Christmas Markets Disappointment

[Insomnibrat]

So this year I decided to take myself off to the Manchester Christmas Markets for the day, in the interests of making myself feel festive. The last time I did this was probably 8 years ago and generally got a lovely warm glow from the whole experience.

I've come away feeling really 'meh' about it.... I expect mulled wine to be expensive, but £9 a cup!?! And no hopes of wandering around the markets, cosily huddled up, sipping it whilst perusing the stalls, no, I was bruskly told by a security guard to 'get back behind the fence', no drinking outside the hut. Oh.

I also noticed that a lot of the original craft stalls are all food and drink now, a good 70/30% spit in favour of food, and the stalls selling crafts were repeated every 5 or six cabins along, like they were all franchises, selling exactly the same goods.

It seems to have lost it's soul, somehow.

Anyone else been left slightly cold by the Markets this year?

Stuff at these places is often the same as can be bought on Ebay cheaper.

A few are OK like Chatsworth but most have a lot of expensive food and cheap tat

It also reminds me why I've largely stopped buying gifts for people when on holiday, it's all the same tat with different place names printed on them.

Haven't done Manchester for 2 years now, me if because if time restraints, lacking annual leave as not wanting to go at the weekend etc, and of course the tea in nightmare but always went with my best mate as more of a social tradition although inevitably we'd have lunch at Tampopo or Wagamamas, finished off with some stollen and a hot drink at the market. Have bought nothing from the samey samey stalls of tat. Novelty well and truly worn off. Apparently the cost of renting those stalls is huge.

Train nightmare, not tea in!

I live in Manchester and never go, they are rubbish! If I happen to be wandering through the city shopping at any point in December, I’ll take quick detour, but would never go specifically to visit them.

After going to Munich and Berlin for Christmas markets, that killed UK ones for me. Although the real German markets are reletaively touristy too, they are much more spaced out and quieter. It’s also not full of people actively trying to get p*ssed on Gluhwein! A recipe for disaster!

My husbands family is German, and their Christmas celebrations are generally not as in your face as ours, so I think you get a more festive feeling when visiting.

I live near Bath and when we first lived here (about 12 years) would go and have a look at the market but for the last five years I refuse to shop in Bath until the market is over. Apparently on the last Saturday the market was open there were 140 coaches booked to come to Bath so some people must think it worthwhile to come.

I went into Bath to do some Christmas shopping yesterday and it was lovely because all the crowds had gone and in actual fact I would say that it was quieter than in the summer considering it is so close to Christmas.

I did find a nice market on the Brighton Palace Pier of all places. Produce stalls with stuff all from the local area. Got lively chocolate, cheese, gin etc for Christmas hampers. The stalls also had generous samples which was nice!

I went to the Gloucester quays one. I had seen it in the dark while passing through and thought how lovely it looked, so I went back during the day when I had time to browse. It was really style over substance. So much food! There were loads of stalls selling fudge, and loads selling cheese, with a lot of tat in between. It didn't look half so good in daylight either. I ended browsing in the outlet centre instead.

My dd was given half price on stalls at manchester for providing a recording of Christmas music as she was fed up of hearing the same old songs. (school very close), there was absolutely nothing she wanted to buy. It was just a glorified space for drunks.
Although, the ice rinks are fun and if you take your cup back from your mulled wine they give you £1/£2 back.

We went to Manchester ones last week, load of overpriced shite. Stuff you can buy online for a third to half the price.My daughter had the mulled wine it was £7 and she kept the (small) cup. And yes to over zealous security 'you cant walk past here until your cup is empty'

Where do the markets go when it’s not Christmas

Well if they’re anything like an acquaintance of mine, they go back to their studio and carry on being creative and selling their goods.

Cardiff Christmas Market is small, but has expanded this year. Many of the stalls seemed to be Welsh-based goods and I would consider the majority of them to be small, artisan makers. They kept most of the food stalls in one area so you could avoid that bit quite easily.

We went last week and I agree it was a disappointment. But there was one craft stall selling ceramic houses from Lithuania, could not resist buying one and it looks lovely with a tealight inside. I googled it and they are genuinely Lithuanian by the looks of it. But, as said, it's nearly all food and drinks now.

Here it was £16.00 for a glass of mulled wine,£10.00 was for the cup which you got refunded when you returned it intact. Also it was £5.00 for a slice of stolen and £6.00 for a sausage in a bun.
Lidl and Aldi do all the continental stuff really well, so your better off buying it there and just having a wander round the market if you really must.

The worst ever Christmas market I attended was the Grassington Christmas fare, I've never known an event which was such hard sell. You were literally mugged for your money. Also theres only a bus back to Skipton every few hours so your stuck there with them trying to rinse you.

Last time I went to a Christmas market I couldn't find any roasted chestnuts for love nor money. It was always the highlight of the trip standing munching on them, but no just bags of uncooked ones

We have taken our Boys to Manchester every year, decided against it this year after having a walk around a couple of weeks ago before a gig, I was really underwhelmed

gunpowder it has always been the main reason I have gone to the Manchester markets, the chestnuts. They were always on St Ann's Square. Then I went last year and they weren't there, and again this year. Very disappointed. But I do have a mulled wine mug to add to my collection- I have from every year since they started in in 99.

I imagine the cost of the stall will be the reason for the lack of chestnuts- when the markets first started and it was just a few stalls on St Ann's, it was probably cheaper.

We visited the inlaws and went to the Salisbury Christmas market. It was quite nice last year but this year it had an ice rink taking up most of the space and hardly any stalls which was disappointing . The bratwurst I had was cold in the middle too and I couldn’t be bothered to push back through the crowd to complain so put it in the bin.

Actually, I've just realised it's 20 years this year since Manchester started. That's a lot of mugs

You need to book a weekend in Germany

We went on a coach to the Christmas market in Llandudno (had been to Liverpool and Manchester previously), we wish we hadn't, we were charged £4.50 entrance fee!, nothing really different to else where apart from some nice welsh foods, not the cheapest, we would've not bothered but it seemed a shame having spent money to get there not to go in, but definitely a rip off to charge to go in (outside market), won't return

Yes to thinking the £4.50 entrance fee was a bit steep at Llandudno . Mind you they thought it was good value when i went a couple of years ago as you as you were given little bag with some tat ( which you did not need nor want )
Manchester now mainly food /drink and underwhelming tat.
Worst of the lot for me was Grassington. Vastly overcrowded and very little to do.Also their festive parade with minimal lights being carried at 4.30 so waited to start until after it was dark so you could hardly see them
Was on a coach trip and left there for four hours . Most people were back in the waiting room at the bus station well before then. Also the worst maintained women's toilets there i have ever encountered.No extra provision in preparation for the festival influx( Saturday) but we were told at the visitor centre that never mind they will be cleaned /actually have toilet roll again on Monday

It cost £20 to park at Chatsworth Christmas market. I didn't bother going.

Strasbourg - top Christmas market ever!