Page 20 - Market Times April 2022
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FEATURE • KIDDERMINSTER
“On my first day I was sold out by 12, and on the second day I cooked more but was sold out by 12.30,” she said.
“It was LSD that gave me my first stall and supported me so I am very pleased they are back running the market,” she added.
Cliff James, a market trader for 30 years, has a popular stall called Just What I Need which sums up his eclectic mix of house- hold and DIY items.
Cliff grew up helping the family who stood markets and shows across the country, with lines from shoes to household goods.
If he can’t make a living on a market, no one can. “I do OK on this market but I rely on shows in the summer to get me through. It’s not like the old days,” he said.
Other traders have found Kiddy market is now a good market which is improving by the week.
Keith Pinder, who sells pet food and bird seed, said: “I have been on this market for eight-and-a-half years and I love it.”
 LSD, which runs a string of markets across the Midlands including flagship events in Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford, had a previous stint running Kiddy market back in 2005 when it was down to 10 traders and the council put its running out to tender for the first time.
LSD brought it up to 80 traders on three streets and within 18 months added Saturday to the traditional market day of Thursday.
Sue remembers that time fondly. “They used to put on quite a bit of entertainment which worked well and I remember one day there was a truck with a woman playing the piano on it and LSD brought us a cake.”
This time round the operator has invested in smart new stalls with cream canopies, which gives the market a much more attractive, uniform look.
And the number of traders standing the market has grown from around a dozen to 30 or more. LSD has a band of loyal traders who choose to stand their markets
in preference to others as they feel the business looks after traders, investing in markets rather than just pocketing the cash.
A number of them have given Kiddy market a go and are planning to stay.
Phill said: “We have a good set of traders including some who have been on this market for many years.”
As well as Sue, there is a high-quality butchers van, fruit and veg, household goods, fashion, hot food and plenty of niche and craft-type businesses which have become an important part of a market’s offer these days.
Among the long-established traders is Mor Millinchit who has run Mor’s Thai Kitchen on Kiddy market for the past 11 years.
Mor’s family were farmers back in Thai- land and she went to work in a cosmetics factory when she moved to the UK.
She decided to teach herself Thai cook- ing and her street food stall got off to a flying start when she set up in Kiddermin- ster.
  Mor Millinchit runs the popular Mor’s Thai kitchen on the market
 Samantha Downton began trading on Kidderminster market at the end of the first lockdown after Worcester market was slow to reopen. She had done so well with spiritual products business that she had stayed put
Statue of Rowland Hill











































































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