The importance of markets in the UK has been recognised with honours for some of the sector’s protagonists in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Graham Wilson, chief executive of the National Association of British Market Authorities, was awarded an OBE for services to retail markets.
He is recognised as a specialist in market law in the UK and has worked within the markets industry for nearly 30 years, almost 20 of them at NABMA first as legal adviser and for the last seven years as chief executive. He led the campaign to get government recognition for markets and this has led to markets taking a prominent position in the recent Mary Portas Report. The forthcoming National Market Day and Love Your Local Market campaigns owe much to his leadership.
And greengrocer, grower and markets campaigner Robin Blair has been awarded the newly reinstated British Empire Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. The 67-year-old was given the award for services to the community in Darlington.
He runs JJ Blair & Sons, which has been trading in the town’s covered market for more than 140 years. Blair has worked on the stall since he began helping his father, John Joseph Blair at the age of seven and now grows some of the produce in his own market garden. His local MP Jenny Chapman paid tribute to him on Twitter as “The man with the best satsumas in Darlington… Well done greengrocer Robin Blair.”
He told the BBC: "I'm passionate about my job - I love the vibrancy of markets and meeting so many different people. Supermarkets have their place, but markets and independent traders are part of the community and we must ensure they are enjoyed for generations to come."
Also honoured were Dr Nina Sweet of WRAP, who received an OBE for services to waste; and Tony Lowe, founder of FareShare, who was made an MBE for services to relieve food poverty.
