UK Best Community Market 2020

What a way to start the year off, to find out that we had been awarded the UK Best Community Market 2020, by NABMA, the voice of Markets. Having recently won the award also in 2018 we are delighted to have won it again.

We have continually strived to develop and maintain our high standards in promoting and supporting local artisan craft and food producers, local communities, young people, the local economy and tourism.

We would like to thank all our members, traders, stakeholders and the public for the support they have given us.

We were the awarded the title at the NABMA annual conference in Birmingham. This years theme was Markets in a Renaissance. The conference was fantastic, with well chosen speakers. It was inspiring and motivating to listen to stories from other market organisors, and definitely gave us some food for thought.

Of particular interest was the talk by Dr Sara Gonzales, University of Leeds, who spoke on the Community Value of Markets and emerging findings by the Markets4People Research Project. The project recognises that traditional markets have played a significant role in the UK's Towns and cities for centuries, but their central community role is threatened by radical changes in retail trends and public sector cuts. The study aims to provide a new way to understand the community value which traditional markets offer.