Page 43 - MarketTimesFebruary2015
P. 43

Housed in a former dairy, Clacton Covered Market is a most unlikely success story run by the most unusual private operators. NICOLA GOULD investigates
When Martin and Lesley Croxford applied for planning permission to turn a disused dairy building in Clacton-on-Sea into a market 32 years ago, their chances of success looked bleak.
They had no market or business experience, and no money in the bank.
There were already two hugely successful open markets in the Essex seaside resort, which was just starting to feel the pinch as holiday- makers began heading to Spain for sun and sangria.
“The private market operators used to arrive and leave by helicopter to collect the rent,” said Martin. “They must have laughed and ridiculed our plans,” Lesley said.
But it is Martin and Lesley who have had the last laugh. Those once thriving markets are long gone, and Clacton Covered Market is doing very nicely thank you, with 20 stalls and traders inside, more outside, and a new monthly farmers’ market planned to launch soon.
The couple celebrated the 30th anniversary of the market by investing in a major revamp, including attractive weatherboarding to the outside, an additional kitchen and a much
improved cafe and stalls.
Lesley got the inspiration after reading a
feature in Market Times about Brixton Village in London.
The couple are optimistic about the future, and so are the majority of their traders. “We have been very lucky,” said Martin, and considering their unlikely backgrounds, it is hard to disagree.
Martin hit the big time as a musician at the age of 19. He formed a band that was spotted by an EMI talent scout called Tim Rice, the world-renowned lyricist.
“We went to Abbey Road and met a young man called Andrew Lloyd Webber,” Martin said. “At 19, I was driving along the front at Clacton and Radio Caroline was on the car radio playing our single.”
Over a tumultuous few years, the band supported the likes of Pink Floyd and The Who, but the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle was taking its toll on Martin, so he gave it all up and returned to Clacton where he met Lesley.
After she completed art school, they found themselves back in Clacton with no money and no idea what to do next.
Fortunately, Lesley’s parents owned an old
dairy building which had been empty for 10 years. Her sister suggested she set up a craft market in it, but the couple decided a general market would be more likely to succeed.
Somehow they persuaded the bank to lend them £20,000, a large amount in those days. But every penny had been spent on the project a week before the opening.
The market was an instant success, according to the couple. “We went from having literally nothing to stuffing fivers in our pockets from the rent,” said Martin. “It was completely chaotic. We didn’t know what we were doing and Lesley was heavily pregnant when we opened.”
Despite their lack of experience and business knowledge, the couple soon made a go of their new enterprise.
It was a boom time for markets and traders were queuing up to trade there. Butlins was still open and the holidaymakers lapped up the new market.
“At the time Mrs Thatcher was telling people to get on their bikes and get a job, and a lot of people did that and started up their own businesses on the market,” he said.
A young fruit and veg trader proved an
  Lesley and Martin Croxford own and run Clacton covered market
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