Where is there room for improvement?
Were you one of the 250,000 people that visited the Peace gardens over the festive season for Sheffield Christmas market?
I’ve been asked to gather some opinions of the Christmas market on behalf of the people behind it. What did you think? I’ve put a few thoughts here – feel free to add your own by commenting below.
Last year’s Christmas market felt a bit underwhelming but this year’s was a definite improvement. There were better quality stalls and the ice rink made it feel more like a destination as opposed to just another market.
When passing, the ice rink never looked that busy and felt a bit expensive for Sheffield at £8 for an adult. The price was slashed to £6 for the final few days so perhaps this is a more realistic price to aim for.
It would be great if there were more Christmassy stalls. This would help further differentiate it from some of the other markets we have in Sheffield through the year.
It would also benefit from more local suppliers selling more local products. Sheffield people love buying Sheffield stuff, so to get some of our local food, arts, crafts on sale would be great. It would also make it more uniquely Sheffield instead of a generic Christmas market that you could find a bigger and currently better version of elsewhere, for example in Manchester and Leeds.
One problem with these events in Sheffield is that we don’t seem to have a perfect location for them. The Peace gardens is very prominent, but it does seem a bit cramped in there. The same goes for Fargate – probably our busiest shopping street, but gets horrible bottlenecks when the continental market is on.
One thought would be to host it in the big area they have just flattened where the fire station was. This may a better use of space than another car park until Sevenstone arrives.
There’s no doubt that the current market can be improved. A great Christmas market for Sheffield will take time to establish; we obviously aren’t going to go from nothing to one rivalling others in a couple of years.
What do you think? Has it been a success? Is it the sort of place you would take visitors? And what is it missing? Comment below and your thoughts will be fed back to the organisers.
Peter davies
/ 4 January, 2011Excellent Market, well organised, very friendly stall holders, my family and I really enjoyed it, spent 5 hours there. Even got to prsctise my Spanish.
Looking forward to next years instalment already.
Gemma
/ 4 January, 2011Far too expensive for the average Sheffield shopper, and too small to be considered anything special.
Neil
/ 4 January, 2011I have to say- and I was VERY critical of 2009′s effort (see linklet.org/4d645f9b) – 2010 was a huge improvement. It was expensive and daft but I suspect every Christmas Market in Europe is.
I don’t see it as a destination in itself- I would go to Old Town Square in Prague for an afternoon looking at the stalls, but there are about five times as many stalls there and I know I’m going to get great cheap beer and great Czech food. Having the confidence of there being great food and drink there at a good price and plenty of stalls to browse would probably be the crux of whether or not I’d go specifically to Sheffield for the Christmas Market.
(Incidentally having street food kitchen there for excellent Mexican food was a stroke of genius)
Lucy Harper
/ 4 January, 2011More local food and local craft would be great. How about a bigger skating rink in Tudor Square and free up the rest of the space in the Peace Gardens for more local stalls. Also invite all of Sheffield’s local community choirs to book an afternoon throughout the month to sing carols. It could help give the market more Sheffield personality plus supporters, families and friends would boost footfall.
Kay
/ 4 January, 2011I thought the market was an excellent idea and the location was absolutely right. Agree that the ice rink was too expensive. Think the stalls could have been more varied – there’s a limit to the number of woollen and felt accessories you can buy! Like the idea of products being more local and more Christmassy. Hope we have another Christmas market this year,
Kirsty
/ 5 January, 2011I think it’s great to have a Christmas market but unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment. It was lovely to have the bratwurst sellers and gluhwein, made the place feel like an actualy German market. But there was too many stalls that had nothing to do with Christmas – panpipes anyone?! Bongo drums?! I think they got a bit desperate in trying to fill the stalls which made people confused.
The ice rink was great to say but never very busy. I think price was a big issue.
I preferred it when it was in Barker’s Pool a couple of years ago.
Richard Hennessy
/ 5 January, 2011I agree with many of the comments already made. The offering was much better this year than last but the bar was hardly set very high in 2009 was it?? The stalls had very little in common with each other or Christmas so it was more of a market at Christmas rather than a Christmas market. I also felt that the prices of many of the products were significantly more expensive than they should be. Which brings me nicely onto the ice rink.
What a rip off! I went past the rink several times over the Christmas period and I never saw more than 2 people on it at any one time except when the prices were reduced. If a lower price had been charged all through Christmas more people would have used it and it would have made more money in itself and would have drawn more people into the market. Instead it feels like someone wanted to make as much money as possible so charged a huge amount but that just meant very few people used it.
Likewise the Santa Grotto was massively overpriced. If a family visiting town to go to this ‘destination’ (a debatable concept!) it would have cost nearly £50 for a skate, a bite to eat of a seasonal bratwurst and a visit to Father Christmas. That simply puts it out of the reach of a huge number of people.
Next year please make the Christmas market more accessible to more people who may not have a spare £50 to splurge on this kind of thing.
The Street Food Chef
/ 5 January, 2011Thanks for the great comment Neil. We also enjoyed the Market and agree with all the comments made, particularly about making the market itself a destination, by introducing a programme of events and a wider range of non-food stalls. Just wanted to correct our name, we are The Street Food Chef, see you soon!
Neil
/ 5 January, 2011My apologies. I was getting your name mixed up with Clearly Food Kitchen, who also sell real hearty and healthy fresh food to the people of Sheffield.
This is starting to read like an advert now! I’m just a customer in both cases.
Neil.
steelcitykitchen
/ 5 January, 2011I was a bit disappointed with the range and quality of the gift stalls (have already commented on this directly) – I wasn’t tempted to do my Christmas shopping there though I enjoyed wandering through for a look round. I’d like it if some of Sheffield’s local food/craft producers who predominantly sell online could have a presence in the city centre around Christmas to give more choice to our Christmas shopping. I’d love to get more gifts that are locally made, but the kind of things my family and friends would really want, not just novelty Christmas stuff. I think there some interesting sellers on Frooly, Folksy etc from the region who would really add to the appeal
Sage
/ 5 January, 2011It would be better if the ice rink was on the same or a lower level to the main market. It is pleasant to watch the skaters gliding around while you sit and have a beer or hot chocolate. You couldn’t really do that in the Peace Gardens.
Craig Marston
/ 5 January, 2011The Market looked really enticing, but we didn’t go into the thick of it as our little lad was in a pushchair, and it was too awkward to get round. Would definitely try it again though!
Lee Mullin
/ 6 January, 2011I went to the markets at Leeds and Manchester too, and the big difference is they felt warm, the number of people there gave it an atmosphere. Living in town I saw it empty most of the time with justa few people milling around the stalls.
The two big differences I saw were the prices of the few gifts there, obviously there’s more competition in the bigger Leeds and Manchester Markets forcing prices lower, and a large covered bar area, the small bar that was there was nice for a single after work drink before heading to Division St for warmth but the covered bars in other cities make you feel welcome to stop for much longer.
I did like the live music but that was on very rarely from what I saw, a rolling program of musicians, perhaps allowing more local bands a chance to play would be a good idea too.
Ivan
/ 7 January, 2011I visited the market and I did enjoy the atmosphere, as a foreigner it was nice to see a more international flare in this year’s market, however I think most articles and food were overpriced (or is it me being to tight?!?!)
Yes Manchester, York, Germany, they all have better Christmas markets, however, slowly but surely Sheffield’s Christmas Market is improving
Chris
/ 7 January, 2011I thought it was a huge improvement on last year. I visited the gluhwein bar a few times, and it was nice that there was somewhere warm to stand. But, it would be better to have it a bit bigger, with seats in – like the one in Barkers Pool a couple of years ago.
The food stalls were great.
The ice rink often had people on when I went round, but it was difficult to watch them because it was so high up.
Using the Peace Gardens and Tudor Square – with a well signposted link through the Winter Gardens, which perhaps could be decorated with lights to make it a bit more festive – would be a great way of expanding the space available.
And I agree with the comments about the type of stalls – more crafts, local stuff and Christmas presents would be great.
But well done to the organisers. I’m sure it will get even better.
stef
/ 9 January, 2011I went to the market with my husband and 2 children. I think the ice rink was so expensive and didn’t end up taking the children on it. The stalls were really random and very cramped….cuckoo clocks??? It also felt really difficult to get around too many steps. It was however very cold before christmas and what with the excessive amounts of snow I think it put people off going. The carousel outside John Lewis was lovely and very reasonably priced, the santa was lovely but again quite expensive when you wanted to buy a photo as well. It was nice to see that a large city such as Sheffield had made an effort for a change, fed up of it always being about Leeds but Sheffield council needs to make more of the city centre and do more to attract people.
RPG
/ 10 January, 2011Similar comments to the above – the ice skating was far too expensive really. They should have toyed with the idea of lowering the price slightly – surely having 30 on the ice paying £4 is better than 5 people paying £8!
Ideally, the best location for something like this will end up being the new square on the Charter Row roundabout – after Sevenstone is (is/when/ever?) completed.
Having big german beers brands like Paulaner have signs up was a great addition as it gave a sense of authenticity (and also, I like Paulaner!) but yeah, more indoor space to drink.
Range of stalls was commented on too – I was after some cheap-ish ‘party favours’ to wrap up for the christmas day meal, but ended up finding them at Mookau out on eccy road.
Ian
/ 2 December, 2011I know this is an old thread, but I loved last years Christmas Market… Posting now because, have you seen what it looks to be this year? Just a handful of stalls at the top of fargate? Next to the ridiculously short christmas tree for this year. Was so excited after last year, but now just very disappointed. Funny that the christmas/german market explosion was on the news recently, and Sheffield was mentioned – if it stays the size it is now (and I can’t see how it’s going to change before its opening tomorrow), I think it would be quite embarrassing should anyone be visiting who are expecting something akin to last years effort. I can only think cost is the reason – but the peace gardens almost looks dull, sad and empty now. Gutted.
John
/ 3 December, 2011I have to agree with the above comment.
We have just visited the market ! at teatime today ( 3rd Dec) expecting 40 or so stalls as advertised on the council website only to find about 7.
If your thinking about visiting the market dont bother its a waste of time.!!!
Mr R Herbert
/ 15 December, 2011I visited the Chrismas Market yesterday in Sheffield 14th Dec 2011. I can honestly say it was definitely not worth the diesel. I have been to bigger village Garden Parties. What a contrast and disappointment to last year.
If it is a cost saving exercise then its worked, I didn’t spend a penny. Will not be bothering next year if its the same.
Ron Clayton
/ 15 December, 2011For me there is only one place where the Market should take place- Paradise Square. This would require long term planning. The current set up looks like the garden shed sales pitch that used to be on Shalesmoor. Kelham Island Christmas Market remains the premier event.