To think that most christmas markets are having us over

[sunintheeast]

Not bah humbug I love christmas but was at a nice christmas market today.. mostly food.. some makers stalls but my God the price hike.. bought two wraps which were no shred (haha) of a lie like those starters on a chinese resteraunt.. but a single wonton wrap with a teaspoon of meat and a bit of relish.. FOR £24 QUID. I stupidly paid before seeing it and then felt daft and said thankyou.. literally two bites each... the place was heaving.. is it just me??.. £7 hot chocolate anyone ?? looked around..its all gone insane. There were a couple of reindeer looking sad in a pen but it just felt like it's all gone a bit mad. I like supporting local but ,.. anyone else feel the same ??

We went to our local one last week - Chatsworth - currently being hyped on tik tok as the best one out there. £30 to park (free if you want to risk it in a local car park and walk a couple of miles plus). Nice but overpriced. Stalls selling similar things. Hot dog costing £11 plus.

I will go next year but only because I saw a bus that runs from almost outside my house to drop off at Chatsworths door! Definitely wouldnt pay for it again

Ours is the annual bore as far as I'm concerned. When its on they dont shut up about it in the local rag.
They even have a live reporter.

Some of the local shops hate it as its affects their business.

They pay an absolute fortune to be there, really gone up.
They put up prices to try make it back.
As usual councils bleeding us small businesses dry and destroying the high street

They are all a massive con.

My ex- husband used to term Christmas markets as ‘shit in sheds’

Not unreasonable at all, I've made an active decision to avoid at all costs. I like the idea but ultimately it's a pile of shit and rip off

But do not go at a weekend!! I saw a SM post that had been picked up by newspapers showing Bath Markets being rammed, and the originator said ‘I went early afternoon on Sunday thinking it would be quieter’. On what planet would a Christmas market be quiet on a weekend afternoon?! I went at 10am on Friday and had no issues meandering around looking at the stalls.

We used to go to Chatsworth every year, now you have to pre-book parking at £25 midweek we’re not going to bother. £15 pre-booked and no refund if you can’t go was bad enough, £25 is taking the piss.

£30 to park??😱

YANBU OP but you have also reminded me of one of my favourite MN threads that gave me rare laugh in the dark days of the COVID lockdown Christmas.

Bloody link didn't post. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/4091892-To-try-and-recreate-a-Christmas-market-in-my-back-garden

My local one last year was so bad it made the news

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr56r5m0evno

It really was that bad. Not even worth a walk there if you were local.

No would not buy from them anymore they are way too expensive, but they do have heavy overheads to pay, the permits for some cities is ridiculous but still it’s totally not worth it for what u get, I doubt any city Christmas market these days is really worth it.

Ours is actually putting us off visiting our city centre. It's so cramped around the wooden sheds, burnt food and oil smell in the air. It makes trying to get to the actual shops unpleasant.

one Of my kids is at York Uni. Lord is the Christmas market a massive rip off.

They're all a shit rip off.

I have had a stall at a few xmas markets myself. I looked into the one in Bath. Years ago, it was £3000. Probably even more now. £20 is more my price range 😅

My local one is usually quite good but I was less impressed this year and the German food stand was charging £9 for a sausage in a roll, no chips. They used to be a fiver!

I don't know how the UK ones are run but I saw a TikTok recently about the Union Sq Holiday Market in NYC and the cost of running a stall there is INSANE! And that didn't include all the other stuff like storage, etc. Hence the prices are crazy. The fault is not on the vendors but the people who own the market and will get worse the more people fall for the "magic of a Christmas market".

I am curious if this is greed on their part, or really represents their costs as far as far as putting on the event from their end.

I suspect there is a sweet spot with something like this in terms of size. If it is too large, it starts to become a major event for the council and they are paying out a lot for all the infrastructure elements.

I live in Canada, and in my section of the country there are a lot of local farmers markets. They tend to be very strict about things being locally produced. Christmas markets are almost always run by the farmers markets using their regular infrastructure, and I think that keeps costs down a lot. It also limits the size of the market, but I think really nice things at fair prices is better than larger but shit and expensive.

Surely though these will price themselves out of existence at some point?

Though people are so weird about Christmas "experiences," maybe not.

Yes, it was at the weekend for the market if that is all you do. We stayed at the caravan site so didn't have to park and could just go up there as we wanted. the caravan site was fully booked from last November/December. If you get the house and garden tickets to see the decorations and lights, (about £36 each at the weekend) parking is free for one car

i went to one with dm, canterbury
i was so disappointed
i think she liked it

I don’t really ever feel the vibe at these places. I had a bit of fun once at Leeds Christmas market with my DC but it was tacky as hell. It was essentially a fairground with expensive stalls. We stretched to a hot choc and donut each, bought a couple of crochet super mario finger puppets for DS and went in the obstacle course house thing (no idea what they’re called). I think we came away about £80 lighter.

Used to go to Manchester’s or York’s but both are just so crowded, you spend half of the time walking at snails pace and queueing. It isn’t relaxing or ambient imo, it’s just a rip off.

One of the vendors at Chatsworth told me that all the food and drink stalls at the market are also owned by Chatsworth now.