[Closed] German Markets 🙂

The one in Bournemouth gets worse every year.

It used to be run by actual real-life Germans (imagine!), there was great food on offer, a range of delicious beers and interesting products on sale.

Now, the whole thing seems to be owned and operated by some outfit called SD Leisure. The only beer they have is Krombacher at over £4 per pint, your enjoyment of a decidedly watered-down version of that already mediocre beer is ruined by appalling 'comedy' in a cod-German accent blaring out over the tannoy. Their attempt at a curry wurst is a crime against God and all that is holy and the stalls seem to sell hats in the shape of penguins and little else.

I always get my SS uniform out at this time of year.

I'm the most German person there, it goes down a treat, I can tell you! 😉

Must get a trip to the sausage-fest ASAP. It'll be mental busy on a Friday night!

the one in manchester is very good, however the one in leeds is horrendous.
i like the xmas market they have in york, it might be the nice town center that does it.

They were setting up the one in Mank when I was working there. I get the impression they're all pretty faux German these days - confirmed for me when I saw one selling Pork Rolls and another selling Crepes FFS.

We have one in Cabot Circus in Bristol too now every year. It's beyond shite. 🙂

Must get a trip to the sausage-fest ASAP

they do THAT at the markets now? 😯

Conversely, I find the Manchester one rather hateful. I always end up sneaking off to a decent pub when anyone from work suggests we go...

The Leeds one is ok, but I can't be bothered with any of them to be honest.

The Birmingham one was good last year. We're planning to get the train over there again on Dec 22 so some feedback before then might be useful.

Its termed the European Markets in Manc, so Crepes are fair game DD. They've tried to make it more authentic by including the running of the bulls through the city streets during an opening ceremony, then all the smaller businesses declaring bankruptcy half way through December, and having to be bailed out by the Bratwurst sellers

I was at the Manchester one yesterday. It is better than I remember it from a few years back. Great atmosphere and some good food on offer.
It is pretty expensive though.
I need to go down again to get some more cinnamon and almond biscuits from the Dutch place.
I would recommend the mini pancakes and also the strudel stall 🙂

strudel stall

*drools*

Hmmm, the plot thickens...it would seem that this SD Leisure company are based in Manchester, but also have an office in Bournemouth.

If you're going to the Manc one try and look out for people in fleece jackets with a yellow/red SD Leisure logo on them, I'm wondering whether these people are running all of these markets.

I've enjoyed the Brum one the last few years, must go and get some more german sponge cake smothered in cherry schnapps

I believe the vendors were promising the Manchester one would have the same prices as last year - still £3.50 a pint though!
I do remember the bar staff being German in at least 3 of the bars last year - looked at me in surprise when i ordered the beers in German - albeit very poor German!
Still, it's a night out 🙂

The Manchester one is essentially run by real Germans but has been a victim of its own success, it spreads out for miles now and a lot of it is crap.

Birmingham has the largest one outside of, erm, Germany lols

I spend a fortune every year on German pic n mix at the Bristol market. I'm not a fan of their version of sausages but they're pretty good on the sweet front.

I'm going to the Lincoln one next w/e. It had better be farking good.

Went to Ulm last year. Gluwine in the snow. Wonderful. But why go to one in the UK ?

To be honest most of the ones here in Germany are pretty crap too, apparently they were better when they were actually run by locals as a way off making a bit of extra money before christmas, but now the towns charge too much for the stalls and its gone downhill into a scruffy commercialism.

Traditionally it was a way off getting rid of all the crap wine left over at the end of the season, throw a few spices in and heat it up to cover the taste.

Similar to the "Octoberfest" most towns have them (called kerbs), it was too warm to brew beer through summer by traditional methods, so the last brews of spring were made extra strong too help preserve them through the summer heat, when the first autumn brews started all the towns threw party's to get rid of the leftover beer.

There is also a strong christmas beer known as bock beer at the christmas markets here. Although a quick look on wikipedia doesn't suggest any particular association with christmas, its the only time I have seen it available.

Whats wrong with decent bitter and parkin ?

@MSP, see Tim Powers wonderful book, [i]The Drawing Of The Dark[/i]. The title specifically refers to beer! Not many fantasy fiction books that has a story specifically centered around a brewery and it's beer.
Plot summary:

The year is 1529, and Brian Duffy, a world-weary Irish mercenary soldier is hired in Venice by the mysterious Aurelius Aurelianus to go to Vienna and work as a bouncer at the Zimmerman Inn, former monastery and current brewery of the famous Herzwesten beer.

Meanwhile, the Ottoman Turkish army under Sultan Suleiman I has achieved its most advanced position yet in their march into Europe, and is poised to capture Vienna. With the Turkish army travels Ibrahim, a magician who intends to use horrific spells as part of the siege.

Duffy spent some time in Vienna years ago, and as he returns, he is haunted by memories of past events, and now he also finds himself having visions of mythical creatures and being ambushed by shadowy people and demonic monsters.

Upon arriving in Vienna, Duffy meets Epiphany, a former girlfriend from his previous time in Vienna, and her father, Gustav Vogel, who is working on a painting he calls "The Death of St. Michael the Archangel". It seems the painting is never quite complete, and the elder Vogel is continuously adding additional detail to the work, causing it to gradually become more and more obscure.

Then Duffy finds himself not only drafted into the city's defensive army, but also led by Aurelianus down mystical paths from the surprisingly old Herzwesten brewery to even more ancient caves beneath the city, in search of defenses against the approaching army and clues to Duffy's very nature.

As it turns out, Aurelianus knows more about Duffy and his past than Duffy himself knows, and his real purpose in hiring him is to protect the hidden Fisher King, secret spiritual leader of the western world, and to defend him and the West against the Turkish advance in the siege of Vienna. And the real reason that it's critical that Vienna not be captured by the Turks is because it's the site of the Herzwesten brewery. The Herzwesten light and bock beers are famous throughout Europe, but the dark beer, produced only every eight hundredth year, has supernatural properties and must not be allowed to fall into enemy hands.

Meanwhile, others are drawn to Vienna in anticipation of significant events. The so-called "dark birds", magically sensitive individuals from far flung corners of the world, arrive in the city hoping for a sip of the Herzwesten dark, and a small group of middle-aged Vikings have improbably sailed their ship up the Danube River to Vienna, having sensed the possibility that the prophesied final battle of Ragnarok will take place here.

We have one in Cabot Circus in Bristol too now every year. It's beyond shite.

I wandered down a couple of years ago at lunch time hoping for a good bratty and a pint of wobbly and it was poo the bratwurts from Lidl were far better I was disapointed

Anybody know where you can buy Apelcorn (Apfelkorn) schnapps in the UK other than online?

AFAIK SD Leisure does general event management. They are always about for large events in Manchester. The United trophy bus parade thing for example.