Christmas market

wonderboy76

Will echo what others have said: I went and it was cramped and pokey. No room to really stop and look at stalls because you instantly feel you’re in the way. There’s a couple of seats stuffed inbetween the food stalls but otherwise, you’re in the way if you stop to eat your pricey grub (and not a Bratwurst in sight, just normal over-priced hot dogs). The only music was some dance tunes coming from the food stalls – a bit of festive music would have helped the atmosphere. Instead it was just a lot of people being shuffled along awkwardly looking at bit confused at the stalls selling the usual, generic stuff. Half the stalls weren’t even open. Not a thing about it screamed Christmas. A real shame. You’re not missing a thing if you give it a wide berth.

jimmii

AsianDub wrote: »

Does anyone think it would be better suited to the wide and long O' Connell Street with the Christmas tree being there as well?

BID who set up The Stephens Green one wanted one at Wolfe Tone Sq and also on O'Connell St too planning permission was meant to be decided last week but nothing has come out so I am guessing it wasn't given and it seems its probably a bit late anyway. The plan was to have around 16 chalets lining O'Connell St near Clerys and then have a larger number in the square. WTS would be an ideal space given the size and shape of it and given its proximity to Henry St I would have thought the numbers would be pretty good visitor wise.

dRNk SAnTA

I'd at least applaud the effort and I hope it's successful enough that they'll take suggestions for improvements on board next year with perhaps a larger budget.

Regarding location - I agree it would be fantastic if they moved it in to the park and lit the trees and bandstand up at night. People would love it.

They'd probably be very nervous about potential antisocial behaviour around the park though. Either way, it sounds like it shouldn't stay in its current narrow environment.

ollaetta

jimmii wrote: »

BID who set up The Stephens Green one wanted one at Wolfe Tone Sq and also on O'Connell St too planning permission was meant to be decided last week but nothing has come out so I am guessing it wasn't given and it seems its probably a bit late anyway. The plan was to have around 16 chalets lining O'Connell St near Clerys and then have a larger number in the square. WTS would be an ideal space given the size and shape of it and given its proximity to Henry St I would have thought the numbers would be pretty good visitor wise.

Wolfe Tone Square is going ahead the weekend after next as far as I know. Re O'Connell Street I can't imagine the Gardai would have been in favour of a market bang on such a busy thoroughfare.

Small additional point, the Stephens Green market is run by Dublin BID and the OPW. DCC not involved as the OPW owns the footpath around the Green.

jimmii

Good to hear wts is going to go ahead!

TicTacDoc

I was there on one of the days and got talking to a trader. entry to the market for traders was in excess of €5K per stall. The whole market is basically run by "Fire Foods" (the guys with the hanging fire pits at every concert & festival in the country). stuff looks good but nothing special. its the exact same ingredients from a local chipper just cooked on an open grill. it does add flavor to be fair. burgers and hotdogs are the order of the day with one guy doing spit roast pork, its poorly organised with 7 empty stalls when we were there. shame really. the concept is sound but typical Irish nepotism lets it down, the organiser put all there friends in first rather than anyone with cool artisan products.

Rashers72

Was in there today, and queued up along Luas stop. Very disappointed. Went in with family. Over crowded. Food stalls over priced for quality. Very little traditional Xmas market merchandise. Some stalls closed. Was a nightmare for those with buggies. This was the main reason for us going into town, but cannot recommend in the slightest..

ted1

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

So just your typical over priced fast food and tacky crap on sale then ya?

Not that im surprised! We seem incapable of doing markets of any kind right over here.

Smithfield and the fruit markets were good till the council got involved

neckedit

Was at the Lidl Christmas Market down by the IFSC today,
very low key, very little going on, all Lidl's own brand
Bratwurst and burgers, coffee etc.....Small, but still betterthan the one at The Green.

Whosthis

TicTacDoc wrote: »

typical Irish nepotism lets it down, the organiser put all there friends in first rather than anyone with cool artisan products.

The organiser is German.

Lovely Bloke

Was down in St Anne's this evening - more of the fuggin same - "Gourmet" burgers, long sausages, the ever dependable and oh-so-Christmassy Asian Noodles, Andes knitwear, overpriced glass pictures and no mulled wine.

Seriously, if you are advertising Mulled wine at a Xmas Market, you better make damn sure you bring a shed load of it with you, and not run out on the first bloody weekend. Amateur hour.

Deenie123

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Was down in St Anne's this evening - more of the fuggin same - "Gourmet" burgers, long sausages, the ever dependable and oh-so-Christmassy Asian Noodles, Andes knitwear, overpriced glass pictures and no mulled wine.

Seriously, if you are advertising Mulled wine at a Xmas Market, you better make damn sure you bring a shed load of it with you, and not run out on the first bloody weekend. Amateur hour.

Yeah but tbh, at least you can walk around it, go on the chairoplanes, soak up the atmosphere without taking a buggy handle to the kidneys....

salmocab

Popped in today wasn't expecting much after reading some of the posts here, probably not as bad as I was expecting. Some of the stalls were selling some nice enough stuff but the amount of burger type stalls is ridiculous. It was about lunchtime so to be fair it wasn't packed so I didn't have any hassle strolling along.
I think someone posted about the possibility of having it in the park itself and this seems to me to be a great idea, the park would be ideal, with plenty of food stalls and music playing from the bandstand it would draw people in to the city just to walk around in the evening. Then getting in the right stalls and even giving over space to the artists that sell their work around the green during the year would make for a really worthwhile market.
I really think that if we are going to do christmas markets over here we shouldn't be doing them half hearted just because everyone else is doing them but we should be doing them big and right.
A few years of doing it properly would soon see people coming to our markets like on the continent but it needs doing right.

Pete_Cavan

salmocab wrote: »

I think someone posted about the possibility of having it in the park itself and this seems to me to be a great idea, the park would be ideal, with plenty of food stalls and music playing from the bandstand it would draw people in to the city just to walk around in the evening.

Unless it was limited to the space immediately inside the arch, I dont think having it in the park is an option. It would be a huge area to supervise and require a lot of staff. It would inevitably create a lot of litter in the park also.

neckedit

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Unless it was limited to the space immediately inside the arch, I dont think having it in the park is an option. It would be a huge area to supervise and require a lot of staff. It would inevitably create a lot of litter in the park also.

Inside the park would be the perfect option, IMO, cordon of an area as has happened on the street, use staff as they have done now, and as for litter, its current location will create the same amount of litter, provide plenty of bins and insist on people use them.

Cathmandooo

They're very precious about locking the green up so I can't see the markets being allowed in there. I do think the large space opposite the Sherbourne should have been used. Picnic benches and a small stage for some musical performances would be great. Spread the market down the full length of the path it's on, even continue around the corner if they can get more stalls. While it's not the best Christmas market it is a start, a nice idea and I hope they improve it next year.

bit of a bogey

Is anything going on around smithfield which is worthwhile attending?
Do they have an ice-rink there this year?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Part of the problem with the Dublin markets is the location. I've been at a few different ones the past few years and none of them are in a great spot. That said I'm not sure where exactly they could put it? The Galway and Belfast ones are in great spots, creating the atmosphere is half the battle.
I was at the market in London along the South Bank about 4 years ago and it was nice to walk through but there was bugger all in it. Was back at it 2 years ago and it was much improved. Lots of little gift ideas, "local" food products, handmade decorations and lots and lots of quality food and drink. The Dublin market probably needs a few years to get it spot on but the fact it seems to be moved every year and have different people involved behind the scenes isn't going to help.

Chris_5339762

A line of food huts down the middle of Grafton Street would do well too. They do this on the continent and while it does bung up the street a bit, they make a mint with the footfall.

Pobb

Was in town early yesterday so went for a look at the market. It was 12:05 when I arrived so it had only been open a couple of minutes and there was no queue but it was already impossible to move along and people with buggies were causing chaos, through no fault of their own. The food and mulled wine smelled really nice and there is potential to do something really good but the logistical problems need to be ironed out.

miamee

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

A line of food huts down the middle of Grafton Street would do well too. They do this on the continent and while it does bung up the street a bit, they make a mint with the footfall.

Grafton Street is already an overcrowded disaster to walk down at this time of year, sure they won't even put in street furniture (benches or the like) cos space is at a premium.

It's hard to thin of a big enough space that is still central enough to get the foot traffic. Perhaps Merrion Square, inside the park though they may not open there after dark either. Wolf Tone Square would have been a nice space for a small market; it has a funfair there now.

salmocab

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

A line of food huts down the middle of Grafton Street would do well too. They do this on the continent and while it does bung up the street a bit, they make a mint with the footfall.

Nowhere near enough space on Grafton street. There is nothing in it for the vendors on the street already as it would stop people bothering with Grafton street for actual shopping. It really needs to be somewhere off street that can have atmosphere, as I said before we should do the christmas markets right not just because everywhere else is doing them, which is what I feel we are doing now.

Chris_5339762

Dublin Castle so? Lovely big open area just off Lord Edward Street.

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Dublin+Castle/@53.343175,-6.2674355,3a,75y,256.65h,89.77t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1srfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g!2e0!3e5!4m2!3m1!1s0x48670e873566ff89:0x50fcdf6c0e15686?hl=en

They do the same thing in the Residenz in Munich, so the use of such a space for that is not insane.

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Munich,+Germany/@48.1415849,11.5784338,3a,75y,9.67h,99.85t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sOfGoQvyjWCEAAAQfCWTEwQ!2e0!3e11!4m2!3m1!1s0x479e75f9a38c5fd9:0x10cb84a7db1987d?hl=en

Toto Wolfcastle

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Dublin Castle so? Lovely big open area just off Lord Edward Street.

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Dublin+Castle/@53.343175,-6.2674355,3a,75y,256.65h,89.77t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1srfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g!2e0!3e5!4m2!3m1!1s0x48670e873566ff89:0x50fcdf6c0e15686?hl=en

They do the same thing in the Residenz in Munich, so the use of such a space for that is not insane.

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Munich,+Germany/@48.1415849,11.5784338,3a,75y,9.67h,99.85t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sOfGoQvyjWCEAAAQfCWTEwQ!2e0!3e11!4m2!3m1!1s0x479e75f9a38c5fd9:0x10cb84a7db1987d?hl=en

The New Years food village is in Dublin Castle. It will be interesting to see what that's like.

http://nyfdublin.com/nyf-food-village/