07/01/2026
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ง ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ง, ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ง๐ข๐ก'๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ง ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ง ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐๐ก๐ง๐ข ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ก ๐๏ธ
What an extended festive season we've had with you all! Truly memorable as you brought us some big achievements such as:
โญ Less beer sales than ever before!
โญ More online complaints than we've ever had
โญ An increase in trade for Hubbly Bubbly V**e Shop
โญ A rise in Google search traffic for 'Lisa 50p Southampton'
๐ฆ๐ข ๐ช๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ช๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ก๐๐
First and foremost (and this is meant genuinely), that the people that staff the stalls, and the people who spend all the time putting the market together and taking it down again, deserve a round of applause for the work they do. Through rain, wind, cold, and snotty nosed kids, they've stuck it out! ๐
It is also though of course clear that the people behind the curtain of the market, that make the big decisions and handle the money, probably need to look at the way they're doing all of this.
The simple fact is that the residents of almost every UK city complain about their Christmas Market. However there are plenty of cities that do it much better. They offer better quality food for the prices, they make stalls viable for local businesses to actually book, rather than them all being filled with unwanted tat, and half the cabins being empty, and they focus on the magic of a Christmas Market, rather than flogging a bit of food and making the city centre claustrophobic with very expensive fairground rides. If the current model is the only way that the market makes any profit, then judging by everyone's feedback on this page the whole approach itself maybe needs a rethink.
๐ช๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ
For those who hilariously haven't worked it out yet, this is a parody page. It's been running since 2015, and continues to do so for nothing more than to give some of you a bit of a chuckle.
We all know everyone loves to moan, so why not all have a laugh together here? UK Christmas Markets will always be complained about and laughed about, whichever city they're in. In reality we love that efforts are made to ensure something happens at Christmas in Southampton, and we care about it being the best possible offering to the residents of Southampton, and to those visiting too. Some of you love this market and look forward to it each year, some of you can't stand it, but giving that honest feedback will hopefully be seen and taken on board by the organisers, and we all say these things because we care about this city.
We genuinely hope you've all enjoyed the festive season, and that none of our silly little posts triggered you too much (although it's pretty fun watching some of you get all worked up at times ๐), and we do genuinely extend a thanks to S&J Leisure for the fact they picked up the pieces when the previous provider had to pull out a few years back, and have continued to make sure there's an offering here in the city. We just all hope that it can improve and adapt over the years to best serve the City of Southampton
โค๏ธ
