurst Farm

Tablehurst is a biodynamic and organic farm with a shop, butchery and cafe on the edge of Forest Row, and the shop is where you collect its Christmas meat. Its Christmas order books are open until 13 December, with poultry, pork, gammon, ham, beef and vegan and vegetarian options listed.

Collections from the shop run on 22 and 23 December from 9am to 5pm and on 24 December from 9am to 1pm. Some items cannot be delivered.

The butchery and cafe keep shorter weeks than the shop.

Open farm shop Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm; butchery Tue to Sat 9am to 5pm; cafe Tue to Sat 9am to 4pm; closed bank holidays
Booking Christmas orders by 13 December; collect 22 to 24 December
Call 01342 823173
Address London Road, Forest Row, RH18 5DP
Website tablehurstfarm.org.uk/christmas-orders
Good for Christmas meat, organic food, cafe

8. Coolings Wych Cross

Coolings is a small garden centre group rather than a single independent, with its other sites in Kent. It is here for its Christmas shop, which lists “Christmas decorations, magical lights and gifts”, with the decorations displayed in themes, and which it says is open seven days a week at Wych Cross.

We did not find daily hours on the pages we could read on 5 November, so check by phone before a special trip. Its site also advertises a Santa’s Woodland Grotto.

Open seven days a week; daily hours not found
Call 01342 822705
Address Colemans Hatch Road, Forest Row, RH18 5JW
Website coolings.co.uk/coolings-christmas-shops
Good for decorations, Christmas lights, gifts

Hartfield

9. Pooh Corner

The Winnie-the-Pooh shop and tea room on Hartfield High Street sells toys, ceramics, books and souvenirs, and its online shop has a Christmas section and a 100th anniversary collection. Online orders can be collected from the shop.

Its main website blocked our reading tool, so the hours below come from what search results showed of that site, and other listings differ. Visit South East England says it closes on 25 and 26 December.

Open Mon to Sat 11am to 5pm; Sun and bank holidays 11am to 4pm (as shown in search results for its site)
Call 01892 771155
Address High Street, Hartfield, TN7 4AE
Website shop.poohcorner.co.uk
Good for children's gifts, Pooh books, tea room, click and collect

Wadhurst and Heathfield

10. Barnett’s Books

Barnett’s is an independent bookshop at the top of Wadhurst High Street, opposite Jempsons, and a member of the Booksellers Association. Its site lists a children’s section with gifts for babies, plus fiction, a strong history section and “wonderful greetings cards and notelets from independent artists”, along with wrapping paper and stationery.

You can also order through the site. The shop’s news page shows it took part in Wadhurst’s late night shopping in 2023 and 2024.

Open Mon to Sat 9.30am to 5pm; closed Sunday and bank holidays
Call 01892 783566
Address High Street, Wadhurst, TN5 6AA
Website barnettsbooks.com
Good for books, children's section, cards and wrapping paper

11. Trading 4U

Trading 4U calls itself “the largest independent retailer in Heathfield”, with more than 12,000 products over three floors and 10,000 square feet. It is a practical household store, with brands including Russell Hobbs, Tefal, Kilner and Mason Cash, and it says it changes its ranges by season.

It is more useful for kitchenware and bedding than for luxury gifts, and it also opens on Sundays.

Open Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm; Sun 10am to 4pm
Call 01435 868137
Address 58-60 High Street, Heathfield, TN21 8JB
Website trading4u.co.uk
Good for homeware, kitchenware, bedding

Out in the countryside

12. Trading Boundaries

Trading Boundaries describes itself as “a quirky retail destination specialising in antique Indian furniture and handicrafts”, in a Georgian coaching inn at Sheffield Green, on the A275 north of Chailey. Alongside the furniture, its online shop has Christmas decorations, Christmas lights, festive candles and gifts.

There is also a licensed cafe and an upstairs fine art gallery showing the work of album cover artist Roger Dean. It says children and dogs are welcome.

Open Wed to Sat 10am to 5pm; Sun 10am to 4pm; Mon and Tue fine art and wedding appointments only
Food cafe Wed to Sun 10am to 3.30pm
Call 01825 790200
Address Sheffield Green, TN22 3RB
Website tradingboundaries.com
Good for Christmas decorations, antique furniture, dogs welcome, cafe

13. Wilderness Wood

Better known for its Christmas trees, Wilderness Wood at Hadlow Down is included for its Christmas Fayres, which run on 28 and 29 November, 5 and 6 December and 12 and 13 December, “with gifts and decorations and activities by local artists and makers”. Parking on those weekends is limited to two hours, and booking a space is recommended.

The woods are not open for walks on fayre weekends. Our Christmas trees page has the tree details.

Open Tue to Sun 10am to 4pm
Booking parking recommended on fayre weekends, two-hour limit
Call 01825 830509
Address Hadlow Down, TN22 4HJ
Website wildernesswood.org/christmas
Good for gifts from local makers, decorations, Christmas trees

14. The Thomas Smith Trug Shop

The Trug Shop at Magham Down, near Herstmonceux, makes and sells Sussex trugs, the traditional wooden garden baskets, and its site carries the dates 1829 to 2026. Its range includes Royal Sussex, South Down and Wealden trugs, and the site says its work has won awards at a French gardening show.

It is a present for a gardener. The site gives two different sets of hours, shown below, so ring first, especially for a Saturday.

Open Mon to Fri 9am to 4.30pm or 5pm; Saturdays vary (its site gives both versions)
Call 01323 871640
Address Red Lion Hall, New Road, Magham Down, Herstmonceux, BN27 1PN
Website sussextrugs.com/contact
Good for Sussex trugs, gardeners, locally made gifts

Late night shopping and Christmas events

Crowborough’s main shopping night is the Christmas Cracker on the High Street on Friday 27 November, from 4pm to 6.30pm, with the lights switched on at 6pm. Stalls and other fairs are on our Christmas markets page.

Uckfield’s late night shopping was on Friday 5 December 2025, from 5.30pm to 9pm, and has fallen on the first Friday of December in recent years. Barnett’s records Wadhurst’s evening on the same Friday in 2023 and 2024. We found no 2026 date for either on 5 November, so do not plan around Friday 4 December until one is published. We will add the dates here when they appear.

Hours often change close to Christmas, so check before a special trip.

Getting there

Our parking page has the town centre car parks and roadworks and travel tracks what is closed. If you are going by train, see our Christmas train times.

How we chose

We started from what Crowborough’s own shops and local listings show, then widened to the towns and villages around it, because the town has few independent gift shops that publish their details. We kept shops that sell things people give as presents and whose own site or a named community page we could read on 5 November 2026, and we saw no closure notices on those pages. We have not visited these shops, and the descriptions are theirs.

Three others are left out because we could not confirm their details. A directory lists The Jewellery & Gift Shop in TN6, but we could not find a site of its own. Neilson’s online boutique names a Forest Row store, but we could not find its address or hours. Heal’s Farm Shop at Five Ashes has a website that would not load for us. We are not saying any of them has closed.

Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@crowboroughtoday.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@crowboroughtoday.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.

For more locally, see things to do in Crowborough, what’s on in Crowborough this month, Christmas dinner in Crowborough, Christmas light trails near Crowborough and the Crowborough business directory.

Frequently asked questions

When is late night shopping in Crowborough in 2026?

We found no separate late night shopping evening in Crowborough. The nearest thing is the Christmas Cracker on the High Street on Friday 27 November 2026, from 4pm to 6.30pm, with the lights switched on at 6pm. Uckfield and Wadhurst have held late night shopping on the first Friday of December in past years, but we found no 2026 date for either on 5 November.

Where can I find independent gift shops in Crowborough?

Zest Contemporary Gifts in the Fernbank Centre is the town’s dedicated gift shop, open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5.30pm. Alteus Wines on London Road is an independent wine merchant, and Guest’s Shoes at 5 High Street has been a family business since 1953.

Which shops near Crowborough open on Sundays before Christmas?

Trading 4U in Heathfield publishes Sunday hours of 10am to 4pm, Trading Boundaries at Sheffield Green opens to 4pm on Sundays, and Pooh Corner in Hartfield lists 11am to 4pm. Wilderness Wood opens on Sundays from 10am to 4pm. Zest, Guest’s Shoes, Alteus Wines, W.E. Clark and Barnett’s Books do not open on Sundays.