Survey Completed.
Move with the times but don’t destroy the Good Times
The heart of the market was destroyed years ago when the new Guildhall was built, the old market was fantastic with a huge range of stalls & people travelled to Stafford to attend the market.
I remember as a young girl opening up the big doors to the market & hearing the noise from people filling the old market hall, you couldn’t possibly walk around without being pushed about, we always arranged a meeting place should anyone of us get lost. You could buy almost anything, with stalls competing for trade, huge fantastic displays of fruit, veg, meat, fish, cheese all local produce, then there were all the other stalls selling anything from cotton, shoes, clothes, records... The market was a meeting place always bumping into someone you knew.
The big shops were already in town with Sainsbury’s across the road & Tesco’s down by Riverside these did not affect the markets trade.
Parking was an still an issue back then, we were all told to “watch out for any cars moving” to grab a space, there were some great parking war row’s which went on. But people still came into the town simply for the market.
I would suggest offering moves to some of the present shop owners in the Guildhall to some of the empty units & go back to the old ways of a market hall, or the market could easily be extended into the huge walkway's which are always empty. The only shop which draws people in now is the pound shop.
People still travel to attend a market, why do coach operators arrange tours ? It can compete against the online shopping & the likes of E.Bay, people still want to go out and knowing you can buy items at a good price and support a town can only be a good thing, people will then move from the market to other local shops who need the trade & then for something to eat.
Stafford is a Market Town & the County of Staffordshire yet we don't have a market. I agree with what Hawk has said "The future is much more than a few market stalls" however it is a start it is time to wake up & smell the coffee which is all you can smell around town together with the smell of beer from all the pubs.
I remember going back into the market when it was all modernised a quarter of the stalls remained, choice had gone and so had the atmosphere, the noise from people had gone the town lost it's heart when the market went & it has never returned, you need a heart to survive and we destroyed ours, we destroyed the ‘Good Times’.
if the newsletter had any sense, they'd contact you and ask your permission to run this in the paper! spot on observations, imo..
