Sydenham Monthly Market this Saturday

[broken_shaman]

The monthly Sydenham Artisan Market starts up again this weekend and it's on a Saturday!

Sat 12 April 2014, 11am - 5pm in Venner Square and Queensthorpe Square.

More details at: SEE3

Come along, spread the word, bring a friend.

[JMLF]

I indeed will be doing all 3 of those things

[Chris Best]

As part of bringing more footfall to the high street SEE3 are running two free Easter bonnet workshops from 12 noon to 2pm at Here for Good - tomorrow and Easter Saturday. This will be followed by an Easter Egg trail to traders showing the Easter Egg signs for treats to children under 10 wearing their Easter bonnet from 3 - 4pm on Easter Saturday.

The Sydenham Society and Sydenham Arts Festival are also planning to have a stall outside Here for Good as it is between the two squares.

The very good news is that we now have a waiting list for market traders in the two squares - here is the range of traders that have booked - .
Hand made Ice cream sundaes; sourdough bread; french cakes; hot & spicy French bread sandwiches;baked dough cakes; chilli preservers; cakes/balloons
Plus limited addition prints/photos; photography; handmade cards; bric a brac; homeware & gifts; crafts/balloons; flowers, plants and bulbs; handmade jewellery; T-Shirts/Belts/ Fashion Jewellery; Knitted goods/ Cards & Fashion Jewellery

- bigger, better and the Easter bunny is not to be missed!

[robbieduncan]

Hoping to come up for some lunch

[G-Man]

Just cycled past. Looking forward to visiting later.

The Venner Road square looks great but why oh why on Queensthorpe is there a massive banner advertising Sky?!?! I thought this was about local traders not big multinational corporations? This could have gone to a local trader.

G-Man

[JMLF]

Agreed G-man, also the 2 accompanying people dressed for it also I imagine would make some assume all the stalls there may be of a similar ilk and less inclined for a spy.

REcommendations for those looking for a bite whilst perusing!:
Hanks for a delicious po boy on Queensthorpe
Number 4 for tasty tasty ice-cream on Venner (I had the rhubarb sundae which was amazing but they also have hot sauces and coffee with ice-cream too)

[leenewham]

The sky stand was off putting. They were there yesterday too with thier car parked on the paving.

We went up to the markets expecting it to be like it was before with excellent food stands with food to go with the addition of a second craft market but it was all mixed up with food and craft stalls combined. It's very odd to do it this way. I presume it was a miscommunication as to where people were supposed to set up as I'm sure see3 wouldn't have designated it this way.

Feast is the standard for these sorts of markets locally. I hope the market survives but I think it needs to be better laid out, better signposted and more stalls. Lots of people I spoke to were disappointed. Hopefully this is just a glitch.

On the plus side, we popped into cherry and ice and had an amazing ferrero rocher milkshake and a chocolate brownie with candied bacon. Yes, bacon! It works, it's bonkers, it's the excellent cherry and ice.

[Tim Lund]

Cherry & Ice are developing a nice line in witty A boards outside - "More Brownies than in a Church Hall" today. Didn't have my camera with me

[broken_shaman]

The Sky 'pitch' had been rented out previously by the council a year in advance apparently. They'd been there all week. It was not ideal at all.

I say this as someone who spent the past two days up til 3am, making products for my stall. I am now at home asking myself why I've spent all day earning £30. That is the reality I'm afraid.

Sorry if this comes over negative, but I'm tired and a little fed up.

[leenewham]

Totally agree rod. I know see3 have had this advice about grouping stalls together so I'm not sure why it was mixed up today.

[mosy]

The weather wasn't kind today being windy cold; such a shame as I'm sure it makes a difference.

The Venner Square layout was odd as the stalls backing onto the pavement obscured both their stalls' wares and what was going on in others', as well as almost forming a barrier rather than a welcome to come inside. Maybe a corridor layout of "l ll l" would be more inviting? Just a thought.

[broken_shaman]

I think it would be fair to say that if the food was in one place and the craft in another, the craft stalls would feel a bit shoved out of the way. We all want to be near food, because food attracts people and people browse while they eat.

We went through this in September with all the food at Venner and the craft in station approach and station approach was very quiet.

I also don't think mixing of stalls was the issue, except for the poor guys stuck with us as the only food seller, in the corner at 'Sky' Square. They drew a short straw I think (maybe with the rest of us). If it's mixed up, it needs to be even.

The issue today was that the two sites are so distant that they don't feel part of the same market. You could barely see the stalls in Queensthorpe Square unless walking right by as it was so pushed back from the road. Perhaps some smaller stalls by the road, as at Venner, would have helped to improve visibility?

But I don't feel the market is large enough to need splitting at all. Not yet. Just overspill from Venner Square or find a bigger space if required.

The other issue is of course promotion. If there are any funds, I think some banners by the location and perhaps around the high street for 2-3 months would be very beneficial. I'm hoping shopkeepers will be able to display posters and flyers now too (some I spoke to today had no idea about it). Social media is also an important tool and many local markets seem to have dedicated twitter accounts/ facebook pages/ instagram to promote their market, before the event and with pictures and updates on the day.

Finally, I'd just like to say, I think the market is a great idea, has potential and a lot of people have clearly put a lot of time and effort in. It gave me my first ever trading opportunity back in September 2013. For that I am very grateful as it has boosted my confidence immensely and I am doing things now that I only daydreamed about before.

[robbieduncan]

Came up for lunch. Ended up in Cherry and Ice. The choice of food was basically one thing. If you took out the photography stalls there was little there to be honest. And I can take, print and mount my own photos.

[broken_shaman]

Well, as a photographer, I think I'll bow out then. Good luck with it.

[JMLF]

Not sure what I was expecting but I guess I was thinking (or maybe for personal reasons, hoping!) there would be much more in the way of food/drink stalls. In terms of going to grab lunch and look around etc, there was only "hanks" as a standout food stall for a lunch option (rather then the bread stalls, one of which did sell a few snacks I think) and "number 4" for ice-cream/coffee.
Most markets I've been to have either been a good mix-up of the two (likely encouraging people to take their time strolling round/hanging around whilst munching/drinking or specifally one or the other I.e: arts and crafts or food.

Must say I enjoyed it and feel it could be great, especially if more food and drink stalls (to eat/drink there and then) and the set-up/layout was better - having some link between the two squares would be great like some stalls all the way down the street or, though this is not a likely or popular idea, having it in one place and extending it out into part of the road (end of the cul de sac) to have one larger, more cohesive market.

[robbieduncan]

Well, as a photographer, I think I'll bow out then. Good luck with it.

My comment was not meant to discourage those trying to sell their work rather a personal observation. There were at least 3 stalls selling photographs. If you were not looking to buy a photograph this duplication left little else to look at!

[leenewham]

I tend to agree with Robbie. I don't think it was anything personal Robbie, but it was quite skewed towards photography.

My favourite local market is FEAST in West Norwood. This is their website:

http://westnorwoodfeast.com/market/

It's a good website. Simple, easy to use. The menu doesn't have lots of pull down menus like the Town Centre Website which is too complicated and feels outdated and unused (plus the pictures of the shops does Sydenham no favours at all).

Promotion is fun and clear and visible.

Each zone is clearly signposted.

The use Social Media really well. These are clearly labelled on the website.
Twitter has over 3500 followers including Antic who are now investing in the area and opening a large pub.
Facebook has over 2000 followers. More impressive is what people say about it. It's very positive.

Local traders and volunteers help organise it. They have been helped by the GLA and it's greatly driven footfall in the area and given a sense of local pride.

Some of the stalls there ended up in the SEE3 pop ups.

Some of the stalls have ended up as permanent shops in West Norwood.

The stalls in West Norwood Feast carry on down the high street to drive footfall down the whole road.

If we want Sydenham to improve we need to learn from what works in other areas and learn from it. Just doing it our way without learning, changing and improving doesn't get us anywhere.

I presume that Lewisham Council are running the markets. Perhaps we should follow the Feast Model? I think there are some things we can learn from Feast.

Thoughts?

[stuart]

Spot on Lee.

There are a lot of good people doing good things for Sydenham. The trouble is we are not doing it together. Every attempt I have made to try and do joint things, coordinate in some way has failed. I don't think it just me. Everybody else is pretty much stuck to their agenda ignoring everybody else. It is, frankly, dispiriting. We have seen enthusiasts come - and go!

Which means we are not leveraging the best results for the effort and money invested. Why is it we are either not talking to each other, let alone listening? We push Sydenham Town Centre and the markets but don't revitalise the Sydenham Town Centre trader website or spread the info around. It is not because of money or willingness ...

Stuart

[leenewham]

Stuart: Totally agree.

It is dispiriting.

[jonathan_har]

I turned up late, spent little time looking and bought nothing so apologies if my observations don't reflect how things actually went on the day!

- the market needs to offer what the High Street lacks, and the thing that most often comes up on this forum is a delicatessen, so a stall selling cheese, a stall selling meats, a stall selling cakes etc etc
- the market needs to offer a good variety of street food as most people visit over lunchtime and it encourages lingering
- the market needs to be open and visible to the street, not corralled around the ugliest bench in London as at Venner on Saturday
- the market needs to be concentrated in one space, certainly until it has proper momentum, the stalls on Queensthorpe hidden by the Sky wagon were out in the cold
- the market needs to be publicised properly, not just to the 0.001% of Sydenham residents who read this forum (sorry if I have missed other publicity and have underestimated the readership of the forum!)

For me the range of stalls was not as good as when the market 1st started when there was a Sardinian stall selling meats and cheeses and a cake stall and some good street food stalls. For me there was too much craft and not enough food. I always thought it was a no brainer to have the market on Saturdays rather than Sundays to get passing trade, but does this mean we no longer get the good stalls because they are committed to other Saturday markets?

I'd love to see the market work so will endeavour to get there on time, linger and spend money next time!