In which the Wartime Housewife takes a Market Stall at Market Harborough’s indoor market despite the threat of closure.
Ever one to buck the trend, I have decided to take my merchandise from the virtual to the real world. Every Sunday, Market Harborough has an Antique and Collectors market which I have mentioned many times on these pages. It is a very pleasant place to go on a Sunday and has the added advantage of a nice cafe where one can enjoy tea and a bun or a sustaining and healthful Full English Breakfast.
This indoor market is also open on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays for general traders and it is a wonderful resource as a provider of many items which are not available in the rest of the town, and as a useful meeting place because of the cafe. This means that many people often spend time there because it is indoors and even on a foul day, one can shop in a leisurely way and meet friends in comfort. It is particularly convenient for the elderly as it is all on one level.
Last Sunday, I took a stall for The Wartime Housewife and it went down very well. Not only was it a successful retail enterprise, but I took the opportunity to spread the message of living life in a less wasteful, less profligate and more respectful way and I was embraced warmly by the fair denizens of Market Harborough. It was also a very jolly way to spend a Sunday.
All the items you see in the photos are available in my online shop – do click through and have a look.
I have booked several more stalls and hope to do a couple a month for as long as the market remains open. Yes. I am sorry to say that this wonderful market is under threat of closure because the council has been offered a huge wedge of cash from an, as yet, un-named major retailer who wants the spot.
Summat for the kiddies
Apparently, the market only generates £29,000 a year whereas the un-named retailer has offered £50,000. The general public and the stallholders suggest that, if the council would allow the market to operate every day, they would raise their £50,000 and the market would be saved as a valuable and popular resource.
The current Market Hall was only built twenty years ago, but there was a market on that site for many, many years before that. A market has been held in the town every Tuesday since 1221 – the clue is in the name; Market Harborough. The council has suggested another site next to the present council offices, but it would be outdoors, in a draughty and exposed car park and this would be an unsuitable alternative for most of the market traders and they would be forced to close. Certainly the Antique Market would have to finish.
A petition signed by 11,000 of the 20,000 inhabitants was got up but, as I was told by one of the market traders, the petition was ‘lost’. Oh really. The petition is now underway again and there is to be a Public Protest in the Square on March 17th at 11.30am when it is hoped that the residents of Market Harborough and beyond will show their support for this valuable and necessary local amenity.
Was the Public Protest supposed to link to something? It doesn’t, I am afraid. Can the protest organisation 38 degrees help? Would the supermarket pay £50,000 per annum or would it be just a once only payment?
The pictures are marvellous, is that BtY in the last three? He looks – distracted? I like your wares Mistress (as in Mrs. you understand).
I love markets; we don’t do them as well as y’all in the UK, but sometimes they’re around. Unfortunately, the corporation is everything here, and squeezes everybody out of the competition. It’s a sad thing, but true.
Mrs Toffeeapple: The Public Protest was just highlighted to draw attention to it for any local readers. 38 degrees? I shall google it at once. I’m not sure whether the retailer would pay £50,000 a year or £50,000 and then a lower yearly rent – all the reports are saying different things at the moment and only the council truly knows.
And yes, that is Boy the Younger. He was intently using my price labels to carefully re-label all the keys on my calculator, and then making abusive labels to stick on his poor unwary brother. Sweet.
Marie: What a shame. Isn’t there a growing ‘foodie’ movement in the US that is creeping over from Europe? I seem to remember listening to a radio programme about it quite recently where they were discussing the emergence of a Farmers’ Market movement. Maybe it’s only in some areas.
Farmers’ Markets are popping up all over in my area. I love to go on Saturday mornings and buy my produce.
So sorry to hear about the possibility of money winning over history. Our area had a big argument last year about Walmart wanting to build on a piece of property that is part of an important battlefield in our area. The public made such a “to do” about it that the county supervisors backed down and Walmart had to find another place to build. Chalk up one for history over the almighty dollar. I will hope for similar good results for your town, WH.
Your stall looks fantastic! I’ve never been able to grasp the thinking of councillors, always going for the (apparently) easy money and plastic mega-corporation, ignoring the fact that they are destroying character and history and will be left with an empty disused mechano building a few years down the line. The only conclusion I can draw is either incredible stupidity or cash back-handers.
Maybe the next step would be to rename the town “Tesco Harborough”?
[Wanders off stage left to polish the cold ironmongery and heavy ordnance he knows will soon come in handy during the bloody revolution when common sense, duty and notions of service will be re-introduced to public office the hard way...]
It would be a dreadful shame if ths market closes, particularly if it were to become yet another (presumably) mega-bucks supermarket. A market is somewhere you can wander around at your leasure, chat to people and of course enjoy a Full English Breakfast. Social interaction is crucially important and you get very little of that in large chain stores. I talk relentlessly to people when I’m out, because I work from home and miss human contact sometimes. Although some people look at me as if I’m mad .. which obviously can’t be ruled out …. but the majority are happy to respond.
From the Council’s perspective, they don’t care about stuff like that. They are seeing higher rent and more business rates. Places like this market are slowly disappearing to the absolute detriment to the community. We had a fairly large Sunday farmers market in High Wycombe, which died a death because the Council would not allow them to put up temporary signs advertising it and therefore people were unaware of its existence. Bureaucracy at its finest.
SAVE THE MARKET IN HARBOROUGH, I say! Good luck with the petition. By the way does anyone know how a petition of 11,000 signatures gets lost – that’s a sizable document?
Having been involved in a successful campaign to prevent some inappropriate local development, try these approaches. Get everyone to write to the individual members of the council, in their own words. If identical letters are received, they will be treated as one complaint. Contact your MP, write to the local press. These things can be stopped and people must never assume that things are a done deal, until the Fat Lady Sings …. and I ain’t singing yet !
great post, exc stall arrangement and utterly dire / outrageous decision by incompetent unthinking brainless councils. we have the same up here, our local market town M#rpeth is being strangled by massive town centre roadworks to feed a big new development of a supermarket that already exists in town yet wants to move a hundred yards over the road. my fav bokshop is closing down because of it… last nail in the coffin it cld no longer cope (tho perhaps modern times / web feed in) but traders / shops report a massive downturn in takings…… all to feed a needless supermarket upgrade ….. shame on you Morrisons and Dronsfield developments…..they shld be told not to be so bloody greedy.
your covered market sounds ideal, in only a twenty year old building…. y’know, what goes on in Council Chambers might be good for my roses…….
Nice to hear from you again Richard. I couldn’t agree more.
What dissappointing new! We have just had a small market (about 10 stalls on a good day) start up in our town (June to October only) but has quickly become a meeting place for people and is helping us maintain our town spirit (we lost our local government over 30 years ago). Yes in a farming community it is great to have local produce but it is even more important for people to have a place to stop and chat. In the winter here it is the ice hockey rink. An article in today’s Guardian points out some of the other evils of supermarkets -http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/26/henry-porter-supermarkets-blight-the-land?INTCMP=SRCH. – I hope lightening strikes your council and they re think the plans.
Cat among the pidgeons time – the market is held in the most dreary, dull and uninspiring building ever imagined by any architect and sells, with the exception of the antiques market on Sunday, the biggest load of tacky codswallop I have ever laid eyes on, although the cafe does do a good breakfast. There has been a market in Harborough forever, held until 20 years ago on Sainsburys car park along with the cattle market but time moves on.
There is a fabulous French Market and Farmers Market held in the square regularly and the antiques market could be held at Roman Way Centre or even in the fabulous church halls across the road. The traders make very little money as they have to clear around £20 per day to pay rent from a few pensioners cutting through the market from the bus stop.
Big hoo haa about nothing, about time that dowdy excuse of a building was reinvented.
On the plus side your stall looks fab and I wish you every success, wherever you may be.
Kyla: I think the biggest problem is that the stallholders haven’t been offered a suitable alternative venue. The antique market would have to stop if it went outside. I wouldn’t mind where it went as long as it was indoors and in the centre of town. I do use the weekday and Saturday market but it would certainly do it no harm to have a few ‘classier’ stalls. The Farmers’ MArket is great but many people can’t go because it’s on a Thursday morning and the French market is fabulous but it’s only about twice a year. If the weather’s horrible I don’t go to that either.
But if the stallholders aren’t making any money, why are they still doing it?
A friend in America sent me a link to your blog several months ago so imagine my surprise when I recognised company names and local streets!
I saw your market stand today (the antiques market makes for a fantastic place to take your mother to waste a few hours on a cold wet day) and it looked fantastic.
ALSO a huge cheer for your really polite stall hands!
Welcome Clara. What an extraordinary coincidence! I shall be doing another Sunday market on 1st April so if you’re around, do come and introduce yourself. I’m so glad The Boys behaved themselves in my absence. Boy the Elder is quite human when he wakes up, but Boy the Younger does a Hard Sell, so beware!