Birmingham Christmas market

whitesatin

We travelled to Birmingham today (from Hertfordshire) for the Christmas market. I have to say that we have really enjoyed ourselves. Much better than many others I have been to. Very well run, great choice of food and drink. OK, the stalls stock the same stuff as most other Christmas markets but the atmosphere was great. Being a Tuesday might mean it wasn't as crowded as at the weekend but it was pretty busy, everyone having fun.

This is my first visit to Birmingham and I would definitely come back for another visit. Close enough for a shopping trip/change of scene.

yeslek

its always great and still enjoyable, despite the crowds.
The stuff is always gorgeous to look at, but the prices are getting ridiculous year on year, even varying between the few stalls that sell the same stuff :eek:. The only stuff still worth the high prices are the Chocolates (works out around a pound per piece but its the nicest stuff I've ever had so would rather have say 8-10 pieces for a tenner than 100's of pieces of ok stuff for less).

VintageBelle

I was there last night too and I was glad it wasn't so busy. I prefer the English craft market: from the art gallery through to the new library as that sometimes has a different variety of items. If you do visit Birmingham again you should pop to The Custard Factory which is a 10 min walk from the Bullring especially if they have an event on such as the B2B antiques and vintage fair. It makes a lovely day out.

freespirit66

We visited the Birmingham Christmas market on sunday evening and we really enjoyed it, busy but not so you couldnt get near the stalls, it had a really nice atmosphere, i thought some of the stalls were very different to other christmas markets i have been to. I would definitely recommend this market

Lequirk_2

My daughter and mother are going on friday, glad to hear positive reports of it.

keelykat

Sadly, we had a bad experience there this year. We went on a Saturday with our two young children and my Dad, and it was so packed we could hardly move. What upset me most was the amount of people drinking a lot of alcohol and being loud/rude etc. I don't see why we need to be drinking loads of booze at events like this. It didn't feel very family friendly at all. We've been several times before and hadn't had such a bad time. I couldn't even buy anything-as I couldn't get anywhere near a stall. My son was pushed over and the whole thing stressed me out.

I doubt we'll go next year if it'll be the same. I can't go in the week (son at school) and it isn't practical to go late evening with young children.

It's a shame, as we used to love going.

whitesatin

keelykat wrote: »

Sadly, we had a bad experience there this year. We went on a Saturday with our two young children and my Dad, and it was so packed we could hardly move. What upset me most was the amount of people drinking a lot of alcohol and being loud/rude etc. I don't see why we need to be drinking loads of booze at events like this. It didn't feel very family friendly at all. We've been several times before and hadn't had such a bad time. I couldn't even buy anything-as I couldn't get anywhere near a stall. My son was pushed over and the whole thing stressed me out.

I doubt we'll go next year if it'll be the same. I can't go in the week (son at school) and it isn't practical to go late evening with young children.

It's a shame, as we used to love going.

That is a shame. Saturdays would be very busy. I don't think I would want to take my young grandchildren if it was busy but I would feel that about any potentially crowded event.

Thankfully we didn't see any excssive drinking. I must say though that I did comment that it was strange to see people walking around with alcoholic drinks in the presence of the police as it wouldn't happen normally.

Hopefully you won't give up on Christmas markets, maybe when the children are a little bit older.

Lequirk_2

My mother and adult kids went today and had a great time

cmazza

I have been to the Birmingham Christmas markets several times and think they are great, good atmosphere and very festive.

Mrs_Ryan

I went to Birmingham yesterday and had a quick look at the stalls but being on crutches as I am I couldn't really get too close through the crowds for a proper look. It looked nice from what I could see though