Night and morning markets to open on Sydney’s Oxford Street

Two new weekly markets will open at Taylor Square later this year, as the City of Sydney continues its efforts to revive Oxford Street.

The council has selected Organic Food Markets – the operator of several Sydney markets, including those at Marrickville and Kings Cross – to run markets on Friday nights and Saturday mornings, in an attempt to bring more foot traffic to the northern end of the Darlinghurst lot.

The Friday night market will begin on October 31, operating between 5pm and 10pm with food and retail vendors. It will share a licensed area with the neighbouring Oxford Hotel, where alcohol can be consumed with stall food.

The Saturday market, a traditional farmers’ market, will begin on November 8, trading between 8am and 2pm.

Once the epicentre of Sydney’s queer and nightlife scene, Oxford Street has become a high street of closed shopfronts and venues.

But in the past two years, the Qtopia queer museum has opened and an $18.5 million cycleway now connects Hyde Park to Taylor Square.

Next month, the former Olympia Theatre will reopen as a hotel with four restaurants, and the delayed Oxford and Foley development, whose construction hoarding has done little for the vibe of the area, is also scheduled to open within months.

City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said Oxford Street had faced “significant challenges in the recent past”.

“The construction of massive Westfield shopping centres at either end of the strip and online shopping [have] hurt its retailers. The lockouts and lockdowns hurt its bars and clubs, and the clearway created fast-flowing, noisy through-traffic, which hurt its streetfront amenity,” she said.

“The City of Sydney is entirely committed to the revitalisation of Oxford Street and the stars are really aligning to see the famous strip reach its full potential.”

Moore said the longer-term vision for Oxford Street was “slowed traffic, improved pedestrian activity and cycling, more and better public spaces”.

Eme Gray, a Paddington resident who frequently uses the public chairs in Taylor Square North, said the markets, which will each include 41 stalls and live music, would suit the community.

“This is really great because it’s very handy for the local people,” she said. “We [will] come here to do some shopping.”

The council wanted a community market operator that would “provide a curated offering with a point of difference” as part of a 20-year sustainability plan.

Organic Food Markets director Amanda Choularton said the markets had been a years-long goal of many businesses and stakeholders.

“What we’ve really learnt through operating markets for the last 30 years in Sydney and NSW is that markets [are] the place where community thrives, you facilitate commerce, and you also facilitate connection,” she said.

“There is this coming together of businesses and organisations from across Oxford Street, be that the Oxford Hotel, the Rainbow Precinct, Qtopia, the Darlinghurst Business Partnership … there have been people who’ve been working towards this goal for a really long time.”

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