6 min readLevenshulme Market is a bustling haven of independent creativity, with a rotating roster of 50 traders - meaning plenty of artisan delights as well as weird and wonderful wares to enjoy. Taking place every weekend between March and December, the next edition is on Saturday 27th July – where there will also be live music from The Lonesome Penniless Cowboys.
Established as a Community Interest Company back in 2013, Levenshulme Market is one of only a handful of Social Enterprise Markets in the country, celebrating sustainability, local traders and having a positive impact on the community wherever possible.
Highly interested in charming and unusual creativity, HAUNT Manchester decided to discover some of the traders coming to Levenshulme Market this weekend…
Bloor's Emporium
Beautiful contemporary arts and crafts – all handmade and with attention to detail. A range of eye-catching designs often celebrating the natural world and vintage themes. These are unique items, ideal for gifts. We particularly like the look of their hand-crafted hairbands complete with vintage artificial flowers... and these beautiful feline-inspired artworks!
Lush Brownies
It might not seem straightforwardly gothic… but surely there is something dark and decadent about a brownie? Lush Brownies is the creation of local trader Nicki Griffiths, who forged her baking concept whilst also balancing a family life and a day job as a teacher for the deaf. Having since turned that concept into a business, she now takes orders for these homemade delicious brownies, whilst also trading at a number of markets across Greater Manchester. With her brownies previously winning a ‘most delicious’ award at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Bake Off - these baking creations from Nicki very much deserve a try! A number of inventive and exciting flavours can be expected... be sure to stay updated with the Facebook Page to find out what will be available. Displayed in enticing glass jars on the market stall itself, these brownies are certainly hard to resist – and there are gluten-free and vegan options too! No stranger to cooking up culinary creations, Nicki’s inventive approaches to baking have also included brownie pop wedding favours and even a three tier double chocolate wedding cake in the past! Be ready to be impressed.
http://www.lushbrownies.co.uk/
Midnight Alchemy Designs
Handmade ethical jewellery inspired by nature, science, folklore and the wonders of the natural world is at the heart of Midnight Alchemy Designs. It came about when its founder, Sarah, struggled to find a wedding ring in a design that she liked. In turn, she decided to learn how to make her own! Following this project, Sarah was inspired to continue in this vein, going on to study Jewellery Design at Leeds College of Art and then founded Midnight Alchemy Designs. Items available are distinct and beautiful: including eco silver pieces, leaf skeleton designs, silver birch tree-inspired bangles and bracelets embossed with flowers. Hand-crafting and attention to detail are central to every Midnight Alchemy Designs piece and ethical materials and traditional techniques matter within the process.
https://midnightalchemydesigns.com/
Junk to Funky
Think that pegs are just for putting out the washing? Think again. Junk to Funky are the creators of repurposed pegs – that’s pegs crafted into unique hanging decorations and keepsakes. These make great alternative gifts and celebrate recycling too!
Wild and Rocky
The place for handmade pebble art and jewellery with the natural world at its centre. These are unique, artisan pieces sure to turn heads – and put a smile on people’s faces. Items available include pebble pictures, pendants, rings and earrings. The incorporation of natural materials allows for an alluring effect, infused with interesting varieties of patterns, textures and colours.
More on Levenshulme and the Market...
The positivity can be felt further in the format of the market itself; welcoming a variety of content, remaining free to enter for the public and providing a platform for local trade. It also encourages creativity, often incorporating performances from grassroots artists.
From food products and gift ideas to whole artworks and even plants, an array of content can be expected every week it is running - when on a Saturday, 10am-4pm. Announced as a finalist in the BBC Food and Farming Awards back in April this year, it is clear that the market has a reputation for quality too, as well as diversity.
Another marker of its success in bringing something special to the local community, the market is often affectionately referred to as ‘Levy Market’, and the innovative format involves a ‘Night Market’ once a month, with the running time of 5-9pm. 2019 has also seen Levenshulme Market take its traders on Tuesdays to a site at The University of Manchester (11.30am-2.30pm). See the dates here.
Typically hosted on the car park next to Levenshulme Station, even the location is intriguing, close to the now-iconic ‘The Street With No Name’. This has become the title applied to the street where the railway station stands; a strip just 77 yards long and more than 160 years old. Rather unusually, the street was given no official name, but after years of being referred to as ‘The Street With No Name’, a sign was fitted with this title!
On the topic of unusual and intriguing locations in Levenshulme, there is also a fascinating article about an abandoned miniature village (now no more) in a front garden, written by Hayley Flynn of Skyliner and available on her blog here.
Levenshulme, which is a district roughly halfway between Manchester and Stockport, has many stories of hidden history and fascinating facts associated with it. Whilst the Antiques Village is an ideal place to explore, winding backstreets and bustling independent shops make Levenshulme an interesting visit.
Although seen as in Greater Manchester today, it was previously considered a township in Lancashire – it was not until 1909 that Levenshulme was seen as a part of Manchester. Additionally, the area to the East of the district was known for years as ‘Talleyrand’, with the famous French Statesman Talleyrand rumoured to have visited during his exile from France in the French Revolution. Examples of how that naming still holds influence can be seen in the title of the characterful bar ‘The Talleyrand’ on the A6 in Levenshulme.
Another local legend in Levenshulme is that the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin was a regular visitor to the Blue Bell Inn on Barlow Road – with a pub still on the site with the same name, though a rebuild - as the original suffered a hit during a bombing raid in World War II. On the subject of interesting and different places to drink, there is hidden bar in the tucked-away haven of the Klondyke Club and plans to convert the currently abandoned former Levenshulme Station into a Cycle Café.
Levenshulme is one of the city’s liveliest districts and bustling with creativity too. It is the new home of spoken-word night Verbose (Fred’s Ale House), has the annual Levenshulme Festival and is the home of ALL FM.
By Emily Oldfield
Images used with permission from Levenshulme Market from the Levenshulme Market website
