You know Spring’s on its way when the produce market kicks in again. It’s good to see it back for the first of the 2010 season, yesterday, coinciding with proper Spring-like weather and with a busier than usual town centre, no doubt as a result of the market.
Something was amiss, though, from the fewer than expected cars in Park Road & Crispin Yard car parks, to the fewer than expected stalls around the Old Gaol exercise yard.
There were about two-thirds to a half of the usual number. Tell us that this is because yesterday’s was the first of the season—a month earlier than previously—and not something that’s setting a trend for the future. The organisers work very hard to sell the market which sells the town. Since 2006, it’s now established as a major weapon in the armoury that can attract visitors and is something that must flourish.
And what’s happening with Friday’s WI Country Market? This re-opened in the Town Hall in February after its post-Christmas break and appears even “thinner” than before. It seems a shadow of its former self, when in the 1990s there’d be a considerable queue that would form outside before the Friday 9 a.m. opening. In they’d rush and, like locusts, would strip the place bare of the considerable amount of food, within half an hour. Then, known just as the WI Friday market, it must’ve offered double the quantity of produce.
I recall talking to several market members about a year after Tesco opened. They stated that takings were down about £300 per week, if I recall correctly. They couldn’t say whether this was attributable to Tesco but they felt that it was—fewer people in town, and all that, they thought.
Something was amiss, though, from the fewer than expected cars in Park Road & Crispin Yard car parks, to the fewer than expected stalls around the Old Gaol exercise yard.
There were about two-thirds to a half of the usual number. Tell us that this is because yesterday’s was the first of the season—a month earlier than previously—and not something that’s setting a trend for the future. The organisers work very hard to sell the market which sells the town. Since 2006, it’s now established as a major weapon in the armoury that can attract visitors and is something that must flourish.
And what’s happening with Friday’s WI Country Market? This re-opened in the Town Hall in February after its post-Christmas break and appears even “thinner” than before. It seems a shadow of its former self, when in the 1990s there’d be a considerable queue that would form outside before the Friday 9 a.m. opening. In they’d rush and, like locusts, would strip the place bare of the considerable amount of food, within half an hour. Then, known just as the WI Friday market, it must’ve offered double the quantity of produce.
I recall talking to several market members about a year after Tesco opened. They stated that takings were down about £300 per week, if I recall correctly. They couldn’t say whether this was attributable to Tesco but they felt that it was—fewer people in town, and all that, they thought.
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Markets