Page 38 - MarketTimesJune2016
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  Tracey Heap began selling cup cakes on a pop up stall in the indoor market in 2014 and now runs the busy market café called Summerhouse Bakery
 John Anders is a part-time chemistry teacher and part-time plant man on the indoor market
 FACTS & FIGURES
 l Market Day: The indoor market runs Monday to Saturday and the outdoor is on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
l Market Rent: Pop-up stalls on the indoor are £10. Outside stalls are £22 on a Thursday. It is £35 for two stalls and £47 for three, and on Friday and Saturday stalls cost £15 for one and £10 for each additional stall.
l Burton-upon-Trent’s claim to fame: Located in East Staffordshire, Burton- upon-Trent grew around Burton Abbey. The opening of the canal enabled the brewing industry to thrive because it allowed the beer to be transported to London and to Hull for export. At one time a quarter of all the beer sold in the UK was brewed in Burton and there are still eight breweries in the town.
“When I started every inch of space was taken and it took me three years as a casual before I could get a permanent pitch,” he said.
Burton has good employment including the breweries, a Marmite factory making use of a by-product and a Pirelli tyre factory.
The locals like their market, so there is plenty of potential. They just need that little bit of encouragement to shop there more regularly.
New trader Fred Hallam was trying his best to pull in the punters. Dressed in a red lobster suit, he had as good a display of fresh fish as you will see anywhere.
A fourth generation fish trader, Fred hails from Beeston in Nottinghamshire where his great grandfather, also Fred Hallam, started selling fish in 1908.
His assistant, Michael Owen, knew Burton market and felt it was a market on the up, so they decided to give it a go.
That level of quality food offering is just
what Catherine is looking for. She said: “We have been very lucky with the quality of the new businesses that have started up on Burton Market since the relaunch.”
Opening up the balcony area has proved a success. A children’s food area, The Candy Factory, is bringing families into the market.
And events ranging from boxing matches to private parties are attracting new people into the building.
Catherine said the traders and the market team have a good rapport and everyone is working together to boost the market.
“We have introduced a prize draw for market shoppers. We have a big presence on Facebook and social media and a calendar of themed events,” she said.
Incentives for new traders including four weeks free for four weeks of paid rent.
Whatever can be done is being done. Burton appears to be a market on the verge of cracking it — it’s just not quite there yet.
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