January 7th 2016

Currently listed as my #3 most read blog - Paddy's Market seems to be getting a lot of attention lately.

Paddy's Market has been in Sydney for over 150 years located on the ground floor level of what is known now as Market City in the southern end of Chinatown.

The origin of the name is unknown, but is believed to have come from Liverpool, England. In the 1870s, a similar operation had been set up in the back alleys of the Irish area of Liverpool which was known as Sydney's Paddy's Markets. 

In the late 1960s it was decided to move the markets away from Haymarket to a new site at Flemington, further west. 

Sydney's Paddy's Markets had become "a feature of Sydney life", so it was decided to include a new Sydney's Paddy's Markets in a new complex, which opened in 1975. With the construction of the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1979, the no.6 building in Haymarket was demolished and the markets moved into the no.1 & no.2 buildings.

Today Paddy's Market is more like a traditional flea market, specialising in cheap imported clothes, gift ware and also has a small section for fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood. Sydney's Paddy's Markets Haymarket site also sells souvenirs which makes it popular with tourists.

Take a stroll down to Haymarket and be sure to check out the speciality shops upstairs in the new Market City Mall and sample the great food in the Asian Food Court upstairs. 

J G S