Until the Occupational Therapy Adaptations Conference (OTAC), on 10 December. Free to attend, and there's usually a decent nibbles buffet.
We've been on Above Bar Street every December since 2004, give or take a pandemic, wedged in between the Bargate and the Marlands, taking up way more than half the precinct. Our stallholders are out there from first light in the Southampton rain, pretending to mull wine you'll later describe to a friend as "a bit dear", and selling some stuff from Temu alongside. Some people call it claustrophobic. We prefer cosy. Either way the pints are a tenner, and once again, Southampton has pulled Christmas out of the bag.
Live dodgy karaoke some nights, and a headline act we're still slightly processing ourselves. A bloke who does some singing is back too, same ten songs he's done for the last five years, and we've grown quite fond of it.
Click here to see the scheduleSixty-odd cabins, roughly nine of them actually occupied, selling gifts you don't want, sweets, and the sort of thing you buy in December and then find in a drawer 2 days later.
We're on the bit of pavement you were quite fond of, right outside Westquay and the Bargate. Essentially, we're in the way.
A few photos of the place, most of them taken on a fairly quiet Tuesday, our photographer Keith wouldn't do any other days
The market's been going since 2004, though the general idea, standing about in the cold paying too much for a sausage, is a fair bit older than that. Medieval, probably. Nobody's really looked into it.
Southampton is where the Titanic set off from, which is a fact the city has decided to be proud of. We don't do a stall about that one. It felt like a lot.
The Bargate, which you'll see all over this website, is about 800 years old. That makes it roughly 800 years older than the market. We'd like to think it's proud of us.
There's a few different bits to the market, all squeezed into the half of the precinct we've taken over. Have a wander. And do stop at a standing table in the bar on the way, they get a bit lonely.
Times are rough guides. If a cabin looks shut, we probably just couldn't sell it.
We've put a proper bit of effort into the line-up this year, and we're pleased to confirm the headline act: Fred Dinenage. It's a Northern Soul set. We did check, and that's what he's doing. Full bill's below.
Incredible! A 45-minute set of Northern Soul, Fridays and Saturdays. He doesn't explain why, and it didn't feel like our place to ask. Doors from seven (there are no doors).
The Golden Pineapple is back, after a few years off following what our insurer still refers to as 'the Saturday'. There's a golden pineapple hidden somewhere in the market. Find it first and you win free drinks and sausages for the rest of the day, though 'unlimited' now means four, and a member of staff will sit with you while you have them. Ask a stallholder if you're stuck. They've been briefed this time.
You'll need to sign something before you start looking, and something else when you find it. It runs Tuesdays only, between two and half past, when it's quieter. Not real gold, not for eating, and please don't try to eat it.
A few from recent years, straight off the Samsung Galaxy S8 Edge Linda has. Make your own mind up.
84% of you would recommend us, which we think is lovely. Here's a handful of the actual reviews people have left, all completely real, and all given five stars by us, because we're generous like that.
Tenner for a pint, plus a free guilt trip about your personal finances. Can't imagine why you're not packed.
Why oh why, at the busiest time of the year for shopping, do we obstruct more than half the pedestrian precinct with this horrendous market? All it sells is crap tat and unhealthy food.
Germans did a better job of the market.
Buckfast, vomit and fighting? Yeeeeessss.
Ordered a baguette. Received a finger roll. Round here, we just call them baguettes.
Hello pavement space, I've missed you.
Mostly the same handful, to be fair. Here they are, along with roughly what we tend to tell people.
There's the Westquay car parks, and there's the park and ride. The park and ride is lovely, right up until the moment you actually need to get home, at which point it quietly becomes a rumour.
Yes. Maybe. Depends what you count as 'German'. I met a German guy once, he couldn't say the word 'kangaroo', maybe that's what makes them German.
They're technically checked over by Mark, a guy in our office. Each morning he has a good look at them for a bit, gives a nod, and wanders off. We're not entirely sure what the nod means, but he seems happy enough.
Let's just say it's a bargain. We've had a lot of feedback on this, we've read all of it. You love it.
They'll love it, for no real reason. Just bring a bit more money than you've mentally set aside, and be ready to explain why they can't go on every single ride. You will lose that conversation, by the way.
Some stalls do, the street beggars don't though. There's a cashpoint by the Poundland, so it's worth getting a bit of cash out before you start, for Lisa.
Yes.
Stick the app on your phone for the occasional update, opening dates, the odd ride being shut, that sort of thing. Remember that annoying government warning you got about not starting fires? This lets us do that, you'll love it!
It's about the only reliable way to find out if Santa is or isn't on a smoke break.
We read everything, eventually. There's 9,000 of you following along on Facebook, and a fair few are only there to argue with us in the comments, which is fine, that's half the fun. Complaints about the price of a pint go in a special folder. It's a big folder now.
