It’s that time of year again!
It’s getting darker earlier, and the cold weather is starting to set in for the next few months. And to help us all get through it, our cities and towns are adorned with bright and warming lights and decorations.
Last year, I visited the Southampton, Winchester and Gunwharf Quays Christmas markets, and ranked them on what market it was best to visit last season. This year I have returned to the Southampton and Winchester Christmas Markets to see which city has – in my opinion – done it better this year.
Southampton Market seems to have its stalls packed tighter into the centre of Above Bar Street this year. This is a welcome improvement because it means there is (slightly) more space for pedestrians to traverse through the busy street, although the slight increase is not enough to help a great deal as it is still very packed.
This year in Southampton there is a bar on either side of Above Bar Street. With a Christmas grotto and Nativity scene directly in front of the Bargate. Behind Bargate are the same amusement rides as last year. What is new is there is a ski slope towards West Quay South, but other than that, the ferris wheel, ice rink and other amusements are the same as what was newly presented last year. The ferris wheel personally is something I’m very excited has returned as the view from the top is amazing!
In terms of stalls, there is a mix of bric-a-brac, which includes football team merchandise and a stall with music memorabilia which was cool. Peoples Pride Southampton also have a stall which is a welcome sight for our LGBTQIA+ community. However, a lot of the stalls focus on food such as churros which we have had in years past, other than those mentioned there are not really a lot of stalls that are particularly interesting or make it worth visiting more than walking through it once or twice to do your shopping in the city centre.
I do think Southampton needs to better plan where the the Christmas market is held; rather than being in the centre of an already busy high street we have huge numbers of green space in the city centre which would work perfectly. You could easily have Southampton Christmas market spread over St Andrews, Palmerston, and Houndwell Parks and have hundreds upon hundreds of market stalls, stages, amusements, and more to encourage people across the south coast visit Southampton. If the grass is an issue it could equally be done in Mayflower Park or Ocean Village if they closed the car park so the main high street doesn’t become a huge bottleneck.
In Winchester, there are far more market stalls, which have a number of more interesting offerings, including jewellery and bags, wood carvings and other garden ornaments, charity items, candles and more – as well as beautiful mulled wine carts and roasted chestnut stalls which stand in the grounds of Winchester Cathedral and smell as good as they look. Winchester does also have a lot of food and drink stalls, especially around their community stage, but what Winchester does right is have far more stalls in comparison where you can buy stuff and take it home with you, which does also include a lot of food and drink stalls such as a cheese stall but is a lot better than just simply buying some fries or something to consume at the markets and that be the majority of the market.
The accessibility of Winchester’s Christmas market is far superior, having more space in walkways around the stalls and when over grass has ground cover so that wheelchair users can access the entire Christmas market, I did see several mobility aid users at Winchester’s market, whereas I fear many disabled people would avoid Southampton’s Christmas market. There are also gender gender neutral restrooms at Winchester’s market which is also really good for their accessibility and allows people to browse the huge number of stalls more comfortably.
So this year, for me, Winchester is is certainly better of the two Christmas markets with the number of stalls that they have. You could easily visit Winchester’s Christmas Market several times this holiday season to really take in all of the stalls, and watch live performances at their community stage as well. Southampton however, does have a lot to offer for thrill seekers with the amusement park rides that have returned, but sadly the stalls at the Christmas market do leave so much to be desired. You can however, visit both markets very cheaply and conveniently by bus and have a truly wonderful Christmas experience over both cities.
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