Belfast's annual Christmas Market has made a welcome return to the city, marking the official countdown to the festive season.
Back for its 17th year, the popular market at City Hall opened its gates to the public last Saturday and saw thousands of eager shoppers queue to be the first to experience it.
Support for local food and craft has increased this year with traders from Northern Ireland making up 40% of the 2022 offering, including a number from the nearby St George’s Market who are also joining in the festive fun.
Read more: Belfast Christmas Market attracts 50,000 in opening weekend
Among the new faces this year are brother and sister Eoin and Siobhan Kelly from The Wee Fella Printshop. Established over lockdown, Eoin designs illustrated prints of well-known little corners of Belfast.
"We usually sell our product on Etsy but this year we've decided to come down and be part of the Christmas Market as a way of expanding the business," Siobhan told Belfast Live.
"This is our first year at the Christmas Market and we're only a few days in but so far it's been great. We're really excited to be here and we know it will get much busier the closer we get to Christmas."
She added: "The atmosphere is amazing and as traders we help each other out and stick together. We hope that being here this Christmas marks the start of the next step of our business and we can expand it a bit more."
Back for his second year is Jonny Jordan, one of the founders of Belfast Coffee, which was also developed over lockdown.
The coffee company was launched in October 2020 by Jonny, and his business partners - Albert Oberholzer, Eddie Allan and Dani McFerran - and was soon exporting all over the world.
And while the Belfast Coffee Company may have only launched just over two years ago, the original recipe dates back to 18th century Belfast, when thousands of workers were building grand ships down by the docks.
Robert Allan, a Belfast shipwright, blended coffee with spices he traded and this recipe was passed down through the generations to Eddie, who shared it with his three companions to create the official Belfast Coffee Co.
Jonny said: "I think everyone was getting creative during lockdown due to being cooped up in their houses so we decided to start out then and it's been going well.
"We were at the Christmas Market last year and it's a lot busier this year with more people being back in their offices during the day. We had a really good opening weekend just past and everyone seems to be in a good mood.
"When you're called Belfast Coffee you can't get more local than that and you can hear people commenting about that when they walk past. It's great to be here and to be able to get our name out there."
Some of the traders have benefitted from The Jolly Big Business Boost, an annual competition organised by Market Place Europe, the group behind Belfast's Continental Christmas Market, to find the most exciting young businesses in Northern Ireland.
The lucky winners of the competition, targeting young entrepreneurs, are given the opportunity to trade for free at the event. To further boost their chances of success, they are also supported by the Christmas Market team with business mentoring and PR opportunities.
Among those who have benefitted are brother and sister, Gerard and Anna Byrne from Cookstown. Their business, Wave the Animals, was founded in March 2021, to spread awareness of the importance of sustainable fashion and how it can help protect our oceans.
"We won the competition to have a stall at last year's Market and it went really well for us so we decided to come back," Anna explained.
"The atmosphere was amazing and after Covid it was great to be out seeing and meeting people again. Last year it was mainly about getting our name out there as a new business but this year we're definitely benefitting from more sales through our social media following.
"Everything we sell is made from recycled plastic from the ocean and mixed with organic cotton so it's 100% sustainable. We also donate 5% of our profits to marine conservation and we hope to give more in the future as the business grows."
This year’s market also features over 100 stalls from around the world, selling everything from crafts and fashion to art and food.
One of the newest international traders this year is Peace of Afrika, which supplies handcrafted clothing, jewellery and décor items from South Africa to the UK market.
Morgan New from the business said: "We've been trading for seven years and we have been at Christmas Markets and South African events all around the UK.
"This is our first year in Belfast and our first impressions are that the people are really lovely, very talkative and more supportive than some of the other places we've been to.
"It's a beautiful setting too and there's a great mix of stalls here and I think that variety is very important. We've had a lot of people saying that it's great to have another part of the world represented at this year's Market."
The Belfast Christmas Market has become a significant contributor to the local economy, regularly attracting over one million visitors from across Europe and the UK and resulting in an economic impact to the city of around £75m.
Visitors arriving from the Republic of Ireland are also increasing year on year and now make up just over 25% of the overall total. The market certainly shows no signs of dwindling in popularity as indicated from its opening weekend - it attracted 50,000 people in the first two days.
Belfast Christmas Market continues at the City Hall until 6pm on 22 December.
Opening hours are:
Monday – Wednesday 10am – 8pm
Thursday – Saturday 10am – 10pm
Sunday - 12 noon – 6pm
Video by Belfast Live videographer Harry Bateman.
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