It's the dreaded ' Christmas Market ' time !

[Rainbow321]

So I've been to a few ( UK only ) Christmas markets , and my opinion of them all is they are all crap !
The ones I've been to are York ( a few times over the years )
Chester , Harrogate , Edinburgh , Bath , & Lincoln & a few other towns local ones , all equal crap .
Are you with me on this or do you find them magical & wonderful and leaving you full of the Christmas spirit ?

Bristol and Bath Christmas markets are both 50 Sheds of Shite.

I used to love the Manchester one and got a lot of my Christmas presents for people on there
Nowadays it just seems to sell pork products, donuts and hot alcohol. And be absolutely rammed full of nobheads 😬

Don't go then. I fucking love Christmas markets. I went to our local one (York) last week on the first day it was open. It was amazing. The secret is to make the mulled wine stall your first stop and just keep yourself gently pissed the whole time.

We went to the Edinburgh one last year, it was crap. We went in the day and went back in the evening when we thought it might be a bit more atmospheric but the queue was so long we couldn't even be bothered to go in. The London ones are crap from what I've seen - although the Ice Kingdom at Hyde Park was cool.

The ones abroad are much better IMO.

OP you sound like you've given Christmas Markets a comprehensive crack. They're not for you. Wave the white flag of surrender.

If you don't like being jostled and bumped around a row of garden sheds staffed by people who would clearly also much rather be elsewhere, breathing in the smell of sausage smoke and onions, and paying through the nose for a plastic cup of hot wine then I'm with you.

Oh this!

If it's actually proper Christmas food items and nice decorations then yes please but sadly I've not seen one like that in forever. Most of them really aren't proper XMas markets. They're just grotty Sunday market tat.

Exactly!

With the prices it might be cheaper to fly to Poland, Czech or even Germany (though prices there might be bit higher) if you are near Ryanair airport.... 🤦
Some ti you can catch same day flights early there, late back

I'm with you op, all mass produced crap at £££ and overpriced food and drinks

Birmingham Christmas Market looks pretty at night and an absolute shithole during the day. The pickpockets are horrendous

It just seems to be the same shite everywhere at the big ones.

I come from a city that does Christmas markets and went to a uni in a city that does Christmas markets. It’s tradition for me to go to one, I quite enjoy it. Although as the years have gone I do think there’s less and less variety and most stalls are just selling the same thing.

Cardiff one. Vile. Just stalls of tat with giant sausages and huge jugs of beer.

Although I did go to a fab one in Barcelona where most of the stalls were selling ornaments or teddy bears of Tio Caga who shits presents when you hit him with a stick 😄https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal

I'm baffled as to what would be a good Christmas market?
Hot wine? Someone's complained up thread about these
Iced Gingerbread stall?
Bauble stall?
What else?

I used to love them. Just find them boring and overpriced now.

Hate them. Cinnamon flavoured tinselly shite from one end to the other. But happy for those that do enjoy them, to each their own.

I love them in Germany, but more as a place to meet friends socially in the evening. There can be nice things in stalls also, I’ve got lovely ceramic items for example and decorations. Mostly I love the smells, food, glühwein and catching up with people.

We have never been to a large one just the smaller local ones, we are going to Chatsworth one next year though and have already booked the caravan in.

DS was complaining yet again about Manchester one, he lives in the city centre so can't avoid it and he says it's absolutely horrendous with crowds, overpriced food and drink and tat.

Thanks so much for this thread as now I never need to try going to one 😂

Newcastle, too. And you can't avoid them as they're right in the city centre and just in the way.

That's good to know, we have booked the caravan in for next year

I moved to Manchester about twenty years ago and wasn’t massively impressed by the markets then, but I worked in the city centre back then and some of the stalls made a nice change for lunch. The market was busy in the evenings, but still manageable so it was a decent place to wander about with friends. Since then, food options in Manchester have improved exponentially - really can’t see what the markets offer from that pov any longer - everything is far more crowded and the stalls have taken over the city entirely.

Not a fan.

I need to go to Manchester city centre in the next couple of days to pick up a click and collect order from a shop which doesn't have a branch where I live. I am absolutely dreading it mainly due to getting past the markets. I think I have worked out a route which avoids them. It will be a very quick trip in and out of the city.
I used to go to the Christmas markets every year in the 80s/90s; when there were lovely craft and gift stalls and I often bought Christmas gifts and had a lovely time there with family.
But now it is almost all food and drink stalls with everything at extortionate prices.

I was at the Birmingham one a few years ago just as it opened the end of November and I thought it was nice, and I've been to lots in Europe. It was nice and quiet at the time and didn't meet any pickpockets!