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MarketTimesDecember2016

turned his back on the rat race and is now “happy but broke” selling his photographs and offering picture framing and photographic services on Cranleigh market. Egg man Brian Tetley remembers how the market started. “I know someone approached the council wanting to set up a market on this car park back in 1978 or 1979.” Brian had just bought a small poultry farm and he was keen to get on board because another poultry farmer was already supplying all the retail outlets in Cranleigh. “When we started we were at the other end of the car park. It did well from the start and now people are used to having a market and they are very loyal. I am still serving customers 32 today whom I served when the market started,” he added. John Claxton, who used to sell olives, has recently launched The Handmade Cheese Company on the market following the retirement of the cheese lady who ran a popular stall in Cranleigh for more than 20 years. Gabriel Martin, who sold cheese on London markets for eight years, is now selling olives and similar products for a London company that stands many of the London markets but only two outside the capital. John said: “We moved over to just cheese last October. This is a very traditional market and customers tend to be on the older side.” They want the kind of quality you might find at Waitrose or Fortnum and Mason, and John’s high quality display of both UK and continental cheeses meets the criteria. “I check what the top supermarkets are doing and make sure I am offering the same,” he added. Traditional, inexpensive non-food lines also do reasonably well at Cranleigh. John Charles, who sells cards and wrapping paper, said: “I have been on this market for 18 years and the customers know me well. It’s a good market. Cranleigh is not near any big towns, which helps.” And John Mantle, who has been selling vacuum spares, household and electrical goods on the market for 25 years, said: “This is my Brian Tetley has been the egg man on Cranleigh market since it was started in the late 1970s John Mantle, whose business is called Arun Vacs, has been selling vacuum cleaner spares, household goods and electrical items on Cranleigh market for 25 years John Charles has been selling cards and wrapping paper on Cranleigh market for the past 18 years Gabriel Martin, who used to sell cheese on London markets, has switched to selling olives on markets including Cranleigh


MarketTimesDecember2016
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