Castlefield Market

We ended up at Castlefield Market this weekend after visiting the Pringles Summer Fest on Spinningfields Square. Not wanting to head into the City Centre but needing to stretch our legs, it was the perfect destination.
Now, Upper Campfield Market is huge! When the market takes place (the first Saturday of the month) it’s full of food, craft and vintage stalls. It does feel somewhat cavernous and there’s almost no way the space could be filled — it’s the height as opposed to the width that increases the feeling of being ‘empty’. Despite this, we spent a happy hour or so getting some lunch and stocking up on goodies for dinner.
Food wise, there was pizza from The Pizza Maker — we had the pepperoni, which had the perfect balance of cheese & tomato sauce, so we could pick it up straight away without spilling any sauce — The Curry Manc, Thyme Out Deli (who run a brunch club for those early birds), and African and Moroccan inspired stalls. There’s also Mud, providing tea & coffee with cake, and Pig & Port, offering Portuguese tapas paired with port. The latter also provides other alcohol, predominantly in the form of local beer and cider, though I did spot some people with wine.
After eating, we started to get some items for dinner. We went for some mature cheddar from Just the Cheese (after also tasting the black pepper — yum!) and a loaf of granary bread from Hunters. Both were devoured when we got home and contributed to a delicious picnic style dinner. I also couldn’t resist chocolates from In Truffle We Trust, which are decorated with metallic edible paint and are a great after-​dinner treat.
It was great to revisit this market and it’s another one to add on the list next to Altrincham! I believe traders change each month so I’m looking forward to revisiting and discovering something new.

This Market just keeps getting better and better. Every time I visit there are new and different stalls as well as some regular favourites. The food Vendors change quite frequently giving plenty of choice on every visit, with most of it all cooked fresh and to order, even the canoli
The market is about to change from the regular slot of the first Sunday of every month to the first SATURDAY. It’s indoors which is perfect for the Manchester Weather and the enclosed space reminds me a little of being in a village fête which is added to by the very friendly stall holders.
The market is not overly large but there is plenty to keep you interested and entertained for a couple of hours. There is a communal seating area near the permanent bar which has long tables to share and some soft arm chairs. Trick is to order your food then go and find a table.
There is a regular DJ playing good music, it’s a shame it’s from a lap top as I think some original vinyl would give a more authentic feel and be more in keeping with the feel of the market.
I’m looking forward to a Christmas event here as I think it could be a little different to the standard Christmas Markets offered in the over crowded areas.

Visited the Castlefield Artisan Market for the first time on Sunday, although I expected it to be bigger from what people were telling me about the market.
Overall the market was quite vintage and hippy, i couldn’t help but think there was a errm boot fair feel to the market…
Their was a lot of home made produce being sold and vintage/​hippy type clothing and home-​wares.
A DJ was also playing which added an extra touch to the market.

Sleuthing for good markets is a bit of a hobby of mine. Online, a lot of reports point to London’s Borough Market as the benchmark city-​based artisan market. Read Unilocal reviews of Borough Market here —
According to this write-​up in Manchester Confidential, the organisers of Castlefield Artisan Market have visited Borough Market and used it as the blueprint for their market —
Of course, as countless England football managers will confirm, tactical blueprints are all very well, but count for nothing unless the talent is there on the pitch! Castlefield Artisan Market boasts a strong and varied team of stallholders, on a par or probably even better than the selection available at the Saturday South Manchester Street Markets such as Chorlton. However, with variety being the spice of life, I advise on visiting both Chorlton etc and Castlefield, especially as ATM, AFAIK, there are no stallholders who do both South Manchester Street and Castlefield. Plus, Castlefield is an awesome location, at once accessible and relatively tranquil, full of character with cobbled streets and squares, and flanked on either side by viaducts and canals.
Foodwise, there are various cake stalls ranging from homely cream scones to more elaborate tarts and cakes, cupcakes and petit-​fours. Savouries include highly artisan bread (including sourdough), ready-​meal curries, authentic Tex Mex, pizza, cheeses and chutneys. I feel a special roll of the drums is due for the guy who supplies the pies for Greens restaurant in Didbsbury who has a stall here — if the pies are such that Simon Rimmer feels to throw the towel in, who are you or I to disagree! But it is definitely not just food to go here, with new craft items such as jewelry, stoneware pottery, framed art, vintage/​collectors’ items, garden plant and local grower stalls all adding to the buzz.
As Emma-​Louise mentions, the retro dancers with vinyl DJ take the atmosphere to a whole other level.
I’ve uploaded a ton of photo of various stalls — some cute photos, plus some others on which you can find web addresses or Facebook/​Twitter details for the stallholders as there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot online to accurately reflect the richness of this monthly market. The ManCon article mentioned above also has a gallery of great photos if you scroll down.
One thing I would say is that most of the food here is for the kitchen store cupboard so although you would definitely want to fill your traditional wicker shopping basket here, you might want to look elsewhere for a hot meal. For vegetarian, Bohemia looks like an OK option, although I haven’t tried it yet as I played safe (and cheap!) by walking the canal path to Topkapi Palace on Deansgate.
Anyway, I’m really glad to welcome Castlefield Artisan to the Manchester Markets scene — here is a wish that it goes from strength to strength in the years ahead as part of a widespread renaissance of local producer markets.

The first Sunday of every month, I’m not making any plans. It’s official. Come rain or shine (and I’ve experienced both in my two visits here), I’m headed to the Castlefield Artisan Market. This little doozy under the arches by Dukes ’92 is one of the finest new entrants in the Manchester market scene, and it’s bursting at the seams with exactly what you’d like to find on a lazy post-​brunch Sunday.
From vintage clothes, excellent comics (big shout out to our friend Adam C who occupies a stall here) and cute little customised household knick-​knacks to delicious fudge in several varieties, unusual and creative sausages, unbelievable breads and the best homemade tortilla chips money can buy (reviews of all these individual organisations to follow), don’t bother eating lunch or hitting the high streets this time of the month. Do what we did last time instead — purchase some high quality sage, potato and onion bread from one stall, a string of sausages from another, some vegetarian black pudding from yet another for the token herbivore, grab some fudge for pudding and tortilla chips for later that night, then take the lot home, knowing that not only are you feasting on some of the finest wares in the North West, you’re helping out a bunch of little local businesses too.
Oh, and the vibe is amazing. There are some great old tunes on the retro juke, people dancing in traditional garments and a whole load of tables and chairs beside if the weather’s looking great. But even if it ain’t, there’s enough shelter to still make it a fantastic experience.
There’s bonus Christmassy one on the 23^rd of December. Forget the family obligations, travelling in traffic and wrapping presents, you’d be mad to miss it!