Market sells NI diversity

By Noreen Erskine
BBC News

Once St George's Market in Belfast was used as an emergency mortuary.

Like the produce, a diverse range of customers come to St George's

When German bombs blitzed Belfast in 1941 during WWII, some 700 people died in the air raids.

As the city morgue spilled over, more than 250 bodies were brought to the market in the city centre for identification. Distraught relatives went there to search the coffins for their loved ones.

Today the restored Victorian redbrick building beside the city's courts of justice is filled with bustle and activity during the Friday market there every week.

On Saturdays it hosts a gourmet City Food and Garden market.

Amid stalls piled high with fresh fruit and vegetables, delicatessen and bakery foods, clothing, antiques and shark meat, it's a meeting point for the city's diverse communities.

Attacks increase

The market is situated near the predominantly Catholic Markets area, barely half a mile from the mainly Protestant Donegall Pass district.

Founded in 1890 and run by Belfast City Council, the market attracts stall holders and customers from across all of Northern Ireland's communities.

I've not encountered any incident in the market , although there have been some problems for me elsewhere while I've been living in Northern Ireland Wendy Chen, 29, marketgoer

Under its glass roof, there's little evidence of the tensions which continue to bedevil parts of the city and beyond.

Despite an increase in racial attacks in Northern Ireland - the Police Service of Northern Ireland says recorded racial incidents and hate crimes have risen by about 300% in the past three years - St George's Market seems to have escaped being caught up in the scourge of racism.

Market traders say they've noticed an increasing number of immigrants coming to it.

Wendy Chen, 29, has been regularly shopping there since she came to Belfast from China three years ago.

"I come here every week. There's a lot of choice, and the people here in the market are very friendly," she said.

Lilian Muiruri moved to Belfast two years ago to study nursing. She too has found the market to be a haven.

"I've not encountered any incident in the market, although there have been some problems for me elsewhere while I've been living in Northern Ireland."

Divisions fade

Members of the city's Chinese community are particularly keen on organic ducks, according to stallholder Anne-Marie Mullan.

The market has become a beacon of multiculturalism in Belfast

She sells organic chicken, eggs, ducks and spring lamb produced at her family's organic hill farm near Limavady in County Londonderry.

"We sell to people from all communities, but lots of Chinese people come looking for the ducks, while immigrants from east Europe want the lamb for meatballs and mousakka etc."

The traditional divisions between green and orange areas on the map of Northern Ireland also seem to fade away inside the market.

Prints of old street scenes of Belfast painted by stallholder Robert Young, from Carrickfergus, County Antrim, are proving a best seller.

Among them is a picture of the recently demolished police station at Andersonstown in the heart of nationalist west Belfast.

"It has been very popular with people from all areas, including tourists," he said .

Ann Houston, from Hillsborough, County Down, sells household goods such as vacuum cleaner bags, cooker hoods and washing machine parts.

Her father set up the stall about 20 years ago. Some of her regular customers come from the Irish Republic.

She said: "They come because they have problems in Dublin getting hold of vacuum cleaner bags and spare parts these days. Most of my customers come because of the friendly atmosphere - and because they're looking for a bargain!"