Market Place Europe’s fantastic Exeter Christmas Market brings the Cathedral Green, at the heart of the city centre, to life. Market stalls offering unique, handmade and unusual gifts, decorations and food items stand outside of this famous landmark in the weeks building up to Christmas. The iconic Cathedral occupies a special place in the heart of Exeter. It has been the focus of life in the city for centuries. Having this as the backdrop to the market makes it an ideal Christmas market location and one that enhances the experience of all who visit.

The Market Place Europe Team (Managing Director, Nick Rhodes, is second in from the left)
The Market Place Europe Team (Managing Director, Nick Rhodes, is second in from the left)

The market has been running for three years and has continued to get bigger and better each year. This year has seen the market increase by an impressive 35% compared to the first year and the number of visitors has increased by at least double. After being over subscribed for traders this year, Market Place Europe are already looking at opportunities to extend the market once again next year. Each year Market Place continues to attract a fantastic range of traders and has a mix of local and continental stall holders. This mix goes down really well with customers as they are able to get both locally sourced products and gifts, as well as ones from around the globe.

Exeter Christmas Market 1The market was open Monday to Wednesday 10.00am to 19.00pm (bars closed at 19.15pm), Thursday to Saturday 10.00am to 21.00pm (bars closed at 21.15pm) and Sunday 11.00am to 18.00pm (bars closed at 17.45pm). A week before the market opens the Market Place Europe team begin to set up the market, laying the floor and putting up the wooden log cabins. During this week traders turn up to decorate their stalls and prepare for the busy weeks ahead.

It also gives the traders a chance to meet and get to know each other, as well as the Market Place team. As you walk around Cathedral Green it is great to see such a wide range of ages visiting the market throughout the day. You can see young families, school children having a tour, groups of teenagers, office workers, the elderly, the list goes on, but everyone who visits the market has big smiles on their faces and all join in with the Christmas spirit.

Exeter Christmas Market 2As the day turns into early evening you can see the two bars begin to get full and people enjoying alcoholic beverages after a successful and fun shopping trip to the market. Market Place Europe offer educational tours at the market for local schools, this is something that has gone down really well with the children who visit and something that the traders enjoy also. A member of the Market Place Europe team, who gives them an insight into how the market is run, takes the children, along with their teachers, around the market. They are introduced to numerous traders and find out about the life of a market trader, as well as being given a goody bag.

There were also different competitions run at the market for children and adults, which had fantastic prizes. One example of this was the weekly photography competition, where customers were asked to send in photo’s they had taken at the market and the one that was judged to be the best received a £25 voucher to spend at the market. All of the traders at the market are very upbeat and enjoy getting in the Christmas spirit over the time period they are trading at Exeter.

Their positive energy definitely passes on to all who visit and creates a buzz and warmth around the market, making people want to stay for longer and visit again. The Exeter Christmas Market has offered shoppers a truly engaging retail experience this season, with a veritable feast of a quality fayre reminiscent of traditional German Christmas markets.

Market Place Europe’s Nick Rhodes, told MTN,
“Market Place Europe are delighted to partner Exeter Cathedral in delivering a fantastic Christmas market. The market has developed significantly over the 3 years of its operation and it is now an event that people really look forward to. The market was heavily oversubscribed this year and with most traders announcing record sales for 2014 so we anticipate even greater demand for 2015.”

Market Place Europe is one of the UK’s leading operators of Continental and Special event markets and one of the country’s leading all round market consultancies. An exciting and innovative company specialising in high quality Continental, German style Christmas and International Gourmet Food markets offering a bespoke market event service. Market Place offer a comprehensive consultancy service carrying out health checks, service reviews, interim management, market layout and design solutions and anything to do with the market industry. Their expertise and knowledge in all aspects of the market industry is second to none.

Editors comments;“I thoroughly enjoyed the time that I spent at Exeter Christmas Market and it certainly put me in the Christmas spirit. The wooden log cabins looked fantastic and the traders did a brilliant job of decorating them. As I walked through the market I could hear the excitement in customers’ voices at the different and unique products they were seeing, as well as occasionally hearing them passing on positive comments to traders”.

“All of the traders were very welcoming and had nothing but good things to say about the market, which was true credit to the hard work put in by Market Place Europe to put on such a great Christmas Market. I have no doubt in my mind that I will be visiting Exeter Christmas Market again and taking the family with me.”

Any trader interested in joining us for 2015 should contact
Nick Rhodes on 07891 632820 or nick@marketplaceeurope.co.uk


[hr gap=”30″]
Telephone 0161 478 6060