Page 30 - Market Times October 2021
P. 30

30
FEATURE • ABINGDON
and an egg stall.
Residents of this affluent, riverside town
close to Oxford appreciate having a market on their doorstep where they can buy fresh, local produce and enjoy a sense of community.
Tom Bennett looks forward to Mondays when he serves the locals with fruit and veg which is as fresh as could be.
The business, DBF, David Bennett Fruiterers, was started by his grandfather, Ron, in 1953, when the family lived in North London. They sold fruit and veg on markets in London and north of the capital, and relocated to be closer to markets like Banbury which used to be
 creative than just selling.
Jimmy has been standing Abingdon
market all his working life and stepped up to the plate when the council agreed to a trader-run operation.
“In the early days it was a very busy market — one that traders struggled to get on,” Jimmy said. He still stands the market but now sells household goods as the picture framing was getting too much.
“I have thought about retiring, but I have been on this market for so long and it is where I meet old friends and customers, so I will keep going,” said Jimmy, who also manages the market for the town council.
“The traders know what they are doing and set up in the same place every Monday,” Jimmy said. “We have a few simple rules. The market can’t take two of the same line, but other than that we help each other out and the locals are loyal market shoppers,” he added.
The success of the market has to be down to the quality of the stallholders and the staple food lines that local people have come to rely on.
There is a fish man who travels from Grimsby with fresh fish; a mobile butcher from Birmingham; a stand-out fruit and veg stall; an impressive bread and bakery stall, as well as a cheese man,
  Tom Bennett, pictured with his father, David, is kept busy every Monday on Abingdon where they run the anchor fruit and veg stall, DBF (David Bennett Fruiterers). The business was started in 1953 by Tom’s grandfather, Ron
  Perry Thomas travels from Birmingham to sell meat on Abingdon market


















































































   28   29   30   31   32