A deconsecrated church filled with latex, crochet penises and drag queen DJs may not be what most people associate with a shopping trip – but one alternative market based in Lincoln seems to be set on changing that.
The Naughty Night Market, based in the former St Katherine’s Church on Colegrave St in Lincoln, has cultivated their very own twisted retail offering, filled with haunted dolls, embalmed bats and obscene pottery.
Behind the darkness and intrigue is Southside Lincoln, a community venue hire, and Liza Beckett, 51, owner of Inappropriate Bunting, an alternative craft business.
Liza explained that the idea for the Naughty Night Market grew from a desire to grow her small business.
She explained that Lincoln’s creative spaces seemed to be diminished, and that local businesses, especially alternative ones were struggling to find a place, let alone success.
Liza said: “I knew there was a big demand for my stuff, and stuff like it. I had so many orders on Facebook, and so a market where I could reach more people felt like an obvious move.”
The market began in 2021, as a gathering of 15 alternative businesses, but soon gained some traction among local communities, especially on Facebook.
Soon enough the market was overwhelmed with a plethora of businesses all vouching for a place among the shadowy stalls.
“We have around 45 vendors now,” Liza explained: “it’s so flattering, we have people travelling from London and Brighton.”
One of the vendors who managed to earn a place, was Tom Greenway, 38 a student of fine art at the University of Lincoln.
At the latestmarket Tom stood cheerfully among his range of renaissance-inspired gothic prints and explained that: “The market allows me to do what I love, to pay the bills. I don’t work at all online, so this market is so important to me.”
Liza emphasised the importance of people like Tom – local people – she said that: “90% of our vendors are local businesses, and we want to remain a space for them.”
Clearly this attitude-alongside the array of talented handcraftsmanship on display- has paved the way for immense progress and growth for the market.
When iron-wrought doors opened at 6’oclock on Sunday the first of December, over 650 people passed the unholy threshold. A rise of 150 attendees from its previous event in late October.
This rapidly growing success is certainly surprising amid nationwide small business closures and rising cost of living.
The Office for National Statistics figures, show us that in Lincoln alone 280 businesses ceased trading in 2022, rising by 260 from the previous year. Of course, Lincoln’s businesses also suffered the loss of the Lincoln Christmas market which closed after 40 years.
Gary Mark, 53, who works for Linkage Community Trust based in the Bailgate, explained that: “The Christmas market was a big part of their years takings,” and that while it’s been replaced by the council with a series of events “they don’t produce anything like the volume of people.”
Mark says: he has seen numerous “little cafes and small boutiques close,” and believes that “this is only the start.”
So, what is it about The Naughty Night Market, and the small businesses’ that make it up that is so different?
Liza feels the reason why her market is so well received is because “it’s not one of those typical shitty craft fairs.”
As I walked through a set of doors this December, into the newest addition to the market, that statement certainly rang true.
In a room shrouded in gold and leather- lay a plethora of kink stalls.
Regaled by the sounds of Lady gaga and the soft stomp of the Lincolnshire Local-House of Pixi burlesque troupe there was certainly an electric atmosphere in this private room.
Liam Greetwell was one vendor buzzing at the number of customers.
The 41-year-old was stood among an array of wires and tubes, electrocuting himself with what he told me was “a Victorian electromagnetic kit,” he had reconditioned. He went on to say the kits were once used “to treat mental and physical conditions but are now enjoyed by the kink community.”
Tom Chasseloup, 25, a market attendee remarked that: “It’s definitely not what I expected from a Christmas market,” as Liam offered to demo more of his electrical implements.
Other than the floor to ceiling spiked latex, one of the most interesting features of the room was the way the businesses communicated with each other, trading business tips and tricks alongside body wax and whips.
It is such communication and collaboration which Liza Beckett and Southside Lincoln feels has inspired the next phase the market is going to move into.
Beckett discussed how she was thinking of “having different kinds of Naughty Night Market’s, for the Anime and Goth communities,”
Such markets would almost certainly offer even more spaces to smaller businesses’ and draw further interest and thus success for the market in the future.
Perhaps then the future of small businesses and as Liza puts it “shitty craft fairs” is not as dire as statistics may show. Perhaps the future lies in evolving from tradition and breaking free of taboos, just as the Naughty Night Market has.
