Page 8 - MarketTimesDecember2014
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waiting list of traders wanting to get on. Today, there are 38 fixed stalls and the
market is around 90 per cent full on the busiest day, which is Friday.
But Roger and the traders agree, it is still a good market, and the longevity of the traders, many of whom have been standing the market for more than 20 or 30 years, are a testimony to its resilience.
And that resilience has been tested.
Bob Whiston, who is chairman of the Redditch branch of the National Market Traders Federation, said: “Back in 2002, the council told us we would be moving to a covered area. It was a bit of a bolt from the blue. We only had a month’s notice and the move was a disaster.”
The market had moved before — it went to adjacent Royal Square, then back into Market Place. This time the traders feared it
Rodger Munn is market manager of Redditch market for Wyre Forest Council
was a move too far.
Bob said: “It was just too far away from the
main footfall.” There is a natural flow of shoppers from the Kingfisher Shopping Centre through Royal Square and Market Place to the bus and train stations at the top, and the many reasonably priced car parks.
Traders voted with their feet and the ones strong enough to weather the poor footfall fought tooth and nail to get back to the retail heart of town.
Two-and-a-half years later, the much depleted market moved back to its old home in Market Place.
Carl Warrilow, who has been selling bacon and other food products on Redditch market for 41 years, said: “I survived because I also stood a market in Birmingham and one in Henley, which has now gone. But others didn’t.”
Carl went into market trading because he loved good food, and he still makes his own faggots and sells oak cured bacon.
“I have plenty of regulars who like proper bacon, not the kind that is pumped up with water that the supermarkets sell.”
He rates Redditch market. “It is a down to earth place and the people like to buy good quality food from people like me and have a friendly chat,” Carl said.
And Stuart Freeman, who is the third generation of his family selling fruit and veg on the market, agrees.
“We are a farming family and, especially during the summer, a lot of the fruit and veg we sell has been grown on our farm,” Stuart said.
The family run Snitterfield Fruit Farm and also sell their own lamb and other meat products.
Stuart’s dad, Roy, sadly died last year. But the family business continues with Stuart at the
  Tony Keeling has been selling plants on Redditch market for more than 30 years
Bob and Hazel Whiston have been running the catering van on Redditch market for the past 23 years and are chairman and vice-chairman of the National Market Traders Federation branch respectively
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