Page 45 - Market Times October 2021
P. 45

FEATURE • COALVILLE
a good vinyl record business.
In another life, Darren worked as a
medical equipment technician, but he loves his new role selling retro-style gifts including reproduction metal signs and mugs and tin-plate miniature vehicles.
“The old market had had its day and you have to move on,” said Darren, although he admits that his heart is firmly fixed in the last century.
“I love everything retro, especially anything related to cars and music. I’m a
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  Jane Friend is trying out the market for her new business, Flamingo Paperie Cards
people person and I enjoy selling my retro gifts at events like car rallies, and I think this market will be a great place to trade too,” he added.
Zoe Howard, who runs Zo’s Greenhouse, had given up trading at the old market because the footfall was so poor. She sells beautiful paperweights, jewellery and other items made from flowers she grows herself and then encased in resin.
“This new market is in a great location and has a really positive vibe so I am now
hopeful for my business,” she said.
Other Newmarket traders are new to the
game and are hoping they can make a go of their start-ups.
Jane Friend worked for many years as a nursery nurse in a maternity ward, but since calling it a day she has started selling the cards she loves.
Flamingo Paperie Cards are all designed by UK artists. “I love these cards and started selling them on pop-up stalls, but this is my first time on a permanent market,” Jane said.
Diane Hughes is also trying her hand at a market business that started as a hobby. After taking early retirement from her job with Tamworth Council, Diane bought a sewing machine and taught herself to sew.
She began selling her hand-sewn bags and gifts alongside needle felting kits and resin key rings made by her daughter, Gemma.
“I tried selling at a pop-up market and I love the vibe of a market, so I decided to have a go at trading on this market,” she said.
Clare Lambert, the council’s project manager, said getting the new market up and running during the pandemic had been a challenge, but the council team was delighted with the response from traders and local people who clearly appreciated the new market.
It’s been quite a journey from a failing old market to a sparkling new one, and there is £3 million more investment earmarked for the town centre regeneration — so watch this space.
   FACTS & FIGURES
l Market Days: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
l Market Rent: £15.75 per stall
l Coalville’s claim to fame: As the name suggests, Coalville in North West Leicestershire owes its existence to “black gold” and was also important as an industrial centre for quarrying, textiles and engineering including the production of railway wagons. In eight years from 1983 to 1991, all six pits in and around Coalville closed and thousands were thrown out of work. Since then the town has recovered and numerous business parks have sprung up. In 2016, Amazon opened a huge distribution centre in Coalville.
 Zoe Howard had given up her stall on the old indoor market but now has high hopes for her market business, Zo’s Greenhouse, selling decorative paperweights and jewellery hand made from resin around flowers
Diane Hughes has turned a hobby of sewing into a business and is aiming to showcase her hand sewn bags and the needle felt and resin key rings made by her daughter, Gemma, 34, on Newmarket
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