Question: what do you call several dozen pop-up shops, all freshly popped up together at the one time of year when they might actually be useful?
Answer: a Christmas market.
Once upon a time Christmas markets, like many English Christmas traditions, were something we borrowed from Germany but did a little less well. And if you enjoy Glühwein and sugared pretzels, there are plenty of those ones still around, often run by borrowed Germans. (I have fond memories of the one in Old Market Square, Nottingham, and there’s a nice London specimen on the South Bank by the Royal Festival Hall.)
If you’re in search of imaginative gifts, however, there’s a new breed of market that may prove rather more helpful.
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