Page 3 - Market Times February 2022
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ON THE COVER
Times FEATURES
February 2022
FEATURE • DISS 13
Diss is a picturesque town in South Norfolk where the town council goes out of its way to encourage trading and to support its Friday market, as Nicola Gould discovered
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Times February 2022
Fresh fish, craft beer — but no leather corsets on Diss Market
 King Madzima is an artist who was born in Zimbabwe. He makes and sells mainly beaded animals and other artwork to raise money for an arts school in his home country
— p28
Mrs Thatcher’s local market makes a comeback
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   inen and hempen cloth, knitted Lstockings, herrings, oysters and leather corsets once took pride of place on Diss Market, which boasts a
charter dating back to Richard the Lionheart.
soIlndoonnetyheamr alrokneet, w25h,i0c0h0gliavmesbysowueare flavour of the rural nature of Diss and its environs.
That year was 1920, and although much has changed in just over a century, the market remains a constant.
Diss Town Council, which runs it, has done everything in its power to keep the market vibrant and exploit its potential as a nursery for small businesses.
Robert Ludkin, the market manager, said the market was the beating heart of Diss, which comes alive on Fridays thanks to the market and Gazes, staging its weekly auction on market day, selling everything from toys and books to furniture and collectibles.
Diss is a small rural town with some impressive, historic buildings clustered round the market place and the town’s
mere, which covers six acres and was once used to soak hemp before it was woven into cloth.
These days there aren’t any leather corsets for sale on the market, and there is only room for 14 or 15 traders to set up
Robert Ludkin manages Diss market for the town council
stall, but it is a bustling, thriving concern with a diverse range of food, fashion and traditional market lines.
Sadly, the plants and flower man called it a day during the pandemic when he decided to sell from a farm instead, but all
tahnedottrhaderersstaspalyesDairses pisreaselonvtealnyd, fcrioernredclyt market where they do good business. Robert said: “We close the road on a Friday. The auction sale is a big attraction. We have the mere and there are plenty of small, independent shops in Diss. The council has created a heritage trail to encourage visitors and we do get tourists mainly in the summer.”
He said the market had been the main event in Diss for centuries and the town council saw it as a key asset to keep the town vibrant and spark its economy. Unlike many towns that aim to keep markets as events to lure people in once a week, Diss town council takes the view that having market traders on Market Place was a positive any day of the week. “The road is open the rest of the week and there is parking, but we do encourage
                    In just over a decade Grantham has recovered from a redevelopment of its Market Place which led to an exodus of traders. Nicola Gould visits a market that is thriving once again
Billingham — p4
Yorkshire Vegan — p28
Diss — p12
Five Valleys
creates a hat-trick of market successes in Stroud
Five Valleys — p36
ajor refurbishment can be a dou- Mble-edged sword for markets, and the revamp of Grantham’s
Market Place in 2011 had a significant im- pact on what had been a market of 100 traders, with many voting with their feet while the work progressed.
The good news is that the market is back to a healthy state with around 33 traders lining Westgate every Saturday, a number that is boosted on the second Saturday of each month when the farmers’ market runs down the adjoining Conduit Lane. Grantham market dates back to a royal charter granted in 1463, although the town had a market long before that. It would
have been familiar to the town’s most famous son and daughter — Isaac Newton, who went to school in the town, and one-time Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who lived above the family’s corner grocer’s shop in Broad Street. Many moons ago there was a big cattle market in Market Place, and when Margaret Thatcher was a girl the bustling general market must have been a major event in the life of the town and a sharp contrast to the relative calm of her father Alfred’s shop.
Gary Taylor, who manages the market for South Kesteven District Council, said it had a long and vibrant history and had
been a very busy and successful market down the years.
Grantham was an industrial town in a rural county, and there was plenty of produce and wares to sell on the market. Local people working in the various industries would have been natural market shoppers.
Gary took over as market supervisor in 2010. It was a baptism of fire because the council had begun a major work programme to create a paved area in Market Place for the market, and other improvements.
“The work took 18 months to complete and the market had to be moved three
times over that period,” Gary said.
The punters were put off by the disruption and as time went on more and more traders looked for other markets to trade on. Melton Mowbray was a favourite choice. The traders who stayed ended up lining the street of Westgate, which leads into Market Place, and when the time eventually came to return to Market Place, no one wanted to relocate.
“The traders felt that they had settled in Westgate where there are quite a few shops and eating places. The market helps the shops and the shops help the market,” he said.
“There isn’t much to bring people to
Market Place — just a couple of night- clubs which is no help during the day.” So they stayed put and the market has gradually built back up. Gary said the council had worked impeccably with the traders. Rents were halved during the tough times and Gary said it took a lot of hard work but gradually trader confidence grew and the market flourished again. The introduction of bright, green and white canopies in 2019 has given the market a smart, welcoming look, and ironically the pandemic has helped.
The market kept going with essential traders during the lockdowns and Gary noticed new shoppers turning up.
“We set up the stalls early and we noticed people arriving at 6.30 in the morning,” Gary said. “We put in force all the Covid measures and people seemed to feel safer shopping outside. When we asked people why they had arrived so early they said they wanted to get their shopping done before more people were about.”
Also, people whose shops and businesses were affected by the pandemic have ex- pressed an interest in moving on to the market.
“They perhaps looked at their overheads and realised they could benefit from good footfall on a street market and trade all day for just £25,” he said.
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Grantham — p18
Tewkesbury — p42
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Search is on for traders for Bradford’s new £23 million flagship market 8 Festival organisers set sights on a bumper summer 10 Peterborough traders fear being priced out of their new market 16 Barnsley’s Market Kitchen cooks up a treat 22 All the ways you can accept payments in 2022 24 The Young Traders Market is back 25 The sometimes overlooked skills of market traders 26 Temporary outdoor markets planning permission to be made permanent 27 Gala Tent and NMTF form new partnership 33 Market Near Me — help us to keep up to date 33 Still set for Blackpool for the NMTF Conference 2022 40 Obituary — June Draper 41 London driver fines increased 47 Advertisers index 47
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