Flying the flag for Leeds at Lille's annual street festival

Leeds grassroots organisation Leeds for Europe was one of the thousands of stall holders taking part in this year's Braderie de Lille.

Did you know that Leeds's French twin city Lille holds Europe's largest flea market and street fair, the Braderie de Lille.

This year, Leeds grassroots organisation Leeds for Europe was one of the thousands of stall holders taking part.

Held annually, this vibrant event takes place over the first weekend of September and attracts between 2 to 3 million visitors from around the world. With origins dating back to the 12th century, the Braderie is a lively celebration of commerce, culture, and community spirit.

The Braderie is one of the highlights in Lille's cultural calendar. For 48 hours, the city is transformed into a massive open-air marketplace, with over 100 kilometres of roads closed to house around 10,000 stalls spread throughout the city.

Professional antique dealers, amateur vendors, and locals alike sell everything from vintage furniture and rare books to clothes, records, art, and curiosities. The market’s festive atmosphere is enhanced by live music, street performances, and countless food stalls.

Another tradition of the Braderie is to indulge in moules-frites (mussels and fires), with some restaurants piling empty shells in friendly rivalry.

At night the city centre becomes a huge party with good natured revellers dancing in the streets to music provided by the various bars.

Over the weekend the Porte de Paris part of the city, in front of Lille's impressive municipal buildings is reserved for political groups and associations. Political parties, unions and other groups like Leeds for Europe, have stalls to engage with visitors and promote their message and ideas.

Peter Packham, one of the Leeds for Europe delegates said: "Since the UK left the European Union Leeds for Europe has worked to try to maintain and strengthen the ties with Leeds's twin cities of Lille and Dortmund from a grassroots level.

"This was our second visit to the Braderie, first attending in 2023. We were interested to see what, if anything had changed in people’s attitudes to the UK and Leeds itself in those two years.

"We were made to feel very welcome by the city and even had a visit to our stall by the new mayor of Lille Arnaud Deslandes.

"The best thing for us, though, was speaking to ordinary people. Language was not a barrier with many people happy to speak English. People we spoke to were interested in why we were there and interested in the connection between Leeds and Lille."

Leeds and Lille became official partners in 1968 as part of post-war efforts to encourage peace between the people of Europe. 

Educational links, which date back to the 1930s, have always played an important part of the partnership which has seen several EU projects and the development of student exchanges between schools in both cities.

Leeds and Lille, a former European Capital of Culture, have increasingly worked together in the field of culture.

Both cities have also recently supported a community led 'Sibling Suburb' twinning of Seacroft and the Lille neighbourhood of Moulins.