Page 26 - Market Times April 2022
P. 26

26 MARKET TIMES • APRIL 2022
Kirkby Lonsdale Market is
thriving with traders at the
 helm
THE last few years have been a rollercoaster for Kirkby Lonsdale Market in the beautiful, rural South Lakeland district of Cumbria.
First the CIC (Community Interest Company) responsible for the market brought in a private operator which introduced new traders, brought their own smart gazebos and breathed new life into the market.
The pandemic took its toll, then the private operator announced it was pulling out after just seven months.
Paul Laycock, a new trader who started a book stall on the market after retiring as a director of an IT educational supply company, was one of a number of traders who joined forces to save the market.
“The CIC was very good and supported the traders when we said it was a great little market and we wanted to keep it going,” he said.
They sought advice from the NMTF, which has helped traders set up trader-run operations across the country over many years.
After a visit from NMTF CEO Joe Harrison and Field Support Officer Brendan Dyson, the traders formed an NMTF group and were successful in their application to run the market.
Paul said: “The CIC invested in 20 new gazebos and although the
traders offered to pay them back they said they were happy to make the investment.
“We officially took over the running of the market in July last year and it is really going well,” he added.
For Paul, this was his first winter
as a market trader and he said the core of NMTF traders had got them through.
“I initially started selling books on a market stall to help promote my wife’s book shop in town,” Paul said. “Jigsaws became really popular in lockdown so I started a jigsaw exchange on the market, and now we also have a jigsaw shop in Kirkby Lonsdale.”
As well as his market and shop businesses benefiting, Paul is also finding his feet as chairman of the NMTF group running the market.
“It’s a really friendly market and all the traders muck in,” he said. “We put up and take down the stalls ourselves and we have had about 20 traders most market days through the winter.”
He believes that number will grow as the tourist season gets under way.
“At the moment we are concentrating on consolidating what we have here but there is space to expand the market a little. The market is here for the benefit of traders and the community and when we are a position to contribute to community schemes we will be happy to do so,” Paul said.
  Paul Laycock, chairman of the NMTF group now running the market, is pictured on his books and jigsaw stall













































































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