Let markets revive our high streets – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Dave Ellis, Magdalen Lane, Hedon.
By YP Letters
Published 9th Mar 2021, 16:30 BST
Do markets hold the key to the revival of town centres and high streets?Do markets hold the key to the revival of town centres and high streets?
Do markets hold the key to the revival of town centres and high streets?

JAYNE Dowle’s article about a long-term vision being needed to save our high streets touches on local markets (The Yorkshire Post March 4).

Local authorities like Barnsley, Doncaster and the other market towns in East, North and West Yorkshire should not forget market traders who have struggled during the lockdowns in 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. Some towns like Barnsley and Beverley are investing in outdoor and indoor markets.

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They have not been given a level playing field, especially those trading outdoors in all weathers, when the products that they sell are being sold by the “big four” supermarkets and the discounter stores.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak in Northallerton on market day last June.Chancellor Rishi Sunak in Northallerton on market day last June.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak in Northallerton on market day last June.

For example, traders selling plants are prevented from selling them, and yet garden centres, the big DIY “sheds” which have garden centres attached, are able to sell plants and horticultural sundries. In all instances, customers have to walk through an internal shopping area in order to get to plant sales.

The atmosphere of a traditional market on a high street, where bargains can be got by bartering with the trader, takes the shopper back to the days when shopping was enjoyable. Markets could be one of the factors which revive our high streets.

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Related topics:Yorkshire PostJayne Dowle

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