Whitchurch council vows to keep on running market

Whitchurch Town Council has confirmed it will carry on running the Friday market because it's the "best way forward for the town".

Last year the council considered getting a market specialist to run the event as the number of traders continued to fall. But a group of traders wanted to stop this from happening and felt the market would thrive better if they ran it.

Zoe Dean, assistant town clerk and town centre manager, said: "At the moment we have no plans to stop running the market. It is an awkward one but we will carry on running it because we believe it is the best way forward for the town."

The council has also revealed it is extending the opening hours of the market in a bid to boost trade.

Ms Dean said: "We had a meeting with traders at the end of last year where we said we wanted to raise the profile of the market by extending the opening hours.

"It used to run from 7.30am to 12.30pm but we are extending that to 2pm.

"The market has become less popular as shopping habits have changed.

"One of the problems we found was that shoppers and workers weren't able to get here and were unable to pop out on their lunch breaks.

"So it means people will now have the chance to shop throughout the day rather than just in the morning.

"We will be trialling it for about three months to see how it all goes. We have been running an online campaign to promote it so hopefully it will work and we will decide to stick with the new opening hours."

Rob Hewson runs a charity stall with his wife Margaret at the market and helped set up the group of traders who were looking to take over the running of it.

"We didn't want people coming in and running the market," he said.

He said: "We were willing to take it on and our hope was to collect the rent and use whatever money was left to spend on advertising and donate to a local charity."We didn't want to run it as a money-making scheme."

The weekly market, which is believed to give the council about £14,000 a year in revenue, is held outside Whitchurch Civic Centre and inside the town's market hall every Friday.

Ms Dean added: "We have approximately 30 traders every week. We have a good number of regulars who support the market and sell great products."

For more information about the market call (01948) 665761.