Sydenham Artisan Market - 2nd Saturday of the month

[chicklet]

I wondered this too ?

[alywin]

So, it's the second Saturday next weekend. Following last month's no-show, will the market definitely be taking place?

[louisecbrooks]

I don't think it's due back till April but check with Chris Best/Lewisham Council. I think (but don't quote me) it's because historically first 3 months have been quiet/slow.

[Chris Best]

Yes the SEE Sydenham market will be back on Saturday 11 April. The stall hire prices are the same as previous years - £35 set up to trade and £25 to bring your own stall.

We will continue to offer a mix of traders on Venner Square with the SEE market stalls and focus more hot food on Queensthorpe Square as the traders prefer the more open stalls. I spoke to the two hot food traders on Queensthorpe this morning and they are booking with Lewisham for the April market. Keep a look out for the Vietnamese Street food with flame grilled satay chicken on the bone or pulled pork plus vegi options. The other trader today was D Burrito Hut - Mexican Street food with a Caribbean taste.

SEE3 are working with Sydenham Arts on the High Street Happenings programme - and we hope to have more street events along the lines of the book trail.

[Chris Best]

Yes we're back this Saturday 11 April with a great line up of stalls plus entertainment as part of our High Street Happenings programme with Sydenham Arts.

Stalls already booked with more to follow -
Lucy Morton – Jucy Lane Creates – Handmade cards
Jayne Williams – Jayne Williams Design – Fashion Jewellery & Greeting Cards - twitter @jaynewms12
Uche Akiti – Mean Green Foods - Vegetarian Food - @meangreenfood
Sonia Meggie – Inspirational You – Hand made bags, clothes & jewellery
Marcia Palmer – Cakes, Rum cakes, gluten free and Vegan
Margarita Garcia – Mexican Street Food
Niaomi St Hilaire – Bakery Products
Francis Van Der Zee – Dry curd Meats
Ernest Pilate – Antiques
Nancy Sealy – Hand made leather goods
Ronald Laity – Japanese Teas
Catherine Benson – Cakes
Denver Bennett – pickles, chutneys & relishes - @dbfoods

There will also be the Vintage Pop-Up Shop in Here For Good from 10am to 4pm with a fabulous line-up of traders including jewellers Twisted Vintage and Spotty Vynl Records. Also on the menu: funky furniture; vintage fabrics and sewing accessories; ceramics and a collection of lovingly-restored prints taken from original advertising artwork created in the 1930s and 1950s.

The entertainment is from a zingy New Orleans Jazz band Red Hot and Blue - http://www.redhotandbluejazz.co.uk playing 3 sets during the day starting at 11.30am.

Why not come along and support the market - music, hot food and maybe something will catch your eye!

[Chris Best]

Hooray! The sun is now shining on our market - Red Hot and Blue our New Orleans Jazz band are getting ready at Venner - please along to support local residents trading. We have hot food and vintage on Queensthorpe Square plus the wonderful vintage pop up at Here For Good.

[biscuitman1978]

Great to see the market so busy today. I thought the band was a really good addition.

I particularly liked the Mexican street food from the stall in the Queensthorpe Road pocket park. The chap running the stall had nearly sold out of food by 1:30pm and said he'd definitely be back next time!

[Pally]

Great market today. Vegan food stall ....a.brilliant alternative and lovely food! Bought some stuff formfreezer as well as having a very nice burger. Hope they come back

[jonathan_har]

Caught the end of the market, and thought it was good, and a definite improvement on the last few I visited.

It would be good to see a greater variety of cold food/produce stalls, rather than just baked goods.
The craft stalls were a good variety of well presented, well made and unusual things. My favourite was the Japanese tea stall.

[alywin]

It would have been really nice to see some publicity about this: it was only yesterday evening that I suddenly realised "Hang on, wasn't it the second Saturday in the month, and wasn't the market supposed to be back in April?" I don't know how many people read this forum on a regular basis - obviously I don't regularly enough - but this is the only mention of it that I've seen, and unfortunately too late for this month

[WTFAYBOA]

So sorry we missed it, we meant to try it, my boyfriend and I moved into our new house on Friday, but we were up to our ears in boxes and furniture and gaffer tape so we didn't make it to the market. Maybe next time!

Hello, by the way, I'm William and we've just moved in to a nice garden flat and we're looking forward to getting out and about in Sydenham. We're much more used to North London, but we've been visiting friends here for the last year or so and we fell for the area and the road and the flat and made the move. So very green and nice and friendly!

[Pally]

So sorry we missed it, we meant to try it, my boyfriend and I moved into our new house on Friday, but we were up to our ears in boxes and furniture and gaffer tape so we didn't make it to the market. Maybe next time!

Hello, by the way, I'm William and we've just moved in to a nice garden flat and we're looking forward to getting out and about in Sydenham. We're much more used to North London, but we've been visiting friends here for the last year or so and we fell for the area and the road and the flat and made the move. So very green and nice and friendly!

Hello. Welcome to Sydenham. Its generally a nice place to live.

[KM]

We wandered down again and I was disappointed by the stalls and the lack of atmosphere.
I'm not sure the layout works on Venner Rd. It seemed so closed in, so as a customer, all stall holders eyes are 'trained' in on you as you make your way around this small circle of stalls. It's not a sociable layout - no little tables and chairs to have your coffee at, just the three cemented-in seats and a large Lewisham bin next to them. Nice. Stall holders were mostly lovely though.
It seemed worlds away from the music at Queensthorpe Rd. Atmosphere! But then this I think had only 2 stalls? So why wasn't the music at Venner Rd? Or all the stalls in one place?
I can see that real efforts are made to make this work, but there is nothing yet that pulls me in.

[Chris Best]

Many thanks for the feedback - can I say most people I spoke to were very pleased with the return of the market.

In terms of publicity the lamp post banners went back up on Easter Sunday and the railing banner on Easter Monday ready for the week ahead. On Easter Saturday during the Easter bonnet workshop and parade we were handing out the flyers advertising the market and entertainment, Red Hot & Blue. The notice boards along the high street had flyers as did the coffee shops. Plus the posting on the forum. We also included in the Sydenham Assembly Newsletters - 7,000 printed and delvered door to door plus I gave a shout for this at the last Assembly meeting on the 18 March. The market is included on Lewisham's web site and the SEE3 web site - we sent out tweets in the countdown to last Saturday. Happy to hear any other suggestions and if you want to help in getting out the word the next market is on Saturday 9 May.

The layout is tricky as we can get 14 stalls on the current layout of Venner with the back of the stalls facing the road. The stalls that need an electric supply - hot food/coffee etc - need to be near the electic columns at the rear. Traders have said they are happy with the layout. Again ideas welcome on better ways of using the space. Yes we should have had more stalls on Queensthorpe - this can take 6 to 9 depending on the size of the bring your own stall. Over time we would like to get stalls onto Station Approach and maybe run a weekly market. We are also hoping the indoor market that was a Vintage Pop Up at 17 Sydenham Road well return on the same day.

The jazz band, Red Hot and Blue are local and performed 3 sets - 11.30 to 12.15 on Venner, 1 to 1.45 on Queensthorpe and then back to Venner from 3 to 3.45 - they had a good reception and attracted additional footfall. Feedback on other entertainment welcome for the markets. Sydenham Arts are running the High Street Happenings programme.

The traders helped in putting out tables and chairs outside On The Hoof, Calabash and Cherry & ice giving a positive feel in the walk between the squares - plus the sun came out which I think always makes a difference.

Best of all is the number of market traders who said they would be back in May - so please put the date in your diary and support your local high street.

[alywin]

Hmm, we didn't get anything through our letterbox: are the deliveries restricted to the part of Sydenham that's in Lewisham, or something? Given that more than half of Venner Road, not to mention most of Byne and Wiverton, is in Bromley, that seems a little counterproductive.

[Chris Best]

We have a great range of stalls for the market this Saturday. We have 14 stalls on Venner Square including the return of local resident Barry with his delicious vegetarian burgers hot ready to eat as well as take home to cook. Other hot food includes Caribbean and North African cuisine along with the return of the popular Japanese and Asian Teas. Why not try the tea with one of the tasty rum cakes, delicious French cakes as well as the vegan creole bakery - we also have savoury muffins and cakes. Our craft offering includes handmade bags, leather crafts, handmade soft furnishings and hand made cards. Francis will be trading her Aloe Vera products. On Queensthorpe Square we have our regular Vietnamese and Caribbean Burritos, the return of Peter's vintage range and Angie will be trading with a stall of spring flowers and plants.

The entertainment this month is provided by Les Zoings - a brass marching band performing 3 sets at 11.30am, 1pm and 3pm. We will also have Salsa dancing on Venner Square between 2pm and 3pm.

Alongside the Sydenham market is the Sydenham & Forest Hill CND Spring Fair in Venner Road Hall from 2 - 4pm.

Don't miss the guest appearance from an Emporer penguin!

[Chris Best]

Hoping for another rain free market day - Les Zoings, a performing marching band will be starting the entertainment at 11.30am at Venner Square, 1pm at Venner and a final set at 3pm to support the shops. Salsa dancing between 2 and 3pm on Venner plus CND Spring Fair between 2 and 4pm in Venner Road Hall.

You could also walk down Mayow Road to support Sydenham Garden's Spring Fair from 11am to 3pm - great offer in Sydenham today!

[Pally]

The market today had a really great atmosphere with some nice stalls. The musicians down by the bank were eccentric, fun and great to listen to for a while!

[Chris Best]

Just a reminder it is the SEE Sydenham market on Saturday. The High Street Happenings programme includes Phase 5 Steel band and Gems Performing arts. Some great stalls on the two squares as well as the Sydenham Pop-Up Shop at Here For Good, 17 Sydenham Road.

[Chris Best]

Great start to the market today with the steel band on Venner Square - we are about to start the afternoon with performing gems. Join in the fun and take a look at the range of stalls and hot street food.