Fairyhouse Market

@ Fairyhousesm

Fair dues to you for replying and taking time to do so, but i think you skimmed over some of the points that were made and rushed to defend the market somewhat before taking on peoples comments on here.

Firstly, take the weather out of the equation - the weather was fine on the day i was there and if it was bad i certainly wouldnt have blamed the market for that!

Your €2 parking price is fine and spot on in fairness and i dont mind paying it to be honest.

I haven't been in about five years due to my work, so i wasnt trying to point out that i have avoided the market for that time, but merely didnt have the time to attend. Previous to my last visit five years ago, we attend the market about 1 to 2 times a month so we were regular visitors.

Take on board the fact that i want to support the market, but in its current form, it seems to be tired and frankly needs a reboot - get rid of the tat, the knock off clothes, cds, dvds, boots and runners and drug promotion/use paraphernalia stands. Im sure in the stall holder contract/terms it states no selling of counterfit goods or services - so why cant one of ye walk around and throw out the knock off sellers like the dvd/cd copys that were for sale near the gate on the day i visited - Stop having customs and the gardai do that job for you - they have enough to do in fairness and reports like the gardai going into your market to do such busts does nothing for the reputation of the market in fairness.

We listened to what people wanted and ensured that we had the best value of all the markets in Southern Ireland (can’t comment on UK / NI as we have not visited them in some time). The good news is that things are on the way up again and we are working hard on attracting more artisan items which you are looking for.

You could have a large number of artisan stalls/traders next sunday, but IMHO the reason they are not there is because you are a home to the few stalls/traders that bring the whole reputation of the market down - therefore the serious traders wont attend. I not saying i think fairyhouse market should go the way of Donnybrook Fare or the likes with fancy expensive cheese or overpriced olives and deli meats, but it needs something more then one single bakery stand. Clean up the market, look for and only allow quality and not quantity in the amount of your stalls. Allow more room for car boot sellers.

I would and im quite sure a lot of others would prefer the market to be half the size and have quality stands instead of the market being huge with no particular vetting of stalls - again for instance, i have read in the papers/heard from people that gardai and customs have visited fairyhouse to bust fake dvd/cd retailers on many occasions, but somehow ye still allow/dont check for this going on in your own market.

Have a walk around your own market one sunday - become a mystery shopper or nominate an unknown in your team to do so. Have a customer head on you when you go around the stalls and see what you think is family friendly, what looks like a rip off and ask yourself how others perceive this seller/stall.

The comment about being a love / hate extra made us laugh a little bit but we are an equal opportunity market. We do not discriminate from race, gender, social class or anything else. As they say you should not judge a book by its cover. It’s unfortunate that you didn't get to interact with the food stall holder as they are all very friendly and you probably would have had a bit of banter with them.

Point taken and im sure he was a nice fellow, but again, put a customer head on you when viewing this stall - My whole point is that you only had two hot food stalls of this nature (im excluding the crepes stalls and the like), now he is turning/handling/serving hotdogs from the heater with his bare hands wearing and presenting himself in a tracksuit, baseball cap and wearing socks over the bottoms just like the fashion style made popular by love/hate (as i commented)
Now ask yourself would i buy hot food from this guy the way he presents himself as a hot food stall holder (not discriminating on race, gender or anything else as you previously mentioned by you), or would i buy one from a person who presents themselves as a aproned, gloved, professional looking server? - im just calling it as it is in real life just like anyone else would.

One of the best stalls i saw in the place was the lego model stall run by the young boy and his mum. It was great to see such a entrepreneurial spirit from such a young lad running his own small business. Ye need to promote more student ideas and start ups like that kid.

So, maybe take the comments on board of this thread and the older one here in the Meath forum.

Try doing a quick customer questionnaire at the entrance one sunday or just stand back and view the place as a customer one sunday and see what you honestly think. It is a good market and there is value to be had at it and it deserves to go from strength to strength, but its just those few issues that are holding it back.

Best of luck with it either way.