Halmtorvet

Halmtorvet (English: The Haymarket) is a public square in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located next to Copenhagen Central Station in front of the Meat District. The oblong square eventually turns into Sønder Boulevard, a broad street with a park strip in its central reserve, which continues to Enghavevej at Enghave station.

Copenhagen's haymarket was originally located just inside the Western City Gate where the City Hall Square lies today. It closed on 1 January 1888 and relocated to the area outside the new Livestock Market which had opened at the site in 1879. Market days were Wednesday and Saturday and up to several hundred loads of hay and straw were traded and distributed to cattle and horse stables around the city.

Up through the 20th century, with improved infrastructure, livestock moved out of the city and horses lost their role in transportation, and the haymarket finally closed. The area fell into despair and became associated with prostitution and drug dealing. The site was also dominated by through traffic, buses and goods transport.

The area underwent gradual gentrification up through the 1990s and Halmtorvet was thoroughly refurbished from 1999 to 2003 as part of a major programme for urban renewal in the Vesterbro area. The first stage was designed by the office of the City Architect and completed in 2000. The second and third stages were designed by the Park Office of the City and carried out in 2003. In order to obtain a coherent space in the area a large gas regulator in front of the Brown Meat District was removed.

The square has an oblong shape. To make the space more attractive to urban life, the new layout introduced one-way traffic which is taken along a single lane on the south side of the square. A roundabout on the corner of the Brown Meat District, distributes traffic south and north of the Central Station.

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