Shops / News
Loving St Nick’s Market
The Love Your Local Market campaign, a nationwide fortnight-long event celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit of Britain’s markets, launched on Tuesday at St Nicholas Market beneath cheerful pink bunting. The market’s Corn Street entrance is now speckled with new stalls manned by craftspeople and chefs hoping to make their mark.
High streets minister Marcus Jones attended to kick off the two-week Love Your Local Market campaign, which will include more than 3,000 market-related events in 1,000 locations across the country.
“We have new people coming to run market stalls for the first time, bringing new people into the market,” Jones explained. “We wanted to promote our markets, which are a critical part of the great British high street.”
is needed now More than ever
The campaign puts a strong focus on developing young entrepreneurs and ran a Youth Market Competition in February.
“It’s good to get young people involved,” says Jones. “They learn how to sell goods and learn from other market traders. That’s the benefit of working in a market – everyone’s willing to help each other.”
Steven Brand of Buckland Gourmet Burgers runs one of the stalls opened as part of Love Your Local Market. He’s run his burger stand for nine months in various locations, including for St. Nick’s Night Market.
“You get to be self-employed, you don’t hgave to answer to anyone, and you get to make your own decisions,” he says of his work. “You only have yourself to blame. That gives me a reason to work harder. That gets me up in the morning.”
Zoe Eves, who is running the adjacent Fantastical Gems Emporium with her two sisters, has never run a market stall before.
“A lot of people are looking. It’s an experience, and we’re having fun,” the 38-year-old says shyly. “We were made redundant about two years ago, so we started to do this. We set up a workshop late last summer, and in January we had a craft fair.
“We would love to open a permanent stall – we’ll see how it goes over the next fortnight.”
Read more: St Nick’s named one of UK’s best markets