Page 45 - MarketTimesAugust2015
P. 45

  Market Times • August 2015
REPORT
Celebrating LYLM in downtown Budapest
THE Love Your Local Market campaign has crossed borders and continents, with campaign banners aloft in some of the world’s most famous markets — including this, Central Market Hall in Budapest.
Built in 1894, the market is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Hungarian capital, and lays claim to being the largest indoor market in Europe.
Covering 10,000 square metres, it is an architectural masterpiece on three floors with ornate steelwork, a colourful tiled roof and dozens of stalls selling produce and souvenirs.
What’s more, as well as being a mecca for tourists, locals still shop there in significant numbers.
The market, which stands near the Danube on the busy commercial Pest side of the city, was badly damaged in World War Two, but was returned to its former glory in the 1990s.
A relatively recent addition is an Aldi supermarket in the basement, which is also home to the fresh fish market and the pickled vegetable stalls.
The ground floor is mainly produce, with plenty of paprika, smoked meats and fruit and veg stalls, whilst the upper level is dominated by souvenir and gift stalls.
Traders initially objected to the discount supermarket, but they soon discovered that there was no clash of products sold, and it has simply brought more footfall into the seven-day-a-week market.
A tour of the market was one of the features of the World Union of Wholesale Markets conference in Budapest.
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