I first visited the Forge Market within my first week of being in Scotland as it's located pretty close by and I liked the idea of seeing Scotland's largest indoor market! I liked the place right away as the building is pretty cool and not what I expected from a 'market', so I was excited to get inside and see what the place had to offer. I entered through the main door to be greeted by a large fruit stall which sells so many delicious and rare kinds of fruit which I just had to buy right away (this place has since become my weekly fruit shop, the Chinese apples are the BOMB). I was off to a good start and eager to check out the rest of the market. Unfortunately, the market never got any better than that first fruit stall. As you walk down the 'streets' inside (which I was told that they happen to be named after different aspects of the 'Only Fools and Horses' TV show) you start to question whether you've already been this way as everything looks exactly the same and many of the stalls sell the same things.
Some of the more common ones are rug/carpet stalls, electronics repair stalls, purse/wallet stalls, furniture stalls, candy/sweets stalls, domestic appliance stalls and of course, the never ending amount of knock off designer clothes stalls. When you get to the middle of the market, there's like a mini carnival for kids with a few different rides for them to try (keeps them amused during boring shopping trips!). On another side of the market there is small arcade for adults with some slot machines. Each corner, and pretty much round the edge of the whole market, has different food places with a variety of options, chips, pizzas, curries and most other takeaway meals. The market also has an up and downstairs sit-in café which is probably the most ideal place to get food here. I also noticed some jewellery stores inside, and even a butchers, but overall I found the market to be very limited and repetitive. You can also lose track of time in here as it's deceivingly big inside (I think I was in there for an hour 1/2!) I noticed that the place does get surprisingly busy and that most of the shoppers here are the elderly and I think that sums the place up, it has a lot of stalls aimed at that age range and it's topped off by the bingo hall right outside the entrance! The market opens Thursday's to Sunday's, I'd recommend going before the weekend as like I said, it can get very busy then. The market is in a very good location, right across from the Forge Shopping Centre, and is very easily accessible. In the end, I'm glad that I went here as I love the fruit stall and use it regularly but I really wouldn't come here for anything else other than if I had some time to kill. read more