Page 44 - MarketTimesDecember2018
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to reach their favourite stalls.
The work dragged on over the summer, but
FEATURE • WOKINGHAM layout. Previously traders set up stall in two
to the towns where they make a profit from house building.
finally came to an end in September and the market reopened with some razzmatazz and a hard core of battered but much relieved market traders.
lines but since they relocated the stalls are in clusters or four or six.
 Work started in July 2017 and it was scheduled for completion by the end of March. But things didn’t go quite to plan.
Bob said local cafés and businesses were being encouraged to put out tables and chairs to create a café culture or take stalls to showcase what they had to offer.
“There were well established trees whose roots had been pushing up the pavings and they had to go, as well as long-standing drainage issues. But the problem was the contractors came across old Victorian gas pipes and sewers which weren’t recorded anywhere and it made the job far more complicated than originally thought,” he said.
Bob said: “The traders had a very difficult time during the redevelopment work. We tried to support them as much as we could with discounted rents, but we lost a number of traders and were very grateful for the mainly long-established traders who stayed with us.”
There was now space for special events and entertainment and the council is encouraging an evening economy as there are plenty of pubs and restaurants in the town.
The only available town centre site for the traders to relocate to was near Waitrose. It was a cold, unwelcoming location and customers had to struggle through the dug-up town centre
The new-look market is much improved. A road that used to run across Market Place has disappeared and the entire triangle is now a large, even, paved area with power points.
For traders, it has been a long, hard slog but they are now seeing old customers returning and new ones discovering the market.
The council is experimenting with a new
Rosie Frood, who has been selling high- quality plants on Wokingham for the past 20 years, said: “The whole town centre was a
     Bob Sherrard is the new market officer running the market for the town council
Darren Phillips who sells flowers on the market is pictured with his dad, Eddie, who recently retired from market trading. Between them they have been standing markets for 65 years
Jill Glaister and her husband Andy took a break from trading on Wokingham market while the redevelopment took place but now they are glad to be back selling ladies fashion and hats















































































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