Cardiff Indoor Flea Market is one of this area’s real hidden gems and if you’ve got an hour or two to spare on the weekend, it’s a fabulous place to explore. A word of warning though; you can lose hours in this Aladdin’s den!
Treasure!
The market is split into three areas; two main rooms which house the stalls, and an auction room, where items are on display on a Saturday so that people can view them before the auction on a Sunday (viewing on a Sunday starts at 9am and the auction starts at 10am and usually ends around 1pm).
I met auctioneer, John, who had the most fabulous moustache, and he encouraged people to pop down and find out what’s on offer. He also helped me find a beautiful jewellery box, which I managed to haggle down from £15 to a tenner, which seemed to leave us both happy (result!)
Auctioneer John
There’s a really nice vibe at the market, with stall holders minding other people’s pitches and helping buyers carry their wares out to their cars. This weekend heralded the market’s 2nd birthday and punters were handed free ice creams in the café to celebrate. The café is brilliant, surrounded by the weird and wonderful stuff for sale, including a rather ginormous figurine of what I originally thought was a samurai warrior, but it had tusks, so I’m not really sure what it is, except for impressive.
There’s so much on sale, it’s a real delight to meander through and let your eyes wander from shelf to shelf, stall to stall. Me and a friend stopped to chat to many of the stall holders and they were so friendly. Of course they are hoping that people will make a purchase but there was no element of the hard sell; it was more like a chat with a buddy.
I spoke to Sheila Saltmarsh, who has two wonderful stalls selling furniture and other classic bits and pieces:
“I’ve got one stall but two pitches. It’s my Victoriana and everything Edwardian and I’ve got a little bit of a retro stall because there is a need for retro and we lost our retro person so I jumped in!
I’ve been here a year now. It’s going very well. It’s a lovely atmosphere down here. We’ve got some great people here and there’s some fantastic items of stock, so there’s always something going on and always new things coming and going. I love it.
We’ve got wonderful people working here if you’re not here. We’ve got Big Kev, as I call him, who manages this area, and Steve always looks out for me as well when I’m not here. Everyone mucks in and helps each other because the customer have to have a service. If someone’s not here, you don’t want a customer not getting an item that they want.
There’s so much exciting stuff here. We’ve got a huge Indian at the head of the auction room and we’ve got this other
My beautiful chair
massive, ten foot tall character from one of the comics…come and have a look and see the wackiness for yourselves!
As well as the wacky, there’s some amazingly beautiful pieces here in the market. I love my furniture and I love the Victorian and Edwardian furniture. I also love things that are really pretty and ornate and French.
There’s everything here from furniture, jewellery, brick-a-brack, crockery, clothing, apparel like umbrellas, hats, feathers, gloves. You name it, we’ve got it.”
On Sheila’s store there was a beautiful ornate jewellery box, a flute, a bowler hat and some lovely items of furniture (so lovely that I couldn’t resist buying this chair! Oops – I was only there to show the market to a friend. Louise came away with a wooden chest that was exactly what she wanted, spending £35 instead of the £100 anticipated buying new).
Prices range from pence to pounds and I would encourage any visitor to haggle for their desired item (I think the stall holders expect it).
Take your time and have a good rummage; you may find something you didn’t even know that you needed in your life. Or an immaculate collection of Babysham glasses (which nobody needs, but everybody wants).
Babysham!
The market is open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 10am – 5pm, auction on a Sunday 10am to 1pm.
Call 029 2132 1083 for more information or email cardiffifm@gmail.com
The flea market is in Unit 2 Clydesmuir Road Industrial Estate, Tremorfa, Cardiff, CF24 2QS.
Find out more here: http://www.cardiffindoorfleamarket.com/
Cardiff Indoor Flea Market