They're literally all the same. No matter which one you go to. Just like all of the Wetherspoon's, they all sell the same as each other, and so do all of the big famous burger restaurants. Time I saw something refreshing.
Ex-market vendor here, let me break things down for you. The reason everything is expensive is for a few reasons, but the main one being that the organising company charges vendors ridiculous prices, probably north of £150 per day for businesses to operate. The vendor has such high costs with insurances, display and vendor fees, that's the reason why a normal £5 Amazon mug is 3x the price at £15. Not only that, but in all honesty, people only really purchase food and drink items. The artisan cheese, soaps, candles, and typical gifts DO NOT SELL. Been there, done it, tried it, no one buys. You never see people at Christmas markets with shopping bags full of products - people go for an overpriced hot dog, drink 1 beer, and leave. 99% of the time, the vendor is out of pocket. That's why you have natural organic soap at £20. It's definitely had its day, and sadly not viable for customer or vendor, the only parties to make money is the organiser and shed rental company.
Hi James. Yes l agree and the good old days have now deffo gone mate! ☹️ The time loading up, unloading, fuel n wear n tear costs on the vehicle etc. etc. etc. On a bad market day l used to say you could earn more bloody money stacking shelves at Tescos!
Totally agree with you that as a vendor, you're wasting your time in a city centre market. BUT there are really good ones around if you know where to look. I mentioned in a comment here that I went to Haddon Hall's market this year and it was the best market I've been to in years. LOADS of unique stalls with independent businesses and handmade items all costing a reasonable price, the food was fab (ofc, you could pay a tenner for an overly sweet bailey's hot choc but they're a staple of the trade and...they also sell, unfortunately), and the experience was only £9 per ticket (including parking!).
The councils used to plan AND run the markets, the councils are now paying another company to do this, they overcharge the vendors, they overcharge the councils, I used to work for a city council and the new prices ran out all the small vendors within 5 years
I was at the markets in Düsseldorf and Cologne two weeks ago. So different over there. Every market had different themes, very well organised and lots of different food options.
They started out as German-style Christmas markets. Lots of food stalls, jewellery and ornament stalls. Went once and thought it was garbage and not been since 😅😅😅
When I was at the Cologne Christmas markets 6 years ago I did notice the difference in themes, but also how the food options were broadly similar. Although the gifts on sale were mostly the same they did have a couple outside of the centre which were quite different. One sold cannabis infused cheese and another was an LGBT themed Christmas market.
as a ex retailer I can say that you are true but you forgot to mention that some stalls are charged £5000 rent for the duration of the market now you have to sell a lot to get that back
I bet this wasn’t always the case. I’m certain there have been many examples of council’s significantly hiking up the price once their own budgets got squeezed and they saw what a cash cow these markets could be
I grew up in the 80s I don't remember these markets but what I do remember is everywhere used to have christmas grottoes and they were good every big department store and every shopping centre would have a normally free display of christmas themed animatronics singing and dancing, with normally a small fee to see father christmas but you always got a gift, normally some festive chocolate or a small teddy bear for seeing father christmas. and the displays were not small, you'd walk thru them like a maze they normally took a few mins to walk thru. and its all gone now, when I had my child and tried to take them places for christmas I was shocked at how rubbish everything is, I took them to a grotto in westfield white city which was not free and it was literally a tent with a pile of beanbags on the floor facing a TV showing a christmas story and then they were taken to a room to tell father christmas what they wanted for christmas and have their picture taken (which you had to pay for separately), then I took em to the winter wonderland in hyde park and again that was crap overcrowded overpriced crap and there wasn't even a grotto just a chair with father christmas on it and pay for pictures to be turned into keyrings and snowglobes and thing. gave up after that.
@GreatSageSunWukong I feel the same, iv taken my kids on a few santa experiences, but with ticket, travel, and food/ snacks, it costs a fortune. So this year iv not bothered,i just them see Santa at school.
I remember visiting my first one in the late 90s when I was a student in Manchester. It was some wooden chalets in St Anns Square then it was moved to outside the town hall then due to refurbishment of the town hall it was spread all over the city centre. I actually worked it in 2022 and couldn't believe how average it was. No atmosphere at all with no festive music playing. Just overpriced food, drink and tat. Luckily because of my job I managed to get free drinks and leftover food at the end of my shift. Often garden centres are better at creating a festive spirit because often they have animals like Reindeers for the kids(and big kids) to meet. One place I visited, Trentham Gardens near Stoke on Trent had real penguins one year.
You don't even see grottos anymore or Santa with the reindeers and on these german markets especially the Manchester one. All you see is food and a lot of it is foreign food, it's all chicken kebabs or thai food. How is that traditional?
@@cheyanneturner5158 What a remember most as a child was going to a Victorian event in Richmond, it was the most christmassy thing ever, there was people walking around in period dress and everyone had a lantern, me and my sister still have ours I think they are steel sheet with glass windows and space inside for a tea light, we needed them to light the way as there was no artificial street lighting, I don't remember how many streets were pedestrianized but it was all so very charles dickens. and there was food sold and things, traditional stuff.
Such is the problem with growing up. Grottos were tatty, horrible affairs (unless you went somewhere absurd like Hamley's or Harrods) that charged the earth for eff all, but we remember them as places of magic and wonder because we were kids and weren't paying for anything. Christmas markets are amazing if you've never seen one before, but once you HAVE seen them, and you've clocked the prices and the fact that every stall seems to sell very similar tat to all the other stalls, you realise what it must have been like for your parents taking their kids to Grottos.
I hate, hate, hate, that British Christmas markets are a cheap rip-off of the original German ones. Even theirs are now a shallow imitation of the way they were years ago, but at least they retain a little Christmas spirit and some original and pretty Christmas trinkets. British markets once again seem to rely on BOOZE. We always boil down to that. Yes, this planet DOES run on greed, and it's getting worse. Get off the bandwagon and find your own magic in a forest with the smell of pine or in a quiet pew in a country church. Light a candle there! Thank you Onwards and Upwards for your spot-on critique. On the other hand, if you are daft enough....
It's sad because It needn't be like this. I quite like the look of the German markets but there is absolutely no attempt at using these markets to promote local produce or aspects of the local culture, which would make more sense and add more variety. It just feels like a cynical attempt to fleece people who cannot otherwise afford to fly to Germany over Christmas for the real deal.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! Remember the True Spirit of Christmas isn’t found in fancy wrapped boxes or bags. It’s not found in bright decorations or even the fancy feast. Rather it is found in your heart. Let the Spirit of Peace and Goodwill fill your heart! Share that with family, friends, and even strangers with love and laughter. Merry Christmas! Stay Jolly!
The markets are organised by people who lack creativity and take the general public as fools, thinking that we'd be happy being ripped off by sausages. Your proposal of how british Christmas markets could be at the end of the video would massively help this crisis, but those who organise the market don't have the patience to sit down for 30 mins and consider such a solution
They're done a great job at making them appeal to children and families. With grottos, puppet shows and fair rides. And they're around for a limited time so they can charge what they want. I don't think making them Victorian themed would necessarily make them better. What I don't understand is why they are German themed. Why are we celebrating German heritage in the UK?
Why do you have a christmas tree? Baubles and christmas hyms? They are german and brought over by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband.Silent Night,and many others are German songs.You would be surprised what is German and Austrian in this country's history. I am of Austrian descent.
The king is of German descent, mount attention was changed from battenburg. Battenburg is a cake. King George 1st was German from the house of Hanover, he spoke no English all his life. SO Queen Victoria is of German descent too. You eat burgers which are German and others foods that are German, pickled eggs, hams wines like reisling, hock lliebfraumilch. English and German customs are now very similar.
I’ve lived in Edinburgh most of my life. Wouldn’t go anywhere near the Christmas markets. Rammed with people, usual overpriced junk on sale and extortionate food & drink prices…all that and it’s freezing cold 😂
I'm from Northern Ireland and I visited the Edinburgh market with my girlfriend a few weeks ago. I hated that most of the stalls were card only and overpriced (I wouldn't buy from them on principle). We didn't buy anything at all but we did like the little walk around the park with the lights that were set up.
I applied to have a Christmas stall in Manchester for this year. Unfortunately for a small handmade business it just wasn't possible due to not only the cost (around £6k for a 6 week stint) but also, In order to sell enough to make a small profit, I'd have to start making products in January! On top of that, the chalets, sorry - sheds are open 10 hours a day, every day and as a sole trader, I don't have any other staff to help with running the stall, restocking or making more products if they sell out. These are just a couple of reasons why the things you see are overpriced, tat, nothing special and often from larger companies who you'll actually see in several locations across one Christmas market. It's a real shame that the councils are not pushing for a more diverse spread of independent retailers in their markets by offering more flexible terms in their chalets, I feel as though one thing they could do would be to offer rentals of 1 or 2 weeks for a proportion of their sheds - to have an 'Artisan Alley'. At the end of the day though, the councils in general aren't exercising any quality control or curation over the traders as they just want to get their sheds deposit paid and done with no fuss.
I have found exactly the same in my area and I'd add to that, that I don't wish to, nor can justify, artificially over-inflating my prices, just to try and recoup money that only feeds the greed of the organisers. Even a stall at some of my regular, local craft markets is getting expensive.
Cardiff one is nice if you’re careful what you buy. We got some lovely hot welsh cakes and a candle from a charity stall. There were quite a few genuine craft stalls run by people with real talent and their goods were not overpriced.
I visited Christmas markets in Poland, Germany, Switzerland and France over the last few years and found them to be more traditional, smarter, better organised, better food and drinks. Birmingham Christmas market which I visited recently was hugely expensive, overcrowded with poor quality food and watered down drinks.
There is not such thing like traditional polish Christmas market. I don't know much about Germanic markets tradition but polish markets are about the same abomination as Halloween. Pure capitalism without any value nor embracing tradition of a country. Sure you can find traditional dumplings but the quality of it is about the same as in your local Polish shop in Birmingham. If you want to celebrate Christmas traditional way, just invite family over, made food yourself and go to a church.
@ I think you need to drink a little bit of Christmas cheer? Halloween is a just a bit of fun, not to be taken seriously. Anyway what’s wrong with Birmingham Polish shop pierogi?
@@snowman2970 Problem with Halloween is the fact that it's a product of commercialism. It's created only to spend money equally to Christmas markets. European nations had to this point their own way to spend and celebrate those times of a year without spending enormous amounts of money on trash you don't need. Problem with Briningham polish shop's dumplings is the fact that they are packed in radioactive plastic and made in Chinese factory from liver tumor of stray dog and have very little to do with the ones Polish people eat equally to those you can buy in Christmas market (they overpriced there too but you wouldn't know because Polish currency is weak so you can buy a car for 10 euros and everything is aimed towards western tourist while polish seniors have to dig in the bins for food to survive)
Lincoln is my locality, and I find it ironic that Lincoln introduced the Euro Christmas Market to the UK as you said, but now has nothing at all. The council cocked up, but I agree. The market turned into a horrific tat monster.
I remember Xmas time in Birmingham late 70's to late 80's and what a fantastic time it was for children to witness the pure magic. Today unfortunately the magic has gone and sad to say I don't think will ever return.
Much of the blame for this seasonal fleecing must go to the local councils. The amount they charge in rent is extortionate. I was a trader at York Christmas market, selling my wares from a mobile trailer: £300 rent + £100 electric hookup + £40 parking, all for two days worth of trade. These fees were from ten years ago. Then you have to pay your staff, order stock, and allow enough for two nights accommodation for you and your elves. If you make enough of a profit to give yourself a wage, that really is a Christmas miracle.
I moved to UK from Poland 8 years ago. During my first winter time I was somewhat charmed by the Christmas market as it was fairly new for me. But then over the years I've noticed pretty quickly that the market looks exactly the same every year and sells more overpriced crap. Here in Glasgow they always put in in an already tight space between a gallery and another building, now there's a ferris wheel, bunch of attractions for kids water guns etc and ofc plenty of this sheds selling stuff making it impossible to walk through.
3:41 the bratwurst…I worked at hull fair over seven days with stalls that sell these, I asked the stall holder what happened each night to the unsold sausages…they were bagged up, put in a van and warmed up again the next day🤢🤢🤮
Greed also sums up America and France as well. But the problem us Brits have is that we are far too tolerant of it and don’t boycott these rip off markets so that they lower their prices.
My family all agreed since a couple of years to stop buying each other random BS nobody needs. The only exception is gifts for kids and food. We use the non-spent money for things we ourselves know could be worth getting. In my case this year? A 3D animation video course for blender, as I want to learn that for fun.
My family are the same. My folks and my sister have stopped doing presents for each other and now we save the money we would have spent on nice trips in the summer. I would say people should stop being suckered in, but I suppose that would crash the economy. So, they can carry on and us folks will be smarter. 😂
I’m British but live in Sweden. The market offerings are so much better than England. I find the appeal of Winterwonderland to be comical when compared to my experiences in European markets. Interestingly enough I went to a market in a place called Tjoloholms Slott which is a castle built by British immigrants about 150 years ago and it was a market themed on British Victorian Christmas
In the UK we already have so many decent markets here that aren't extortionate, but when it comes to Christmas it's more of a tourist trap That actually sounds cool, wish we had something like that here -_-
UK native here, spent the last few months living in Dijon on a semester abroad. Dijon isn't remotely anywhere near being known famously as a particularly special market in the grand scheme of things (I'm sure nowhere near those of Austria and Germany). Yet it blew me away in how much is was ahead of what I'd experiences in England. Food and drink reasonably priced, plenty of selection of vendors, and a nice atmosphere.
I thought everyone was poor? If no one can afford their energy bills, mortgages, credit card interest rates and basic food... Why are the markets busy?
Because they adding to their credit cards and extending their mortgages. People see debt as normal, and you have to put a picture up of you at the market on your social media to show all your alleged 'friends' your life is better than theirs.
I bet people just visit out of curiosity initially but promptly leave disappointed, however as hundreds of others had the same idea they get stuck there for a while navigating the crowds
Likely that most people just go for something to do, in the hopes that they find something decent as a gift, etc. A large portion probably just walk around feeling underwhelmed before buying a drink/snack for the sake of feeling like they didn't waste their time and then clearing off back home.
Come on, all markets sell overpriced tat these days whether its Christmas or not. Once upon a time, markets were the place to get daily essentials like fruit & vegetables, clothes, basic homeware like bedding, and just about anything else you would need for around the house for often much less than the ordinary shops. Since the slump of the highstreet, markets now just cater to people wanting to buy the same old rubbish you can buy in any souvenir shop. Things like those stupid "love laugh home" mottos; or a phone stall selling the least durable cases known to man; or "army surplus" that is about as good quality as Primark. And don't even get me started on "street food" that seems to be all the rage in markets these days, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.
Because it's over priced tat you can get on amazon, Ebay, etsy or vinted or your local super market much much cheaper. I only go for my kids to go on the overpriced rides, they refuse to eat the food anyway.
I used to absolutely love the one on Birmingham about 10-12 years ago; it was as good as one I went to in Germany, selling gorgeous and clearly handmade gifts/decorations. Went back from about 2015/16 onwards and suddenly it was massive produced shit that had doubled in price. Last year there were only about 2 stalls with even a slight relevance to Christmas, so I haven't even considered going this year.
Hand made in China normally. Although there are genuine local businesses but they have to bump their prices up just to pay the rent for the stall. It's like venders at music festivals. They can pay around £30,000 for a pitch.
They usually buy them off of dropshipping sites and resell them, gotta be careful around ‘craft booths’ in general nowadays. A few videos have been made to point out the common signs that something was just bought and resold at craft fairs and other market places.
My mum bought an overpriced average cookie from a shed in Portsmouth for £3.50. When she got home she realised she had paid £3.50 for a 70p M&M cookie! These sheds confuse people with the fancy sheds, festive lights and festive spirit🎉😂
Been saying this exact sentiment for the last few years, I don't understand why anyone would want to go to one now. I just got back from a trip to Japan and the Christmas market in Fukuoka, Tenjin was amazing! So much space, live music, and affordable food and drink.
I live in Derry, Northern Ireland and I went for a short Halloween break to Bristol with my family. I kid you not, on Halloween night there were far more Christmas celebrations than Halloween celebrations. The markets were open, up and running on November 1st with overpriced hotdogs and creepy Freddy fazbear animatronic Santa intact.
8:00 Yes!!! Bring in Christmas markets that celebrate British heritage!! Just flick through some prints of Hogarth's Rake's Progress and you'll have the theme right there! Proper, honest, British culture.
I grew up in Lincoln and I remember the start of the market there. The best part was the hot roasted chestnuts. Now I live in Manchester and... I hate it now. It's spread over the entire city centre and all the stalls are the same.
This is exactly what I was saying just last week! Why does every mid tier town and city now have the same generic overpriced 'German' Christmas market. Who actually seeks these out and wants to visit them? My family live near Winchester and the market has become very popular with Londoners. But it's destroyed all the local shops, many in the town for decades closed because they said locals didn't bother coming into town in the peak shopping period anymore.
Question is, how much do these stalls have to pay as rent to the market organizers? Not trying to defend anyone, but maybe the grifters are not the stall operators?
The stalls selling the ready to eat hot food will be paying more than the general stalls. Plus extra for power hook ups. Which might explain the high prices for food.
It depends where you are,ours is about £6,000,&when I asked some of the traders whether they recouped their investment,they said that they did,&did very well.However,I've noticed that there are far fewer stalls,&far fewer visitors to the market,so that may not still be the case.
at a fair with 10-20k visitors, you pay 200-400 a day for a 3m frontage, food sellers usually double that or more and multiply it for bigger stalls. On top of that there can be charges for wifi, electricity, lighting etc (wifi 20-40, electricity 10-20, lighting 5-20). They really sting stallholders, plus if you have to travel there you have huge petrol bill or accommodation on top. The stallholders either charge big or lose money. They only people making big money are the organisers.
It's sad because you can't get a simple ice-cream nowadays, they were charging £4.50 for a single '99 Mr Whippy ice cream during the summer. I feel sorry for families with children who just want a nice day out, where a simple treat costs an absolute fortune! You have to go without, such a let-down and spoils the day when you are asked to fork out so much money. Surely they would sell a tonne more product if they reduced the prices.
Not only is everything becoming more expensive, it also feels increasingly as if the quality of goods and service is declining. As someone with an above average sized family, going out is becoming a choice between feeling robbed or let down.
I’ll go to Tescos … buy my bits … drive home listening to my favourite Christmas songs .. cook my bits .. drink my wine ..,🍷 & watch a favourite Christmas movie! Boom £20 all in ! Yes please 😅
I agree with everything you said. I learnt my lesson never to buy anything at Christmas markets when one seller in Kingston charged me £9 for chocolate-covered raisins. I can only justify those prices with premium-quality, handmade items. Now I just walk around these markets for the atmosphere. The best one in London was the one near the London Eye, which was run by a private company before they moved to the Tate Modern. Now the best one is in Winter Wonderland, but they've started charging for tickets, so that's no longer an option. I wish markets sold hand-crafted British items, like mince pies, crackers and foil decorations, and introduce items from other countries. I am bored of bratwursts and cheap Chinese trinkets.
@@lizprice3948 5 years ago? That's not possible. I'm not talking about the one under the bridge. The one I'm talking about had its last market at the location 10 years ago before they moved to the Tate Modern for a few years before the company closed down. You can see Roberts London's videos talking about the move (Dec 2014).
Had to walk through the Christmas market at Chatsworth House in order to go for a walk in the garden. Thought the prices of food and drinks was incredible whilst, apart from overpriced decorations, the products on offer were banal. Shop in your local town market where I suspect, like my local market in Chesterfield, you might find more worthwhile goods.
Hey mate. I have subscribed because you edit this and narrate it like a normal person instead of all the usual b0llox you get on youtube these days. And you didn't use any capitals in your video description, you did not keep saying things are UNDERRATED and no curly arrows or circles in your thumbnail. My faith in humanity has just sort of increased a bit as a result of this. Thanks man.
Lincoln’s Christmas market used to be nice in the 80s and 90s. The last one that lead to it being cancelled was a horrific experience and I don’t miss it. I live right near where one of the food areas was, along with some dude playing along to music on a violin. After hearing Darude Sandstorm for the 50th time in one day I wanted to go out there and kindly invite him to f go away. As well as the overpriced fudge packer bus right outside whamming us every 40 minutes and German sausage stalls playing oompah Christmas classics, it was purgatory.
The prices are the same in Germany (after converting to Euro). And the crowd is also crazy here in Germany. Friday and Saturday is no way to visit. During the week, definitely not after 5 pm. It's almost impossible to walk. The huts in your video look the same like the ones here.
@csproductions here in Bremen, it's less locations than in Berlin. That's why it is very crowded. I visited the Christmas markets in Berlin and I found them much more relaxed and easier to walk around. Here if you are more than two people going, you can be sure you would only be able to make conversation with one 😅 it's not possible to stand where 3 people can speak to each other as a group
I swear the only mugs that go to these things are the Deanos, Deano'ettes, gullible tourists and weirdly big families that think that attending these markets are a great day/night out
Haha I had to look up what Deano was, I’ve never heard of it. There’s a few come in the pub I work in, half of them are footballers who weren’t quite good enough to be professional so they sell cars. We call them pretty boys, fake tan, plucked eyebrows, diamanté earrings, white teeth, they actually look very gay to me and I am!
As someone with a 'weirdly big family' (used to be known as a normal sized family a few decades ago), people often go to these thinking they can still have a nice walk around, see some pretty Christmas stuff and buy the kids a few treats - in an attempt to treat the kids to something like what the grottos used to be before they all dissapeared or became a scam.
@14Anon2 No hang on you totally took my "weirdly" comment out of context. I wasn't calling big families weird (otherwise, I'd wouldve written "and weird big families"). I meant "and weirdly, big families..." meaning that these Christmas markets are THAT cramped and overcrowded and these big families (aka parents with like 5 kids or so) *weirdly* think that they are a good idea to go visit when these places are small, hectic and way overpriced. It's just my opinion that if you are a parent surely there's way better places to take your kids after the money you spend on crap food and naff in these Christmas markets. Sorry if that was too confusing for you to work out...
Plymouth Christmas market is ran by the council, used to be local vendors but now we get all our vendors from London. They got rid of all the unique stalls and there’s Just a few boring overpriced drinks and food stalls.
I popped over to Plymouth from Deepest Cornwall yesterday for the market and was SO disappointed. I lived in Plymouth between 2014 and 2019 and it used to be good, with the likes of South Devon Chilli Farm selling their amazing hot chocolate, and we used to love that little steam train statue (can't remember who owned it!). It was genuinely nice back in the day, but it was absolutely shit yesterday! Truro's is still decent but it gets horribly busy and stressful
The British buy without thinking sometimes,that's why we get ripped off Just think is it really worth the asking price. We all need to save this day and age. Don't get carried away just because it's Xmas!!
Went to the Krakow Xmas market and it was wonderful, so many original stalls with really nice gifts & clothes for sale at sensible prices too. Yes, they sold the Bratwurst but it was x2 the length of the ones sold in Uk for about the same price. Visited the Liverpool Xmas market to compare and I agree with everything said, overpriced and frankly boring!
I think as one gets older, the appeal of the 'idea' of a Christmas market ( as opposed to the reality shown here) is to try and recapture some of the excitement of Christmas, when it didn't start in November, when it wasn't about how many presents but that you got something, that you were a child looking at the pretty lights and the Christmas tree and waiting for Father Christmas.
There's absolutely nothing warm or festive about the tut being peddled from those garden huts. None whatsoever. Save your money, but something nice to eat and drink over Christmas and enjoy time with family and friends you actually care about. THAT'S what Christmas is all about, and every Christmas us the best ever without spending a fortune
one thing you also have to consider as to why their over priced i know someone who used to run a food cabin on the manchestert market and they wewre paying anything from 25 grand to 50 grand a day to be there yeah so its not just the public whose been ripped off why their so expensive to cover ya wages pitch and stock you need to be making enouigh per day to cover ya costs and make a tiny profit after ya paid all the fees and costs so its not the vendors who are at fault with it its the councils who are charging extortiante amounts to have a pitch on it in the first place
I remember going to Lincoln Xmas market as a child in the 90s and it was exciting because everything was so unique. I had little animal figurines, doll house accessories etc that weren’t sold anywhere else.
I used to go to the Leeds one about a decade ago when it was entirely based in Millennium Square, had a really big German beer hall, loads of food options couple of smaller bars around and an excellent mead stand. We stopped going when life moved us on but went last year and it was dreadful, Millennium Square was just an ice-rink and the same types of stalls spread across huge swathes on Leeds centre, sure I saw the same cheese brand 4-5 times in different locations
I visited Leeds xmas market in 2019 when I was going to see a band at the arena. It was...ok. I think the one in Sheffield is underrated but always looks amazing as they centre it in the Peace Gardens by the town hall with a huge alpine bar. The shipping container bit didn't inspire people last year but they also did the same in Manchester in 2022 a left over from the summers football events.
Walked through Cardiff Christmas market a few weeks ago and it was pure Dickensian. Outside the st David's center was the market bar. Done up like a log cabin from a hallmark movie. Everyone in there wrapped up, laughing, drinking mulled wine after work. Their view just 10 yards away was the shop entrances with freezing wet homeless people sat inside getting what shelter they could.
Been to one a few years back/ Would never go again. Over crowded , expensive tat and awful overpriced second rate food and drink. Why are they even there? Go abroad if you want the real thing!
Once i turned into an adult and got access to my own money, i realized that to enjoy these markets, was to buy the food. That way im engaging but im not filling my home up with crap I just so happened to be in Edinburgh while the market was one but unfortunately the day that i could go, it was cancelled for the weather.
I don't buy anything at Christmas markets. Things are nice to look at but who wants the expensive and queues for expensive food which still makes you feel hungry afterwards
I have so many items that I have made sitting in boxes because the cost of getting a stall anywhere is prohibitively expensive and I really don’t want to sell my handmade items next to temu tat.
@ruthcook326 small makers are getting gouged left right and centre. Had a look at selling some stuff on Etsy a little while ago. What a rip off. 20% of the price going to Etsy, so you have to make things loads more expensive than they should be to make a reasonable margin
@@streetwalkerphoto I agree, the organisers of these fairs and websites are letting their greed spoil the joy of small craft individuallity. I don't want to over inflate my prices, so have been edged out of Christmas markets and even local craft fairs, year round, are going the same way. I quit Etsy - If you are in the UK, have you tried the Folksy website market place? At the moment (and hopefully it won't change), it is much more greared towards helping small crafters. (Although Etsy started that way too).
Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales has had a Victorian inspired Christmas festival for many years which helps the local businesses although Grassington has always been a popular place especially with the latest All Creatures Great & Small being filmed there.
Most councils sub contract out their Christmas markets and there is almost a monopoly. Christmas markets are typically full of outside traders, not locals. Christmas markets definitely take trade away from permanent shops and other weekly markets. They are typically all a rip off as organisations running them charge traders a small fortune to trade
The sellers aren’t jolly themselves you don’t feel the Christmas athmosphere. And indeed the quality is inconsistent especially when youngsters are the ones doing the stuffs. It’s like seeing a kid at play and handing you the product.
Ages ago, in the early noughties, when I still lived in Birmingham, the Christmas market stalls were actually run by Germans who would come over for the season. The gifts and food were amazing. It was actually magical. I’m not sure what Birmingham Christmas markets are like these days as I moved away, but having been to the Edinburgh Christmas market a few times, it’s enough to put me off Christmas markets for life.
Except the markets in Germany and Austria actually have some good quality goods. Like every other market in the UK, our Christmas markets sell shite - tat and counterfeit goods. Very little handmade or unique like almost anywhere else in the world has, all junk.
I loathe our Christmas market for all the reasons you mentioned. I know our cathedral needs to raise money for renovations, and I understand that. But it destroys our city for the duration. It's crowded, and most of the locals just avoid the town centre until it's over. And it is the same old crap year on year. I've never bought anything from it. It's all overpriced crap anyway.
I used togo for a walk round but rarely bought anything. I dont need anything really. Some food bits can tempt me but these markets get so busy you cannot get near enough to see much. I have now given up on them. I went to a couple in Germany and Salzburg which were brilliant. They just cannot be matched over here. I remember one stall selling slippers and they had a little mouse pop up here and there in the display which was whimsical and just perfect for the whole event. I went on a trip to Skipton Christmas Market and enjoyed that one.
I went to the Birmingham Christmas market last year and it was a horrible nightmare. Hell on earth was an apt description. The sheer volume of people was incredible and overwhelming, I was shoulder to shoulder with people almost all the time, getting shuffled along until I could escape. It was genuinely traumatic. Even if the stalls were good I wouldn’t want to go back due to the amount of people that’d still be there. I don’t know why anybody would want to attend something that’s so busy, I don’t see what enjoyment could be had when you’re basically packed inside a dangerous crush of people.
Manchester Christmas are just dangerous they have them going down market st (the main shopping street next to the Arndale and the amount of people the will just stop and randomly walk into you is astonding the on weekends it feels just like being in a kettle
@@damenwalker5260 I know, it's the same in Birmingham. Try to find a way to avoid the crazy crowds if you can, it's no fun. It's the same problem in Birmingham and I once got attacked by one of these crazy people that go to these markets - I was only trying to get to New Street station to get home from work!
@@LittleKitty22 because at the bottom of market Street is a pharmacy that I really needed to get to on a Sunday afternoon very few and far between to find them on a Sunday
The magic of the Frankfurt Christmas Market in Birmingham was killed for me 20 years back "Zwei currywurst bitte!" I asked the stall holder in my finest German. "You what bab?" she replied in the broadest Brummie accent I have ever heard. I don't understand the appeal of wrestling through crowds to buy over-priced tat.
I had a chuckle when you mentioned the Victorian style Christmas markets. I used to work at a small National Trust property who one year decided to do a proper Victorian Christmas market a few weeks before Christmas a few years ago. To be fair, they did a bang up job and it felt very authentic and Dickensian. The one snag that it made the news and the following weekend so many people tried to get in (this was to get into an area about half the size of a football pitch) that it gridlocked the drive into the property along with the main road going both directions. The police literally came out to shut the market down and disperse the traffic. Sadly the conclusion was that it was deemed “a bit too successful” and was shelved.
Went to York on Friday last week and the prices were absolutely crazy one stall was selling a hot chocolate for £11. It was dead ish around 10.30am we went and found a cafe called Golds (use to be an ice cream shop) it was lovely. Came back to the market area and it was packed, they had pottery Christmas decorations where you can get someone to write your names on them £15 each they were it was a joke. Markets in the Uk are no where like in the 90s were you visited your local here in Hull we used to have Orchard Park thursday market every week, until it started to dwindle around 2005 and then it disappeared But back to York you couldn't move near the stalls
I’ve not been to a Christmas market since I was a child, I am not getting ripped off or be nervous about pickpockets, but I saw a row of sheds, closed up, in my town centre..and not knowing why, genuinely thought it was a gardening shop doing a shed showcase , even though it felt the wrong time of year to do so.
Christmas markets in Italy, where most cities are relatively small, are not overrun like this, food sold, such as honey, is produced by the sellers. Often locally. Nobody goes there to stuff their faces with fast food. Some mulled wine is always to be found. People do not wander about looking drab, they do buy and you often are acquainted with others you see around town. All items for sale are artisanal and the sellers are interesting people to chat with because of their skills. In the UK people seem to think you can import whatever you may have experienced on a holiday abroad, mimicking certain continental European traditions instead of prizing native ones.
10+ quid for a standard burger, 5-6 quid for a small bag of sweets. No thank you! Once you been to one market, you've seen them all!
They're literally all the same. No matter which one you go to. Just like all of the Wetherspoon's, they all sell the same as each other, and so do all of the big famous burger restaurants. Time I saw something refreshing.
The reason is the extortionate prices charged by councils to market traders . Greed.
@@verucasalt9182Rubbish, why then do these traders fight to be here? People should boycott them until the prices are at a reasonable level.
Think you mean 15 in London mate
They are boring x
Ex-market vendor here, let me break things down for you. The reason everything is expensive is for a few reasons, but the main one being that the organising company charges vendors ridiculous prices, probably north of £150 per day for businesses to operate. The vendor has such high costs with insurances, display and vendor fees, that's the reason why a normal £5 Amazon mug is 3x the price at £15. Not only that, but in all honesty, people only really purchase food and drink items. The artisan cheese, soaps, candles, and typical gifts DO NOT SELL. Been there, done it, tried it, no one buys. You never see people at Christmas markets with shopping bags full of products - people go for an overpriced hot dog, drink 1 beer, and leave. 99% of the time, the vendor is out of pocket. That's why you have natural organic soap at £20. It's definitely had its day, and sadly not viable for customer or vendor, the only parties to make money is the organiser and shed rental company.
Hi James. Yes l agree and the good old days have now deffo gone mate! ☹️ The time loading up, unloading, fuel n wear n tear costs on the vehicle etc. etc. etc.
On a bad market day l used to say you could earn more bloody money stacking shelves at Tescos!
Totally agree with you that as a vendor, you're wasting your time in a city centre market. BUT there are really good ones around if you know where to look. I mentioned in a comment here that I went to Haddon Hall's market this year and it was the best market I've been to in years. LOADS of unique stalls with independent businesses and handmade items all costing a reasonable price, the food was fab (ofc, you could pay a tenner for an overly sweet bailey's hot choc but they're a staple of the trade and...they also sell, unfortunately), and the experience was only £9 per ticket (including parking!).
A food vendor probably makes 10x the cost of renting the shed a day
They are all a rip off, stay away from them.
The councils used to plan AND run the markets, the councils are now paying another company to do this, they overcharge the vendors, they overcharge the councils, I used to work for a city council and the new prices ran out all the small vendors within 5 years
It was the wurst of times, it was the wurst of times
😂😂😂
😂
Bravo … (mixing my European countries there, I know)
But the Currywurst did spice things up a bit.
@@MarkPayne-k7l I'll take your word for it!😀
They're just a load of expensive rubbish!
Expensive tat.
Why are people so ready to get ripped off because its CHRISTMAS!
Ikr. Ppl go deep into debt for Xmas now.
We wait until Jan sales now. Xmas doesn't just have to be on one day. Unless you have young kid tho.
If you can't afford it then stay home 😂benefit baby
They started in August this year. I recall that B&M stores sneaked out some Christmas chocolates, and went on from there.
Because I've got nobody !
Gotta laugh at the mugs at Xmas...I maybe spend 100 more than another month and I think that's too much...call me scrooge but Xmas is for mugs
I was at the markets in Düsseldorf and Cologne two weeks ago. So different over there. Every market had different themes, very well organised and lots of different food options.
They started out as German-style Christmas markets. Lots of food stalls, jewellery and ornament stalls. Went once and thought it was garbage and not been since 😅😅😅
Why should people pay to go to a market. I thought it was illegal to charge people to walk down a street....🤔🌲🇬🇧
When I was at the Cologne Christmas markets 6 years ago I did notice the difference in themes, but also how the food options were broadly similar. Although the gifts on sale were mostly the same they did have a couple outside of the centre which were quite different. One sold cannabis infused cheese and another was an LGBT themed Christmas market.
@wildsurfer12 I was there over ten years ago, it's a shame they are changing so much.
Overpriced and underwhelming is the entire UK
Overpriced and a load of rubbish
Once again another stinking great rip off Christmas being ruined by greed greed and more greed
as a ex retailer I can say that you are true but you forgot to mention that some stalls are charged £5000 rent for the duration of the market now you have to sell a lot to get that back
Manchester charge £2000 per week apparently.
@@Robutube1 Manchester charges £1000 per week for one of the smaller single stalls you see, 2000 will be a double.
So why bother? It would be better to sell tat on eBay or Vinted.
@@OliverInternational Thanks for the clarification.
I bet this wasn’t always the case. I’m certain there have been many examples of council’s significantly hiking up the price once their own budgets got squeezed and they saw what a cash cow these markets could be
Greed is out of control 😮
I grew up in the 80s I don't remember these markets but what I do remember is everywhere used to have christmas grottoes and they were good every big department store and every shopping centre would have a normally free display of christmas themed animatronics singing and dancing, with normally a small fee to see father christmas but you always got a gift, normally some festive chocolate or a small teddy bear for seeing father christmas. and the displays were not small, you'd walk thru them like a maze they normally took a few mins to walk thru. and its all gone now, when I had my child and tried to take them places for christmas I was shocked at how rubbish everything is, I took them to a grotto in westfield white city which was not free and it was literally a tent with a pile of beanbags on the floor facing a TV showing a christmas story and then they were taken to a room to tell father christmas what they wanted for christmas and have their picture taken (which you had to pay for separately), then I took em to the winter wonderland in hyde park and again that was crap overcrowded overpriced crap and there wasn't even a grotto just a chair with father christmas on it and pay for pictures to be turned into keyrings and snowglobes and thing. gave up after that.
@GreatSageSunWukong I feel the same, iv taken my kids on a few santa experiences, but with ticket, travel, and food/ snacks, it costs a fortune. So this year iv not bothered,i just them see Santa at school.
I remember visiting my first one in the late 90s when I was a student in Manchester. It was some wooden chalets in St Anns Square then it was moved to outside the town hall then due to refurbishment of the town hall it was spread all over the city centre. I actually worked it in 2022 and couldn't believe how average it was. No atmosphere at all with no festive music playing. Just overpriced food, drink and tat. Luckily because of my job I managed to get free drinks and leftover food at the end of my shift. Often garden centres are better at creating a festive spirit because often they have animals like Reindeers for the kids(and big kids) to meet. One place I visited, Trentham Gardens near Stoke on Trent had real penguins one year.
You don't even see grottos anymore or Santa with the reindeers and on these german markets especially the Manchester one. All you see is food and a lot of it is foreign food, it's all chicken kebabs or thai food. How is that traditional?
@@cheyanneturner5158 What a remember most as a child was going to a Victorian event in Richmond, it was the most christmassy thing ever, there was people walking around in period dress and everyone had a lantern, me and my sister still have ours I think they are steel sheet with glass windows and space inside for a tea light, we needed them to light the way as there was no artificial street lighting, I don't remember how many streets were pedestrianized but it was all so very charles dickens. and there was food sold and things, traditional stuff.
Such is the problem with growing up. Grottos were tatty, horrible affairs (unless you went somewhere absurd like Hamley's or Harrods) that charged the earth for eff all, but we remember them as places of magic and wonder because we were kids and weren't paying for anything.
Christmas markets are amazing if you've never seen one before, but once you HAVE seen them, and you've clocked the prices and the fact that every stall seems to sell very similar tat to all the other stalls, you realise what it must have been like for your parents taking their kids to Grottos.
I hate, hate, hate, that British Christmas markets are a cheap rip-off of the original German ones. Even theirs are now a shallow imitation of the way they were years ago, but at least they retain a little Christmas spirit and some original and pretty Christmas trinkets. British markets once again seem to rely on BOOZE. We always boil down to that. Yes, this planet DOES run on greed, and it's getting worse. Get off the bandwagon and find your own magic in a forest with the smell of pine or in a quiet pew in a country church. Light a candle there! Thank you Onwards and Upwards for your spot-on critique. On the other hand, if you are daft enough....
You got it wrong; British Christmas markets are not cheap, they are beyond extortionate
It's sad because It needn't be like this. I quite like the look of the German markets but there is absolutely no attempt at using these markets to promote local produce or aspects of the local culture, which would make more sense and add more variety. It just feels like a cynical attempt to fleece people who cannot otherwise afford to fly to Germany over Christmas for the real deal.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! Remember the True Spirit of Christmas isn’t found in fancy wrapped boxes or bags. It’s not found in bright decorations or even the fancy feast. Rather it is found in your heart. Let the Spirit of Peace and Goodwill fill your heart! Share that with family, friends, and even strangers with love and laughter. Merry Christmas! Stay Jolly!
The markets are organised by people who lack creativity and take the general public as fools, thinking that we'd be happy being ripped off by sausages. Your proposal of how british Christmas markets could be at the end of the video would massively help this crisis, but those who organise the market don't have the patience to sit down for 30 mins and consider such a solution
They're done a great job at making them appeal to children and families. With grottos, puppet shows and fair rides. And they're around for a limited time so they can charge what they want.
I don't think making them Victorian themed would necessarily make them better. What I don't understand is why they are German themed. Why are we celebrating German heritage in the UK?
Why do you have a christmas tree? Baubles and christmas hyms? They are german and brought over by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband.Silent Night,and many others are German songs.You would be surprised what is German and Austrian in this country's history. I am of Austrian descent.
The king is of German descent, mount attention was changed from battenburg. Battenburg is a cake. King George 1st was German from the house of Hanover, he spoke no English all his life. SO Queen Victoria is of German descent too. You eat burgers which are German and others foods that are German, pickled eggs, hams wines like reisling, hock lliebfraumilch. English and German customs are now very similar.
I put mount batten, predictive text keeps on changing my words
Absolutely 100% correct.
I’ve lived in Edinburgh most of my life. Wouldn’t go anywhere near the Christmas markets. Rammed with people, usual overpriced junk on sale and extortionate food & drink prices…all that and it’s freezing cold 😂
I wish i could swap lives with u. You seem like a very chill person 😊
I'm from Northern Ireland and I visited the Edinburgh market with my girlfriend a few weeks ago. I hated that most of the stalls were card only and overpriced (I wouldn't buy from them on principle). We didn't buy anything at all but we did like the little walk around the park with the lights that were set up.
Live in Edinburgh never go to expensive and busy
same
I applied to have a Christmas stall in Manchester for this year. Unfortunately for a small handmade business it just wasn't possible due to not only the cost (around £6k for a 6 week stint) but also, In order to sell enough to make a small profit, I'd have to start making products in January! On top of that, the chalets, sorry - sheds are open 10 hours a day, every day and as a sole trader, I don't have any other staff to help with running the stall, restocking or making more products if they sell out. These are just a couple of reasons why the things you see are overpriced, tat, nothing special and often from larger companies who you'll actually see in several locations across one Christmas market.
It's a real shame that the councils are not pushing for a more diverse spread of independent retailers in their markets by offering more flexible terms in their chalets, I feel as though one thing they could do would be to offer rentals of 1 or 2 weeks for a proportion of their sheds - to have an 'Artisan Alley'.
At the end of the day though, the councils in general aren't exercising any quality control or curation over the traders as they just want to get their sheds deposit paid and done with no fuss.
I have found exactly the same in my area and I'd add to that, that I don't wish to, nor can justify, artificially over-inflating my prices, just to try and recoup money that only feeds the greed of the organisers. Even a stall at some of my regular, local craft markets is getting expensive.
Cardiff one is nice if you’re careful what you buy. We got some lovely hot welsh cakes and a candle from a charity stall. There were quite a few genuine craft stalls run by people with real talent and their goods were not overpriced.
Like moths, people are attracted by the lights. That’s about it.
Well said!
I visited Christmas markets in Poland, Germany, Switzerland and France over the last few years and found them to be more traditional, smarter, better organised, better food and drinks. Birmingham Christmas market which I visited recently was hugely expensive, overcrowded with poor quality food and watered down drinks.
There is not such thing like traditional polish Christmas market. I don't know much about Germanic markets tradition but polish markets are about the same abomination as Halloween.
Pure capitalism without any value nor embracing tradition of a country.
Sure you can find traditional dumplings but the quality of it is about the same as in your local Polish shop in Birmingham.
If you want to celebrate Christmas traditional way, just invite family over, made food yourself and go to a church.
@ I think you need to drink a little bit of Christmas cheer? Halloween is a just a bit of fun, not to be taken seriously. Anyway what’s wrong with Birmingham Polish shop pierogi?
@@snowman2970 Problem with Halloween is the fact that it's a product of commercialism. It's created only to spend money equally to Christmas markets.
European nations had to this point their own way to spend and celebrate those times of a year without spending enormous amounts of money on trash you don't need.
Problem with Briningham polish shop's dumplings is the fact that they are packed in radioactive plastic and made in Chinese factory from liver tumor of stray dog and have very little to do with the ones Polish people eat equally to those you can buy in Christmas market (they overpriced there too but you wouldn't know because Polish currency is weak so you can buy a car for 10 euros and everything is aimed towards western tourist while polish seniors have to dig in the bins for food to survive)
Lincoln is my locality, and I find it ironic that Lincoln introduced the Euro Christmas Market to the UK as you said, but now has nothing at all. The council cocked up, but I agree. The market turned into a horrific tat monster.
I remember Xmas time in Birmingham late 70's to late 80's and what a fantastic time it was for children to witness the pure magic.
Today unfortunately the magic has gone and sad to say I don't think will ever return.
Much of the blame for this seasonal fleecing must go to the local councils. The amount they charge in rent is extortionate. I was a trader at York Christmas market, selling my wares from a mobile trailer: £300 rent + £100 electric hookup + £40 parking, all for two days worth of trade. These fees were from ten years ago. Then you have to pay your staff, order stock, and allow enough for two nights accommodation for you and your elves. If you make enough of a profit to give yourself a wage, that really is a Christmas miracle.
Until you said 10 years ago for I thought not to bad
@@gayleroberts5375 Lol. Actually, I double checked the dates and it was 15 years ago,
I moved to UK from Poland 8 years ago. During my first winter time I was somewhat charmed by the Christmas market as it was fairly new for me. But then over the years I've noticed pretty quickly that the market looks exactly the same every year and sells more overpriced crap. Here in Glasgow they always put in in an already tight space between a gallery and another building, now there's a ferris wheel, bunch of attractions for kids water guns etc and ofc plenty of this sheds selling stuff making it impossible to walk through.
3:41 the bratwurst…I worked at hull fair over seven days with stalls that sell these, I asked the stall holder what happened each night to the unsold sausages…they were bagged up, put in a van and warmed up again the next day🤢🤢🤮
Food poisoning central!
Greed sums up Britain .
Sums up the world
greed britain , i like that !
Like it only exists in Britain?? Right!
Greed also sums up America and France as well. But the problem us Brits have is that we are far too tolerant of it and don’t boycott these rip off markets so that they lower their prices.
No, whining does.
My family all agreed since a couple of years to stop buying each other random BS nobody needs. The only exception is gifts for kids and food. We use the non-spent money for things we ourselves know could be worth getting. In my case this year? A 3D animation video course for blender, as I want to learn that for fun.
My family are the same. My folks and my sister have stopped doing presents for each other and now we save the money we would have spent on nice trips in the summer. I would say people should stop being suckered in, but I suppose that would crash the economy. So, they can carry on and us folks will be smarter. 😂
We just gift each other foods or maybe useful things like socks, skin care, toiletries etc.
Have you thought about checking RUclips for courses on blender I am sure there are some out there to give you a free head start
Same here.....nobody misses the pressies you don't need. After all we're all grown ups now 😂
I’m British but live in Sweden. The market offerings are so much better than England. I find the appeal of Winterwonderland to be comical when compared to my experiences in European markets. Interestingly enough I went to a market in a place called Tjoloholms Slott which is a castle built by British immigrants about 150 years ago and it was a market themed on British Victorian Christmas
In the UK we already have so many decent markets here that aren't extortionate, but when it comes to Christmas it's more of a tourist trap
That actually sounds cool, wish we had something like that here -_-
Greg Lakes Christmas song is one of my favourites too and you are right about the fact it gets more relevant as time goes on.
Sad.
Good vlog.😊
UK native here, spent the last few months living in Dijon on a semester abroad. Dijon isn't remotely anywhere near being known famously as a particularly special market in the grand scheme of things (I'm sure nowhere near those of Austria and Germany). Yet it blew me away in how much is was ahead of what I'd experiences in England.
Food and drink reasonably priced, plenty of selection of vendors, and a nice atmosphere.
I thought everyone was poor? If no one can afford their energy bills, mortgages, credit card interest rates and basic food... Why are the markets busy?
People can be stupid.
Because they adding to their credit cards and extending their mortgages. People see debt as normal, and you have to put a picture up of you at the market on your social media to show all your alleged 'friends' your life is better than theirs.
Well people feel the need they have to buy everyone a gift?
I bet people just visit out of curiosity initially but promptly leave disappointed, however as hundreds of others had the same idea they get stuck there for a while navigating the crowds
Likely that most people just go for something to do, in the hopes that they find something decent as a gift, etc. A large portion probably just walk around feeling underwhelmed before buying a drink/snack for the sake of feeling like they didn't waste their time and then clearing off back home.
Come on, all markets sell overpriced tat these days whether its Christmas or not.
Once upon a time, markets were the place to get daily essentials like fruit & vegetables, clothes, basic homeware like bedding, and just about anything else you would need for around the house for often much less than the ordinary shops.
Since the slump of the highstreet, markets now just cater to people wanting to buy the same old rubbish you can buy in any souvenir shop. Things like those stupid "love laugh home" mottos; or a phone stall selling the least durable cases known to man; or "army surplus" that is about as good quality as Primark.
And don't even get me started on "street food" that seems to be all the rage in markets these days, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.
It sometimes means that they picked it up off the pavement.
A sad reflection that people have been 'led' into living such empty lives that Christmas markets seems like a good thing
Is that not also the case with "Christmas" when the entire country luxuriates in an unearned break of two weeks and reduces our GDP by four percent?
@@MarkPayne-k7l Bah humbug? Celebrate my friend. We can work harder in January.
It’s weird how they’re called markets but no one buys anything except for food they eat there, nothing actually bought for christmas
Many smaller UK town centres have just become places to eat and drink - nowhere to actually shop, unless you hit the nearest retail park.
Because it's over priced tat you can get on amazon, Ebay, etsy or vinted or your local super market much much cheaper. I only go for my kids to go on the overpriced rides, they refuse to eat the food anyway.
I used to absolutely love the one on Birmingham about 10-12 years ago; it was as good as one I went to in Germany, selling gorgeous and clearly handmade gifts/decorations. Went back from about 2015/16 onwards and suddenly it was massive produced shit that had doubled in price. Last year there were only about 2 stalls with even a slight relevance to Christmas, so I haven't even considered going this year.
For me Birmingham went downhill just before covid, all the useful stalls no longer go there. Fine if you like beer, sausages and nutella.
Love the small crafters who try and sell you a custom and "hand made" pillow for £35 too
Hand made in China normally. Although there are genuine local businesses but they have to bump their prices up just to pay the rent for the stall. It's like venders at music festivals. They can pay around £30,000 for a pitch.
They usually buy them off of dropshipping sites and resell them, gotta be careful around ‘craft booths’ in general nowadays. A few videos have been made to point out the common signs that something was just bought and resold at craft fairs and other market places.
@NeurozombieX best option is to get the local crafts from someone you personally know like knitted sweaters. If someone's aunt/granny makes them 😅
@NeurozombieXbuying second hand stuff from small town charity shops is also a good option to get some affordable goods. ❤
Small grifters
Just the sea of black, ribbed bin bag coats is enough to put me off.
Absolutely. 😊 l loathe those puffy horrors.
@@bronte333I call them mobile duvets.
Don't forget the Dry robe w⚓ posse
Boiler lagging
Don't forget the White Fox brigade.
My mum bought an overpriced average cookie from a shed in Portsmouth for £3.50. When she got home she realised she had paid £3.50 for a 70p M&M cookie! These sheds confuse people with the fancy sheds, festive lights and festive spirit🎉😂
How can anybody be confused by a "shed"? Genuinely don't get how THICK people are.
Portsmouth , says it all really !
£!.59 for a pack in Lidl!
@@bobjames6622 Ironically you're being the THICK one here. It's completely gone over your head I'm afraid.
@ianrichards4907 I don't actually live in Portsmouth. But it's much like most cities. Nice parts and shitty parts!
The food selection is normally okay (if overpriced) but the other stalls are just the same tat they normally sell at the market but in a wooden hut
Been saying this exact sentiment for the last few years, I don't understand why anyone would want to go to one now.
I just got back from a trip to Japan and the Christmas market in Fukuoka, Tenjin was amazing! So much space, live music, and affordable food and drink.
I worked the Christmas market in Newcastle a couple years ago, the person running it for the council was an absolute misery
I live in Derry, Northern Ireland and I went for a short Halloween break to Bristol with my family. I kid you not, on Halloween night there were far more Christmas celebrations than Halloween celebrations. The markets were open, up and running on November 1st with overpriced hotdogs and creepy Freddy fazbear animatronic Santa intact.
Looks hell for sure! Never been never will. Thanks for reminding me I'm definitely not missing out 😀
Lincolnshire selling German sausages
Truly hilarious
From all those Lancaster bomber bases?
I don't go into Manchester to shop throughout the year, i certainly won't go at Christmas, the place is awful at anytime of year!
8:00 Yes!!! Bring in Christmas markets that celebrate British heritage!! Just flick through some prints of Hogarth's Rake's Progress and you'll have the theme right there! Proper, honest, British culture.
If you pay those prices you really do deserve to be ripped off
Just say no!
Either that or just enjoy what you paid for if you want it.
I grew up in Lincoln and I remember the start of the market there. The best part was the hot roasted chestnuts. Now I live in Manchester and... I hate it now. It's spread over the entire city centre and all the stalls are the same.
This is exactly what I was saying just last week! Why does every mid tier town and city now have the same generic overpriced 'German' Christmas market. Who actually seeks these out and wants to visit them?
My family live near Winchester and the market has become very popular with Londoners. But it's destroyed all the local shops, many in the town for decades closed because they said locals didn't bother coming into town in the peak shopping period anymore.
Question is, how much do these stalls have to pay as rent to the market organizers? Not trying to defend anyone, but maybe the grifters are not the stall operators?
The stalls selling the ready to eat hot food will be paying more than the general stalls. Plus extra for power hook ups. Which might explain the high prices for food.
It depends where you are,ours is about £6,000,&when I asked some of the traders whether they recouped their investment,they said that they did,&did very well.However,I've noticed that there are far fewer stalls,&far fewer visitors to the market,so that may not still be the case.
at a fair with 10-20k visitors, you pay 200-400 a day for a 3m frontage, food sellers usually double that or more and multiply it for bigger stalls. On top of that there can be charges for wifi, electricity, lighting etc (wifi 20-40, electricity 10-20, lighting 5-20). They really sting stallholders, plus if you have to travel there you have huge petrol bill or accommodation on top. The stallholders either charge big or lose money. They only people making big money are the organisers.
It's sad because you can't get a simple ice-cream nowadays, they were charging £4.50 for a single '99 Mr Whippy ice cream during the summer. I feel sorry for families with children who just want a nice day out, where a simple treat costs an absolute fortune! You have to go without, such a let-down and spoils the day when you are asked to fork out so much money. Surely they would sell a tonne more product if they reduced the prices.
Called a 99 flake for a reason .. I remember when it was a 99 flake
Not only is everything becoming more expensive, it also feels increasingly as if the quality of goods and service is declining. As someone with an above average sized family, going out is becoming a choice between feeling robbed or let down.
@@KitGoldenlance-x7w What was the reason?
@@MephitisUK 99p
I’ll go to Tescos … buy my bits … drive home listening to my favourite Christmas songs .. cook my bits .. drink my wine ..,🍷 & watch a favourite Christmas movie! Boom £20 all in ! Yes please 😅
I agree with everything you said. I learnt my lesson never to buy anything at Christmas markets when one seller in Kingston charged me £9 for chocolate-covered raisins. I can only justify those prices with premium-quality, handmade items. Now I just walk around these markets for the atmosphere. The best one in London was the one near the London Eye, which was run by a private company before they moved to the Tate Modern. Now the best one is in Winter Wonderland, but they've started charging for tickets, so that's no longer an option. I wish markets sold hand-crafted British items, like mince pies, crackers and foil decorations, and introduce items from other countries. I am bored of bratwursts and cheap Chinese trinkets.
Went to the one near the London Eye about 5 years ago. Total crap!
@@lizprice3948 5 years ago? That's not possible. I'm not talking about the one under the bridge. The one I'm talking about had its last market at the location 10 years ago before they moved to the Tate Modern for a few years before the company closed down. You can see Roberts London's videos talking about the move (Dec 2014).
Most Christmas markets are Sunday market shite for tourists. Fleecy wolf jackets, stale chocolate, junk and food that will give you the squits.
Had to walk through the Christmas market at Chatsworth House in order to go for a walk in the garden. Thought the prices of food and drinks was incredible whilst, apart from overpriced decorations, the products on offer were banal. Shop in your local town market where I suspect, like my local market in Chesterfield, you might find more worthwhile goods.
Hey mate. I have subscribed because you edit this and narrate it like a normal person instead of all the usual b0llox you get on youtube these days. And you didn't use any capitals in your video description, you did not keep saying things are UNDERRATED and no curly arrows or circles in your thumbnail. My faith in humanity has just sort of increased a bit as a result of this. Thanks man.
Good comment. So many videos have their narrations edited to delete every natural break in speaking, which is often so annoying I stop watching.
@brhodes0 Yes what is it with all the arrows? They suck so hard.
Great observation
Lincoln’s Christmas market used to be nice in the 80s and 90s. The last one that lead to it being cancelled was a horrific experience and I don’t miss it. I live right near where one of the food areas was, along with some dude playing along to music on a violin. After hearing Darude Sandstorm for the 50th time in one day I wanted to go out there and kindly invite him to f
go away. As well as the overpriced fudge packer bus right outside whamming us every 40 minutes and German sausage stalls playing oompah Christmas classics, it was purgatory.
The prices are the same in Germany (after converting to Euro). And the crowd is also crazy here in Germany. Friday and Saturday is no way to visit. During the week, definitely not after 5 pm. It's almost impossible to walk.
The huts in your video look the same like the ones here.
Here in Berlin it’s not so bad as there seems to be a Christmas market on every street corner which reduces crowding and prices are cheaper.
Most of the UK Christmas market stalls are managed or operated in some way by Germans, so that partly explains similarity.
@csproductions here in Bremen, it's less locations than in Berlin. That's why it is very crowded. I visited the Christmas markets in Berlin and I found them much more relaxed and easier to walk around.
Here if you are more than two people going, you can be sure you would only be able to make conversation with one 😅 it's not possible to stand where 3 people can speak to each other as a group
I swear the only mugs that go to these things are the Deanos, Deano'ettes, gullible tourists and weirdly big families that think that attending these markets are a great day/night out
Haha I had to look up what Deano was, I’ve never heard of it.
There’s a few come in the pub I work in, half of them are footballers who weren’t quite good enough to be professional so they sell cars.
We call them pretty boys, fake tan, plucked eyebrows, diamanté earrings, white teeth, they actually look very gay to me and I am!
As someone with a 'weirdly big family' (used to be known as a normal sized family a few decades ago), people often go to these thinking they can still have a nice walk around, see some pretty Christmas stuff and buy the kids a few treats - in an attempt to treat the kids to something like what the grottos used to be before they all dissapeared or became a scam.
Can I ask what you do at Christmas?
@14Anon2 No hang on you totally took my "weirdly" comment out of context. I wasn't calling big families weird (otherwise, I'd wouldve written "and weird big families"). I meant "and weirdly, big families..." meaning that these Christmas markets are THAT cramped and overcrowded and these big families (aka parents with like 5 kids or so) *weirdly* think that they are a good idea to go visit when these places are small, hectic and way overpriced. It's just my opinion that if you are a parent surely there's way better places to take your kids after the money you spend on crap food and naff in these Christmas markets. Sorry if that was too confusing for you to work out...
@@garyfreeman896 Well nosey, not hanging out in these absolute hellholes, that's for sure!
Plymouth Christmas market is ran by the council, used to be local vendors but now we get all our vendors from London. They got rid of all the unique stalls and there’s Just a few boring overpriced drinks and food stalls.
I popped over to Plymouth from Deepest Cornwall yesterday for the market and was SO disappointed. I lived in Plymouth between 2014 and 2019 and it used to be good, with the likes of South Devon Chilli Farm selling their amazing hot chocolate, and we used to love that little steam train statue (can't remember who owned it!). It was genuinely nice back in the day, but it was absolutely shit yesterday! Truro's is still decent but it gets horribly busy and stressful
Everyone is apparently hard up! My local town is absolutely packed! What are they all buying 😮
Probably a single drink for each of the family and a bag of £12 fudge, after walking around for 40 minutes and then going home feeling robbed.
The British buy without thinking sometimes,that's why we get ripped off
Just think is it really worth the asking price.
We all need to save this day and age.
Don't get carried away just because it's Xmas!!
Can we retire christmas markets just like black Friday. Stop people, just STOP!!!
Went to the Krakow Xmas market and it was wonderful, so many original stalls with really nice gifts & clothes for sale at sensible prices too. Yes, they sold the Bratwurst but it was x2 the length of the ones sold in Uk for about the same price. Visited the Liverpool Xmas market to compare and I agree with everything said, overpriced and frankly boring!
Not wishing to sound like an anorak, but Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas was first released in 1975. I'll fetch my coat. Have a Blessed One!
It also sucks. LOL
There's a simple answer to this hyper-capitalist opportunistic activity...Don't go.
Thank you. Personally I enjoy the markets however for people who don't, just don't go.
I think as one gets older, the appeal of the 'idea' of a Christmas market ( as opposed to the reality shown here) is to try and recapture some of the excitement of Christmas, when it didn't start in November, when it wasn't about how many presents but that you got something, that you were a child looking at the pretty lights and the Christmas tree and waiting for Father Christmas.
There's absolutely nothing warm or festive about the tut being peddled from those garden huts. None whatsoever. Save your money, but something nice to eat and drink over Christmas and enjoy time with family and friends you actually care about. THAT'S what Christmas is all about, and every Christmas us the best ever without spending a fortune
one thing you also have to consider as to why their over priced i know someone who used to run a food cabin on the manchestert market and they wewre paying anything from 25 grand to 50 grand a day to be there yeah so its not just the public whose been ripped off why their so expensive to cover ya wages pitch and stock you need to be making enouigh per day to cover ya costs and make a tiny profit after ya paid all the fees and costs so its not the vendors who are at fault with it its the councils who are charging extortiante amounts to have a pitch on it in the first place
I’d rather go to a car boot sale than any Christmas market!
I remember going to Lincoln Xmas market as a child in the 90s and it was exciting because everything was so unique. I had little animal figurines, doll house accessories etc that weren’t sold anywhere else.
I used to go to the Leeds one about a decade ago when it was entirely based in Millennium Square, had a really big German beer hall, loads of food options couple of smaller bars around and an excellent mead stand. We stopped going when life moved us on but went last year and it was dreadful, Millennium Square was just an ice-rink and the same types of stalls spread across huge swathes on Leeds centre, sure I saw the same cheese brand 4-5 times in different locations
I visited Leeds xmas market in 2019 when I was going to see a band at the arena. It was...ok. I think the one in Sheffield is underrated but always looks amazing as they centre it in the Peace Gardens by the town hall with a huge alpine bar. The shipping container bit didn't inspire people last year but they also did the same in Manchester in 2022 a left over from the summers football events.
Walked through Cardiff Christmas market a few weeks ago and it was pure Dickensian. Outside the st David's center was the market bar. Done up like a log cabin from a hallmark movie. Everyone in there wrapped up, laughing, drinking mulled wine after work. Their view just 10 yards away was the shop entrances with freezing wet homeless people sat inside getting what shelter they could.
That was the Authentic Victorian Theme.
Been to one a few years back/ Would never go again. Over crowded , expensive tat and awful overpriced second rate food and drink. Why are they even there? Go abroad if you want the real thing!
Money laundering
Once i turned into an adult and got access to my own money, i realized that to enjoy these markets, was to buy the food. That way im engaging but im not filling my home up with crap
I just so happened to be in Edinburgh while the market was one but unfortunately the day that i could go, it was cancelled for the weather.
I don't buy anything at Christmas markets. Things are nice to look at but who wants the expensive and queues for expensive food which still makes you feel hungry afterwards
I have so many items that I have made sitting in boxes because the cost of getting a stall anywhere is prohibitively expensive and I really don’t want to sell my handmade items next to temu tat.
@ruthcook326 small makers are getting gouged left right and centre. Had a look at selling some stuff on Etsy a little while ago. What a rip off. 20% of the price going to Etsy, so you have to make things loads more expensive than they should be to make a reasonable margin
@@streetwalkerphoto I agree, the organisers of these fairs and websites are letting their greed spoil the joy of small craft individuallity. I don't want to over inflate my prices, so have been edged out of Christmas markets and even local craft fairs, year round, are going the same way. I quit Etsy - If you are in the UK, have you tried the Folksy website market place? At the moment (and hopefully it won't change), it is much more greared towards helping small crafters. (Although Etsy started that way too).
Don’t forget the the £6 pot of 3 churros without any toppings that cost extra
Those pint prices are pretty normal for London & Brighton lol
Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales has had a Victorian inspired Christmas festival for many years which helps the local businesses although Grassington has always been a popular place especially with the latest All Creatures Great & Small being filmed there.
Most councils sub contract out their Christmas markets and there is almost a monopoly.
Christmas markets are typically full of outside traders, not locals.
Christmas markets definitely take trade away from permanent shops and other weekly markets.
They are typically all a rip off as organisations running them charge traders a small fortune to trade
Ohhhh look another Banana dipped in chocolate
How Christmassy 🎄
The sellers aren’t jolly themselves you don’t feel the Christmas athmosphere. And indeed the quality is inconsistent especially when youngsters are the ones doing the stuffs. It’s like seeing a kid at play and handing you the product.
Ages ago, in the early noughties, when I still lived in Birmingham, the Christmas market stalls were actually run by Germans who would come over for the season. The gifts and food were amazing. It was actually magical. I’m not sure what Birmingham Christmas markets are like these days as I moved away, but having been to the Edinburgh Christmas market a few times, it’s enough to put me off Christmas markets for life.
Except the markets in Germany and Austria actually have some good quality goods. Like every other market in the UK, our Christmas markets sell shite - tat and counterfeit goods. Very little handmade or unique like almost anywhere else in the world has, all junk.
Left the UK long time ago and looking at it today,
it sounds like nothing much works in the country
any more.....including the people!
I loathe our Christmas market for all the reasons you mentioned. I know our cathedral needs to raise money for renovations, and I understand that. But it destroys our city for the duration. It's crowded, and most of the locals just avoid the town centre until it's over. And it is the same old crap year on year. I've never bought anything from it. It's all overpriced crap anyway.
Sheffield Cathedral has a craft fair inside at this time of year along with some amazing lights
Overpriced and Underwhelming that sounds like GB/UK!
I used togo for a walk round but rarely bought anything. I dont need anything really. Some food bits can tempt me but these markets get so busy you cannot get near enough to see much. I have now given up on them. I went to a couple in Germany and Salzburg which were brilliant. They just cannot be matched over here. I remember one stall selling slippers and they had a little mouse pop up here and there in the display which was whimsical and just perfect for the whole event. I went on a trip to Skipton Christmas Market and enjoyed that one.
Those chocolate things at 0:16 are rubbish. They are like Walnut Whips but with shitty thin chocolate. Awful.
I went to the Birmingham Christmas market last year and it was a horrible nightmare. Hell on earth was an apt description. The sheer volume of people was incredible and overwhelming, I was shoulder to shoulder with people almost all the time, getting shuffled along until I could escape.
It was genuinely traumatic. Even if the stalls were good I wouldn’t want to go back due to the amount of people that’d still be there. I don’t know why anybody would want to attend something that’s so busy, I don’t see what enjoyment could be had when you’re basically packed inside a dangerous crush of people.
Manchester Christmas are just dangerous they have them going down market st (the main shopping street next to the Arndale and the amount of people the will just stop and randomly walk into you is astonding the on weekends it feels just like being in a kettle
Smackheads from Piccadilly gardens are asking for 20p, the last time i went. Not a safe environment for families with kids.
Then why go?
@LittleKitty22 some people live in Manchester Centre and have no other way to get home than going through Market St 🙄🙄🙄
@@damenwalker5260 I know, it's the same in Birmingham. Try to find a way to avoid the crazy crowds if you can, it's no fun. It's the same problem in Birmingham and I once got attacked by one of these crazy people that go to these markets - I was only trying to get to New Street station to get home from work!
@@LittleKitty22 because at the bottom of market Street is a pharmacy that I really needed to get to on a Sunday afternoon very few and far between to find them on a Sunday
The magic of the Frankfurt Christmas Market in Birmingham was killed for me 20 years back
"Zwei currywurst bitte!" I asked the stall holder in my finest German.
"You what bab?" she replied in the broadest Brummie accent I have ever heard.
I don't understand the appeal of wrestling through crowds to buy over-priced tat.
I think humans have run the course with this holiday. It is about as commercialized as it can get at this point.
I had a chuckle when you mentioned the Victorian style Christmas markets. I used to work at a small National Trust property who one year decided to do a proper Victorian Christmas market a few weeks before Christmas a few years ago. To be fair, they did a bang up job and it felt very authentic and Dickensian.
The one snag that it made the news and the following weekend so many people tried to get in (this was to get into an area about half the size of a football pitch) that it gridlocked the drive into the property along with the main road going both directions. The police literally came out to shut the market down and disperse the traffic. Sadly the conclusion was that it was deemed “a bit too successful” and was shelved.
Went to York on Friday last week and the prices were absolutely crazy one stall was selling a hot chocolate for £11. It was dead ish around 10.30am we went and found a cafe called Golds (use to be an ice cream shop) it was lovely.
Came back to the market area and it was packed, they had pottery Christmas decorations where you can get someone to write your names on them £15 each they were it was a joke. Markets in the Uk are no where like in the 90s were you visited your local here in Hull we used to have Orchard Park thursday market every week, until it started to dwindle around 2005 and then it disappeared
But back to York you couldn't move near the stalls
I’ve not been to a Christmas market since I was a child, I am not getting ripped off or be nervous about pickpockets, but I saw a row of sheds, closed up, in my town centre..and not knowing why, genuinely thought it was a gardening shop doing a shed showcase , even though it felt the wrong time of year to do so.
Yes, those traders are obtaining their Christmas junk from a global supplier, which explains why it is all the same.
Christmas markets in Italy, where most cities are relatively small, are not overrun like this, food sold, such as honey, is produced by the sellers. Often locally. Nobody goes there to stuff their faces with fast food. Some mulled wine is always to be found. People do not wander about looking drab, they do buy and you often are acquainted with others you see around town. All items for sale are artisanal and the sellers are interesting people to chat with because of their skills. In the UK people seem to think you can import whatever you may have experienced on a holiday abroad, mimicking certain continental European traditions instead of prizing native ones.
I'm a York local, it really is rammed and I couldn't find any good gifts this year, except some little handmade owls. Those were cute.
the council paved it over put up the CCTV and im all like.. now what ? 😂