Cork's English Market moves to restrict tourist groups

Ireland’s oldest indoor market is introducing a tour-group booking system and is capping visitor group sizes to a maximum of eight people at a time in a bid to manage surging tourist numbers.

The new protocols at Cork’s English Market, due to come into effect on Wednesday, March 1, have been designed to facilitate and structure tours of the busy food market, while maintaining the day-to-day running of a market where up to 400 people work in 46 businesses.

They have been prepared in response to a significant increase in tourist numbers to the market in the wake of the visit by Queen Elizabeth in May 2011, which helped make it one of the city’s must-visit tourist locations.