What’s Warsaw talking about this weekend? That’s the new Nocny Market that made its debut at the start of June. Met with a wave of fanfare and publicity, this unique space has revived an otherwise derelict industrial area and transformed an abandoned wasteland into a hive of activity…
by Alex WEBBER
Set on and around a disused train platform, the approach takes visitors through a Bladerunner backdrop of battered-looking buildings coated in graffiti. Treading across cracks and potholes, it’s a route that eventually opens out to blaze of buzz and colour.
Assembling dozens of independent traders, the organizers have excelled themselves in collecting a diverse assortment of merchants and sticking them under one roof – actually, not so much a roof as it is a series of decomposing corrugated slats that hang above the platform. For all that, the untamed, overgrown nature of the venue lends a highly individualistic slant that works well with the offer: lined-up like soldiers, find stalls and trucks dealing in everything you want on a Saturday night…
Palace of Culture socks? Certainly.
A new Frisbee? That too.
Maybe a tattoo? Yep, there’s a mobile, tented parlour and all.
But mostly, it’s a place that’s about food and drink. To meet that end, the recruitment drive has led to a number of qualified names hawking their wares: curry from India Express, artisan donuts from MOD, hot dogs, roasted chestnuts, Vietnamese street food, falafel from the legendary Falafel Bejrut…
The list goes on, and the kitchen smells that waft over this decaying concrete construction are temptation in its purest form. Unsurprisingly, the reaction of the public has been immense: find the place thronged with gents with waxed whiskers, families, foodies and everything in between. Keeping the atmosphere upbeat, live acts spin records while bar staff knock-out new wave beers and generous cocktails (if there is a criticism, then one suggestion would be a separate queue for beer and a different one for drinks that take bloody ages to make). On-trend and energetic, mark this in your diary as a summer must-visit…
