Over the past few months there has been several enquiries about rented stalls for the Saturday market ( for a more general market history read the potted history on Bridgnorth Town Crier)
The Saturday High Street market is one of two totally independent markets in the country – Skipton is the other one . Our market is independent and unregulated. There isn’t a general manager – there isn’t an overseer- it belongs to no one except the stall holders and their landlords and they have done a pretty good job over the last 800 years
Many of the stalls have been there years . Nick Bromley who runs Rushmere Nurseries has been there at least 50 years and before him his father Les Bromley ran it. Before that – in the sixties an old chap sat with a table of small antiques inthe very same place. The Simmons Bros who have the fruit and vegetable stall have been there ages . Darren on the corner of Listley Street is a regular – the toy man- the carpet man – Stuart from the Linen Shop ……all contribute to a marvellous working market
The stalls are rented from the shop/landlord they front on. This has been happening for hundreds of years . Recently when one of the big conglomerates have taken over a shopfront this payment may have been forgotten. Or not bothered with . So I suppose that any stall holders not paying rent have no legal right to be there unless they have express permission from the owner of the shop not to pay rent.
What to do if you want a stall?
Lookout for a space and contact the landlord/shop owner and offer to pay!!!! Talk to existing stall holders. The Bridgnorth Town Council do have a few stalls for rent so it may be worth contacting them, the Town Council do have all the stalls under the Town Hall on Fridays and Saturdays. Again – contact them
There is also Merediths yard by Sainsbury’s and that is run on a commercial basis .
A few years ago there was a survey done about the status of the market There was overwhelming evidence that the townspeople and visitors to the town wanted to keep the market as it was – independent.
This is a jewel in our crown –
