There can be no doubt that street markets are becoming popular with UK consumers again. London markets are leading the way to become the face of retail for the 2012 Olympic Games, with the Covent Garden Real Food Market moving to a permanent status and Borough Market’s new Jubilee Market section, containing a further 30 food stalls, opening in the capital. Elsewhere, long-standing traditional street markets such as those in Bury and Moreton-in-Marsh are still going strong.
With the public’s renewed interest in provenance and locally grown food, fresh produce has a large role to play in these scenarios, with consumers looking for that fresh-from-the-farm appearance.
But due to their decline over the last 20 years, many street markets have been almost cut adrift by unhelpful town planning, parking restrictions for both traders and customers and, most noticeably in the capital, expensive congestion zones. The recession has arguably had an inevitable effect on street market business, as consumers struggle to resist discount-style supermarket offers. And adding to street markets’ woes is what some consider a lack of support from local authorities and councils.
The newly relaunched Association of London Markets’ meeting in June addressed the matter of street markets and it was suggested that this form of retail outlet was seeing something of a renaissance, with members keen to encourage this growth. The National Association of British Market Authorities’ (NABMA) policy development manager Krys Zasada revealed that the combined annual turnover of retail and wholesale markets throughout the country is £8 billion and that, in fact, the current economic climate has seen a footfall increase, as well as a rise in spend per transaction in retail markets.
“The recession has provided a real opportunity for markets, with price-conscious consumers looking for value for money, choice and good personal service - all of which are traditionally associated with markets,” Zasada tells FPJ. “They also provide relatively cheap start-up opportunities for new businesses, without some of the risks associated with taking on a lease in a shop unit. Increased interest in food access and security, healthy eating and sustainable supply chains have also raised the profile of markets, and publicity has been generated by celebrity chef endorsement.”
And there seems to be a proactive approach to ensuring that street markets succeed in the long term. In July, the Communities and Local Government Select Committee’s investigation into traditional street markets, which NABMA contributed to, was published, providing information and advice on the state of the industry. Also, research by the Retail Markets Alliance - which includes NABMA, the National Market Traders’ Federation (NMTF), the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) and the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA) - is comparing footfall in retail markets with that on the high street and early indications suggest that many markets are performing better than their high-street neighbours.
Although membership of the NMTF has also risen this year and many traders are reporting a good year, performance is not uniform, with some markets revealing a significant and worrying year-on-year decline in footfall, according to Zasada.
Malcolm Veigas, assistant director of community services for Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, agrees that while the future of traditional street markets is positive, the outlook is a mixed one. “It is a patchy picture across the UK, but over the last five to six months since the select committee commissioned the investigation into traditional street markets, there has been a lot of activity within local governments,” he explains. “In particular, the report sees London street markets as a separate product as part of the retail scene for the 2012 Olympic Games, but it has also given a lot of people inside local governments the opportunity and means to judge what is working in their approach to street markets and what is not.
“It is clear that street markets such as Bedworth and Darlington are doing really well, which is evident in the report’s findings. But there are other areas, predominantly in smaller towns, where trade is dwindling and we will need activity to get back to what we once had, which will take a few years.”
Specifically, the select committee calls for the industry to learn from and share good practice, and the policy/research report, to launch in November, will include case studies and practical guidance on change and improvement. The select committee also calls on central government to recognise the role and importance of markets and recommends that one department takes overall lead for co-ordinating central government links to markets, and sets up a cross-departmental working group. Zasada has revealed that NABMA is now in discussion with departments on how this might work best.
Veigas is responsible for Bolton’s traditional street and indoor retail markets, namely Westhoughton, Horwich and Farnworth street markets and Ashburner Street market in Bolton town centre. He believes that collaboration across regions will be the key to success from now on. “It is about forming a connection with other local governments or private enterprises to generate a critical mass of customers,” says Veigas. “It may be a case of sharing traders over two or three sites at different times, across say the North West, in order for them to make a good living and provide variety for customers. We need to look across the boundaries and think more holistically about how to generate new traders.”
Ashburner Street market is going great guns, with food fairs arranged around it regularly and a new demonstration kitchen by the fresh food stalls that sees an NHS nutritionist cook with fresh ingredients from the market three times a week - recently featuring a leek and potato soup that feeds a family of five for £3.50. The market has just had a visit from the BBC’s The Hairy Bikers. While the surrounding three smaller street markets are a work in progress, Veigas believes that since the council began to re-brand the borough’s stalls and venues, people have seen what Bolton can offer its markets and their customers.
The last 12-18 months have seen a good deal of effort go into the Ashburner Street market, but now the focus is being shared with the surrounding three markets. Farnworth has a Sunday street market because this day fits in with the demographic of the town, Horwich used to be housed in a large, dilapidated building and has now moved onto the street, where it is getting a much better reception, while Westhoughton, another Sunday market, has had £100,000 spent on its building and is at least 70 per cent occupied.
“Horwich is every Friday and has been working very well as an open-air market, so once critical mass has been established, we will build on that strength and look at the other days that people want [it to open],” says Veigas. “In Westhoughton, we are working with a community group on a themed three-day market that will connect with the hall. It is all about connecting with the people who are interested in markets again. We are trying to mix and match specifically to what people want and trying to find traders who want to go there.”
One street market that is doing very well is Moreton-in-Marsh market, which is thought to be one of the largest and best-established street markets in the UK.
Customer research consistently shows that fruit and vegetables are seen as an anchor commodity in markets. Research by the NMTF/RMA earlier this year shows that 25 per cent of stalls on traditional markets sell food, which equates to about 10,000 traders, and if just 10 per cent of them are selling fruit and vegetables, that is 1,000 businesses.
Moreton-in-Marsh is no exception and Doug Cotton of Grenchurch Markets, which manages the Cotswolds street market, says that fresh fruit and vegetables have always been the foundation of any profitable street market. Moreton-in-Marsh street market runs every Tuesday, with around 100 traders and 150 units. People from all over the country come to the attraction via subsidised coach trips, as well as visitors from the town and its surroundings by car.
“In my opinion, street markets have always been popular,” says Cotton. “Half the population knows about them and it is probably the lower earners who have to go to a market for the value it offers. And fruit and vegetables are the keystone in a market; always have been, always will be. If you don’t have fruit and vegetables on your street market, there is something wrong. People come to street markets for the full offer. Street markets will survive because of the public’s desire for personal service and value for money. There is a passion for street markets that only people who work with them or go to them understand. Due to the credit crunch, I believe that more and more people will go to street markets.”
The other side of the coin
But as always, there are obstacles looming, despite the positive feedback. Lack of investment, political priority, meaningful and accurate data about a market’s performance, effective management that understands the retailing environment and traders who have not responded to customers’ changing needs and expectations, are all issues that stand in the way of a street market succeeding, according to Zasada.
“By using the select committee report as a framework for developing national and local change processes, and by better promotion, we will overcome these obstacles,” he says. “Many markets have already undergone a transformation and are thriving. Others have to learn from that and change, otherwise they will not survive.”
Some believe that the demise of the high street in the UK will have an equally negative effect on street markets. “We are facing competition from the huge retailers as we have done for the last 20 years,” says Cotton. “The big multiples all started on the street as small stalls and have got too big for their boots; the system that has enabled them to grow has strangled the markets and is now hitting the high street. It is not in a street market’s interest to see shops close around it, as they feed off each other.”
A lack of new, young traders is also apparent in the street market sphere, but Veigas believes that there may be a change on the way due to a new government initiative. He maintains that there is no shortage of fruit and vegetable traders on Bolton’s markets, but he would prefer more of them.
Veigas believes good things will come from the government’s £1 billion Future Jobs Fund, which aims to challenge councils to get young people who have been out of work for 12 months or more into skilled work. “We would be really interested in pairing young workers with fruit and vegetable traders, so they can learn the trade,” says Veigas. “We have quite a few excellent and long-standing fruit and vegetable companies that would be able to teach someone not only about fruit and vegetables, but about business skills, display work, pricing policy and the whole business. They could learn the trade for six months and then, if they were willing, we could look at setting them up on vacant stalls on the district [Westhoughton, Farnworth or Horwich] to see if it is for them. It is another really exciting venture for Bolton, amid the recession.”
Zasada believes the future of street markets in the UK is mixed. “Although the number of traditional indoor and street markets has remained constant for many years, at about 1,200, some of them have declined significantly in terms of the number of traders attending,” he points out. “If action is not taken to halt that decline, there is a real risk that many of them will close in the next decade. However, those who remain are likely to continue to thrive.”
FIXED ADDRESS AT THE PIAZZA
The Covent Garden Real Food Market is now a permanent fixture on the piazza.
The market, firmly established as a weekly foodie stop-off for Londoners, will extend its tenure on the piazza to run throughout the year from springtime through to Christmas.
The site is the West End’s only open-air market where Londoners can buy fresh produce.
The popularity of the market, introduced permanently following short summer runs in 2007 and 2008, is further evidence of the strength of Covent Garden’s food offering. The market will remain a weekly fixture every Thursday on the Piazza until November 12, when it will then serve the London community every Thursday and Friday until December 18. Continuing to trade will be some of the UK’s finest food producers, The Spore Boys’ famous mushroom sandwiches, The Garlic Farm and The Arabica Food & Spice Company.
Bev Churchill of Covent Garden London says: “The success of the Covent Garden Real Food market has been phenomenal and it seems the logical step to provide Londoners with a permanent seasonal market they can rely on for their fresh produce.”
BOROUGH MARKET JUBILANT
Borough Market last week opened its new Jubilee Market section, containing 30 raw food stalls selling fresh ingredients. Until now, raw goods have been dotted among other stands, making the market harder to navigate.
Funded by Network Rail, which is constructing a new Borough viaduct to increase visitor capacity in time for the Olympics, this is part of a multi-million pound extension on the corner of Stoney Street and Winchester Walk.
Also last week, St Pancras International officially opened the first farmers’ market in a UK railway station. At the daily market on the main concourse, called Sourced, commuters can pre-order local produce online to pick up.
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