prudential artisan market

It’s early morning one fine summer’s day and on the quayside in our nearest town our weekly market is in progress. Canopied stalls proudly displaying their goods fill the market square selling clothes, china, gardening equipment, wicker baskets, fruit, vegetables and flowers from local farms, Devon honey, handmade crafts, farm butter and farmhouse cheese.

Customers include farmers and their wives wearing jeans and stout boots, often with a collie in tow, office workers in suits and tourists from far and wide.

Although we live in the age of department stores, chain stores, hyperstores and drive-through takeaways, our market has survived against all the odds. Stalls are still run by individual traders, many of whom produce the food they are selling themselves, not multi-national corporations; many indeed are family owned, handed down through the generations, and opportunities still exist here for those not afraid of hard work who are minded to suceed.

In the summer months when visitors, and therefore takings, are plentiful, our market comes to resemble an old-time fair because of the musicians, jugglers and other street entertainers attracted to it. Some of our traders use similar skills to attract customers to their stalls, particularly the crockery seller who will hurl plates into the air and catch them with great dexterity before selling them to you, and suffers very few breakages!

No price is ever given without the word “only” being put in front of it; everything sold on the junk stalls is “genuine” and probably “antique”; lovely fresh collies means juicy vegetables, not energetic dogs, and if a trader says he (or she) is “practically giving it away” then it’s probably because no one in their right mind would want to buy it!

Not all these sales tactics deserve to succeed, and some fruit and veg sellers can be their own worst enemies, complaining when you handle their goods and palming you off with the underripe or rotten, whilst you can handle and choose the produce you want at the local supermarket. Good to say however, these traders are gradually declining with, in particular, the growth of the Farmers’ Market movement across the country.

I think it’s important to recognise that traditional street markets do still have an important role to play in our towns. They make cheap clothes and fresh produce available to those unable to reach out of town supermarkets, or those who simply prefer to shop this way. They also add character, colour and life to the local town, as well as providing a much-welcomed boost in shopper numbers on market days, which of course benefits all our local traders.

We are lucky in that our small town many small independent retailers survive. The fish is fresh from the quayside and the butcher proudly displays the origin of his meat over his counter.

I think that the popularity of Farmers’ Markets demonstrates that there is a growing awareness of the value of locally produced food, where the provenance of any item can be traced. I don’t think that we do all prefer the mass-produced and pre-packed, high in air-miles food that we are often offered at the supermarket.

So – next time you set out for the shops – why not try visiting your local town on market day and check out what’s on offer?